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THE 



HISTORY OF IRELAND, 

ANCIENT AND MODERN, 

TAKEN FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC RECORDS, 

AND 

DEDICATED TO THE IRISH BRIGADE. 



BY THE ABBE MAOGEOGHEGAN. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, 

BY PATRICK O'KELLY, ESQ., 

Author of a History of the Irish Rebellion of 179S, &c. 



"Let Erin remember the days of old, 
Ere her faithless sons be tray 'd her: 
When Malachi wore the collar of gold, 

Which he won from the proud invader ; 
When her kings, with standard of green unfurl'd, 

Led the Red-Branch Knights to danger ; 

Ere the emerald gem of the western world 

Was set in the crown of a stranger." 

Moore- 



NEW YORK: 
D. & J. SADLIER, 58 GOLD-STREET. 

1845. 






!<?--. 5 






PREFACE. 



One of the most important works that have ever been written respecting 
Ireland, is the history of the Abbe Mac-Geoghegan. It may be a matter of 
surprise to the unthinking, that this most valuable and interesting history has 
not before this been translated into English ; but this surprise must be lessened 
when we reflect, that, besides the distracted situation of this country, and the 
passions that have agitated her' different sects and parties, there were other more 
powerful causes which might have prevented the publication of the great truths 
contained in this rare history of Ireland. 

Under such circumstances it cannot be wondered at, that an impartial history, 
which has made known to France and to the Continent the wrongs and the 
sufferings of Ireland, and one that has accurately displayed the conduct of her 
enemies, and the struggles of her friends, should, even to this period, be unknown 
to the English reader. 

The elegantly written calumnies of Hume have been generally circulated, 
while the plain truths of Mac-Geoghegan have been suppressed. 

The circumstances which have given an impetus to the circulation of fiction, 
and the discountenancing of fact, are now at an end. The bad passions of Irish- 
men are subsiding, and the settlement of a great question (Catholic Emancipation) 
has taken away from all parties an interest in the concealment of what was just, 
while it has given to the people of all classes an inducement to know the truth 
alone, and nothing but the truth. With these objects solely, the translation of the 
work of the Abbe Mac-Geoghegan has been undertaken. 

The history of Ireland is generally complained of even in Ireland, while the 
ignorance of it in England has entailed upon Irishmen great and innumerable 
calamities. It is only by a knowledge of our country, that Englishmen can 
know how to estimate its worth, and, until a full and accurate knowledge of all 
its circumstances are attained, can the country expect justice to be done tc it. 
Those, therefore, should be deemed the best friends to Ireland, who exert 



themselves to induce their fellow-men to study her character, to know her situation, 
and to appreciate her value. 

With such objects has the author of this Translation undertaken the risk of 
giving to both countries the work of the Abbe Mac-Geoghegan ; and from Irish- 
men at least, he looks with confidence for that support and patronage which 
patriotism alone should induce them to afford him. 

He begs the liberty, therefore, of subscribing himself their very humble and 
devoted servant, 

PATRICK O'KELLY. 

N. B. Some portions of this valuable history were unavoidably omitted in the 
former edition, translated by Mr. CPKelly, but they shall be inserted in this 
edition, which has been carefully revised and corrected by the Translator. 










. 



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cJ^sJsy/.i 9///?/ //,>/// //,/- ._ /"/y //r/ y r / 

TWE A BIBS 1IA€ (&!©(&IHnS(SJJf 
BY FATMIfK (GfKELLY, ES Q" 




Qyfy/?/y7/,//f 



(from the STotOl) 



Hew 5nfcB& J.Sadlia 



DEDICATION 



TO THE IRISH TROOPS IN THE SERVICE OF FRANCE. 



Gentlemen, 

To you I owe the homage of my labor ; you owe to it the honor of your 
protection. The history of Ireland belongs to you, as being that of your ances- 
tors ; it is their shades that I invoke in a foreign land ; it is their glory that I recall. 
The records of their exploits and virtues, which fill a space of so many ages, I 
here bring to your review. 

Among all the virtues, whereof you shall see so many brilliant examples, you 
will remark two that were peculiarly dear to your ancestors, viz., an ardent 
zeal for the true religion so soon as they were made acquainted with it, and an 
inviolable fidelity to their kings : such are the qualities, gentlemen, which still 
characterize you. 

Europe, towards the end of the last century, was surprised to see your fathers 
abandon the delights of a fertile country, renounce the advantages which an 
illustrious birth had given them in their native land, and tear themselves from their 
possessions, from kindred, friends, and from all that nature and fortune had made 
dear to them ; she was astonished to behold them deaf to the proposals of a liberal 
usurper, and following the fortunes of a fugitive king, to. seek with him, in foreign 
climes, fatigues and danger, content with their misfortune, as the seal of their 
fidelity to unhappy masters. 

France, which among so many virtues (of which she is a model) places in the 
first rank loyalty to her kings, was delighted to see those strangers dispute with 
her the glory of it : she gladly opened to them a generous bosom, being persuaded 
that men so devoted to their princes, would not be less so to their benefactors ; 
and felt a pleasure in seeing them march under her banners. Your ancestors have 
not disappointed her hopes. Nervinde, Marseilles, Barcelona, Cremona, Luzara, 



fa DEDICATION. 

Spire, Castiglione, Almanza, Villa Viciosa,* and many other places, witnesses of 
their immortal valor, consecrated their devotedness for the new country which 
had adopted them. France applauded their zeal, and the greatest of monarchs 
raised their praise to the highest pitch by honoring them with the flattering title of 
" his brave Irishmen." 

The example of their chiefs animated their courage ; the Viscounts Mount- 
cashelf and Clare, X the Count of Lucan,§ the Dillons, Lees, Rothes, O'Donnels, 
Fitzgeralds, Nugents, and Galmoys,|| opened to them on the borders of the 
Meuse, the Rhine, and the Po, the career of glory, while the O'Mahonys, Mac- 
Donnels, Lawlesses, the Lacys, the Burks, O'Carrols, Craftons, Comerford, 
Gardner, and O'Connor, crowned themselves with laurels on the shores of the 
Tagus. 

The neighboring powers wished to have in their service the children of those 
great men ; Spain retained some of you near her throne. Naples invited you to 
her fertile country : Germany called you to the defence of her eagles. The Taffs, 
the Hamiltons, 0'Dwyers,H Browns, Wallaces, and O'Neills, supported the ma- 
jesty of the empire, and were intrusted with its most important posts. The ashes 
of Mareschal Brown,** are every day watered with the tears of the soldiers to 
whom he was so dear, while the O'Donnels, Maguires, Lacys, and others, en- 
deavored to form themselves after the example of that great man. 

Russia, that vast and powerful empire, an empire which has passed suddenly 
from obscurity to so much glory, wished to learn the military discipline from your 
corps. Peter the Great, that penetrating genius and hero, the creator of a nation 
which is now triumphant, thought he could not do better than confide that essential 
part of the art of war to the Field Mareschal de Lacy ; and the worthy daughter 
of that great emperor, always intrusted to that warrior the principal defence of 
the august throne which she filled with so much glory. Finally the Viscount 
Fermoy,tt general officer in the service of Sardinia, has merited all the confidence 
of that crown. 

But why recall those times that are so long past ? Why do I seek your heroes 
in those distant regions ? Permit me, Gentlemen, to bring to your recollection 
that great day, for ever memorable in the annals of France ; let me remind you. 
of the plains of Fontenoy, so precious to your glory ; those plains were in con- 

* M. de Venddme, called the Chevalier de Bellerive, who had a particular esteem for that warlike 
nation, at the head of whose sons he had fought so many battles and gained so many victories, 
confessed that he was surprised at the dreadful feats that these army-butchers (as he called them) 
had performed in his presence. — Camp de Vendome, p. 224. 

t M'Carthy. t O'Brien. § Sarsfield. II Butler. 

II General O'Dvvyer was commander of Belgrade. 

** He was nephew of General Brown. 

tt Roche, otherwise de la Roche. 



DEDICATION. 



cert with chosen French troops, the valiant Count of Thomond* being at your 
head, you charged with so much valor an enemy so formidable ; animated by the 
presence of the august sovereign who rules over you, you contributed with so 
much success, to the gaining of a victory, which, till then, appeared doubtful. 
Lawfeld beheld you, two years afterwards, in concert with one of the most illus- 
trious corps of France, t force intrenchments which appeared to be impregnable. 
Menin, Ypres, Tournay, saw you crown yourselves with glory under their walls, 
while your countrymen, under the standards of Spain, performed prodigies of 
valor at Campo Sancto and at Veletri. 

But while I am addressing you, a part of your corps is flying to the defence 
of the allies of Louis,:): another is sailing over the seas to seek amidst the waves 
another hemisphere, the eternal enemies of his empire. § 

Behold, gentlemen, what all Europe contemplates in you ; behold herein the 
qualities which have gained esteem for you, even from your most unjust enemies. 
Could a compatriot to whom the glory of Ireland is so dear, refuse to you his 
admiration ? Accept, gentlemen, this small tribute of it. . 

Honor with your support a history, which the love for my country has 
caused me to undertake ; your protection and patronage will render this work 
respectable, and may merit some indulgence for its defects ; it should have 
none, were my labor and zeal equal to render it worthy of those to whom I 
dedicate it. 

I am, with profound respect, 
Gentlemen, 
Your very humble and most obedient servant, 

J. MAC-GEOGHEGAN. 



* At present Marescjial of France, Knight of the Order of the Holy Ghost, Commander of Lah- 
guedoc. 

t The King's Regiment. 

} The regiment of Fitzjames, composed of Irish cavalry, in the army of the Prince of Suabia, 
distinguished itself at the battle of Rosbach, against the Prussians. 

§ General Lally, with his regiment, embarked for Pondicherry. 



INTRODUCTION 



To observe order and system in writing this history, I have thought proper to 
divide it into three parts, the objects of which appeared to me equally interesting. 
The first comprises the times which had passed from the establishment of the 
Scoto-Milesians in Ireland, down to the first century ; that part, therefore, during 
which the island had been buried in the darkness of paganism, I call " Pagan 
Ireland." 

The second commences with the beginning of Christianity in that country in 
the fifth, and continues until the twelfth century : this part I call " Christian 
Ireland." 

Lastly, the third comprises the different invasions of the English, their estab- 
lishment in that country, and all that has occurred down to our time. 

In the first part, or Pagan Ireland, will be seen, first, the natural history of 
the country ; second, a critical essay on the antiquities of the Milesians ; third, 
the fabulous history of the Gadelians ; fourth, the religion and customs of the 
Milesians; fifth, their civil and . political government; sixth, their domestic and 
foreign wars ; seventh, the different names under which that country has been 
known to the natives and to strangers ; eighth, its general and particular divisions, 
its dynasties, and territories ; also, the names and origin of those who were the 
proprietors of it. 

In the second part, or Christian Ireland, will be seen, besides its profane history, 
the great progress that religion and learning had made from the fifth to the ninth 
century ; the confusion caused to the state, and the disorder which prevailed in 
the church for some time, by the invasion of the Danes ; tranquillity restored, and 
the exercise of religion re-established in its ancient splendor after the final defeat 
of those barbarians, which happened in the beginning of the eleventh century, 
until the arrival of the English towards the end of the twelfth. 

Lastly, in the third part shall be described the manner in which some English 
colonies came to establish themselves in Ireland in the twelfth century ; the wars 
which they made upon the old inhabitants of the country during four hundred 
years ; the reunion of the two people in the reign of James VI. of Scotland and 
I. of England ; finally, we shall conclude by giving a detail of the strange revolu- 
tions which have, since that time, arisen to Ireland. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



THE AUTHOR. 



The times in which the writer of this work was bom, form so remarkable an 
epoch in the History of Ireland, that, before I enter into any account of his early 
life, it may not be amiss to make some remarks upon the principal features by 
which they were characterized. Ireland was then, in very truth, suffering, 
prostrate, trodden to the earth, and ground down by every kind of oppression, the 
most iniquitous and tyrannical. Every vestige of freedom was obliterated, and 
the remnants of her ancient glory still visible, bearing the marks of recent vio- 
lence, spoke but too eloquently of the past, while they seemed but little calculated 
to awaken hopes of future amelioration. Every thing bore an aspect drear and 
desolate ; whole towns and villages were forsaken. Here stood the dilapidated 
tower ; there the ruined abbey, its altar desecrated and its shrines polluted ; 
while its inmates, hunted like the game of the hills, endeavored 

" in a strange land to find 

That rest, which at home they had sought for in vain." 

The war that placed William firmly on the English throne, and banished his 
imbecile and wretched predecessor, the unfortunate James, from the realm of his 
fathers, had been brought to a close before the walls of Limerick — " City of the 
violated treaty." The illustrious leader of Ireland's armies, Patrick Sarsfield, 
created " Earl of Lucan," and the other commanders, made their last stand within 
the walls of this city, where the articles of treaty were entered into, and in a 
short time after so basely violated, although ratified and sanctioned by the 
solemnity of an oath. And thus the " Island of the Betrayed," foolishly con- 
fiding in the honor of a monarch of England, having, besides, the apparently good 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

security of his solemn oath, fell, the victim of perfidy, perjury, and broken faith, 
into the ruthless hands of the worst and the wickedest of tyrants. Every species 
of persecution was had recourse to against the professors of the Catholic faith, 
and every inducement held out to allure the people from the religion of their 
fathers. To prevent the education of future ministers, and deprive the people of 
a priesthood — the only safeguard of a faith, and the true source for its conveyance 
from generation to generation — all the iniquitous laws of Elizabeth were strictly 
enforced against the ecclesiastical institutions for the diffusion of theological and 
philosophical information. In a word, the bloody tragedies of Henry and his 
virgin daughter's reigns were reacted, with every addition which the improved 
taste, sharpened by the experience of the actors, could suggest. 

The dreadful manner in which the Catholic clergy and people were treated, 
elicited the sympathy and commiseration of the rest of Europe. Among the 
many letters of condolence addressed to the clergy and people of Ireland during 
these times of horror, there is one from the then Supreme Pontiff, Innocent XII., 
dated at St. Mary Major, on the 10th of June, 1698. In this letter the holy 
father, after speaking in feeling language of the ordeal of persecution the church 
of Ireland had undergone, exhorts the prelates and people to confidence in the 
mercies of Him who suffered so much for the salvation of sinners. " Nor" (says 
he) " are your sufferings like those of yesterday ; they are the sufferings of cen- 
turies ; your nation, renowned for sanctity, has preserved for ages the glory of 
the faith, to your eternal honor, and the salvation of your souls. Therefore, 
suffer all things with Christian patience, knowing that the Lord will not permit 
any being to be tried beyond his strength. — As to us, our prayers shall be 
unceasing before the throne of mercy." Thus was Ireland situated in the reign 
of William. In the latter end of that reign, about the year 1698, the subject of 
this sketch was born, in the neighborhood of Mullingar, in the province of 
Leinster. His father belonged to that class commonly designated as " substantial 
country farmers," and finding in his son a desire to enter a college and prepare 
himself for the ministry, he determined to part with him, " it might be for years, 
it might be for ever," and procure him that education in a foreign college, which 
unjust laws deprived him of at home. Thus braving every danger, at a tender 
age the young aspirant embarked for France, and entered the college of Rheims, 
then celebrated for the learning and ability of its professors. 

From the time of Mr. Mac-Geoghegan's entrance into this celebrated institu- 
tion to the time of his ordination, I can find but very scanty means of information 



OF THE AUTHOR. 13 

as regards his progress. This alone is certain, that he distinguished himself as 
a student of Philosophy, and obtained, in his general examination in Theology, 
the first prize afforded by the faculty at Rheims. Having obtained his sacerdotal 
ordination, he continued still in the College, acquiring further knowledge, and 
preaching occasionally in the churches of the city. About the year 1736, our 
historian went to England as chaplain to an English gentleman, whose name 1 
have not been able to ascertain. During Mac-Geoghegan's engagement with this 
gentleman, he found means to travel into Ireland, and visit his native place. We 
may well imagine what were his feelings at the sight of the manifold sufferings 
and dreadful persecutions under which his poor countrymen were laboring. 
Having travelled through countries where his faith was triumphant, where respect 
was paid to conscientious conviction, where men were not " hanged and quar- 
tered" for worshipping God, where license was not given to a libertine soldiery 
to satiate their base appetites in defenceless villages, and there murder, in cold 
blood, large crowds of men, women, and children, he must have contemplated, in 
bitterness of heart, the melancholy scenes poor Ireland then presented. We 
next find Mr. Mac-Geoghegan in Paris, attached to one of its churches, actively 
engaged in the duties of the ministry. At this time his historical labors seem to 
have commenced : a time when exiled Irishmen displayed to the world their 
valor, their piety, and their prowess. In those days France numbered among her 
armies a corps, which none, even the most inveterate enemy of Ireland, dared 
deny to be the flower of chivalry, the saviours of France, the terror of England, — 
" The Irish Brigade." The illustrious " Dillon," foremost of the first, best of 
the good, bravest of the brave, witness to the broken treaty of Limerick, together 
with many others of his countrymen, went over to France, and there formed the 
gallant band of which he was unanimously appointed leader. In this place it is 
unnecessary to say any thing more about the " Irish Brigade." Their deeds of 
valor are matters of history : and the well-fought field of " Fontenoi," where, — at 
the soul-stirring watchword from the lips of Dillon, " Irishmen, remember 
Limerick !" — the tyrant Saxon persecutor bit the dust, or fled in confusion, before 
the thundering charge of the glorious exiles of poor Ireland, will be, while the 
world remains, the monument of their valor. 

To this Brigade our historian had the honor of being chaplain. It was in very 
truth an enviable position. With what great and good men did it not give him 
perpetual intercourse ! There was Dillon, Purcell, Cusack, Butler, and a host 
of others, in whose society Mac-Geoghegan spent much of his time. At the 



14 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

earnest request of many of the Irish exiles then in France, he compiled the 
present work in the French language, and dedicated it to the " Irish Brigade." 
As regards the merit of the work, one opinion has always prevailed, that among 
the many works already written on the subject, that by Mac-Geoghegan is 
unrivalled for discrimination, sound judgment, and freedom from all prejudice. 
Besides this, no writer could have within his reach better sources of testimony. 
The libraries of Paris, stored with the best works on Ireland, were perfectly at his 
disposal ; and as to the important affairs connected with the reigns of James the 
First and Second, there could be no better means of acquiring information than 
those within the immediate reach of our writer. Mr. Mac-Geoghegan did not 
long enjoy the well-earned fame acquired by his literary labors. In the discharge 
of his holy duties a fever attacked him, and he died in the year 1750, regretted 
by his friends, (he had no enemies,) and was buried in Paris, where a simple slab 
records his name. 



THE 



HISTORY OF IRELAND 



ANCIENT AND MODERN. 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



PEELMIIARY DISCOUESE. 



The nation which, forms the subject of 
this history is, without doubt, one of the 
most ancient in Europe. 

An idea of its history must be agreeable 
to such as are desirous of exploring its anti- 
quity. The situation of Ireland having ren- 
dered it difficult of access to invaders, her 
inhabitants lived during many ages free from 
all insult from their neighbors. They cul- 
tivated the arts, sciences, and letters, which 
they had borrowed from the most polished 
people of their time, the Egyptians and 
Phoenicians ; and the patronage which their 
princes afforded to learning, joined to the 
esteem in which they held those who made 
a profession of it, contributed much to its 
advancement. A system of government 
founded on the laws of nature and humanity, 
influenced their morals. Some princes, pos- 
sessed of a justice worthy of the first Chris- 
tians, appeared like so many stars in an 
obscure night, from time to time upon the 
throne, and gave vigor to the laws enerva- 
ted by the weakness of their predecessors.* 

Ollam Fodla, one of their monarchs, sum- 
moned a triennial assembly at Teamor,t in 
order to regulate the affairs of the state, and 
to examine into the genealogies of families. 
He established schools for the cidtivation of 
literature and philosophy, which the people 
had received from the ancients. Ugane- 
Mor, Aongus Tuirmeach, and Eocha Felioch, 
who had re-established the pentarchy, ren- 
dered jurisprudence vigorous, added new 
lustre to the laws, and granted a particular 
privilege to learning. Fearadach the Just, 
Feidlim the Legislator, Cormac Ulfada, and 
Cairbre the Second, surnamed Liffeachair, 
followed the example of their predecessors. 
The learned in jurisprudence who flourished 
in the different reigns, assisted the princes 
by their counsels. 

Learning was not the sole occupation of 
the Scoto-Milesians ; without mentioning 
their domestic wars, they often measured 

* Ante C. 720. t Afterwards called Tara. 



their arms, not only with the Picts, the Bri- 
tons, and neighboring islanders, but with 
the Romans themselves, who were then the 
masters of the world. The expeditions of 
Eocha the Second, of Aongus Ollbuagach, 
son of Fiacha the First, Aongus the First, 
Ugane-Mor, Criomthan the First, Nial the 
Great, Dathy, and the dreadful devastations 
which they committed among the Britons, 
(of which Gildas complains,) furnish suffi- 
cient proofs of it. 

The warlike character of the Scoto-Mile- 
sians appeared again, with splendor, in the 
long wars which they maintained against the 
Danes, and which lasted with doubtful suc- 
cess, from the beginning of the ninth cen- 
tury till 1014, when those barbarians were 
totally defeated at Clontarf by the valiant 
Brian Boroimhe, the monarch of the island ; 
while they abandoned to them some other 
provinces, to free themselves of so formi- 
dable an enemy. Merit was not left un- 
rewarded among them : the nobles were 
distinguished from each other, and they again 
from the people, by the number of colors, 
which each wore according to his rank. 
Enna the First ordered silver shields to be 
given to those chiefs who distinguished them- 
selves in war ; Muinemon added to them 
chains of gold, and Aldergode decreed gold 
rings as a reward to those who would dis- 
tinguish themselves in the arts and sciences. 

Lastly, the antiquaries, doctors, bards, or 
poets, called also " Fileas," were rewarded 
withlands, which had been assigned for them. 

During the fifth century, Christianity pre- 
sented new scenes in Ireland. That nation, 
so attached to the superstitions of paganism 
and idolatry, and versed in the theology of 
the Druids, became afterwards, by the preach- 
ing of the Gospel, the theatre of religion, 
and a seminary for strangers, while Gothic 
ignorance spread itself over the face of Eu- 
rope. Thus, it may be said, that the four 
first ages of Christianity were the most bril- 
liant, both of the ancient and modern histo- 
ry of that people ; but the harmony of the 



18 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



government and glory of Christianity became j 
eclipsed in the ninth century, by the frequent 
invasions of the northern barbarians, who 
had overrun, about the same period, the 
greatest part of Europe. Their incursions 
continued for two centuries with doubtful 
success ; the barbarians were often defeated, 
and in the end totally expelled. 

The constitution of the state had been so 
shaken by this war, that it could never be 
re-established, notwithstanding the efforts 
which had been made. A decay in religion, 
and corruption in the morals of the people, 
from their intercourse with the barbarians ; 
the interruption to the legitimate succession 
to the throne, which occurred about the time 
of Malachy the Second, by the intrusion of 
the provincial kings ; and the different fac- 
tions always attendant upon usurpation, 
brought insurmountable obstacles to its re- 
establishment, and were favorable circum- 
stances to the ambition and cupidity of a 
neighboring nation. 

Although history was cultivated among 
the Scoto-Milesians, more than among any 
of their contemporaries, notwithstanding also 
their great care to preserve to posterity the 
remembrance of their exploits ; yet that peo- 
ple were but little known to the learned be- 
fore Christianity. Strabo, Pomponius Mela, 
Solinus, and other writers, have made their 
ignorance appear, by giving arbitrary de- 
scriptions of this island, and by their exag- 
gerated representations of the rudeness and 
barbarity of its inhabitants. 

The English, having, in the twelfth cen- 
tury, put an end to the Irish monarchy, and 
wishing to give a color of justice to their 
usurpation, and to the tyranny which they 
exercised against the inhabitants of the coun- 
try, have, without any other title than a 
fictitious bull of Adrian the Fourth, and the 
right of the strongest, represented the Irish 
as savages, who inhabited the woods,* and 
who never obeyed the laws, as if these titles 
were sufficient for stripping them of their 
properties.! What ! that people so renowned 
in the first ages of Christianity for their 
piety and learning, and among whom the 
Anglo-Saxons themselves went, according 
to their own historians, to be instructed, 
during the centuries which preceded the in 
vasion of the English, are all of a sudden 
reduced to the condition of savages !| The 
metamorphosis is too difficult to be admitted, 

* Sylvestres Hiberni. 

t Camd. edit. Lond. p. 730. 

t " They retired hither, for the sake either of di- 
vine study, or a more chaste life." — Bede's Church 
History, b. 3, c. 27. 



and at the same time too obvious for us not 
to feel how absurd such an accusation must 
be. A nation that wishes to enslave others, 
generally treats those who will not submit to 
its laws as savages : a little attention, how- 
ever, paid to the state in which Ireland then 
was, and to the pretensions of the English, 
will easily destroy the imposture . More than 
two thousand years had already elapsed, 
during which that people, commanded by 
native princes, were governed by their own 
laws ; consequently they would not receive 
those of strangers, in whom they discovered 
neither character to inspire them with awe, 
nor power to make them obey. Although 
part of Ireland had at first submitted to the 
English, still more than two-thirds of it, far 
from bending under a yoke that seemed 
odious to them, were always under arms, to 
defend both their lives and properties against 
those tyrants. If he that repels an enemy, 
who comes armed to invade his patrimony, 
should be treated as a barbarian or a savage, 
the most polished nations and the most 
magnanimous merit the same appellations. 
Gerald Barry, a priest, and native of the 
country of Wales, in England, called in 
Latin, Cambria, (from whence is derived 
the name of Cambrensis, under which he is 
known,) was the first stranger who under- 
took to write the history of Ireland, in order 
to perpetuate the calumnies which his coun- 
trymen had already published against its 
inhabitants. 

Circumstances required that they should 
make the Irish pass for barbarians. The 
title of Henry the Second was founded only 
upon a bull obtained clandestinely from 
Pope Adrian the Fourth, an Englishman by 
birth. The cause of this bull was a false 
statement which Henry had given to the 
Pope of the impiety and barbarism of the 
Irish nation. Cambrensis was then ordered 
to verify, by writing, the statement upon 
which the granting of the bull had been 
extorted. He did not fail to intermix his 
work with calumnies, and groundless ab- 
surdities ; however, the credit of a powerful 
king knew how to make even the court of 
Rome believe them. It was in this spirit 
that Cambrensis wrote his history, and from 
thence the English authors have taken the 
false coloring under which ancient Ireland 
has been represented. Passion and interest 
made them pass over the recantation which 
Cambrensis felt himself obliged to make, in 
the latter part of his life, of several false 
and calumnious imputations, with which his 
history had been filled. Cambrensis did not 
possess the necessary requisites for an histo- 



PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 



19 



rian. History is not a mere production of 
the mind : it is an assemblage of facts, the 
arrangement of which depends alone upon 
the author. To write the history of a-country 
it is essential to know it, likewise the cha- 
racter and genius of its inhabitants, and to 
be capable of consulting its annals. Cam- 
brensis possessed none of these qualities with 
respect to Ireland, the history whereof he 
undertook to write. It is true, that he had 
been twice in that country, first through 
curiosity, in 1171, to witness the advance- 
ment of his relations and friends ; secondly, 
as preceptor of John, Earl of Mortagne, son 
of Henry the Second, to whom the king his 
father had given the title of Lord of Ire- 
land. In those two voyages he remained but 
eighteen months in Ireland, and saw about 
one third of it, which alone obeyed the Eng- 
lish ; he could not with safety put his foot 
into any other part of the kingdom. Being 
incapable of consulting the records of the 
country, (written in a language to which he 
was altogether a stranger,) he was obliged 
to substitute, instead of truth, falsehoods, 
and the productions of a prejudiced mind, 
to swell his volumes. Could a stranger, after 
spending some months at Paris, without 
knowing either the language, consulting our 
historians, or visiting the learned men of the 
country, be capable of writing a history of 
France ? If he chose to describe the morals 
and customs of the lowest among the people, 
without even alluding to the heroic virtues 
of our kings, the bravery and generosity of 
our nobles, and the acknowledged merit of 
an infinite number of our fellow-citizens ; if 
he dwelt, in fine, on what was most vile, 
without speaking of the civil and military 
government, or of the fundamental consti- 
tution of the state, could such a man aspire 
to the title of historian 1 Would it not be 
the true means of rendering the author con- 
temptible, together with his work? Such 
has been precisely the disposition and ca- 
pacity of Gerald Cambrensis. Have not the 
Irish an equal right to complain of him, as 
Josephns (in his first book against Appion) 
complains of some Greek authors who un- 
dertook' to compose the history of the Jew- 
ish war, the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
captivity of the Jews, from hearsay, without 
having been ever in the country,' or seen the 
things of which they wrote, and who, he 
said, imprudently assumed to themselves 
the title of historians 1 

Our ambitious author, wishing, as he him- 
self says, to acquire glory and immortalize 
his name* by a description of Ireland, wrote 

* " I will be r?ad by the people, and if the pre- 



five books in Latin, the three first under the 
title of " Topography of Ireland," and the 
other two under that of " Ireland conquered 
by Henry the Second." Those are indeed 
pompous titles, but are not at all applicable 
to so imperfect and weak a production ; the 
title of Topography is unfitly applied to the 
description of a whole kingdom, and the 
name of Conquest does not belong to an 
agreement made between Henry the Second 
and a part of that nation. It was under such 
titles, however, that he had the presumption 
to begin, and promise, not only the history 
of the actual state of Ireland, but also of its 
antiquities. 

It is not to be wondered at that Cambren- 
sis has succeeded so ill, and that his work 
deserves not even the name of history. He 
was prejudiced against the Irish people, and 
his ignorance of their language rendered him 
incapable of consulting their annals. He 
had seen but the few cities which were in 
the power of the English, and continued in 
the country too short a time to make the 
necessary researches ; that care he commit- 
ted to his friend Bertrand Verdon, who re- 
mained in it but six months after him ; there- 
fore the collection of materials, which could 
serve as a basis to his pretended history 
of Ireland, was so inconsiderable, and so 
filled with fiction, that he never gave even 
the description of a county, town, or village, 
not even of that part* of it which he had 
seen. He gives us for a history the fabu- 
lous narrative of four fountains, three islands, 
three lakes, and the sources of four rivers,f 
of which the Shannon, the most considera- 
ble, discharges itself, according to him, into 
the North Sea. He scarcely mentions who 
were the first inhabitants of the country. As 
to the Scoto-Milesians, who were the peace- 
ful possessors of it for more than two thou- 
sand years before his time, he contents him- 
self by saying, that there had been a con- 
tinued and uninterrupted succession of one 
hundred and eighty-one monarchs, who 
reigned over that people, but says nothing 
of their history, laws, government, or of 
their wars ; neither does he furnish any cat- 
alogue of their kings. He, in a few words, 
says that the six sons of Muredus, king of 
the province of Ulster, had made a descent 
upon Scotland. The invasions and wars of 
the Danes in Ireland he touches upon very 
lightly, but is grossly deceived, as much in 

dictions of the prophets contain in them any truth, 
I will live by fame through every age." — Cambren- 
sis, Preface. 

* Grat. Luc. cap. 10, page 100. 

t Grat. Luc. cap. 2, page 6. 



•JO 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



reference to the period of their first landing 
in that country, (which he fixes in the year 
838,) as he is respecting the name, exploits, 
and country of Gormundus. Such reveries 
he has no doubt borrowed from Geoffrey of 
Monmouth. Like certain animals, which 
wallow in mire, and prefer it to the sweet- 
est flowers,* he attached himself to what- 
ever he could discover meanest and most 
vile among the people ; unsupported like- 
wise by any written authority, or the evi- 
dence of any correct or impartial man, he 
composed an absurd collection of old wo- 
men's, sailors', and soldiers' stories, which 
he seasons with scandalous aspersions, sat- 
ires, and invectives against the nation ; nei- 
ther prince nor people, clergy, secular or reg- 
lar, are spared : he respects nothing ; every 
thing becomes the object of his calumnies 
and detraction. f Having spent five years in 
composing this fine work, the five books of 
his pretended history of Ireland came forth. 
In raptures with that new production of his 
genius, and unable to conceal his vanity, 
Cambrensis repaired to Oxford,^ where, in 
presence of learned doctors and the assem- 
bled people, he read, after the example of the 
Greeks, his topography, during three suc- 
cessive days, giving to each book an entire 
day. To render the comedy more solemn, he 
treated the whole town splendidly for three 
days : the first was appropriated to the popu- 
lace ; the second to the doctors, professors, 
and principal scholars of the university ; and 
lastly, the third day he regaled the other 
scholars, soldiers, and citizens of the town : 
" a noble and brilliant action," says Cam- 
brensis himself, " whereby the ancient cus- 
tom of the poets has been, for the first time, 
renewed in England." But unfortunately for 
him, the success did not answer his expecta- 
tions : it was easily seen, particularly at court, 
that the bad choice he had made of the mate- 
rials whereof his history had been composed, 
and the fables he had introduced into it, could 



* " He hath defiled his writings with the filthi- 
ness of the rabble : he resolved to stuff the whole 
nation with the imperfections of the populace, re- 
corded by himself, like the spider which draws poi- 
son from the thyme, from which the bee extracts 
honey. He has thus formed, from among the most 
abandoned of the Irish, a package ; leaving those 
things which he found most eminent, unnoticed. 
Whatsoever filth he discovered, appeared as a gem 
to him ; with it, as if most precious, has he ar- 
ranged his productions and work, so that, like the 
swine, he delights more in the dunghill than to en- 
joy himself amidst the sweetest odors." — Gratianus 
Lucius, p. 5, c. 41. 

t Grat. Lucius, cap. 5, p. 38. 

X Usser. Silog. edit. Par. Epist. 49, p. 84, et 85. 



be but the effect of his ignorance, or hatred 
for the Irish nation. They were not astray 
for the cause of that hatred ; besides the 
private quarrel which he had with Aubin 
O'Molloy, monk of the order of Citeaux, 
and abbot of Baltinglass, in which he was de- 
feated, and which excited his anger against 
that nation, he wished for the ruin and de- 
struction altogether of the Irish, who might 
prove an obstacle to the aggrandizement of 
his relations and friends, as appears from 
his second book on the conquest of that peo- 
ple. Nothing tends to discover* more easily 
the malignity and inconsistency of Cambren- 
sis' mind, than the extremes into which he 
lets himself be carried. Sometimes he ex- 
tols with warmth the merit of his relations, 
newly established in that country ; again he 
exclaims violently against the English and 
Normans, engaged with them in the same 
cause, against the Irish. 

"While king Henry II. lived, that prince 
was, according to him, " the Alexander of 
the west," " the Invincible," " the Solomon 
of his age," " the most pious of princes," 
who had the glory of repressing the fury of 
the gentiles, not only of Europe, but like- 
wise of Asia, beyond the Mediterranean. 
The most extravagant phrases which the re- 
fined flatterer could invent were not spared 
in extolling him, contrary to reason and 
common sense ; for example, he did not 
blush to say of that prince, that his victo- 
ries and conquests were limited only by the 
circumference and extremities of the earth. 
However, so soon as the king was dead, (as 
David Powell remarks,) he broke forth into 
a thousand invectives against his memory, 
in the book entitled " The Instructions of a 
Prince," and gave free vent to his ancient 
enmity against him. That alone should 
suffice to characterize this author, and to 
show to what little credit eveiy thing else 
which he advanced is entitled. 

The reproaches which were directed 
against Cambrensis for having inserted in 
his writings so much fabulous matter, obliged 
him to recant what he had advanced, both 
by an apology, inserted in the preface to his 
book, called " The Conquest of Ireland," and 
in a treatise on " Recantation." In these 
he acknowledges that, although he had 
learned from men of that country, worthy of 
belief, many things which he mentions, he 
had followed the reports of the vulgar in 
many others ; but he thinks as St. Augustine, 
in his book on " The City of God," that we 
should not positively affirm, nor absolutely 

* Grat. Luc. c. 7, p. 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, &c. 



PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 



21 



deny, the things we have only from hearsay 
Sir James Ware, in his " Antiquities of Ire- 
land," knew how to appreciate with justice 
the merit of our author. The following is 
the opinion he holds of him : " Cambrensis," 
said he, " has collected into his topography 
so-many fabulous things, that it would require 
an entire volume to discuss it correctly." In 
the mean time he warns the reader to peruse 
it with caution ; he then adds, " That it 
astonishes him how men of his time, other- 
wise grave and learned, could have imposed 
upon the world, by giving as truths the fic- 
tions of Cambrensis."* 

But, notwithstanding these incontestable 
proofs of the fallacy and imposture in the 
writings of this discredited author, and al- 
though they had lain 400 years in obscurity, 
until 1602, when Camden had them publish- 
ed at Frankfort, all who have spoken of the 
Irish since that period, but particularly the 
English, have no other foundation for their 
abuses against them than the authority of 
that impostor. The evil has become so 
general throughout Europe, that in most 
books and geographical treatises, wherein 
there is mention of the manners and customs 
of nations, we find upon the Irish only the 
poisoned darts which Cambrensis had di- 
rected against them.f 

After the character now drawn of Cam- 
brensis, let the judicious and impartial reader 
judge if he can be considered as a grave 
historian, and one worthy of credit ; or if he 
should not, on the contrary, be looked upon 
as a libeller and impostor, who sought, by 
amusing the public with absurd tales, to 
disgrace, against all truth and justice, an 
entire nation. All others among the English 
who have undertaken to write the history of 
Ireland, particularly since the Reformation, 
have, " like the asp that borrows the venom 
of the viper,"| taken tn * same tone as Cam- 
brensis, and faithfully followed his tracks ; 
among that number are, Hanmer, Campion, 
Spencer, Camden, &c. By breathing the 



* " Many things concerning Ireland could be no- 
ticed in this place as fabulous, which Cambrensis 
hath heaped together in his topography. To analyze 
or descant upon each would require a whole tract. 
Caution should be particularly applied by the reader 
to his topography, which Giraldus himself confesses. 
I cannot but express my surprise, how men now-a- 
days, otherwise grave and learned, have obtruded 
on the world the fictions of Giraldus for truths." — 
Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, c. 23. 

t Grat. Luc. c. 1, page 4. 

X " They are borne by a similar propensity to tra- 
duce the Irish, (as it is expressed in the proverb,) 
the asp borrows poison from the viper." — Grutianm 
Lucius, c. 1, p. 3. 



same air as he, they were animated by the 
same spirit, and have inherited all his hatred 
against the Irish. 

It is then but reasonable that every stran- 
ger of good discernment should distrust all 
that has appeared on the affairs of Ireland 
from the pens of such authors, and from those 
who have followed their footsteps ; it is a 
rare virtue in an enemy to render justice to 
his adversary, and there are none from 
whom we could less expect it than from the 
English. Their natural presumption, in- 
flamed by success, has caused them to act 
at all times as if they were exempt from 
following the ordinary rules of justice and 
humanity towards those whose bad fortune 
had submitted to their laws. For the truth 
of this statement we can call upon the testi- 
mony of the Welch, the Scotch, and other 
nations, over whom they have ruled during 
some time. As to Ireland, we can assert that 
they have never ceased to govern it with a 
rod of iron. Would it be, then, reasonable 
to attach belief to all that such masters have 
disseminated throughout the world in order 
to palliate their own injustice ? 

The same motives which actuated Cam- 
brensis in the twelfth century, have guided 
the pens of the English historians since the 
Reformation. The Irish could never bring 
themselves to renounce the religion of their 
forefathers, or embrace the new maxims of 
the reformers ; their perseverance in the 
simplicity of the primitive faith has become 
a pretext for dispossessing them of the pat- 
rimony of their ancestors, and for turning 
their most unoffending acts into pretended 
causes for condemning them. When the 
strong man has resolved to oppress the weak, 
it is easy to find a cause for his oppression, 
and give to it an appearance of justice. 

The history of Lord Clarendon would 
appear to merit some respect in public esti- 
mation, by the rank of state minister, which 
he held under the kings Charles I. and II. ; 
but every prepossession in his favor will 
lose much of its weight when it is known, 
that that minister contributed much to the 
dreadful fate of the father, and intended 
also to ruin the son, by the excessive regard 
he manifested through life for the parlia- 
mentarians, and the strong aversion he en- 
tertained towards the Catholics. His appre- 
hensions of seeing the authority of the 
parliament annihilated by a victorious king, 
caused him to use all his influence and arti- 
fice with Charles I. to divert him from the 
good use he should have made of his victo- 
ries. His hatred to the Catholics made 
him thwart every offer of service which the 



'.'•J 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



confederates of Ireland continued to make to 
the king against his rebellious parliament, 
offers of service for which they asked no 
other recompense than a moderate liberty 
in the exercise of their religion. Although 
the king had, on various occasions, consent- 
ed to receive them, that minister, with his 
associates, contrived to render them unavail- 
ing. Clarendon displayed anew, under 
Charles II., when restored, the surprising 
effect of the two passions which guided him. 
The wicked Cromwellians, who merited t&e 
heaviest punishments that could be inflicted, 
were rewarded at the expense of the faithful 
Irish, the properties of a great number of 
whom were sacrificed to the detestable max- 
im which Clarendon, in order to cover his 
flagrant injustice, influenced the young king, 
too easily led, to adopt ; it was, " Win your 
enemies by doing good to them : you will 
be always sure of your friends." The above 
facts had passed before Clarendon wrote his 
history ; he was obliged to adopt every thing 
that malice and self-interest could excite 
among the Cromwellians, for the purpose 
of blackening the Irish, and palliating his 
own conduct. 

Doctor Burnet found it too much his in- 
terest, in the revolution which happened in 
the reign of James II., not to give to that 
event the most specious coloring. Unable 
to amass a fortune by an upright course, he 
became a preacher and firebrand of sedition. 
The rich bishopric of Salisbury was too con- 
siderable a reward for a venal writer, who 
was not curbed by the reins either of probity 
or religion ; still the refusal given him by 
the prince of Orange, of the archbishopric 
of Canterbury, armed him against his bene- 
factor, and caused him to unveil truths that 
were not honorable to that prince's memory. 
How much vanity and self-interest guided 
the haughty and insatiable mind of that pre- 
late, it was quickly discovered by his ingra- 
titude. The stranger will perceive what 
esteem can be due to his writings, from the 
sound refutation given to his two first books 
on the Reformation, by Joachim le Grand, in 
his history upon the divorce of Henry VIII. 
and Catherine of Aragon : it was published 
at Paris, in three volumes duodecimo, in 
1688 ; that author took in it the defence of 
Sanderus against him. 

Every thing which I have said concern- 
ing the characters of Clarendon and Burnet, 
will be admitted by every honorable man in 
England. The memoirs of Higgins, an 
English gentleman of acknowledged probity; 
bear ample testimony of it. Among all the 
histories of England which have appeared in 



foreign countries, that of Rapin Thoiras 
merits a preference, both for the order and 
perspicuity of its details, and arrangement 
of its materials. It should not be matter for 
surprise to see an author, who had been 
brought up in the Presbyterian principles, 
avow himself on every occasion, opposed. to 
the pontifical authority ; it is but acting in- 
genuously according to his own maxims and 
opinions ; the enlightened reader cannot be 
mistaken in that. The efforts which he has 
used for preserving the appearance of im- 
partiality between the factions that had torn 
the state under the reign of Charles I., 
merit our regard. Although he appears to 
favor the parliamentarians, the royalists 
may derive great advantage from what the 
force of truth had drawn from the mouth of 
an advocate pensioned by their opponents ; 
we discover in him much less acrimony upon 
the affairs of Ireland, than among the gene- 
rality of English historians ; he furnishes 
many arguments that could be well applied 
in vindication of that country. 

Father D'Orleans is far less excusable for 
the little justice he has done to Ireland, in 
his superficial and mutilated account of the 
wars in that country, with which he closes 
his history of the revolutions in England. 
There is much cause for suspecting that this 
father let himself be guided by some one 
interested to advance the honor of England. 
Surely, the vigorous defence which Ireland 
sustained for three years, ought to make that 
country blush for having surrendered itself 
to the prince of Orange, without striking a 
blow to oppose him. 

Thomas Innes, a Scotch priest, published 
at London, in 1729, a critical essay on the 
ancient inhabitants of North Britain. This 
work shows the author to have been a man 
of letters. The connection that was between 
the Scots and the ancient Scoto-Milesians, 
engaged him in a criticism on the antiquities 
of the latter, in which he makes use of but 
common-place topics. He says much, and 
proves little ; he strives to insinuate that 
all the accounts concerning the Milesians 
are founded merely on the fabulous narration 
of bards, without any tribunal having been 
appointed to examine them. No distinction 
is drawiv between the mercenary rhymers, 
who went from house to house, and those who 
were employed by the state, whose writings 
were subjected to the judgment of the assem- 
bly at Teamor. This writer upbraids also the 
Milesians, with the contradictions of their 
historians, concerning their antiquities, and 
the epochs of their history ; but ought we to 
suspect the authority of the Bible, because 



PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 



23 



the calculations of the Hebrews, the Greeks, 
and the Latins, all differ with regard to the 
years of the world, since the creation up to 
the Christian era 1 This author would have 
to answer the same objections for the writers 
of his own country. Fordun, Major, Boyce, 
Buchanan, and others, are not in accordance 
upon every subject. But it was reserved for 
our author to contradict them all, and to sap 
the foundation of everything they advanced 
concerning their antiquities. From a chain 
of possible propositions and self-conjectures, 
he asserts with confidence that the Scots 
were a people different from the Milesians, 
who established themselves in Ireland about 
the time of the Christian era. His words 
are the following: 

" It is possible," he says, " that the Mile- 
sians might have been established in Ireland 
many centuries before the Incarnation, and 
that there had been among them, as among 
other people, a succession of kings of their 
race, since Heremon, without the Milesians 
having been properly the same as those who 
were afterwards called Scots, and without 
the latter having been established in that 
island before the Incarnation, at which period 
they settled there as conquerors, and made 
themselves masters of the government, as 
the Franks had done in Gaul, the Goths and 
Suevi in Spain, the Vandals in Africa, and 
the Saxons in Britain." Behold a system 
founded upon possibilities ; he wants only to 
give reality to it ; it is that which embarrasses 
our critic ; " because he finds no contempora- 
ry writer to attest it, not even among the Mi- 
lesians, who possessed (according to him) 
neither monuments, nor the use of letters, 
before the time of St. Patrick." Our critic 
has no apparent respect for M'Kenzie, his 
countryman, who is equally as he entitled 
to credit ; and affirms that he saw many 
ancient Irish manuscripts ; among others a 
history of the kings of Ireland, written by 
Carbre Liffechair, monarch of the island, 
about the time of the Incarnation, and conse 
quently long before St. Patrick. The infer- 
ence which he draws from the real conquests 
of the neighboring countries by the barba- 
rians, to establish a chimerical conquest of 
Ireland in the first century by the Scots, 
is a false reasoning. On one side they are 
supported by monuments which cannot be 
doubted, and by the unanimous consent of 
all the world ; on the other, it is founded, 
according to the declaration of our critic, on 
conjectures only, and inferences that are 
merely plausible. For want of authority he 
raises other batteries, and draws from con- 
sequences, results which were inseparable 



from revolutions that had happened in other 
countries, without losing sight of the paral- 
lel between the Scots and the Franks. He 
quotes Ptolemy, and some other writers of 
antiquity, without deriving from them any 
real advantage ; but the silence of foreigners 
regarding the name " Scot," before the third 
or fourth century, makes him triumph in his 
expedient. Must we not know a people be- 
fore we can tell them by their name ? The 
Scoto-Milesians were, without contradiction, 
better known to the ancient Greeks and 
Phoenicians than to the modern Greeks. 
The latter, weakened by the great wars they 
had to maintain against the Persians, the Ma- 
cedonians, and the Romans, were obliged to 
neglect that commerce which their prede- 
cessors had kept up with the Milesians ; and 
the Romans, who never made a descent upon 
their island, knew them only by the incur- 
sions which they, in conjunction with the 
Picts, made into Britain, and from thence 
foreigners call them indiscriminately " Hi- 
berni" and " Scoti ;" names that were then 
synonymous, and which, in the sense of the 
authors who used them, signified the same 
people. Lastly, all the strength of the argu- 
ments of Innes, is founded upon false prin- 
ciples, and tends but to overturn, by con- 
jectures and negative arguments, a system 
adopted by the most learned historians of his 
nation. Against the antiquities of the Mile- 
sians, he advanced again many other diffi- 
culties, which I shall examine in the course 
of these memoirs. 

The author of the age of Louis XIV. gives 
a description of the last wars in Ireland, 
with but little advantage to her inhabitants. 
Besides the impressions which this writer 
has received among the English, incapable 
of doing justice to any people whom they 
oppress, he has too scrupulously followed 
the accounts given in Holland by the refu- 
gees, who were equally attached to the glory 
of the prince of Orange as to the interests 
of a religion, the support of which was ap- 
parently the motive for his usurpation and 
tyranny. His prejudices have influenced 
him to represent the Irish, whom he allows 
to be good soldiers in France and Spain, as 
a people that always fought badly at home ; 
the passage of the Boyne by the prince of 
Orange, he describes as one of those bold 
enterprises which should astonish the world, 
and compares it to the passage of the Gran- 
icus by Alexander the Great, or of the 
Rhine by Louis XIV. 

Although the lively representations and 
brilliant style of an author may darken truth 
in the eyes of a reader whom they charm, 



24 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



they have not always the same effect upon 
the minds of a more enlightened and less 
prejudiced world. The Irish are equally 
brave in every country. If they appear to 
be more so in France and Spain than at 
home, it arises from this, that they are bet- 
ter trained in foreign countries, where they 
enjoy the advantages of learning the milita- 
ry discipline, for which they have a natural 
turn, which opportunity is denied to them 
in their own country. Their conduct in the 
last wars of Ireland, about which our author 
appears as little informed as he is about their 
supposed want of resistance at the battle of 
the Boyne, takes nothing from their valor ; 
King James had, according to the author's 
acknowledgment, but about twenty thousand 
men, viz., nearly six thousand French and 
fifteen thousand Irish. The latter were 
troops newly raised, undisciplined, badly 
provided, and still worse armed. The prince 
of Orange had thirty-six thousand veteran 
troops, all English and Dutch. The river 
Boyne, which is always fordable in summer, 
and has often not more than three or four 
feet of water in many places, was no great 
obstacle to their passing it. The reader, 
therefore, may judge of the disproportion 
and inequality of the two armies. The fate 
of the day could be easily foreseen. On the 
one side were twenty thousand men, three- 
fourths of whom scarcely knew how to 
handle a musket, and commanded by a king 
who, naturally kind-hearted, felt some com- 
passion for the English, whom he considered 
as his subjects, though armed against him ; 
on the other, an army much superior in 
numbers and experience, commanded by the 
prince of Orange, who, although more ac- 
customed to lose battles than to gain them, 
was a very formidable enemy in the present 
conjuncture. As our author affects to be 
silent on every thing that passed favorable 
to the Irish nation during this war, he makes 
no mention of a singular action which oc- 
curred while the English were crossing 
the river : three or four Irish gentlemen, 
having advanced into it with pistols in their 
hands, shot Marshal Schombergh, in the 
midst of the English army, having taken 
him for the prince of Orange. He omits 
also to mention the resistance made by the 
Clare dragoons and other troops against the 
army of Schombergh, at the passage of Old- 
bridge ; they were forced on the second 
attack to give way, after having left a num- 
ber killed upon the spot. As to the prince 
of Orange, who proceeded up the river to 
Slane, with half the army, which he com- 
manded in person, he had no great difficulty 



to chase away two regiments of dragoons 
who were guarding that passage ; but every 
opposition became unavailing. The king did 
not wait the event of the battle ; escorted 
by some chosen troops, he took the route for 
Dublin, where, stopping for a day, he pro- 
ceeded thence to Waterford, and there em- 
barked for France. The rest of the army, 
seeing themselves without a chief, marched 
towards Limerick ; the brigade of Surlau- 
ben formed the rear-guard, which the prince 
of Orange did not dare to attack. The other 
French troops took the road for Cork and 
Kinsale, and embarked there. Thus ended 
without a battle the passage of the Boyne, 
so much boasted of by English and Dutch 
historians, of whom our author is but the 
echo, and which, in truth, should not add 
much to the laurels of the prince of Orange. 

Our author says nothing of the first siege 
of Limerick, so glorious to the Irish, who 
overthrew the enemy, already in possession 
of the breach and part of the city ; they 
drove them back even to their camp. This 
action made the prince of Orange raise the 
siege, and make to his troops this reproach- 
ful remark, which was as glorious to the 
besieged, as it was humiliating to the be- 
siegers ; — " Yes," said he, " if I had this 
handful of men who defend the place against 
you, and that you all were within, I would 
take it in spite of you." His retreat was so 
precipitate that he set fire to the hospital, 
to cover the shame of having abandoned his 
sick and wounded. The battle of Aughrim 
which was fought the year following, and 
where the Irish troops, though vanquished, 
performed prodigies of valor, and the second 
siege of Limerick, the obstinate defence of 
which obtained a capitulation, the most im- 
portant and advantageous that has been ever 
witnessed, were equally honorable to the 
Irish nation : but our author passes sudden- 
ly from the Boyne to the second siege of 
Limerick, without mentioning the glorious 
actions that occurred, in the interval. Per- 
haps he was ignorant of them, or if not, 
that he wished to minister to the honor of 
this hero ; it has been long since said of him, 
what Camden* said of Buchanan, that he 
was a better poet than a writer of history ; 
" Buchananus poeta optimus." 

The memory of these events is too recent, 
and there still exist too many living witnesses 
of the valor of our people on that occasion, 
that false representations should gain credit 
in our days ; but posterity cannot avoid 
adopting the errors which they will find dif- 

* Brit. edit. Lond. p. 89. 



OF PAGAN IRELAND. 



25 



fused throughout the writings of prejudiced 
and ill-informed historians, if there be not 
placed now before their eyes matter where- 
with to undeceive them. How can it be 
supposed that the stranger will be upon his 
guard against the dishonorable imputations 
with which these authors have loaded their 
writings against the Irish, if it be not made 
known that those who have robbed the Irish 
of their possessions are likewise interested 
to rob them of their honor. 

It is to be regretted, that among so many 
learned men, of whom Ireland justly boasts, 
none have taken the trouble of writing a 
regular history of their country. It appears 
that the Danes, who, by their invasions, 
infested Ireland for two centuries, had de 
stroyed part of her ancient monuments ; those 
barbarous invaders taking delight to destroy 
churches, abbeys, and other places which 
served as depositories of leading. Ireland 
had hardly time to breathe, after having 
shaken off the yoke of the Danes, when she 
fell under that of the English. These new 
masters made it a maxim of their policy to 
abolish the use of the language and of let 
ters among the Irish. These reasons, added 
to the little encouragement given, since the 
invention of printing, to a nation oppressed 
and overwhelmed with the weight of tyranny 
have caused those venerable remains of anti- 
quity to lie buried in obscurity. The interest 
which I take in every thing that concerns 
Ireland, makes me often sigh for the addi- 
tional misfortune which the general igno- 
rance of its history produces, and has long 
since inspired me with a desire of remedy- 
ing that evil. 

In writing the history of Ireland, I have no 
pretensions farther than to give an abridg- 
ment of it : too happy shall I feel, if able to 
smooth the way, or give emulation to others 
who may have more leisure or capability 
than I. My desire is to give to the stranger 
an idea of its history, and to preserve in his 
mind the sorrowful remembrance of an ex- 
piring nation. It is for him I write, in order 
to efface from his thoughts the bad impres- 
sions he may have received of it. It is he 
whom I am ambitious to satisfy, through 
gratitude for the protection given to the 
exiled portion of that nation, against which 
tyranny has pronounced this dreadful sen- 
tence, 

" Veteres migrate coloni ;" 

and from whom the remembrance of Sion 
often draws a sigh — " Flevimus cum recor 
daremur Sion." 



PART I. 

OF PAGAN IRELAND. 



CHAPTER I. 

NATURAL HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Ireland, one of the most considerable 
islands of Europe, is situated in the Atlantic 
Ocean to the west of England, and extends 
from the 50th to the 55th degree of north 
latitude, and from the eighth to the twelfth 
degree of west longitude. Its form is nearly 
oval ; from Fair-head in the north to Mizen- 
head in the south, its length is about three 
hundred miles ;* in breadth from east to 
west, it is one hundred and sixty miles, and 
about 1400 in circumference ; it contains 
about eighteen millions of acres, English 
measure. The distance of Ireland from Great 
Britain varies according to the inequality 
of the coasts of the two countries : some 
of the northern parts are„but fifteen miles 
from Scotland ; however, the general dis- 
tance from England is forty-five miles, more 
or less, according to the different' position 
of the coasts. Ireland is two hundred and 
twenty miles distant from France, four hun- 
dred and forty from Spain, and about four- 
teen hundred and forty from New France in 
America. In the northern parts, the longest 
day is seventeen hours twelve minutes, and 
in the most southern, sixteen hours twenty- 
five minutes. From its being situated in 
one of the temperate zones, the climate is 
mild and agreeable. Although less extended 
than Britain, says Orosius, " Ireland is, 
from the temperature of its climate, better 
supplied with useful resources."! Isidore 
says, " It is smaller than Britain, but more 
fertile, from its situation."}: - The venerable 
Bede confirms the opinions of these writers: 
he observes, that " Ireland greatly surpasses 
Britain in the healthfulness and serenity of 
its air."fy Cambrensis adds, that " of all cli- 

* Stanihurst, de reb. in Hib. gest. 1. p. 15. 

t " This is more peculiar to Britain : in its extent 
of land it is narrower, but in heat and climate it 
takes precedence." — Orosius Hist, book 1, c. 2. 

t " It is narrower in extent, but more fruitful, 
from its situation." — Isidorus in his Book of OH. 
gins, c. 6, book 14. 

§ " Ireland is, by far, superior to Britain, from its 
serenity and salubrity of climate." — Bede's Church 
Hist., book 1, c. 1. 



^> 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



mates Ireland is the most temperate." " Nei- 
ther extraordinary heat in summer is felt 
there, nor excessive cold in winter.* That 
country," he adds, " is so blessed in these 
particulars, that it seems as if nature looked 
upon it with a more favorable eye than on 
any other."t 

The testimony, however, of Cambrensis 
appears somewhat doubtful and exaggerated. 
Rain, snow, and frost, are not unfrequent 
during the winters in Ireland ; from its ex- 
posure to the exhalations of an immense 
ocean, and those which the westerly winds 
from America bear to it, and which are not 
interrupted in their course by any other 
land, nor opposed by the contrary action of 
the continental winds, it must naturally be 
subject to such vicissitudes of climate. It 
must be observed, that the English writers 
have always endeavored to heighten the 
excellence of the climate of Ireland, and 
fertility of its soil, not forgetting at the same 
time to lower the merit of the inhabitants, 
and to render them contemptible. We shall 
have an opportunity to discuss hereafter 
their motives for this two-fold exaggeration. 
Cambrensis, who extols so much the fertility 
of that island, represents the inhabitants as 
a people without morals, comparing them 
to undisciplined savages, that will not sub- 
mit to be governed by laws. Camden, an- 
other English author, says, that " if that 
country had sometimes a bad character, it 
arose from the rudeness of its inhabitants. 
We shall not at present reply to the invec- 
tives of these writers ; we will have an op- 
portunity of doing it in another place. If 
ferocity and rudeness go generally hand in 
hand, does it become the English to dis- 
parage their neighbors with such epithets 
of abuse 1 

The moisture of the Irish climate, to- 
gether with the great number of lakes and 
bogs that are to be found throughout that 
country, caused by the stagnation of the 
waters after the tillage and culture of its 
lands had been interrupted, in the ninth 
and tenth centuries, by the frequent inva- 
sion of the northern barbarians, must, it 
would appear, render that country unwhole- 
some, and be the cause of rheumatism, dys- 
entery, and other distempers : they are only 
strangers, however, that are subject to be 

* " Of all countries it is the most temperate. 
Neither the burning heat of summer impels to the 
shade, nor the rigor of the winter invites man to the 
fire, At all seasons a peouliar mildness of climate 
prevails." — Topography of Ireland, c. 25. 

t " Nature has bestowed on Ireland a mildness 
of look and climate." — Cambrensis, p. 727. 



attacked by these disorders, the natives 
generally escape, and live to an advanced 
age. Men have been often discovered to 
have lived to a great age in that country, 
whom sickness had seldom visited before 
death. " The climate of that country," says 
Cambrensis, " is so temperate, that neither 
infectious fogs, nor pestilential winds are 
felt, so that the aid of doctors is seldom 
looked for, and sickness rarely appears, ex- 
cept among the dying."* 

Ireland is intersected by a great number 
of rivers and lakes. In the province of 
Leinster we find the Barrow, which takes its 
rise in the mountains called Slieve-Bloemy, 
in the Queen's county, formerly Leix : it 
runs through part of the county of Kildare 
and Carlow, and empties itself into the sea 
at Waterford, with the Nore and the Suire. 

The Nore has its rise in the Queen's 
county, waters that of Kilkenny, and then 
loses itself in the Barrow, some miles above 
Ross. 

The Boyne, which rises in the King's 
county, runs through Castlejordon, Bally- 
bogan, Clonard, Trim, and Navan, in East 
Meath : its waters are increased by many 
other small rivers, and it falls into the sea 
at Drogheda. 

The LifFey has its rise in the county of 
Wicklow, and makes a circuitous course 
through the county of Kildare, where many 
small rivers unite their streams with it. At 
Leixlip, within seven miles of Dublin, a very 
high cascade is formed, where the waters 
tumble from the top of a sharp rock ; in the 
language of the country it is called " Leim- 
en-Uradane," in English " The Salmon's 
Leap." The country people say, that when 
the salmon strives to reascend the river in 
that place, it leaps holding its tail between 
its teeth, in order to pass the rock : but if it 
fail in the attempt, which frequently happens 
from the height of the rock and rapidity of 
the water, it is caught in baskets, which the 
fishermen are careful to place at the bottom 
to take them. The LifFey passes through 
Lucan and Palmerstown, and, after forming 
some smaller cascades in its course, empties 
itself into the sea at Dublin. 

The Slaney takes its rise in the county 
of Wicklow, and, after running through 
Baltingglass and Enniscorthy, falls into the 
sea at Wexford. 

Lastly, the Iny and the Brosnagh, the 

* " So great is its temperature of climate, that 
neither the infectious cloud, nor pestilential air, nor 
noxious blast, requires the aid of the physician ; few 
men, except the dying, will be found infected with 
disease." — Topography of Ireland, 1, c. 27. 



OF PAGAN IRELAND. 



27 



first of which rises in Lake Ennil, the latter 
in the King's county, lose themselves in the 
Shannon, one in the lake called Lough Ree, 
the other near Banagher. 

The chief rivers of Ulster are: the Bann 
which rises in the county of Down, and toge- 
ther with the river Tonwagee, runs through 
the great lake called Lough Neagh ; having 
then the county of Antrim to the right, and 
Derry on the left, it forms in its course a 
more considerable cataract than the Liffey 
at Leixlip : it passes then through Coleraine, 
and falls into the ocean. This river is con- 
sidered to be one of the best in Europe for 
its fishery of salmon, eel, and other fish.* 

The Morne flows from the county of Ty- 
rone, and being joined by the Derg and the 
Finn, which have their sources from two 
lakes of the same name in the county of 
Donegal, they run in the same channel, and 
after crossing Strabane and Derry, fall into 
Lough Foyle, and from thence into the ocean . 
The Earn, the source of which is on the 
borders of the counties of Longford and 
Cavan, crosses the latter, and falls into a 
lake of the same name, in the county of 
Fermanagh, and from thence passes, by 
Ballyshannon, into the ocean. 

The Swilly, in the county Donegal, falls 
into a lake of the same name, which com 
municates with the ocean. 

The river Laggan, in the county Down, 
passes through Dromore, Lisburn, and Bel- 
fast, and falls into Carrickfergus Bay. 

The Newry, after having served for limits 
to the counties of Armagh and Down, falls 
into the sea at Carlingford. 

The Shannon, which can by a fair title be 
termed a river, is the chief one not only of 
Connaught, but of all Ireland, and deserves 
to be classed amongthe first rivers of Europe 
It is called Senna by Orosius, and has its 
source in a mountain of the county of Lei- 
trim, called Sliew-Nierin, which is so named 
from the mines of iron that are found in it. 
Its course from where it rises to its mouth is 
nearly one hundred and forty miles : many 
other rivers fall into it, and it forms several 
very considerable lakes. It waters Lanes- 
borough, Athlone, and Banagher, separating 
West Meath and Leinster from Connaught. 
From Banagher it flows to Limerick, from 
whence it bears ships of the greatest burden 
into the Western Ocean, a distance of about 
fifty miles. 

The other rivers of Connaught are not 
considerable. The Moy, in the county of 
Mayo, falls into the ocean at Killala, having 

* Ogyg. P art 3) ca P- 3. 



Tirfiacria in the county of Sligo, on its right 
bank, and Tiramalgad in the county Mayo, 
upon the left.* The Suck runs between the 
counties of Roscommon and Galway, and 
loses itself in the Shannon near Clonfert. 
The Gill, a little river in the county Galway, 
discharges itself into the bay of Galway. 

The rivers in the province of Munster are : 
the Suir, which, taking its rise in the county 
of Tipperary, on the borders of Ossory, 
passes through Thurles, Cashel, Clonmel, 
Carrick, and Waterford, and from thence 
flows with the Barrow into the sea. 

Avoine Duff or Avoine More, in English 
" Black water," has its source in the county 
of Kerry, and after watering Mallow and 
Lismore, falls into the sea at Youghal. 

The rivers Lee and Bandon, in the county 
of Cork, discharge themselves into the sea, 
the one below Cork, the other at Kinsale. 

The Leane and the Cashon, in the county 
of Kerry, empty themselves into the ocean, 
the first in the bay of Dingle, the other at 
the mouth of the Shannon. 

The most considerable lakes of Ireland 
are the following : Lough Neagh ; (lough 
signifies lake.) It is thirty miles long and 
fifteen broad ; its waters are celebrated for 
the quality they possess of changing wood 
into iron and stone .f Lough Foile, and 
Lough Earne ; these being joined by a canal, 
form two lakes. Lough Swilly, and Lough 
Cone, at present Strangford,}: in the pro- 
vince of Ulster. .There are also some other 
lakes less considerable in this province, viz : 
Lough Finn, Lough Sillin, Lough Ramor, 
Lough Reagh, Lough Eask, and Lough 
Dearg ; the last is famed for the devotion 
of the faithful, who resort there to perform 
a pilgrimage. 

The most considerable lakes of Con- 
naught are : Lough Corrib, Lough Mask, 
Lough Conn, Lough Ree, Lough Boffin, 
and Lough Allen, in the Shannon ; Lough 
Gara, Lough Aarow, and Lough Rea. 

The lakes to be met with in Munster are 
called : Lough Ogram, Lough Oulan, Lough 
Kerry, Lough Lene, and Lough Derg. 

There are in West Meath, Lough Ennil, 
Lough Hoyle, Lough Derrevarragh, &c. 

In Ireland we meet likewise with moun- 
tains, promontories, and capes. The high- 
est mountains, generally called the Curlew 
Hills, are in the county of Wicklow ; those 
in the Queen's county are Slieve Bloema, 
and in the county of Mayo, the mountains 
of Cruachan. 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 3. 

t Wareus, Antiq. Hib. cap. 7. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 49, 50. 



28 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



There are many bogs in that country,* 
where the people cut turf with narrow 
spades for fuel ; it abounds with all kinds of 
grain — wheat, rye, barley, oats, peas, &c.,t 
every thing grows there in abundance ; its 
pastures are considered the best in Europe, 
both for the quality and quantity of their 
grass, which caused Bede to say, that it 
was " an island rich in milk and honey ;" 
" dives lactis et mellis insula. "J It appears 
too, that in his time the vine was cultivated 
there ; " nee vinearum expers." 

Fruit-trees thrive well in Ireland, such as 
pear, apple, peach, apricot, cherry, plum, 
gooseberry, and nut trees. § It is true, they 
are not met with in the fields and on the 
roads, as in France, Flanders, and other 
countries, being generally planted within 
enclosures, and in gardens. 

Ireland is rich in her herds of oxen, and 
flocks of sheep, goats, and swine : it is said, 
that the cows will not give their milk without 
the calves, and that to succeed in getting it, 
it is necessary to deceive them by showing 
a skin filled with hay or straw. The sheep 
are shorn twice a year.|| They yield a great 
quantity of wool,Tf but it is not so good nor 
so fine as in other countries.** The horses 
called hobbies by the English,ft which were 
first brought from the Asturias, are bred in 
Ireland ; they are excellent both for the 
saddle and the draught. Their saddle-horses 
have a certain gentle and regular movement, 
called " amble," but are very quick at the 
same time 4 J The rider might, while seat- 
ed upon his horse, when walking, bear a 
full glass of liquor in his hand without 
spilling it.$$ 

Paulus Jovius, according to the account 
given by Ware, saw twelve Irish hobbies, of 
a dazzling whiteness, caparisoned in purple, 
with silver bridles and reins : they were led 
in parade with the trains attendant upon the 
Sovereign Pontiffs. 

Eagles, falcons, and other birds of prey 
are likewise in Ireland ; greyhounds, and 
other hunting-dogs, are there in common. 
Bees are so plenty that swarms are found 
even in the trunks of trees. 



* O'SulIevan. Hist. Cathol. Hibern. Compend. 
lib. 1, cap. 6. 

t Petr. Lombardus de regno Hib. Comment, cap. 8. 

t Lib. 1, cap. 1. § Grat. Luc. cap. 10, page 104. 

H " Here the snowy fleece is shorn twice a year ; 
and twice each day the flocks bring back their 
udders distended." — S. John. 

If Pet. Lombard. Comment, cap. 8. 

** Idem. cap. 10. tt War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 7. 

tt " Their pacing is gentle, by the alternate ex- 
tension of their legs." — Plin. 

§§ Camd. Brit. p.. 727. 



The woods with which that country was 
formerly covered, fed great numbers of 
fallow-deer ; there are stags, boars, foxes, 
badgers, otters. Wolves were likewise in 
Ireland, but have been entirely destroyed 
within the last century.* 

The plains and, bogs of Ireland are full 
of all kinds of game ; hares, rabbits, phea- 
sants, partridges,woodcocks, snipes, plovers, 
quails,water-hens, ducks, and wild geese, are 
in abundance, as well as every other species 
of fowl. There is a particular wild bird in it 
that resembles the pheasant ; it is called in 
the Irish language " Keark-Frihy." Some 
think that it is the same as the heath-cock ; 
there is indeed an analogy from the name, 
as Keark-Frihy signifies heath-hen ; how- 
ever that be, this bird is not known, or at 
least very rare in France. Marshal Saxe 
had some brought from Ireland, to stock the 
plains of Chambord ; he sent also to that 
country for horses and mares, and had them 
brought to supply his stud. The rivers and 
lakes of this country! are filled with fish of 
all kinds ; salmon, trout, pike, tench, perch, 
eel, carp, and shad, are very common, with- 
out mentioning the sea-fish, which are taken 
in great quantities. 

If we search into the bowels of the earth, 
treasures will be found in Ireland.^ Ac- 
cording to the historians of the country,^ 
the first gold mine was discovered near the 
river Liffey, in the time of Tighernmas, the 
monarch ;|| afterwards one of silver was 
found at Airgiodross,lf and a foundry estab- 
lished on the borders of the river Barrow,** 
in which coats of mail, bucklers, and other 
armor were made, ft and given by the kings 
to such warlike men as distinguished them- 
selves in battle. A mint was also founded 
for manufacturing gold chains,|J which the 
kings and other nobles wore upon their necks 
as marks of distinction ; rings, likewise, 
which were presented to those who distin- 
guished themselves in the arts and sciences. 

Thus it can be said that gold and silver 
were in general use in Ireland, even in the 
most remote ages of paganism. This abun- 
dance of wealth was increased, in the early 
periods of Christianity, by the riches the 
inhabitants gained from the frequent voyages 
they made into Britain and other countries. 



* Petrus Lombar. cap. 10. 

t Pet. Lomb. Comment, cap. 7. 

J Idem. cap. 9. § Keating, page 64, 66, 74. 

|| Anno. M. 3085. Ante C. 915. 

If Ogyg. part 3, cap. 21. 

** Grat. Luc. cap. 8, page 59, 62. 

++ Ogyg- part 3, cap. 28, and 33. 

it Keating on the reign of Eadna Dearg. 



OF PAGAN IRELAND. 



29 



The immense treasures that the Normans 
plundered from the churches and monaste- 
ries of this country, as well as the annual 
tribute of an ounce of gold, called " airgiod- 
froin," exacted from the natives by the bar- 
barians, during their dominion over them, 
furnish incontestable proofs of its wealth at 
that time. 

We know, that in the time of Denis, 
Christian, and Gregory, who were abbots 
successively in the abbey of St. Benedict, 
established at Regensburgh (called also 
Ratisbon) for the Scoto-Milesians, (which 
was the old name of the Irish,) the kings 
and princes of Ireland, particularly Con- 
chovar O'Brien, king of Munster, had sent 
by three remittances, about the beginning 
of the twelfth century, considerable sums of 
gold and silver, to rebuild their houses, then 
falling into ruins. After the abbey had been 
entirely rebuilt, and property purchased in 
the city and neighborhood for the support 
of the monks, there was a sum still remain- 
ing.* I shall not speak of the rich presents 
from the same king of Munster to the Em- 
peror Lothaire II. to assist in the holy wars. t 
Cambrensis himself bears testimony to the 
wealth of that island, in the age which suc- 
ceeded the devastations of the Normans : 
" Aurum quoque quo abundat insula. "J 
Mines of quicksilver, tin, lead, copper, alum, 
vitriol, sulphur, antimony, and iron, are dis- 
covered there in great quantities ; this last 
"metal is manufactured in the country, and 
found to be not inferior in quality to that of 
Spain. However, the English government 
having made it a part of her policy to keep 
the Irish in subjection and dependence, § 

* " Isaac and Gervasius, who were descended 
from noble parentage in Ireland, being endowed 
with piety, learning, and eloquence,, were joined 
by two others of Irish descent, viz., Conradus 
Carpentarius, and Gulielmus ; they came to Ireland, 
where, after paying their respects to Conchur 
O'Brien, the king, they explained to him the objects 
of their coming. He received them hospitably, 
and after a few days sent them back to Germany, 
laden with gold, silver, and other precious gifts. 
With this wealth the abbot purchased several farms, 
towns, and country-seats ; and in the city of Ratis- 
bon, bought many lots, houses, and sumptuous 
buildings. After all this, there remained a large 
sum of that which was given by the king of Ireland ; 
this the abbot Gregory resolved to apply to the 
sacred utensils of the temple, and with it he also 
built a new one ornamented and finished with car- 
ved stone ; likewise a monastery of great extent, 
after taking down the old one which was falling 
into ruins." — Chronicles of Ratisbon, by Gratianus 
Lucius, c. 21, p. 162. 

t Walsh, Prospect of Ireland, sect. 6, p. 447. 

t Hib. expug. lib. 2, cap. 15. 

§ Pet. Lomb. ibid. cap. 9. 



have been always opposed to the increase of 
their wealth and the working of their mines. 
Quarries of stone, resembling a hard free- 
stone, are also found, besides coal mines, ala- 
baster, and marble of several kinds, such as 
red, black, striped, and some mixed with 
white ; there is another likewis.e of a grayish 
color, which becomes azure when polished : 
the houses in Kilkenny are built with this 
last kind, and the streets paved with it. 

The produce and growth of the island,* 
and those articles which form its chief trade 
and export, are oxen, sheep, swine, leather, 
tallow, butter, cheese, salt, honey, wax, furs, 
hemp, wool, linen-cloths, stuffs, fish, wild- 
fowl, lead, tin, copper, and iron. Ireland 
produces every thing necessary and useful, 
and could do well, without the aid or inter- 
course of any other countiy. 

Its situation for trade with other nations 
is peculiarly favorable ;t her harbors are 
more numerous and more convenient than 
those of England.^ They were formerly 
frequented by the Phoenicians,^ the Greeks, 
and the Gauls. " Ireland," says Camden, 
"is to be admired both for its fertility, and 
the advantageous situation of its sea-ports. "|| 
Still the commerce of that country is incon- 
siderable, owing to the restrictions and nar- 
row limits imposed upon it by a neighboring 
nation, which has tyrannized over it for some 
centuries, and prevents its wealth to pros- 
per and increase. TT 

In that happy country, the works of nature 
which are seen, excite our wonder ; few 
examples of the same kind are in any other 
country of Europe. By a peculiar blessing 
to Ireland,** its land is entirely exempt from 
all venomous reptiles ; some serpents, ad- 
ders, lizards, and spiders are indeed to be 
seen there, as in other places ; but by a 
strange singularity, they have not the poison- 
ous quality inseparable from their nature in 
other countries,!! except in the island of 
Crete. When they are brought from other 
places, says Bede, they die when approach- 
ing that sacred land.jj " Nullus ibi ser- 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 7. 

t Petr. Lombard, cap. 2. 

t " The harbors of Ireland are better known for 
their commerce and traders, than those of Britain." 
— Tacitus in his Life of Agricola. 

§ War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 1. 

|| " Whether you consider the convenience of its 
sea-ports, or fertility of the soil, the country is 
blessed with many advantages." — Camden, p. 680. 

IT " If thou hadst not been too near to a faithless 
nation, there would not be upon the globe a more 
happy people." — S. John, in his ancient poem on 
Ireland. 

** Pet. Lombard, Comment, cap. 6. 

tt War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 7. tt Lib. 1, cap. 7. 



30 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



pens vivere valeat." "Neither serpents, 
nor any venomous things," says Camden, 
" are to be met with." " Nullus hie anguis, 
nee venenatum quicquam." This happy 
exemption from poisonous insects is again 
expressed in some verses of 'Adrianus Ju- 
nius, wherein the island is introduced as 
speaking of its own advantages.* 

The wonders of two celebrated lakes in 
Ireland, Lough Neagh and Lough Lene, 
are well known to the learned by the dif- 
ferent dissertations published upon them ; 
among others, the philosophical lectures of 
Richard Barton, printed at Dublin in 1751. t 

Lough Neagh, situated in the north of 
Ireland, is bordered on the northeast by 
the county of Antrim, by Tyrone upon the 
west, and Armagh/upon the south ; is thirty 
miles long, and fifteen broad; its waters 
possess a petrifying quality, which changes 
wood into iron or stone. -Nennius, an 
English author, makes mention of it,| and 
it has been celebrated in some beautiful 
lines, by the author of the Ogygia.fy " Every 
thing which is thrown into a certain lake in 
Ireland," says Tollius, " is changed into 
iron or stone, if it fall to the bottom. "|| 

M. de Buffon mentions that " a lake is 
said to be in Iceland, which petrifies. "H 
" The lake Neagh in Ireland," continues he, 
" possesses the same quality ; but these 
petrifactions caused by the waters of the 
lakes are certainly nothing more than in- 
crustations, such as the waters of Arcueil 
produce." Experience does not accord 
with the opinion of that celebrated natural- 
ist. Incrustation is caused by concretion, 
and the application of a strange body on the 



* " I am that icy Ierne formerly so called by the 
Greeks, and well known to the mariners of Jason's 
ship. To me God, the benign source of things 
created, has given the same privilege as to Crete, 
where the thundering and mighty Jove was brought 
up : there, if the terrific serpent were brought, lest 
it should pour from its hissing tongue the black 
poison of Medusa, daughter of Phorcus, the chops 
become compressed, and life together with its poi- 
soned blood becomes extinct.'' — Barton's Philoso- 
phical Lectures, p. 85. 

t Barton, Philosophical Lectures, p. 85. 

t " There is another lake, named Lough Eachac, 
which changes wood into stone after a year. Men 
cleave the wood and shape it when put in." — Ogyg. 
Wonders of Ireland. 

§ " In Ulster there is a lake called Lough Neagh. 
If wood be affixed in it to the bottom, after seven 
years that which is at bottom is changed into iron, 
in the water it becomes a whet-stone, and above 
the surface a tree." — Ogygia, part 3, c. 50. 

|| " In a lake in Ireland, every thing which is 
thrown into it is changed into iron, or becomes a 
stone." — Tollius, Hist, of gems and stones. 

IT Barton, ibidem. 



surface of another, without altering its sub- 
stance. In the petrifaction attributed to 
Lough Neagh, the changing of a piece of 
wood into stone is effected by the total 
change of the inner part, and in that the 
difference of bodies consists, as the matter is 
alike in all. Pieces of wood, after having 
lain a certain time in that lake, are taken 
out either partly or entirely petrified ; some 
possess the properties of the stone, its hea- 
viness, hardness, and solid cohesion of the 
parts, which make their separation difficult ; 
while another retains the quality of wood, 
which is that of being fibrous and combus- 
tible. 

There are two sorts of petrified wood : 
one is white ; it appears on the outside to 
be wood, but is in reality a stone without 
any mixture. This kind being porous, is 
incomparably lighter than the common stone ; 
it is susceptible of being cut, and is useful 
for whetting edged tools. The other, being 
less porous, is black, harder, and more 
weighty : a mixture in it is sometimes dis- 
covered, either on the surface or in the 
interior of the stone. The two kinds are 
alike in this, that they split like wood, and 
strike fire like the flint-stone ; they will 
resist the strongest fire without being cal- 
cined or vitrified. It has been likewise 
remarked, that the second sort, after passing 
through the fire, becomes also white and 
light, as there will be voids remaining after 
the particles of wood which composed part 
of it are consumed. In those mixed bodies 
a matter is discovered, which is solid and 
transparent, resembling crystal. The cele- 
brated Boyle makes mention of them in his 
essay on the origin and virtue of precious 
stones. He says, " There is a lake in the 
north of Ireland, which, like any other, 
abounds with fish. At the bottom, rocks 
are discovered with masses attached to them, 
which are clear and transparent as crystal. 
They are of several colors, some white, 
brown, and amber." 

It is not well known, what kind of wood 
it is that petrifies in Lough Neagh ; accord- 
ing to the general opinion, it is the holly ; 
but it has been observed, that the grain of 
the petrified wood, after being polished, 
becomes variegated, whereas the holly does 
not. It would be more reasonable, in my 
opinion, to say, that petrifaction operates 
upon the wood (which is the oak, broom, 
and yew tree) that grows on the borders 
of the lake, or its vicinity ; the agreeable 
smell which it produces would make one 
think it to be cedar. As to the time requi- 
site for this petrifaction, it has not been 



OF PAGAN IRELAND. 



31 



ascertained ; some branches of holly are 
seen, which, it is said, were petrified in 
seven years : as to the precise time which 
might be necessary, it matters not, but the 
truth of the phenomenon is incontestable. 

It is observed, that petrifaction is pro- 
duced, not only in Lough Neagh, but also 
within its environs, to the distance of eight 
miles, even upon high and sandy soil to which 
the waters of the lake do not appear to have 
access. This discovery, by destroying the 
system which attributed the virtue of it to 
the water exclusively, seems to affix it to 
the soil, or at least to supply it with that 
quality by the power of the rain, or vapors 
which arise from the lake. 

Although the phenomenon of petrifaction, 
like many others which we perceive in na- 
ture, be extraordinary, it is not supernatu- 
ral ; however, as it is not allowed man to 
fathom into all things, the cause of it is per- 
haps sought for in vain. The learned at- 
tribute it to the water or to the air. Water 
being fluid, is capable from its condensed 
gravity, of conveying strong particles in its 
current. The same may be said of the 
vapors which come forth from the earth. 
It is easy to conceive that pieces of wood 
which have lain for some time horizontally 
under the earth, having preserved the pores 
and tubes which served as conduits to the 
juice that nourished them during vegetation, 
easily admit into these tubes the fluid bodies, 
and that the particles of stony matter with 
which they are loaded being of a sulphu- 
reous and saline nature, separate them- 
selves in their course, and penetrate into 
the sides of the tubes when the movement 
of the liquids is gentle, whereas too rapid a 
motion is injurious to petrifaction. In the 
course of time, a more abundant concretion 
of these particles is formed into a solid body, 
which by its corrosive quality is substituted 
for an equal quantity of wood, by changing 
the form of those bodies, and introducing 
that of stone. It is nearly thus that the 
changing of iron into copper is accounted 
for, which a fountain of running water, near 
the copper-mines of Hemgrunt in Hungary, 
and at Newsohl in Germany, produces. 
Great advantages arise at present to Ire- 
land from this phenomenon ; bars of iron, 
that lie in a stream of water which flows 
from the copper-mines in the county of 
Wicklow, become changed after seven 
weeks into copper, which is caused by the 
great quantity of vitriol accompanying the 
particles of copper, and prepares a recep- 
tacle for them by consuming the iron. 

To be able to judge of the influence of 



the air as it regards petrifaction, we must 
consider the different circumstances of that 
element. The phenomenon cannot be at- 
tributed to the exterior air which forms the 
atmosphere of the globe ; it being a much 
lighter fluid than water, its degree of rare- 
faction and motion is therefore too great to 
support the particles of petrifying matter, 
and conduct therri to the equilibrium neces- 
sary for petrifaction.* Petrifaction is pro- 
duced in the earth, consequently it is more 
the effect of the interior than the exterior 
air ; the earth, like the animal body, receives 
much matter, and is purified in proportion, 
which, according to the season or. climate, 
causes the different phenomena of thunder, 
rain, fever, plague, and other epidemic dis- 
orders. It receives likewise into its cavi- 
ties much of the same kind of air which sur- 
rounds the globe ; but as the situation of 
the interior air is different from that of the 
exterior, in regard to the variety of matter 
which it generates, and the causes which 
sometimes rarefy, sometimes condense it, 
without being subject to the violent agita- 
tions produced by storms and hurricanes, to 
which the exterior air is exposed, it must 
naturally produce different effects. Thus, 
without offending against the laws of physics, 
we may imagine it to be capable of bearing 
particles of stone or other petrifying matter 
into the pores and tubes of wood which it 
meets in its course. This is sufficient to 
account for the phenomenon of petrifaction. 

The waters of Lough Neagh are also 
considered to be very salutary for such as 
are attacked by scrofula, and other like dis- 
tempers. 

In the bogs of Ireland, whole trees are 
often found lying horizontally some feet 
under the earth, without being petrified. 
These have fallen, either by the violence of 
the waters of the deluge, which had torn 
them from their roots, or more probably 
which the Normans had felled in the valleys 
that were then covered with wood, in order 
to impede the efforts of the Irish coming to 
attack them ; it is a stratagem of war, prac- 
tised even to this day. Those trees are 
sometimes seen burned at the thick end, no 
doubt because the barbarians not having 
sufficient axes, made use of fire to fell them. 
It is easy to suppose, that trees covered with 

* " According to the laws of hydrostatics, heavy 
bodies do not swim in fluids which are less weighty ; 
that is to say, the bodies whose surface contains 
more matter than an equal surface of fluid, must 
verge to the bottom, so that these bodies become 
diminished, according to the greater proportion be- 
tween the surface and matter which it encloses." 



32 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



branches and leaves, and heaped one upon [ spot. On the top of this mountain is a lake, 



another, might have stopped the mire, which 
the waters that ran in the valleys carried 
along with them, and in succession of time 
have formed banks sufficient to prevent the 
running of the waters, and cause them to 
overflow the neighboring lands. Lakes 
and bogs are of course formed by the stag- 
nation of those waters loaded more or less 
with strange bodies ; the matter whereof 
they are composed is an accumulation of 
dried herbs, hay, heath, roots, and other 
things produced by stagnant waters, and 
forms in its mixed state but one spongy 
substance, which easily admits the water, 
and covered in course of time those trees 
altogether, that had contributed to its 
growth. Some of the bogs in Ireland are 
twenty feet deep from their surface to the 
bottom, which is a kind of potter's clay or 
sand. Thousands of acres are seen in dif- 
ferent districts of that country, which con 
siderably deduct from the produce of the 
island ; otherwise it is extremely fertile 
The only benefit to be derived at present 
from the bogs in Ireland, is the turf which 
is cut for fuel. 

Lake Lene is not less remarkable than 
lake Neagh : it lies to the southern extremity 
of the island, in the county of Kerry. It is 
divided into the upper and lower lake, and 
contains in the whole about three thousand 
square acres : it is bounded south and east 
by the mountains Mangerton and Turk, west 
by Glena ; to the north of it is a beautiful 
plain, ornamented with fine country-seats 
and on the northeast is the town of Killar- 
ney. These mountains are covered from 
the base to their top with the oak, yew-tree, 
holly, and the arbutus,* which represent in 
their different degrees of vegetation an 
agreeable variety of colors, green, yellow, 
red, and white, forming an amphitheatre, 
which recalls in winter the charms of the 
spring. Some cascades are formed by the 
falling of the waters from the summit of 
these mountains, particularly from Man- 
gerton, whose murmurs being repeated by 
echoes, add still more to the charms of this 

* " The strawberry-tree, in Latin the arbutus, is 
a shrub which in some countries becomes a tree. In 
the mountains of Lough Lene it grows to the height 
of 20 feet ; its leaves, like the laurel, are always 
green, and at the end of a purple color ; its flowers 
hang like grapes, are white, and of an agreeable 
smell, resembling the lily ; its fruit resembles the 
strawberry in shape, but much larger ; it is round, 
sour, and yellow, before ripe, it then becomes red ; 
exquisite in taste, the inhabitants eat it as they 
would apples, but it is fit to drink water after it, 
otherwise it would be unwholesome." 



the depth of which is not known ; in the 
language of the country it is called " Poulle- 
i-feron," which signifies " Hell's hole." It 
frequently overflows, and rolls down in 
frightful torrents.* Lake Lene contains 
several islands, which resemble so many 
gardens ; the arbutus takes root among the 
rocks of marble in the midst of its waters. 
Nennius says, in his treatise upon the won- 
ders of Ireland, that " there are four mines, 
namely, tin, lead, iron, and copper, which 
form four circles around the lake." He adds, 
that " pearls are found in it, which kings 
wear for ear-rings. "t There are indeed some 
precious stones in this lake, and in its neigh- 
borhood mines of silver and copper, more 
especially the latter, which at present makes 
of itself a great branch of trade. 

The Giant's Causeway in the county of 
Antrim, in the north of Ireland, where the 
coast is elevated above the level of the sea, 
is another wonder, that merits the atten- 
tion of the curious. This causeway, which 
is in the form of a triangle, extends from 
the foot of a mountain into the sea, to a 
considerable distance ; its apparent length, 
when the waters retire, is about six hundred 
feet. It consists of many thousand pillars, 
which are pentagonal, hexagonal, and hep- 
tagonal, but irregular, as there are few of 
them of which the sides are equally broad ; 
their size is not uniformly the same, vary- 
ing from 15 to 26 inches in diameter, and 
in general not more than twenty. All these 
pillars touch one another with equal sides, 
which are so close, that the joints can be 
scarcely perceived ; they are not all equally 
high ; they sometimes form a smooth sur- 
face, and sometimes are unequal. These 
pillars, none of which are of a single piece, 
are composed of many unequal ones, from 
one to two feet high ; and what is still more 
singular, these pieces are not joined by 
plain surfaces, being set one into the other, 
by concave and convex outsides, highly 
polished, the same as the sides of the ad- 
joining pillars. There are some places where 
this colonnade is elevated above the earth 
thirty-two, and even thirty-six feet, but we 

* " It is usual to see some lakes on the tops of 
mountains, in Ireland, the waters of which fall pre- 
cipitately into the valleys, where rivers are formed. 
On Slieve Donart, in the territory of Mourn, and 
the county of Down, this is met with ; also at Ban- 
try, in the county of Cork, and at Powerscourt, in 
the county of Wicklow." 

t " There is a lake called Lough Lene, sur- 
rounded by four circles ; in it many gems are found, 
which kings wear iu their ears." — Nennius, Jus 
Wonders on Ireland, Ogyg. c. 5. 



OF PAGAN IRELAND. 



33 



are ignorant of its depth. People have dug 
at the foot of one of the columns, to the 
depth of eight feet, and it was found to be 
the same all through. 

The stone, as to the substance, is a homo- 
geneous body, which admits of no mixture, 
and is extremely hard ; when broken, it is 
found to have a fine and shining grain ; it 
is heavier than other kinds of stone, resists 
tools of the best temper, and of course, can- 
not be cut ; still it dissolves in the fire. 

Besides the Giant's Causeway, some other 
colonnades of the same kind are discovered 
on the land side ; the most considerable is 
composed of fifty pillars, whereof the mid- 
dle one is forty feet high, and the others, 
on the right and left, diminish like the pipes 
of an organ ; it is on that account the inhab- 
itants have given them the name of " The 
Organ." . 

Is the Giant's Causeway a work of nature 
or of art ? That is a question of contro- 
versy, among the learned of England and of 
Ireland. Those who maintain that it is 
the effect of nature, prove it according to 
the rules of geometry ; they cite a proposi 
tion out of Euclid, according to • which 
" there are but three figures which can form 
a plain and continued surface, viz., six equi- 
lateral triangles, four squares, and three 
hexagons. But they say these rules of art 
have not been observed in the Giant's Cause 
way, which is composed of polygons having 
unequal sides, although they are very well 
adapted to the opposite side of the adjoin- 
ing pillars, which cannot be attributed but 
to a superior Intelligence." It is added, 
" the joining of those pieces which compose 
the pillars appears to be a work of nature ; 
whereas in all other columns, both ancient 
and modern, the pieces are joined by flat 
surfaces, and it cannot be conceived how 
the joining of the stones that form this 
causeway, could have been made without an 
infinite number of instruments which are not 
linown to us." 

This system of reasoning, though plausible 
is not satisfactoiy ; for besides our not be- 
ing able to deny a thing because we cannot 
conceive it, it is certain the arts have had 
their revolutions, and that there have been 
many which formerly prevailed that have 
not come down to us. 

The inhabitants of Ireland are tall and 
well made :* the strong exercises which 
tend to fortify the nerves, and render the 
body vigorous, were at all times practised 
among them. Hunting, horse-racing, foot- 

* Petrus Lombardus, cap. 12. 



racing, wrestling, and other like exercises, 
form still their usual amusements. We 
attribute to Lugha Lam Fada,* one of their 
ancient kings, the institution of military ex- 
ercises, at Tailton in Meath :f those exer- 
cises consisted in wrestling, the combats of 
gladiators, tournaments, races on foot and 
on horseback, as we have seen them insti- 
tuted at Rome a long time after by Romu- 
lus in honor of Mars, which were called 
' Equiria." Those games at Tailton, which 
Gratianus Lucius and O'Flaherty call " Ludi 
Taltini,"J were celebrated every year, du- 
ring thirty days, that is, fifteen days before 
and fifteen days after the first of our month 
of August. On that account, the first of 
August has been and is still called in Ire- 
land, " Lah Lugh-Nasa," which signifies a 
day in memory of Lugha. These olympiads 
always continued among the Milesians until 
the arrival of the English. § We discover 
to this day some vestiges of them, with- 
out any other change than that of time 
and place. Wrestling, which we call in 
France, " le tour du Breton," the exercises 
of gladiators, and races on foot, are still on 
festival-days their common diversion in 
various districts of Ireland, anc? the con- 
querors generally receive a prize. The 
plains of Kildare are celebrated for the 
great concourse of nobility who assemble 
there every year. Race-horses are brought 
there from every province in the kingdom, 
likewise from England and other countries ; 
considerable wagers are bet on these occa- 
sions, and more noblemen are ruined by 
them than by any other mode of gaming. 

" The Irish," says Camden, " are war- 
like, witty, and remarkable for the just pro- 
portion of their limbs. Their flesh and 
muscles are so supple, that the agility which 
they possess is incredible. "|| Good, an Eng- 
lish priest who wrote in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, after having been for many years in 
Ireland, a professor of humanity, gives the 
following description of its inhabitants : 
" They are a nation," he says, " to be praised 
for their strength, and particularly for the 
activity of their bodies ; for a greatness of 
soul : they are witty and warlike, prodigal 
of life, hardy in bearing fatigues, cold, and 
hunger ; prone to loose pleasures, courteous 



* Keating on the reign of Lugha. 

t Ogyg. par. 3, cap. 13. 

t Gratianus Lucius, cap. 9, p. 85. 

§ Ibidem, cap. 8, p. 58. 

|| " They are warlike, witty, and remarkable for 
the just proportion of their limbs. Their flesh and 
muscles are so supple, that the agility which they 
possess is incredible." — Camden Brit., p. 680. 



34 



HISTOHY OF IRELAND. 



and kind to strangers, constant in their 
love, hating also, seldom forgiving, too cred- 
ulous, greedy of glory, and quick to resist 
injuries and insults."* 

" Of all men," says Stanihurst, " the Irish 
are the most patient in fatigue, the most 
warlike ; -rarely do they suffer themselves 
to be cast down even in their heaviest afflic- 
tions, "f 



CHAPTER II. 

CRITICAL ESSAY UPON THE ANTIQUITY OF 
THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 

Nothing has more engaged the minds 
of historians than the researches they have 
made on the origin of ancient countries, and 
there is nothing in which they have so little 
succeeded ; so much of the marvellous has 
been introduced into the writings of the 
ancients upon these subjects, that it is with 
difficulty the small portion of truth found in 
them, carPbe distinguished from the fables 
which vanity has caused them to insert. 
Sacred history, therefore, can serve as the 
only infallible guide in the knowledge of 
antiquity. It has become so much the cus- 
tom of every people to endeavor to ennoble 
their origin, and establish it upon an ancient 
and illustrious foundation, that it would 
appear new and obscure beginnings have 
something in them dishonorable : to give 
to them some brilliancy in the midst of 
the darkness which surrounds them, fable is 
often made use of instead of hrstory : they 
prefer to lose themselves in an abyss of anti- 
quity, rather than candidly avow themselves 
to be of modern mediocrity. 

The Egyptians reckon a period of forty- 
eight thousand years, and pretend to have 
seen twelve hundred eclipses before the reign 



* The whole nation of the Irish are strong in 
their persons, peculiarly active, possessing a brave 
and elevated mind ; sharp in their intellects and 
warlike. Life is not regarded in their propensities ; 
labor, cold, and hunger are overlooked ; their pas- 
sions are strong in love ; they are hospitable to 
strangers, sincere ill their attachments, and in their 
quarrels implacable : too credulous, greedy of glory, 
they will resist insult and injustice, and most ardent 
in all their acts." — Camden, p. 789. 

t "As has been already remarked, the Irish are 
extremely hospitable, good-natured, and beneficent. 
Of all men they are the most patient in suffering, 
and rarely overcome by difficulties." — Stanihurst, 
b. 1, p. 48. 



of Alexander the Great. Their historian Ma- 
netho, supported by the pretended inscrip- 
tions on the pillars of Hermes in the land of 
Seriad, describes the succession and reign 
of their kings for many thousand years before 
the time of the creation, as established by 
Moses. The Chaldeans ascend still higher : 
they pretend to have made astronomical 
observations, during four hundred thousand 
years. The Chinese count upon a revolution 
of forty thousand years, and pretend to have 
made observations long before the creation. 

The learned consider these chronologies 
fabulous, and the pretended observations of 
the Egyptians and Chaldeans, to have been 
unknown to ancient astronomers. It has been 
proved that the history of the pillars of 
Hermes is but a fiction which falls of itself, 
whereas it is the opinion of every one, that 
Hermes was the first by whom characters 
were invented, and that the land of Seriad 
was not known to the ancient geographers. 
As to the chronology of the Chinese, it has 
been shown, that their pretensions have been 
contradicted by the ephemerides. The most 
ancient observations, acknowledged by them 
to be authentic, as has been made to appear, 
are those of two fixed stars, one in the winter 
solstice, and the other in the vernal equinox, 
in the time of the King Yao, who reigned 
after the universal deluge. If their historians 
give to their empire a duration of forty 
thousand years, it can be founded but upon 
an equivocal and uncertain tradition ; where- 
as, according to their own acknowledgment, 
their books were all consumed in the flames, 
about two thousand years ago, by order of 
their Emperor Zeo, and no monuments re- 
main among them more ancient than that 
period. 

Similar ravings have found credit among 
the Arcadians, who boast that they are more 
ancient than the moon, and among the Sicil- 
ians, who pride themselves on the foundation 
and antiquity of their cities : they pretend, 
for instance, that Palermo was founded in 
the time of the patriarch Isaac,* by a colony 
of Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Syrians ; and 
that Saphu, grandson of Esau, was governor 
of a tower named Baych in the same city. 
After the example of Manetho, they cite 
some ancient inscriptions, not better estab- 
lished than those of the columns of Hermes. t 
We can form the same opinion on the pre- 
tended antiquity of Messina, which they say 
was enlarged by Nimrod. 

The origin of the Romans is not better 



* Fazell. Hist. Sieul. decad. 1, part, prior, lib. 8. 
t Reinr, Notizie Istoriche di Messina. 



THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 



35 



established, as authors do not agree upon 
that point. Some attribute it to the Trojans ; 
others give to them different founders : but 
without seeking after such distant prodigies 
of antiquity, the offspring of vanity, have 
we not the history of Brutus, forged by 
Geoffry of Monmouth, an English monk of 
the twelfth century ? This friar, zealous for 
the glory of his nation, and wishing to give 
to it an illustrious beginning, introduces the 
story of a certain Brutus, great grandson of 
iEneas, the Trojan, having peopled Britain, 
and by this happy discovery, finds for it, at 
the same time, an origin and a name. This 
system did not succeed : it was rejected even 
by those whose interest it was to uphold it, 
particularly by Nubrigensis, Polydore Virgil, 
Buchanan, Camden, Baker, and others. 

The higher we ascend towards the source 
of ancient history, the more obscure we dis- 
cover it to be. It is probable that the ancient 
Milesians had been addicted to the marvel- 
lous as well as other people who were their 
contemporaries. The great antiquity to 
which they aspire, will no doubt appear 
astonishing. It is difficult to conceive that 
a people obscure and almost unknown, can 
trace their origin and genealogy to times so 
remote, while the most considerable coun- 
tries of Europe are new, and still scarcely 
understand their origin. It is a paradox, I 
allow, but it must be likewise granted, that 
the thing is not impossible. The genealogies 
of the house of Austria, of the dukes of 
Ascot, and of some other princes, have been, 
it is said, traced so far back as the deluge. 
We have an example of it among the Jewish 
people. Although God conducted with a 
peculiar care the pens of the holy writers, in 
everything regarding the laws, the prophe- 
cies, canticles, the history of the creation of 
the world, and all that was above human 
understanding ; the same writers have treat- 
ed of the genealogies of families, and have 
given an account of historical facts, which 
they had known from the study of tradition, 
and which were known to all who wished 
to be instructed in them. 

After the precautions which are adopted 
in France, and other countries, by deposit- 
ing in their courts of justice, and registries, 
returns of the baptisms, marriages, and 
burials, as also their plan of keeping the 
registry of their nobles, which is called 
heraldry, can it be hereafter a matter for 
surprise, if, after the lapse of two thousand 
years, genealogies make their appearance, 
and ascend from generation to generation 
up to us ? 

The matter is therefore possible, and re- 



duces itself to the' following question, viz., 
to know if the ancient Milesians carefully 
transmitted to posterity, since a certain 
epoch, some features of their history. Before 
this matter be farther examined, it is pru- 
dent to lay it down as a principle, which 
should be admitted, that all ancient nations 
have had their obscure periods, both fabu- 
lous and historical. 

Varro distinguishes, after the manner of 
the Greeks, three different eras — 

The first, from the creation to the deluge, 
which is, he says, obscure and uncertain, 
because we are ignorant of all that passed 
during that time. 

The second, from the deluge to the first 
olympiad, which he calls fabulous, from the 
many fables that have been related concern- 
ing that epoch. 

Lastly, the third, from the first olympiad 
till our time, whichhe denominates historical. 

Although the different periods character- 
ized thus by Varro, undergo some difficulty 
by referring to the authority of the sacred 
writings ; though Josephus, in his first book 
against Appian, assures us that the histo- 
ries of the Phoenicians, Egyptians, and 
Chaldeans, set forth with truth and accu- 
racy many things concerning the reign of 
their kings, and that they contain the prin- 
cipal events which happened in their coun- 
tries before the first olympiad, even before 
Abraham and Moses ; and although he 
praised so highly Dion the Phoenician, and 
Berosus the Chaldean, for the correctness 
and authority of their histories ; and accord- 
ing to him, that these two historians have 
treated of the events which happened in the 
second distinction of time, named fabulous 
by Varro, particularly Berosus, who has 
spoken of the deluge, of the ark, the Arme- 
nian mountains where it rested, and that 
he has continued his history from Noah, 
and the first kings who reigned after the 
deluge ; yet the distinction of time, made by 
that learned Roman, ought to be admitted 
into the histories of almost every people. 

It is possible that some nations have pre- 
served from tradition a general and confused 
idea of their origin, and of their first found- 
ers ; but if it be required of them to fix 
their dates, or to examine in detail the form 
of their governments, they will either tell 
us nothing of these things, or speak of them 
as mere chimeras. 

The ancient bards have preserved to us 
the memory of different colonies,which came 
successively to establish themselves in Hi- 
bernia, before Jesus Christ. But can we not 
suspect the truth of the accounts which they 



36 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



have left us ? ' The bards were held in high 
esteem among the Milesians, who called 
them in their language " Fileas," or " Fear- 
danas," that is to say, philosophers. They 
enjoyed great privileges, and sat by right of 
suffrage in the assemblies of the state ; pos- 
sessions were given them from the liberality 
of the monarch, by the provincial kings and 
private lords. 

Strabo* and Lucan called them poets, or 
prophets. Pomponius Festus says that a 
bard is a singer, who celebrates, in verse, 
the praises and exploits of great men. Dio- 
dorus Siculus calls a bard a composer of 
canticles. 

The bards were, as O'Flahertyf and some 
ancient authors say, both poets and philoso- 
phers. They were masters of arts and 
sciences: their knowledge did not consist in 
the harmony of words to flatter princes. 
They described, like the Arabs and ancient 
Greeks, philosophy, the laws, and history, 
in verse, which style being more concise, 
was, at the same time, more easily retained.^ 

The bards of Wales, as David Powell 
remarks, were employed for preserving the 
heraldry and genealogies of their nobles : 
the profession of a bard was, among the 
Milesians, for the same end.§ This office 
enjoined him to write the annals, genealo- 
gies, alliances, wars, voyages, and transmi- 
grations of that people, who, in tracing them 
from father to son up to Milesius, are de- 
scended, according to the bards, from Japhet 
and Magog. This has caused Camden to 
say, that if every thing their historians re- 
late concerning their antiquity be true, it is 
with justice that Plutarch calls that island 
Ogygia, which signifies very ancient. They 
draw, continues the same author, their his- 
tory from the most remote antiquity, so that 
that of other nations is new when compared 
to theirs. || 

It is certain that every man then, as those 
of our time, were descended from one or 
other of the three brothers, Sem, Cham, or 



* Geog. lib. 4. 

t Lib. 5. Ogyg. par. 3, cap. 27. 

t Newt. Cbronol. chap. 1, p. 44. 

§ " They were philosophers in reality, and poets 
in name, but it need not be doubted, whether as 
philosophers or poets, they have written best on 
divine subjects. The character of the poets among 
the ancients, was that of wisdom, and, as in our 
days, their knowledge did not consist in the meas- 
ure and scanning of words, nor in their flatteries of 
the great." — Ogyg. part 3, c. 30. 

j[ " From the deepest sources of antiquity, the 
history of the Irish is taken ; so that in comparison 
to them, that of other nations is but novelty and a 
beginning." — Carnd. p. 728. 



Japhet. It is also probable, that, while 
men were, in the early ages of the world, 
near their original stock, and lived to be 
very old, without being distracted by that 
variety of sciences and arts which luxury 
has produced in latter ages, nor by the know- 
ledge of so many fine but often useless dis- 
coveries which at present occupy the minds 
of men : fathers took care to instruct their 
children in that which formed the chief ob- 
ject of their studies, namely, the genealogy of 
their families. All this seems like the truth ; 
we need nothing more to foimd our conjec- 
tures upon ; but that is not sufficient to 
maintain historical truths, particularly in 
referring to a period of antiquity, when peo- 
ple had not yet known the use of letters, 
" without the aid of which," says Newton, 
" they could with difficulty transmit or con- 
tinue the memory of the names or actions 
of men, after death, beyond eighty or a hun- 
dred years."* 

The bards were in general mercenary 
men, who gave themselves up either to the 
extremes of exaggerated praise, of which 
they were lavish, or to sharp satires, which 
they darted against those whose honor they 
had some motive for assailing. If, in spite 
of. the regulations made and established by 
the assembly at Tara, for the purpose of 
restraining the Milesian bards, and limiting 
their enthusiasm, they had been often obliged 
to pronounce the sentence of banishment 
against them, to repress their insolence, (a 
sure proof that all they related ought not be 
received for historical truths,) what belief 
should be then attached to those of a more 
distant antiquity, whom nothing restrained, 
and who pursued with impunity whatever 
passion dictated 1 Can their correctness in 
the details which they have given of the ori- 
gin of the Milesians, the genealogies of their 
chiefs, and the succession of their kings, be 
relied upon 1 Can we subscribe to their 
affected precision, in marking the day of the 
month, the week, or of the moon, and the 
precise place of their arrival in the island, at 
a time when chronology was so imperfect ? 

Let us strive to discover a standard 
whereby to avoid in this history, a boyish 
credulity, in admitting things that are im- 
probable, as well as a forced diffidence, by 
rejecting what is well founded. Let us, with 
Varro, distinguish the different epochs, and 
unravel, as much as possible, the truth from 
what is false. 

The Ante-Milesian history, which signi- 
fies all that is related of the first colonies who 

* Introduct. to Chron. page 7. 



THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 



37 



were in possession of the island before the 
arrival of the Milesians, may be carried to 
times that are obscure, doubtful, and un- 
known. 

We can likewise bring back to fabulous 
times, the accounts of the origin of the 
Scoto-Milesians, the voyages and transmi- 
grations of their ancestors, the Gadelians, 
in different regions, and of various circum- 
stances which accompanied their voyage 
from Spain to Ireland, until their complete 
establishment in it, some time after their ar- 
rival. 

In the mean while, let us allow that there 
are no positive reasons for opposing such 
accounts ; all the arguments that can be 
adduced against them are negative, and con- 
sequently insufficient ; besides, the objects 
being at too remote a period to be able to 
distinguish them, it is perhaps as well to 
credit as to reject them. All judgment 
should be suspended upon what is not 
proved to be absolutely true, or decidedly 
false.* That is the maxim which Camden, 
an English author, has judiciously adopted ; 
his moderation in this instance cannot be 
attributed to a love for Ireland.! I shall ob- 
serve the prudent counsel of that historian, 
and will give in the following chapter, un- 
der the title of fabulous history, what writers 
say concerning the primitive ages, both to 
preserve the thread of their history, and 
mark my respect for antiquity.^ 

As to the Scoto-Milesians, if we consider 
them to have been established in Ireland for 
some ages before the Christian era, and 
composing a body of people governed by 
laws, living tranquilly, and, being separated 
from the continent, beyond the reach of 
insult from strangers, which period we may 
place before the reign of Ollam Fodla, (about 
seven or eight centuries before Jesus Christ 
we can fix the date of the Milesian history 
in the third degree of time, called historical 
by Varro. Their annals, since then, merit 
belief as much as any ancient history of other 
nations that we read of. Of that truth we 
shall be readily convinced by paying atten- 
tion to the antiquity of the Irish language 

* " I do not think that what is founded on con- 
jecture, which borders upon truth, or what is sup- 
ported by tradition, concerning the origin of a peo- 
ple, should be rejected." — Buchanan, Scotch Re. 
cords, b. 1, p. 54. 

t " That which it is neither my intention to refute 
nor maintain, should receive indulgence for the 
character of its antiquity." — Brit, page 728. 

t " Its authority should be conceded to antiquity, 
and not repelled by vain conjectures, unless better 
and more authentic documents can be adduced." — 
Ogyg. part 1, p. 2. 



which is certainly not derived from any that 
is spoken in Europe, and to the singularity 
of its characters, which have no prototype ; 
also to the powerful motives which had in- 
fluenced the Milesians in preserving their 
history. 

Languages have generally their origin 
among the people by whom they are spoken. 
Those who maintain that the Milesians are 
descendants of the Gauls, strive to discover 
the root of the Irish language in the Gallic ; 
but as the result cannot be more true than 
the principle from whence it is taken, it is 
more natural to refer, on that subject, to the 
traditions and ancient monuments of the 
Milesians. By these it is discovered that 
the Milesians are descended from a colony 
of Scythians,* who, after many migrations 
into different countries, came to settle and 
establish themselves in Ireland ; that their 
language also, which they call Gaelic, from 
Gaodhal, one of their ancient chiefs, has 
been at all times the peculiar language of 
that colony, not only since their establish- 
ment in Ireland, but even from their going 
out of Egypt. A people who are victorious 
usually introduce into the conquered coun- 
try their religion, laws, customs, and lan- 
guage : of this truth the Scots and Saxons 
will afford an example ; the former of whom, 
consisting of some colonies of the Scoto- 
Milesians, who in spite of the Picts estab- 
lished themselves in a canton of Albania, 
have preserved their language, viz., the 
Scotic, which is still in use among them.f 

The Britons, having called the Saxons to 
their aid against the Scots and Picts,J expe- 
rienced the perfidy of their allies, who forced 
them to seek an asylum in Wales. The 
Saxon language prevailed therefore, and the 
Bretonnic ceased in England, except within 
the narrow confines of that province occupied 
by the Britons. It is not probable, therefore, 
that the Gadelians, during their sojourn in 
Spain, or the Milesians, their descendants, 
established in Ireland by right of conquest, 
and who had never borne a foreign yoke, had 
ever changed their language in changing 
their country, unless they could abandon 
their native tongue by substituting a strange 
one instead of it. The error of authors, 
which I have to combat here, arises from 



* Ogyg. part 2, page 63. 

t " They brought their language from Ireland 
into Britain." — Joan. Major, ale Gest. Scot. b. 1, c. 9. 

t " They were forced to send for the Saxons into 
their country, which turned to their own destruc- 
tion. The English or Angli were very strong, but 
not at all faithful." — Polydorus Virgil, Eng. Hist. 
b. 3, p. 131. 



38 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



their affected ignorance of the true history 
of the Milesians. Contrary to the spirit of 
this history, these authors appear to con- 
found the Milesians with* a number of other 
colonies who came at different periods into 
Ireland, with the consent of the first inhab- 
itants, and who learned and adopted the 
language of the country, viz., the Bretonnic, 
which did not undergo any material change 
by the mixture of different nations. 

The arguments which Camden and oth- 
ers draw from a pretended connection or 
analogy of many Irish words with the Bre- 
tonnic, or Gallic, by proving that the Irish is 
derived from either of them, would equally 
prove the contrary to their assertions. It is 
well known that neighboring nations which 
trade together, (languages being subject to 
corruption and change,) borrow some words 
from each other, without either being an 
original source for the other to derive its 
language from. For example, the French 
and English languages are alike in many 
words common to both, without the one be- 
ing derived from the other. Commerce was 
frequent between the Scoto-Milesians and 
the Britons : if either nation was rendered, 
from subjection, like the other, it was the lot of 
Britain at that time. The Scoto-Milesians 
held over them a superiority of genius, of 
riches, and of arms, as a celebrated poet 
gives at present to the English, from his own 
authority. They frequently brought war in- 
to their country, and carried away prisoners ; 
the dreadful devastations which were com- 
mitted by them, according to Gildas and 
Bede, furnish proofs of it. The Scoto-Mi- 
lesians were at that time a free people, gov- 
erned by their own laws, while the Britons, 
Gauls, and Spaniards were slaves, subject 
to a foreign power, and forced sometimes to 
seek an asylum in Ireland, to rescue them- 
selves from the tyranny of the Romans.* It 
is known, besides, that the Firbolgs and the 
Firdomnians, whose language was perhaps 
a dialect of the Celtic, had a continual trade 
with the Scoto-Milesians, who, after they 
had conquered the island, assigned them 
some lands in it. Nothing more was neces- 
sary to cause some mixture of the two lan- 
guages, and contribute to the supposed con- 
nection of the Scotic with the Bretonnic or 
Gallic, although they are fundamentally dif- 
ferent one from the other. 

We might say, that from the same cause 
the Scotic is derived from the Latin, because 



* '• After the Romans had extended their empire 
over almost all countries, many flocked to Ireland 
out of Spain, Gaul, and Britain, to escape from the 
Roman joke." — Camd. Brit. p. 728. 



there are some words common to both lan- 
guages, and which have the same signifi- 
cation. We discover an example in the 
numeral nouns, anon, do, tri, ceathar, and 
which appear the same as unus, duo, tres, 
quatuor, which the Latins make use of to 
express numbers. Thes.e words are in re- 
ality the same, and differ only in idiom. On 
that subject I have two replies, which are 
alike unanswerable. 

First— Words are arbitrary signs, invented 
to express the thoughts and communicate 
the ideas. These signs consist in a combi- 
nation of letters, or of syllables, and which 
may be found the same in different idioms. 

Second — The Scotic language being more 
ancient than the Latin, why should we sup- 
pose that it has taken from the Latin some 
of its words, rather than think the contrary ? 
The trade which the Scoto-Milesians had 
with the Romans from the beginning of 
Christianity, the veneration in which they 
held their apostle and every thing that came 
from him, even the language in which he 
had instructed them, could not these make 
us think that they might have adopted some 
Latin words, and have, imperceptibly, for- 
gotten their old ones, without the two lan- 
guages having, on that account, any affinity 
between them ? 

The learned, who have undertaken the 
task of fathoming and examining the nature 
and difference of languages, have always 
put in the number of the mother tongues of 
Europe, the Scotic, and the Bretonnic, be- 
tween which there has been no analog}'.* 

Joseph Scaliger counts eleven mother 
tongues in Europe ; the Latin, Greek, Teu- 
tonic, Sclavonic, Epirotic, Tartarian, Hun- 
garian, Finlandish, Irish, Welsh, and the 
Biscayan or Cantabrian. The number of 
the mother languages in Europe, of the least 
extent, says Nicholas Sanson,f is better 
known to us than of the other parts of the 
world, and may be reduced to six, viz., the 
Irish, Finlandish, the Bretonnic or Welsh, 
the Biscayan, Hungarian, and Albanian. 
The Irish language (continues he) is, be- 
sides in Ireland, still spoken in the north of 
Scotland. The Finlandish is used in Scan- 
dinavia, which comprises Finland and Lap- 
land. The Bretonnic, which is the lan- 
guage of Lower Brittany, in France, is like- 
wise called Welsh, being the native language 
of Wales, a province of England. The 
Biscayan comprises Lower Navarre, with. 
Labour, in France, and Biscay, in Spain. 

* Grat. Luc. cap. 3. 

t Introd. a la Geograph. 2 part, livre 3, chap. 5, 
des Langues. 



THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 



39 



The Hungarian is the language of Hungary 
and Transylvania, which countries belong 
to Turkey in Europe, and the Albanian is 
thus named from Albania, a country also of 
Turkey in Europe.' 

To refuse to a nation the use of letters, 
displays a wish for sapping the foundation 
of its history, and depriving it of the means 
of transmitting its tradition to posterity. It 
is possible that some facts of history have 
been preserved by oral tradition, as it is said 
the works of Homer had been, during many 
ages, preserved by the memory alone ; but 
such tradition, without the aid of letters, 
must be very imperfect. 

Bollandus was the first who refused to the 
Milesians the advantage of characters. He 
says, that, like the Germans, the Pagan 
Irish had not, before the time of St. Patrick, 
the use of letters, nor any method of pre- 
serving upon paper or other matter, the 
memory of their deeds ; that among all the 
liberal arts, they knew but a sort of rhyming 
poetry, which was in great esteem with 
them, and served instead of memoirs and 
annals : and that St. Patrick,who was versed 
in Roman literature, was the first that in- 
troduced among them the use of letters. 

It appears that Bollandus, an enlightened 
man in other respects, has not sufficiently 
examined this criticism. His error has arisen 
from a false deduction, drawn from what he 
had read in Nennius, Colgan, Ward, and 
others, concerning St. Patrick. These authors 
say, that the saint had given the "abjectoria," 
or, as Nennius has it, the " abjectoria," that 
is to say, the alphabet, to those whom he 
had converted. The Roman characters were, 
in fact, not known to the Milesians before 
the time of St. Patrick ; but this truly apos- 
tolical man, wishing to strengthen the new 
converts in the faith, by reading the Holy 
Scriptures, and to render that infant church 
conformable to the universal one, in the 
rites and manner of celebrating the divine 
mysteries, and in the use of other writings 
of the church, took the opportunity of giving 
them the Roman characters, that they might 
be able to learn that tongue ; and the trans- 
lation of these works from the Latin into the 
Scotic language would have been difficult for 
a man that had not been perfectly instructed 
in the latter. But these authors, in speaking 
of the Roman letters, do not take from the 
Milesians all kinds of characters ; on the 
contrary, they suppose that they possessed 
such as were suited to their language ; 
whereas, in the same chapter in which Colgan 
says that St. Patrick had given to Fiech, 
one of his disciples, the alphabet, written 



with his own hand, he adds that this same 
Fiech was sent some time before into Con- 
naught by Dubtach, whose disciple he was, 
to present some poems of his own compo- 
sition, in the Scotic language, to the princes 
of that province. He also speaks of a hymn 
in that tongue, which Fiech had composed 
in honor of St. Patrick. Lastly, that Fiech 
had made so great a progress in the Roman 
language, that in less than fifteen days he 
knew the entire psalm book, which could 
never be possible without a previous know- 
ledge of other characters. Ward* tells us, 
that Benignus, a disciple of St. Patrick, and 
his successor in the see of Armagh, had 
written a book, partly in Latin and partly 
Irish, on the virtues and miracles of that 
saint, and that Jocelyn made use of it in 
writing his life . If letters had been unknown 
to the Scoto-Milesians before that time, as 
Bollandus asserts, how could Fiech and 
Benignus have been able, says Harris, to 
write so elegantly and poetically in that 
language, and make use of characters that 
were not till then known to them ? 

Csesar, Pliny, and some other authors, in 
speaking of the druids, inform us, that they 
were learned ; that they knew theology, 
philosophy, and other sciences ; and that 
those of Gaul who wished to attain perfec- 
tion in the knowledge of their mysteries, 
went into Britain to be instructed in them. 
Caesar says, that they did not commit their 
mysteries to writing, but that in all other 
affairs, whether public or private, they made 
use of Greek characters.! 

It is certain that their order was estab- 
lished in Hibernia, in the time of Caesar, of 
which Ware bears testimony.^ It is also 
certain that the druids of Hibernia were 
connected with those of Britain, and that 
they enjoyed the same advantages in the 
sciences, letters, and in every other thing. 

The characters made use of by the Mi- 
lesians, long before St. Patrick, are herein 
subjoined. It is only necessary to discover 
whether they were Greek or Phoenician ; 
that, however, shall be examined in course. 
But what need for resorting to authority ? 
A moderate idea of the elements of the Scotic 
language, of the figure, order, and the 
number of its characters, also the mysterious 
manner which the ancient Milesians made 

* Wardeus, Vit. Rumoldi, p. 317. 

t " They were said to learn, there, a great num- 
ber of verses. Neither do they consider it lawful 
to commit their mysteries to writing, though in al. 
most all public and private affairs they make use 
of the Greek letters." — Caisar in his Gallic Wars. 

5 Antiq. Hib. cap. 5. 



40 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



use of in writing, will be sufficient to prove 
their antiquity, and the peculiarity of these 
characters. Those ancient characters are, 
in their figure, different from the other lan- 
guages of Europe. The alphabet of the 
Greeks, and the abecedarium of the Latins, 
sufficiently point out the order of their letters 
by their initials — A. B. of the Greek tongue, 
and A. B. C. of the Latin. In like manner, 
the Bobelloth, or Beith-Luis-Nion of the 
Milesians, express the order of their letters 
by their initials, B.L., orB.L.N. The 
alphabet of the Milesans has this in common 
with the Hebrew, that, in both languages, 
the name of the letter is a substantive. For 
example, in the Hebrew, " Aleph" signifies 
guide, or conductor ; " Beth," a house, &c. 
Thus in the Milesian, " Beth" is the name 
of the birch tree, " Luis" signifies the wild 
ash, and " Nion" the true ash. There is 
this difference, however, that the Hebrew 
letters derive their names from, all kinds of 
various objects, whereas those of the Mile- 
sians represent only different names of trees ; 
because the druids, who were the wise men 
of ancient times, and who lived in the woods, 
thought they acted conformably with nature 
in giving to their characters such names as 
might be retained, in order to impress their 
disciples with the ideas they wished to in- 
spire. We must remark here, that in the 
Beith-Luis-Nion, or alphabet of the Milesian 
language, the N., at present the fifth letter, 
was the third in ancient times : it is also to 
be observed, that the characters such as are 
here represented, have greatly degenerated, 
and are no longer what they had been in 
the times of paganism, and in the first ages 
of Christianity.* 



BEITH-LUIS-NION ; 



ALPHABET. 


Irish, 


Latin, English. 


lBb Beithe, 


Betulla, Birch. 


2 L I. Luis, 


Ornus, Wild Ash. 


3 F T Fearn, 


Alnus, Alder. 


4 S £ Suil, 


Salix, Willow. 


5 N Kl Nion, 


Fraxinus, Ash. 


6 H V) Huath, 


Oxiacanthus, White thorn 


7 D O Duir, 


Ilex, Oak. 


8 T C Timne 


Not explained. 



* *-*gyg. P art 3- ca P- 30- 



9 C C Coll, Corylus, Hazel. 

10 M2# Muin, Vitis, Vine. 

1 1 G 3 Gort, Hedera, Ivy. 

12 P p Peth-boc,7VoJ explained. 

13 Rp Ruis, Sambucus, Elder. 

14 A ?£. Ailm, Abies, Fir Tree. 

15 O 6 Onn, Genista, Broom, 

16 U IT Ur, Erix, or Erica.Heath, 

17 E g Egdhadh,Tremula, Aspen, 

18 I J Idho, Taxus, Yew. 

Besides these simple characters, there are 
some diphthongs and unnecessary conso- 
nants, erased from the modern alphabet ; if 
the h also, which is but an aspirate, be taken 
away, the alphabet will consist of but seven- 
teen letters. 

This order has been changed a few cen- 
turies ago, and in the Beith-Luis-Nion,which 
is at present used, the letters are arranged 
as in the Latin alphabet. Before the inven- 
tion of parchment, the Milesians made use 
of birchen boards, on which they engraved 
their characters with a style or punch : they 
were called in the Irish language " Orauin," 
or " Taibhle Fileadh," that is, philosophical 
tablets. Their characters were also called 
by the ancients, " Feadha,"* that is, wood. 
Other people, as well as the Milesians, had 
the custom of engraving their letters on 
wood. It is that to which Horace alluded, 
in saying " leges incidere ligno ;" and the 
prophet Isaiah,f " scribe super buxum :" 
from this is derived the word codex, which 
signifies book, from caudex, the trunk of a 
tree. 

Besides the characters which were in com- 
mon use, the Milesians had a mysterious man- 
ner of writing, which was called " Oghum- 
crev," and " Oghum-coll," that is to say, a 
writing which represented the branches of 
trees, particularly the hazel. " I have," says 
Ware, " a book of parchment filled with 
this kind of characters. "J Such mysterious 
writing was permitted to be used only by the 
druids, and some antiquarians, who made 
use of it for the purpose of transmitting to 
posterity certain things which they wished 
to conceal from the knowledge of the people. 
This mystery in their writings consisted in 
the position or situation of certain lines or 



* Kenned. Preface, p. 28. 

t Chap. 30. v. 8. 

t " Besides the common characters which the 
ancient Irish made use of, there were secret or arti- 
ficial forms for committing their mysteries to writing, 
which they called Oghum: I have a little book of 
parchment filled with them." — Ware's Antiquities. 



THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 



41 



figures in relation to the principal one ; the 
following will serve as an example of it. 

7.II.IIUIII.IIIII. mria&K t 



I'iriiiiiiiiiiii- 

Sf.o.tf.e. S.e&. oi. 

ririu ii iix e 






m 6 



sl.cm. e. .$. 



> 



*-^ 



A little reflection on the Beith-Luis-Nion, 
and the Oghum of the Scotic language, 
which has been explained, will suffice to 
confound Bollandus. A language, and conse- 
quently the elements of it, are either original, 
or derived from some other which has served 
as a model to it. Let Bollandus show us, 
this other language from which the Scotic is 
derived, and upon what model its characters 
have been formed. We challenge him to do 
it : let him inform us at what time and by 
whom, the Beith-Luis-Nion, composed of a 
number of letters different in their figure 
and order from those of other alphabets that 
are known, and the Oghum, which is a 
mysterious manner of writing, and unknown 
in the other languages of Europe, were in- 
troduced into Ireland ? According to his 
system, it was not before the conversion of 
Ireland, whereas the Scoto-Milesians (as he 
avers) had not the use of characters : if 
introduced since that period, let him tell us 
by whom that manner of writing was intro- 
duced, and for what purpose ? And as they 
had already received from St. Patrick the 
Roman letters, much more easy, why did 
they adopt others 1 Why did they take away 
from the Roman alphabet five or six letters 1 
That is what he cannot explain, because, as 
Harris says, no alphabet can be found after 
the most rigorous research, not even the 
Runic, whose elements resemble, in figure 
and order, those of the Beith-Luis-Nion, or 
the Oghum. The great number of authors 
whose works were written in the Scotic lan- 
guage before Christianity, is an unanswera- 
ble proof against the assertions of Bollandus. 
Keating on the reign of Laogare II., and 
Gratianus Lucius, in the 20th chapter of his 
" Gambrensis E versus," quote many of them. 
The first is Amergin, brother of Heber and 
Heremon, who was poet and supreme judge 
of the colony,* in the beginning of its estab- 

* Ogyg' P ar *- 3> cap. 30. 



lishment in Hibernia. O'Flaherty quotes 
the following hemistich as a remnant of his 
poetry :* 

"Eagna la heagluis adir; agus fealtha laflaithibh." 
Which he thus renders into Latin : " Aris 
propositus fit doctior, aptior armis." 

Ethrial Maclrial Faidh, that is,f Ethrial 
son of Irial the prophet, monarch of Ireland, 
had written, according to Keating, the his- 
tory of the voyages and migrations of the 
Milesians up to his time ; besides a great 
number of tracts on various subjects, viz., 
history, the genealogies of families, medi- 
cine, philosophy, the laws, &c. O'Flaherty 
mentions three celebrated poets under Con- 
chovar, who began to reign in Ulster some 
years before the birth of our Saviour. These 
poets, whose names are, Forchern Mac- 
Deagh, Neidhe MacAidhna, and Aithirne 
MacAmhnas, composed many works upon 
poetry and the laws ; they were likewise the 
authors of precepts, or celestial judgments, 
which O'Flaherty calls " judicia ccelestia." 
All these were revised, enlarged, and pub- 
lished by Kenfoiae MacOlill, antiquarian, 
in the seventh century, under the reign of 
Donald the Second. J 

Jocelyn, in his panegyrics on Dubthach 
O'Lugair,^ a celebrated post, who was con- 
verted by St. Patrick,]! sa y s » that " the tal- 
ents he had used before his conversion, to 
celebrate the praises of the false gods, were 
afterwards applied by him to praise the 
true God and his saints. "If The characters 
which he made use of were the Scotic, 
because he had then known no other. A 
treatise on the " Education of a Prince," 
written by Cormac Ulfada, monarch of 
Ireland in the third century, addressed to 
his son Cairbre Liffeachair, may be added 
to the above. This tract was found in a 
collection of ancient monuments by O'Duve- 
gan. O'Flaherty, in fine, assures us, upon the 
authority of Dualdus Firbissius, an ancient 
antiquarian, that in the time of St. Patrick, 
one hundred and eighty volumes concerning 
the doctrine and discipline of the druids 
were condemned and burned.** 

The epoch of the use of letters among 



* Anno Mundi S293. t Anno Mundi 3025. 

t War. de Script, cap. 1. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30. 

|| Harris, vol. 2, cap. 3. 

If " The verses which he had formerly composed 
in praise of his false gods, now changing to a better 
purpose his thoughts and language, he composed 
more renowned poems and sermons in praise of the 
omnipotent God and of his saints." — Jocelin in his 
Life of St. Patrick. 

** Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30, p. 219. 



42 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the Scoto-Milesians may be placed about 
the time of their passing from Spain into 
Ireland. All circumstances are favorable to 
tliis opinion : the only difficulty is to know 
from whom they had received them, whether 
from the Phoenicians, or from the Greeks. 

" The druids," says Czesar, " never com- 
mitted their mysteries to writing, except in 
their public acts, in which they made use 
of Greek characters." This gave rise to a 
belief, that the ancient Britons and the Mile- 
sians had borrowed the characters of the 
Greeks, through the channel of the druids, 
which supposes a commerce to have been 
between the Greeks and the islands of Bri- 
tain. Saint Jerome, indeed, in accordance 
with ancient authors, informs us that the 
Greeks had spread themselves over the 
whole of Europe, along the coasts and 
neighboring countries, as far as the British 
isles. But we must understand that Saint 
Jerome, and the authors whom he follows, 
allude to the ancient Greeks. Herodotus 
tells us that those parts of Europe were not 
known to the modern Greeks. Polybius, 
who lived after him, says, that neither the 
Greeks nor Romans were acquainted with 
the islands of Britain. Dion of Nice assures 
us that in the third century it was doubted 
if they were not a continent. We cannot 
attribute the commerce alluded to to the 
modern Greeks, who, being exhausted by 
long wars, were more like subjects than al- 
lies to the Romans, and unable therefore to 
attempt such enterprises. Thus if we wish 
to believe that there had been a commerce 
between the Greeks and the islands of Bri- 
tain, we must ascend to much earlier periods, 
viz., to the times of the most ancient Greeks, 
as Camden calls them, " Grseci vetustissi- 
mi,"* who frequented, he says,whether in the 
character of pirates, or as traders, the islands 
of Britain. It is not certain, however, that the 
Greeks ever had an established or regular 
trade with the islands of Britain. It might be 
that chance had driven some of their vessels 
thither, as it did the fleet of the Argonauts, 
which is supported by the assumed authority 
of Adrianus Junius ; or it might be, that a 
storm had cast upon the coast of the country 
some merchant-ships. But if the Greeks 
were at any time masters of the above island, 
or traded thither, can it be imagined that 
they woidd have been so ignorant of them 
in the time of Herodotus ? Or if they had 
been established there at a later period, how 
could they have doubted, as Dion of Nice 
says, whether they were a continent or not 

* Brit. p. 20. 



As to the druids, it is not proved that they 
had come from Greece. It maybe thought, 
for sake of argument, that they had received 
their characters from the Phocians, the first 
Greek colony that settled at Marseilles, about 
six hundred years before the Christian era. 
However, a difficulty still remains ; the cere- 
monies of the druids, and the care they took 
to conceal their mysteries, would appear to 
have a greater reference to the ceremonies 
and hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptian 
priests, than to those of the Greeks. Thus 
nothing prevents us to imagine that the first 
druids came from Egypt into Spain, with 
the Gadelians, and that they followed the 
Milesians into Ireland, from whence they 
spread themselves subsequently into Bri- 
tain, Gaul, and other countries of Europe. 

The opinion of those who think that the 
Milesians had received their characters im- 
mediately from the Phoenicians, appears 
more like the truth, on account of the trade 
those people had together, either in Spain 
or Ireland. The analogy which Ceesar 
discovers between the characters of the 
druids and those of the Greeks, does not 
at all affect this opinion ; as, being derived 
from the same source, they must be ex- 
tremely alike. 

We know that the Phcenicians were mas- 
ters of almost all the nations of Europe, but 
particularly of Asia Minor, Greece, and the 
nations bordering on the Mediterranean. 
They sailed, said Newton, in the times of 
David and Solomon,* upon the Mediterra- 
nean Sea as far as Spain, and beyond it ; 
they introduced everywhere the sciences, 
particularly navigation, astronomy, and let- 
ters ; and the coasts of Ireland, says Ware, 
after Bochart, were known to them.f The 
Spanish origin which ancient authors give 
to the Scoto-Milesians, and the epoch of 
their passing from Spain into Ireland, being 
compared with these circumstances, are a 
strong indication that letters were in very 
early use among this people, and support 
firmly the opinion of those who think that 
they had received them rather from the 
Phcenicians than from the Greeks. The 
use, therefore, of letters, added to a taste for 
history, and the necessity of preserving the 
genealogies in all their purity, to regulate the 
succession to the throne, afford a strong pre- 
sumption that history prevailed among tbem. 

The Scoto-Milesians had, like the Jews, 
powerful motives to influence them to pre- 
serve their history, and the genealogies 
of their chief families. The means which 

* Chron. p. 12. t Antiq. Hib. cap. 1. 



THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 



43 



they made use of in handing down their 
traditions, bespeak a nation equally lettered 
and polished. By a fundamental law of 
state, it was necessary to be of the house of 
Milesius to possess the throne, the sover- 
eignty of the provinces, or to fill high military 
posts, or the magistracy. The interests of 
the princes and of the people, respectively, 
required them to take measures to prevent 
deception ; very wise laws were enacted in 
regard to those rights. Ollam Fodla, who 
reigned about three centuries after the 
establishment of the colony in Ireland, 
founded the triennial assembly at Tara : he 
created the offices of antiquaries in the 
different provinces, to watch over and pre- 
serve the exploits of their heroes, and the 
genealogies of families. He ordained that 
the genealogical and historical records of 
those antiquarians should be examined in 
the triennial assembly, by commissioners 
appointed for that purpose ; he decreed heavy 
penalties against those who might be discov- 
ered to prevaricate in the discharge of their 
duty. Lastly, he enacted that copies of such 
private registries as were thus examined 
and made pure, should be inserted in the 
great book or registry, since called the' 
" Psalter of Tara," which was written in 
verse, after the manner of the ancient Arabs. 
This regulation was frequently renewed 
and confirmed by other princes ; and that 
assembly was continued up to the time of 
Christianity. 

Besides those registries, we have, since 
the. time of paganism, the " Black Book," 
and that of " Conquests," the whole of which 
is given in the " Psalter of Cashel," and in 
other modern works. Cairbre LifFeachair, 
monarch in the third century, composed the 
" History of the Kings," his predecessors, a 
copy of which had been preserved until the 
last century, in the abbey of Icolm-kill ; and 
Sir George M'Kenzie, in his " Defence of 
the Royal Line of Scotland," speaks of 
having seen it. 

Since the time of Christianity, we have 
the book called "Na-Gceart," written half 
in Irish, and half Latin, by Saint Benignus, 
disciple of Saint Patrick. The psalter called 
" Na-Rann," those of Cashel, Armagh, 
Cluan-Mac-Noisk, Cluan-Aigneach, and of 
Gravala ; the books of Fiontan of Leix, 
Glandaloch, Roscrea, and Kilkenny. The 
" Martyrology" of Marianus Gorman, written 
in the eleventh century, besides many ancient 
Irish manuscripts, of Cluan-Mac-Noisk, 
translated into English in 1627, by Conall 
Mac-Geoghegan.* 

* Ogyg. Epist. p. 10. 



The annals of Ulster, named " Ultoni- 
enses," by Usher, written partly in Irish, 
and partly in Latin, and finished in the 
sixteenth century, by Roderick Cassidy, 
archdeacon of Clogher,* who had written 
the last part of it. 

The annals of Tigernach, of Cluan-Mac- 
Noisk, written in the Irish language and 
characters, in the eleventh century. 

The annals of Innisfail, written in the 
thirteenth century, and the Synchronisms of 
Flannus a Monasterio. The greatest part of 
these writings are still entire. We discover 
other extracts scattered in the writings of 
Lecan, and those of Molaga, Mholing, 
O'Duvegan, Mac-Egan, Moel Conry, O'Bro- 
deen, O'Dorau, O'Duneen, &c. 

All these authors have written one after 
the other ; they have transmitted age after 
age, and as if from hand to hand, the thread 
of the history of the Milesians, from the 
beginning. Scarcely an age passes without 
some who write the history of every country. 
The last historians, if general, always renew 
and relate, besides the present, whatever 
might be contained in the ancient monuments 
of a country ; so that, should the original 
ones be lost, or consumed by time, their sub- 
stance is still preserved in modern works. 

The reality of the monuments of the Mile- 
sians cannot be doubted ; they are quoted 
by authors that are well known and inca- 
pable of imposing them by substituting chi- 
meras for the true ones. Keating, Colgan, 
Gratianus Lucius, Walsh, O'Flaherty, Ken- 
nedy, and others, quote them in every page. 
Usher speaks of the annals of Tigernach, 
and of those which he calls " Ultonienses."t 
Ware quotes the psalter named " Narran," 
written in the eighth century, half Irish and 
half Latin, by Aongus Kelide, or Colideus.| 
He praises the " Psalter of Cashel, and its 
author, Cormac-Mac-Cullinan, bishop of 
Cashel, and king of the province of Munster, 
in the beginning of the tenth century ; he 
says, that this book is highly esteemed, and 
that its author was both learned and well 
versed in the antiquities of his country."^ 

Sir George MacKenzie, a Scotchman, in 
the advertisement prefixed to his " Defence 
of the Royal Line of Scotland," printed at 
Edinburgh in 1685, speaks of some Irish 
manuscripts in the abbeyof Icolm-kill, which 

* War. de Script. Hib. 

t Primord. 15 et 16, passim. 

t Ogyg. P art 3 > ca P- 17 et 91 - 

§ " He was a man most learned and skilled in 
the antiquities of Ireland, and wrote in his native 
language, a history commonly called the Psalter 
of Cashel, which is still extant and held in high 
esteem." — Antiquities, c. 2. 



■11 



HISTOKY OF IRELAND. 



he speaks of having seen. The following 
are his words : 

" Since I have commenced this work, a 
very ancient manuscript of the abbey of 
Icolm-kill has fallen into my hands ; it was 
written by Cairbre Liffeachair, who lived 
six generations before St. Patrick, and about 
the time of our Saviour ; an exact account 
is given in it of Irish kings, from whence I 
infer, that as the Irish had manuscripts at 
that period, we must certainly have possess- 
ed them likewise." There are, in the same 
book, many things added by the druids of 
that time. " I have seen," continues Mac- 
Kenzie, " an ancient genealogy of the kings 
of the Scots in Albania, which agrees with 
what has been said in our history on the 
crowning of Alexander II., and which is 
preserved at Icolm-kill as a sacred deposite. 
I have," he says, " likewise seen another 
ancient manuscript, which sets forth that the 
Dalreudini of Albania have been established 
here (in Scotland) six generations before 
Eire, whom Usher calls the father of our 
kings. From the same manuscript it is 
discovered, that Angus Tuirtheampher had 
reigned in Ireland five hundred years before 
our Feargus I., and that after his time, the 
Albanian Scots had separated from those in 
Ireland, which accords with our histories, 
that say the Scots inhabited this country 
for a long period before Feargus established 
himself in it. These same Irish manuscripts 
agree also with the history of Cairbre, 
whereof mention is made above : these are, 
in fact, the additions made to his book by 
our ancient senachies." Such is the formal 
and positive testimony of MacKenzie in sup- 
port of ancient Irish manuscripts. 

The annals of Ulster, of Tigernach, of 
Innisfail, which are mentioned in the cata- 
logue of English and Irish manuscripts 
printed at Oxford,* are -found, with many 

* " The annals of Ulster is a book of most an- 
cient character, and has been written partly in 
Irish and partly in Latin, but in the Irish charac- 
ters ; it commences with the year of our Lord 444, 
and ends A. D. 1041, in which Rodericus Cassideus, 
archdeacon of Clobber, died ; he wrote the latter 
part of said annals." — Vol. 2. 

" The annals of Tigernachus (according to Ware) 
Clonmacnaisensis, are mutilated in the beginning. 
The author touches on universal history till the 
coming of St. Patrick ; after this he describes the 
affairs of Ireland till the year of our Lord 1088, in 
which he died : the book is in the Irish characters 
and language." — Vol. 3. 

" In the annals of the monastery of Innisfail, the 
author lightly touches on universal history, from the 
creation of the world to the year of our Lord 430. 
After this he describes, with great accuracy, Irish 
affairs to the year of our Lord 1215, in which he 
lived."— Vol. 26. 



other Irish manuscripts, in the cabinet of 
the Duke of Chandos, in England, who has 
had them since the death of the Earl of Clar- 
endon. 

The late king of England, James II., had 
a large manuscript volume in folio, called 
Leavar Lecan, taken from the library of 
Trinity College, Dublin ; it was afterwards, 
by order of the prince, who had an act passed 
before notaries for the purpose, deposited in 
the archives of the Irish college in Paris, 
and is carefully preserved. The style of 
this manuscript is so concise, and the words 
so abridged, that it is difficult to find any 
among the learned in that language able to 
decipher it. The translator of Keating's 
history into English, printed at Dublin in 
1723, and afterwards in London, informs us 
in his preface, that there is in the library of 
Trinity College, in the same city, among 
other monuments, a volume in folio, written 
upon parchment many centuries ago ; that 
this volume contains extracts from the 
Psalters of Tara, Cashel, Armagh, and other 
monuments of antiquity ; and in order to 
obtain the reading of it for six months, that 
he had been obliged to give security to the 
amount of one thousand pounds sterling. 
Would he have dared to publish and to have 
printed in the same city that account, and 
give the name of Doctor Raymond, during 
his lifetime, who had been, he says, his se- 
curity, if he feared that he could be contra- 
dicted 1 That is not probable. 

The monuments to which we have been 
alluding, besides many others preserved in 
the cabinets of some lords of the country, 
are fragments that have escaped the fury 
of the Danes ; they can be compared to 
inscriptions engraven upon columns injured 
by time, which are at present useless in a 
country where the language is in its decline. 
From such sources, those who have treated 
of the subject within the two last centuries, 
have been supplied : when the language was 
better understood than at present, it was 
then possible to consult these monuments ; 
but those opportunities will disappear the 
more as time advances. 

The value of history is sustained by the 
materials of which it is composed ; but it is 
not in the writings of foreigners that these 
materials should be looked for ; they must 
be taken from the monuments of that nation 
which is to form the subject of the history. 
The Milesians were very jealous of their 
antiquities : the regulations made in thejr 
assemblies at Tara, for the purpose of pre- 
serving their annals, convince us easily of 
this. Although their monuments be written 



THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 



45 



in a language which is strange and un- 
known to the other nations of Europe, that 
does not take away from the truth of the 
facts which are contained in them. 

I am well aware that there are some 
among those who take the honorable name 
of Irishmen, as well as among foreigners, 
who seek to enfeeble the authority of the 
monuments of the Irish. Both are influ- 
enced by different motives, but their attempts 
are supported by negative arguments, and 
conjectures drawn from doubtful and obscure 
principles. 

If evidence and authority are essential to 
support historical facts,* they are not less 
requisite, when the question to subvert them 
is debated : criticism likewise, when two 
such means are wanting, will fall of itself. 

Neither are mathematical nor legal proofs 
necessary to maintain historical facts : moral 
ones ought to suffice : reason does not permit 
us to seek but what are merely proportioned 
to the nature of the subject. The certainty 
of history' cannot be more than a moral 
certainty, founded upon the tradition of a 
people, upon their ancient mortuments, upon 
grounds that are probable, or upon the 
testimony of men who are worthy of belief. 
The historians even of our time have never 
seen, of themselves, the one-thousandth part 
of what they relate. We must presume as 
much upon the tradition of an entire people, 
as upon the testimony of two witnesses in a 
private cause, the truth of which is founded 
only upon the presumption that they do not 
perjure themselves, so that the most solid 
support of the history of a country is the 
general opinion of its inhabitants, from whom 
strangers ought to derive every thing that 
they wish to know concerning them. 

Critics think that they are competent to 
judge of things which they probably have 
never seen, and which perhaps they would 
not be capable of understanding, even though 
they should see them. 

The first class of critics, as above, strive 
to find the origin of the Milesians among 
the Gauls, and by dint of calculating and 
combining the ideas which they have drawn 
from the writings of Caesar, Strabo, Tacitus, 
and Ptolemy, they say, that Gaul, so fertile 
and abounding in fruit, was not less so in 
men ; that it had been, from time to time, 

* " There are two things, viz., reason and au- 
thority, which tend to confirm or impugn all mat- 
ters : but in the study of antiquities, authority and 
the knowledge of past events are most powerful, 
and are supported, not on account of reasons addu- 
ced, but by the authority of writers." — Camd. in his 
epistle on the Ogyg. p. 6. 



obliged to send some colonies into the neigh- 
boring countries, and of course into Spain 
on account of its proximity, and that the 
descendants of these colonies had perhaps 
passed subsequently from Spain to Ireland. 
We see that this mode of reasoning is found- 
ed upon conjectures only. Criticism affects, 
after the manner of Ptolemy, to discriminate 
and divide into tribes the ancient inhabit- 
ants of Ireland, under the names of Cauci, 
Menapii, Brigantes, Gangani, Luceni, &c, 
and to discover the origin of these people in 
the different countries with which they think 
those names had reference or affinity. The 
Cauci, it is thought by critics, were from 
Germany, the Menapii from Belgic Gaul, 
the Brigantes from Great Britain : the Gan- 
gani and Luceni are represented to be from 
Spain, and according to Camden and Silius 
Italicus to be of Scythian origin. 

But besides Ptolemy's not being able to 
know the Milesians at a time when com- 
merce was rare between nations that were 
far apart, he could therefore know them but 
through the imperfect report of sailors, who 
had perhaps scarcely seen the coasts of the 
island. We know that the Greeks and an- 
cient geographers were in the habit of cor- 
rupting, or changing altogether the proper 
names of countries, nations, and even of 
cities, and of giving new names to them ac- 
cording to their own fancy.* 

The several nations named by Ptolemy, 
are, as O'Flaherty says, strange and as little 
known to the Milesians, as the most distant 
parts of America ; " so that it is astonishing," 
continues he, " that men so discerning in 
other things, could dwell on such absurdi- 
ties, and make, in foolish conjectures, a dis- 
play of their ignorance of our history."t 

It is certain that the ancient monuments 
of the Milesians, to which alone we should 
refer in every matter that concerns them, 
make no mention of such a mixture of people. 
They inform us of the Milesians, or of the 
Scots, as the only possessors of the island, 
many centuries before Jesus Christ, and that 
they were of Scythian origin. Is there any 
thing in that impossible or extraordinary ? 
What could be their motive for imposing 
upon the world a desire of being descended 
from a barbarous nation, and so distant as 

* Joseph, lib. 1. cont. Appian. Camd. Brit. 

p-n. 

+ " Great surprise seizes me, that men otherwise 
most sagacious, should make such follies of great 
moment, when laboring to develop them : Ihey have 
sacrificed their time, and, during these foolish and 
prophetic efforts, betrayed their ignorance of our 
affairs." — Ogyg. part 1. p. 16. 



46 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



that of Scythia, rather than from more 
neighboring nations 1 Would it not be 
equally glorious for them to have had their 
origin from Gaul, or any other nation on 
the continent 1 Certainly it would. But 
it is more, fit that children should follow the 
traditions and writings that they have re- 
ceived from their fathers, rather than attach 
themselves to conjectures which are desti- 
tute of proofs. 

As to those who pretend that the Milesians 
had the use of characters before St. Patrick, 
what has been explained concerning the lan- 
guage and characters of that people should 
satisfy them. 

The use of letters among a people pre- 
supposes polished manners and cultivated 
minds : it cannot (say the critics) be ima- 
gined, that such qualities could belong to the 
Milesians, whom Strabo, Pomponius Mela, 
and other ancient authors represent to have 
been ferocious, rude, and barbarous before 
Christianity. 

The Romans, who never had been masters 
of Ireland,* had not therefore the opportu- 
nity of being judges of the morals of its in- 
habitants. 

Polybius, more ancient, by two centuries, 
than Strabo, assures us, that the British isles 
were scarcely known, and that every thing 
which could be said of them, was but the 
effect of the imagination.! 

Dion of Nice agrees, that in his time it 
was still doubted if they were islands or a 
continent. In the first century also, Agricola 
was ignorant whether Britain was an island, 
until he had sailed round the Orkneys with 
his fleet. By this it appears, that in the 
time of Strabo, who lived in the first century, 
Ireland was not known to the Romans,:): and, 
as Nicholson in his Irish Library asserts, 
those authors, not knowing what to say of 
it, have ventured to give some accounts of 
that island which they had perhaps received 
from sailors cast upon its coasts, where the 
inhabitants might have been what they are 
at present, among the most polished nations, 
cruel and ferocious to those who are ship- 
wrecked upon their shores. 

The candid avowal of Strabo himself shows 
it : he agrees that he had no witnesses worthy 
of belief for all that he had said.§ 

* " But I cannot be induced to think, that this 
country ever fell into the power of the Romans." 
Camd. Brit. p. 729. 

t " They dream, if they either speak or write 
concerning them."< — Polyb. b. 3, p. 88. 

X Chap. 1. p. 1. 

§ " Concerning Ireland I have nothing certain 
which I can say. The things indeed which we 



It appears that there was a custom for- 
merly common to every nation, of affixing 
to each in their turn the name of barbarians. 
In the opinion of the Egyptians, the first 
Greeks were barbarians ; the latter desig- 
nated the Romans by the same title ; the 
Romans reproached the Carthaginians with 
their bad faith, " fides punica," which became 
proverbial among those who were them- 
selves wanting in good faith to all the world. 
In fine, all those (whom we would at present 
more politely call strangers) were looked 
upon by the Romans as barbarians, among 
whom they did not discover either their 
religion, customs, or a quick submission to 
the power of their arms. -Some moderns 
have borrowed from the ancients, of whom 
they are but the echo, the ideas they had 
formed of the Milesians ; they have even 
outdone them in the portraits which they 
have drawn to the disadvantage of that 
people, according as their own interest re- 
quired it. 

Gildas Britannicus, surnamed the wise,* 
the first British author of whom we have 
any account, wrote in the sixth century a 
treatise, " De Excidio Britannia? ;" he seems 
to doubt if his countrymen, the ancient 
Britons, left any monuments or manuscripts 
to transmit to posterity the remembrance of 
their origin, as he says that he was obliged 
to follow in his writings the accounts given 
of his country by foreigners. This doubt of 
Gildas is further strengthened by the silence 
observed by Caesar, who makes no mention 
of any custom of writing history to have 
been among the Britons. If these (say the 
critics) had not in the sixth century any 
historical monuments, what pretensions could 
the Scoto-Milesians have to them, whose 
dates are much higher than the Christian 
era? 

The weakness of the comparison will be 
felt, by attending a little to the situation of 
both countries at that time. The Scoto- 
Milesians, free and independent, lived within 
themselves, and were separated by their in- 
sular situation, from the rest of the world ; 
while the Britons were slaves, trampled 
upon by a foreign power, and often harassed 
by the Pictsand Scots. The Scoto-Milesians 
held a superiority over them in every thing : 
they made war upon them in their own 
country ; they carried away prisoners ; and, 
in fine, were a lettered people, which cannot 
be said of the Britons. Shall it be then 
pretended, that, because there were not in 

relate are unfounded, from the want of witnesses 
worthy of belief." 

* Camd. Brit. edit. Lond. p. 788. 



THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 



17 



the time of Gildas, any historical monuments I mixed with fables and anachronisms, " fabu- 
among the Britons, the neighboring nations lis et anachronismis mire admixta." Two 



must have been also without any? The 
inference cannot appear to be a just one. 

But they say that the modern critics 
(English of course) have despised and re- 
jected those chimeras of antiquity to which 
the Milesians aspire, as well as the authori- 
ties they produce to support them. It is 
evident that those critics should not be be- 
lieved in respect to the monuments of that 
people : they were unacquainted with the 
language in which they were written ; it was 
altogether impossible for them to know it. 
There are but few even among the natives 
capable of deciphering their ancient wri- 
tings : it is by a particular study only, of the 
abbreviations, punctuations, and of the an- 
cient characters of that language, and the 
Oghum, that they can attain to it. The old 
Scotic language, which was spoken two 
thousand years ago, and which is made use 
of in their monuments, was entirely differ- 
ent from what is now, and has been spoken, 
within the last few centuries ; and has be 
come a jargon by the adoption of many Latin, 
English, and French words. Are these 
not difficulties, which it is impossible for a 
stranger to surmount, who attempts to write 
the history of that country ? If the primitive 
Irish language be scarcely known by the 
bulk of the nation itself, what knowledge can 
an Englishman have of it after the short so> 
journ of a few months, during which he mixes 
but with those who speak his own language " 
If he be able to collect a few imperfect frag- 
ments written in the Scotic language and 
characters by some ignorant bard, he returns 
to his country as much pleased as if he 
possessed the most authentic monuments of 
that nation, and his native prejudice against 
the Irish furnishes him with matter to amuse 
his readers at their expense, with accounts 
that are both ridiculous and absurd. 

Camden himself was not better informed, 
as appears from the imperfect sketch of the 
history of Ireland, which he has introduced 
into his " Britannia." Spelman, Stillingfleet, 
Nicholson, &c, are of the same stamp : 
nevertheless, such are the witnesses that are 
at present questioned upon the antiquities 
of the Scoto-Milesians, and the critics that 
are adduced and scrupulously copied after. 

The judicious Ware, it is true, begins his 
antiquities of Ireland with the reign of Lao- 
gare, and the apostleship of Saint Patrick. 
He assigns it as a reason for not taking 
them from an earlier epoch, that most of 
whatiad been written concerning the pre- 
decessors of that monarch, was exceedingly 



things in this must be observed : first, that, 
from the acknowledgment of the author, 
there were some kings the predecessors of 
Laogare, and monuments which speak of 
them ; second, that these monuments were 
mixed with fables and anachronisms. I have 
no doubt but his criticism is just ; this is a 
fault common to all ancient histories. What 
can be known of antiquity, if all history be 
rejected which contains any thing that may 
be false, fabulous, or supposed ? Is not 
Herodotus, the father of history, called also 
the father of falsehood ? Why has he put 
forth things that are doubtful, nay untrue, 
according to Manetho, in regard to Egypt 
and the Egyptians, upon the testimony of 
Vulcan's priests, whom he had met with at 
Memphis 1 Is he correct in the accounts 
he gives of the manners and customs of the 
Scythians, Amazons, and other countries, 
from hearsay ? Have the author of the 
Cyropedia, Titus Livy, Quintus Curtius, 
and others been free from the lash of criti- 
cism ? Have the more modern historians, 
Camden, Buchanan, de Thou, Mezeray, and 
Pere D'Orleans, escaped censure 1 Is not 
Voltaire convicted of repeated mistakes in 
his " Age of Louis XIV.," in his history 
of Charles XII., and in his history of the 
empire 1 

If the historians of our days were obliged 
to warrant every thing that they advance in 
their writings, their embarrassment would be 
very great. How many things, either from 
a spirit of partiality or ignorance, would be 
found to be suppressed ! How many would 
appear darkened or disfigured, from a desire 
of transferring to those whom they admired, 
the merit of some whom they disesteemed ! 
If the history of the late campaigns in 
Flanders be written, it will with justice be 
said, that the French were conquerors at 
Fontenay, Rocoux, and Lawfeld ; it will be 
admitted that they took the cities of Menin, 
Ypres, Mons, Namur, and Burgenopzoom ; 
but will the several circumstances and par- 
ticular facts be correctly detailed ? Shall 
there be mention made of those who gave 
way before the enemy 1 Will they who, by 
not obeying their officers, contributed to the 
loss of the advantages gained, be likewise 
introduced 1 Shall justice be done to such 
as were instrumental to the gaining of their 
battles, and to the taking of the cities 1 
Lastly, will both parties agree in their ac- 
counts of the various operations of their 
campaigns ? I am of opinion that they will 
not. Have we not frequently witnessed the 



IN 



HISXpRY OF IRELAND. 



singing of the " Te Deum" by both parties 
when the battle was over ? The history 
of it will be written when the facts will be 
almost forgotten, and no person found to 
contradict them. The productions of the 
imagination will then take the place of truth ; 
the historian will flatter some at the expense 
of others ; the coward will be immortalized 
in his writings, while those will be suffered 
to lie buried in perpetual oblivion, who had 
merited the best of their country. 

Are not the gazettes themselves, which 
are published by authority, often filled with 
falsehood, and the editor obliged to retract 
what he had already made public in the 
ordinary course 1 Let four men from dif- 
ferent quarters of Paris be summoned to 
give testimony of what had happened in 
the middle of the city, will they agree upon 
what each will tell of it in his own quarter ; 
and will their accounts, after having passed 
through many mouths, and returning to the 
first author, be intelligible ? _ What can be 
concluded from this, but that there are very 
few histories which are not mixed with 
truth and fable ? 

To return to Ware ; can we not with 
some degree of justice say, that he was not 
a fit judge in this affair ? He did not know 
the primitive language of Ireland, so as to 
be competent to explore the first periods of 
its history. He had no opportunity of con- 
sulting the Psalters of Teamor, and other 
monuments necessary for such an under- 
taking ; he saw but some books of annals, 
written half in Latin and half in Irish, the 
dates whereof ran no higher than the Chris- 
tian era ; in a word, every thing antecedent 
to that period, is accused by him, of con- 
taining fables and anachronisms : by these 
means he exonerates himself from making 
the researches to which he did not feel him- 
self competent. 

It is farther objected, that, because the 
Romans, and also the Greeks, the most 
civilized in their time of any people of Eu- 
rope, had not historians more ancient than 
Herodotus, who lived about four hundred 
years before the Christian era, the preten- 
sions of the Milesians, with respect to the 
epoch of their history, cannot be maintained. 

Should we suppose with those critics, 
which is but a mere conjecture of the truth, 
that Herodotus was the first historian among 
the Greeks — for it is possible there were 
others more ancient, whose works have been 
lost — the comparison is still weak, and noth- 
ing can arise from it but a negative proof. 

We know that the Greeks, who excelled 
in the art of government, philosophy, elo- 



quence, poetry, and other fine arts, were 
very limited in the knowledge of history. 

Josephus, in his book against Appian, 
asserts, that to have a knowledge of antiqui- 
ty, we must not seek it among the Greeks, 
whose writings, he says, are imperfect, new, 
and doubtful ; it appears therefore that his- 
tory was not the ruling passion of that people, 
although most polished in other respects. 

As to the Romans, they are more modern. 
The use of letters, says Livy, was rare 
among the ancient Romans, the memory 
being their only depository of time, in the 
first ages of the republic. If their priest, 
in succeeding ages, transmitted some monu- 
ments, they were lost in the burning of the 
city ;* and if we attach belief to Vossius on 
the subject, Fabius Pictor was the first who 
wrote the history of the republic, in the 
year of Rome 485. t 

Orpheus of Crotona, in his poem of the 
Argonauts, and Aristotle in Ms book " Of the 
world," dedicated to Alexander,! make men- 
tion of Ireland, under the name of Ierna, 
from whence Usher takes the opportunity 
of saying, " that the Romans could produce 
no testimony so authentic for the antiquity 
of their name."§ The comparison of Usher 
is not made in allusion to the soil or land of 
Rome, nor to that of Ireland ; the two coun- 
tries being in that respect of equal antiqui- 
ty ; the question is with respect to those 
who inhabited the two countries, of which 
we have a more authentic testimony for 
their antiquity than the other : thus, in the 
opinion of Usher, the Scoto-Milesians had 
a better title to it than the Romans. 

The strength of this reasoning will be felt 
still more forcibly, if, with Camden, we con- 
sider that the name Ierna, and others which 
strangers give to that island, are derived from 
Eire, " ab Erin ergo gentis vocabulo origi- 
natio pretenda ;"|| a name which has been 
peculiar to it since the Scoto-Milesians have 
been in possession of the island, and which 
is derived from Ire, one of their ancient 
chiefs. If it be then allowed us to think, 
with Usher, that the Scoto-Milesians were 

* " The writings in these days were few. The 
memory of exploits was the only guardian of them ; 
and if any things had been committed by their 
priests to be preserved in monuments, they must 
have perished in the conflagration of the city." — 
Livy., b. 6. 

t De historia Lat. lib. 1, cap. 44, et lib. 2. 

X Newton, Introduction to Chron. p. 6. 

§ " Of such antiquity, that the Romans them- 
selves could not produce an author to bear similar 
testimony of their name." — Usher, Church Hist. 
p. 724. . 

|| Camd. Brit. edit. Lond. p. 726. 



THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 



established in Ireland before the Roman 
name was known, we may likewise suppose 
that, from being a lettered people, the dates 
of their histories are much higher than those 
of the Romans. 

The obscurity of the monuments of the 
Milesians is again objected to. It is a mat- 
ter of astonishment (people say) that among 
so many learned men whom Ireland has 
produced, none have undertaken to translate 
and publish, in some known language, the 
ancient monuments of that country, while 
other nations have been careful, since the 
invention of printing, to collect and submit 
to the view of the critic all their titles to an- 
tiquity which they have been able to dis- 
cover ; the Milesians are apparently diffi- 
dent themselves of the truth and authenticity 
of their monuments', as they are afraid to 
make them appear before the world. 

Of that objection I feel the full force, and 
see the necessity there would be for having 
their monuments published, in order to afford 
to the learned the opportunity of judging of 
them ; but I see at the same time the great 
difficulties that await the undertaking. That 
nation, being always engaged in wars since 
the twelfth century to the present time, es- 
pecially since the invention of printing, has 
never been in a state to undertake such a 
project. The various revolutions which 
have happened since the reign of Elizabeth, 
both in religion and general government, as 
well as in the fortunes of individuals, par- 
ticularly the Milesians, who are alone inter- 
ested to have their antiquities made known, 
have produced so great a discouragement 
among them, that they only thought of the 
present, and their greatest concern has been 
to save from shipwreck, and to preserve some 
portion of the patrimony of their ancestors, 
without troubling themselves about times 
that are so long past. 

Those who make the objection do not 
weigh the difficulties which await the at- 
tempt. To translate from the Irish Ian 
guage into others, the learned in that Ian 
guage should be chosen from among the 
natives of the country, which would create a 
diffidence and doubt of the capability and 
correctness of the translators ; and to judge 
of the affair, the Irish themselves would be 
both the judges and the party. 

The matter would be less difficult were 
the Irish manuscripts less numerous. In 
order to render the enterprise useful, more 
than fifty volumes should be translated and 
published, each of which, though differing in 
object, have an essential connection one with 
the other relative to the history of that nation. 



It ought to satisfy us that Keating, Colgan, 
Gratianus Lucius, Bruodine, O'Flaherty, 
and many others, who have made use of 
and understood the Irish manuscripts, can 
warrant them, and say that they bear every 
mark of the remotest antiquity, and that the 
extracts which they have given from them 
are faithful. 

The same difficulties are not met with in 
the antiquities of other nations of Europe ; 
their ancient monuments are not many ; there 
are but few of them that mount so high as 
the Christian era, and are written in lan- 
guages and characters which are known to 
all the learned : whereas, those of the Mi- 
lesians are unknown, not only to foreigners, 
but even to most of the Irish themselves. 

How many authentic manuscripts are 
there remaining in the libraries of the Vati- 
can, of the king at Paris, and the Bodleian at 
Oxford, which were never published ! A cat- 
alogue of the English and Irish-manuscripts 
which had never been printed, was published 
a few years ago in this city, (Paris.) 

Those who had the history of their coun- 
try first printed, have taken their materials 
from manuscripts that were never printed, 
the dates of which run much higher than 
the period when printing was invented ; still, 
no lawsuits were instituted against them for 
not having previously published such wri- 
tings. The rareness of a manuscript has 
never been a cause for esteeming it the less, 
and the printing, which is but a copy, gives 
to it an authority so far as that it becomes 
thereby more generally known. 

The authors who have in the last three 
centuries given their attention to the history 
of Ireland, and that are best known, are 
Stanihurst, Peter Lombard, Keating, Mes- 
singham, O'Sullivan, Ward, Clery, Roth, 
Usher, Colgan, Ware, Bruodine, Gratianus 
Lucius, Belling, Walsh, O'Flaherty, O'Reil- 
ly, Porter, Molyneux, Kennedy, &c. 

Richard Stanihurst, a native of Dublin, 
but of English descent, having made his 
studies at Oxford and at London, wrote, in 
the Latin language, a small volume in quarto, 
which was printed at Antwerp, in 1584, 
under the title of " De rebus in Hibernia 
gestis, libri quatuor," with notes upon some 
extracts taken from Cambrensis.* This 
author, being from his youth under the gui- 
dance of men badly disposed towards the 
Irish nation, lent his pen to disparage a peo- 
ple whom he did not know, and whose mon- 
uments he was unable to consult, being writ- 
ten in a language whereof he was altogether 

* Keating's Prarf. page 9. 



50 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



ignorant ; it cannot be, therefore, a matter 
of surprise that his book is filled with er- 
rors, and that his descriptions of the Irish 
nation, which make the subject of his work, 
are altogether false.* Stanihurst, seeing his 
history censured by the world, and burned 
by orders of the Inquisition in Portugal, 
promised, at a more advanced age, when he 
had entered into holy orders, to recant his 
writings by a public avowal, but was pre- 
vented by death before he could accomplish 
his purpose. 

Peter Lombard was born in Waterford, 
and being brought up from his youth at 
Westminster, under the eyes of the learned 
Camden, he displayed great proofs of capa- 
city for the sciences : he afterwards came 
to Louvain — where he completed his stu- 
dies, and received the doctor's cap. The 
provostship of the cathedral of Cambray was 
afterwards conferred on him ; lastly, he was 
appointed archbishop of Armagh, and pri- 
mate of Ireland. Among his other works, 
he has left a commentary in Latin on the 
history of Ireland, which was highly es- 
teemed, and was printed after his death, in 
quarto, at Louvain, in 1632.t 

Geoffry Keating was born in Ireland, in 
the sixteenth century, during the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth. Being intended for the 
ecclesiastical state, he left his country in 
consequence of the persecutions that were 
carried on against the Catholics, and came 
to France, where he received the degree of 
doctor in theology. Returning afterwards 
to his native country, and being perfect mas- 
ter of the Irish language, he collected every 
thing that was possible for him from the 
ancient monuments of Ireland, and formed 
the design of reducing them into the shape 
of history ; two motives induced him to un- 
dertake it, as he himself says in his preface. 
First, to draw from obscurity a people who 
were equally ancient as they were generous 
and noble, by preserving from the ravages 
of time, a methodical history of their monu- 
ments. Secondly, to develop the injustice 
of some authors, who, without consulting 
them, propagate against the Irish their false 
productions, which may be termed satires 
rather than history. He adds, that every 
thing which he advances in favor of Ire- 
land arises from his love for truth, and that 
his testimony should not be suspected, being 
himself of English origin. This qualifica- 
tion, however, raised suspicions from many 
quarters against him, particularly in the pro- 

* Harris, Irish Writers, vol. 2, chap. 13. 
t O'Sullivan, Hist. Cath Hiber. compend. tome 
1, lib. 4, cap. 1. 



vinces of Ulster and Connaught, where he 
was denied access to their monuments which 
would be essential for his history, and the 
want of which has rendered it less copious 
and complete than it would otherwise have 
been. This history, written in the Irish 
language, which was principally spoken at 
that time, has been since translated into 
English, and become thereby open to criti- 
cism. Those who think themselves interest- 
ed in degrading the Irish people, whose an- 
tiquity appears to them insupportable, severe- 
ly censure the history of Keating ;* while 
others, more moderate and impartial, con- 
sider it a valuable collection of antiquities.f 
It must, however, be acknowledged, that if 
the English translation of this history be a 
faithful one, which is not very certain, there 
are many anachronisms in the work, and ac- 
counts which seem to be fabulous, and ab- 
surd tales. However, these should be attrib- 
uted rather to the credulity of the author, 
who has too closely followed, on some occa- 
sions, the fictions of the ancient bards, than 
to any previous intention of degrading the 
history of the Irish nation. Among all its de- 
fects we discover many good and interesting 
tilings, which make that work essentially 
useful ; provided it be read with caution, 
much information may be derived with re- 
spect to the origin of the Milesians, their es- 
tablishment in the island, their wars, gov- 
ernment, and the succession of their kings. 

Thomas Messingham, a priest, and native 
of the province of Leinster, also apostolical 
prothonotary, and superior of a community of 
Irish in Paris, published in that city in 1624, 
a small folio volume in Latin, entitled " Flo- 
rilegium insulae Sanctorum." It contains 
the lives of many of the Irish saints, taken 
from the best of authors. 

Philip O'Sullivan, a gentleman of the no- 
ble family of O'Sullivan Barry, in«the county 
of Cork, being compelled by the misfortune 
of the times, in the reign of Queen Eliza- 
beth, to fly from his country, withdrew to 
Spain, where, after having completed his 
studies at Compostello, he composed several 
works in Latin ; among others, an abridg- 
ment of the history of Ireland, which had 
for its title, " Historicae Catholicae Hibernias 
Compendium," dedicated to Philip IV. king 
of Spain, and printed at Lisbon in 1621. 
The fabulous account of St. Patrick's pur- 
gatory, introduced into his history, after the 
Viscount Lamon de Parellos, a Spanish lord, 
has been injurious to it. In his description 

* Cox, Talbot, Welsh, Pref. 
t Approbation of Doctor Finlay, prefixed to Keat. 
ing's Hist. Loudon ed. 



THE SCOTO-r.IILESIANS. 



51 



of the island, its antiquities, the invasion 
of the English, the fifteen years' war under 
Queen Elizabeth, and the persecution under 
James I., he appears to be correct. He has 
drawn upon himself the censure of Usher, 
who treats him as a faithless author, on ac- 
count of a tract written against him, under 
the title of " Archicornigeromastix." 

Hugh Ward, or Wardeus, a native of the 
county Donegal in Ulster, was first brought 
up at Salamanca, where he became one of 
the order of St. Francis, in 1616; he after 
wards completed his studies at Paris, from 
whence he was called and nominated lea 
turer in theology, and afterwards warden, 
at Louvain. As he was very learned and 
versed in antiquity, he took the resolution 
to write a universal history of the saints of 
his own country ; for that object he sent 
Michael O'Cleaiy, a monk of his order, to 
collect materials necessary for it. In the 
mean time he composed several works that 
were afterwards very useful to John Col- 
gan, who undertook, after his death, to finish 
his intended history. 

Michael O'Cleary, a native of the prov- 
ince of Ulster, and monk of the order of 
St. Francis, was sent, as has been observed, 
into Ireland by Ward, to make the researches 
necessary for the work he had contemplated. 
This monk performed his commission with 
all possible attention, without his patron 
having derived from it any benefit, being 
prevented by death. 

O'Cleary having formed a taste for that 
kind of employment, troublesome indeed, 
but very useful to the public, and being 
joined by other antiquarians of the country, 
particularly Ferfessius O'Conry, Peregrin 
O'Cleary, and Peregrin O'Dubgennan, col- 
lected a quantity of materials to serve for 
an ecclesiastical and civil history, and re- 
duced them into order. Some ancient mon- 
uments he purged, by comparing them with 
old manuscripts, of the errors which had 
crept in by the ignorance of the copyists. 

The first of these monuments is an his- 
torical abridgment of the Irish kings, their 
reign and succession, their genealogies and 
death. 

The second is a tract on the genealogies 
of their saints, called " Sanctilogium genea- 
logicum." 

The third treats of the first inhabitants, 
and different conquests of that island ; the 
succession of her kings, their wars, and oth- 
er remarkable events, from the deluge until 
the arrival of the English in the twelfth cen- 
tury. This book is called, " Leabhar Gab- 
haltas." Our author composed another work 



in two volumes quarto, called the Annals of 
Donegal, and sometimes the Annals of the 
Four Masters. Those two, which are not 
yet printed, are taken from the annals of 
Clon-Mac-Noisk, of Innisfaii, of Senat, and 
many other ancient authentic monuments of 
the country. The first comprises its ancient 
history from the earliest periods till the 
twelfth century ; and the second, after leav- 
ing a chasm of about one hundred and sixty- 
four years, begins with the fourteenth and 
ends with the seventeenth centuries. O'- 
Flaherty* taxes these annals with an error 
in their chronology, but they are followed 
by Gratianus Lucius,! and Colgan.ij: 

David Roth, a native of Kilkenny, doctor 
of theology in the college of Douay, and 
bishop of Ossory, was, according to Usher, 
well skilled in the antiquities of his country. fy 
He was an eloquent orator, a subtile philos- 
opher, a profound theologian, and a learned 
historian.! Various works were published 
by him in Latin, under borrowed names, 
and among others his " Hibernia Resur- 
gens," which was printed at Rouen, and at 
Cologne, in 1621. If 

James Usher, or Usserius, was a native 
of Dublin and well known in the republic 
of letters by his erudition and the great 
number of his works, which are a proof of 
it. The writings of this learned man that 
have any reference to our history, are his 
" Veterum Epistolarum Hibernicarum Syl- 
loge," and " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An- 
tiquitates." The first contains fifty letters 
upon the Irish people, with some notes from 
the editor. This small volume was printed 
first in Dublin in 1630, and reprinted at 
Paris, 1665. The second, which was print- 
ed at Dublin in 1639, and at London in 1687, 
treats of the origin of British churches. 

John Colgan, a native of the county Don- 
egal in Ulster, and monk of the order of 
Saint Francis in the convent of Saint An- 
thony of Padua, at Louvain, where he was 
professor in theology, was learned in the 
language and antiquities of his country ; he 
undertook to write the lives of the Irish 
saints, and was the more capable of under- 
taking it, from being aided by the researches 
which Ward had got made for the same 
intention. In 1645 a volume in folio was 
published by him, at Louvain-; it contained 
the lives of the saints for the first three 



* Ogyg; prolog, p. 43. 

t Cambr. Evers. cap. 8. 

$ Act Sanct. passim. 

§ Prim. cap. 16, p. 737. 

II Syllog. epist. p. 125. 

IT Messingham, Florileg. p. 87. 



52 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



months of the year, under the title of " Acta 
Sanctorum Veteris et Majoris Scotiae." A 
second volume was published at Louvain 
in 1647, which had for its title, " Triadis 
Thaumaturgae, &c. ;" it contained the lives 
of St. Patrick, Saint Columb, and Saint 
Bridget. We have likewise a treatise from 
him on the country, life, and writings of 
John Scot, called the subtile doctor, printed 
in octavo, at Antwerp, in 1655. There are, 
in fine, many manuscript volumes at Lou- 
vain, of this author, which speak of the 
apostleship and mission of many Irish saints 
in foreign countries. 

Sir James Ware, or Wareus, a native of 
Dublin, made many researches useful to the 
history of Ireland, both in the registries and 
cloisters of the churches and monasteries of 
the country, and in the libraries of England. 
He published first in Dublin in 1639 a trea- 
tise in Latin, upon the Irish writers. In 
1654, and 1658, he had the antiquities of 
Ireland published in London, under the title 
of " De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus ejus Dis- 
quisitiones." In fine, he has furnished a 
commentary on the Irish prelates, from the 
conversion of that country down to his time. 
This work has been printed at Dublin in 
1665, under the title of " De Prsesulibus 
Hiberniae commentarius." All these have 
been translated into English, and printed in 
folio at London, in 1705, to which is sub- 
joined a discourse from Sir John Davis, 
wherein he examines into the cause of the 
delay of the conquest of Ireland by the 
English. Ware's researches on the found- 
ation of the churches, the names and suc- 
cession of their prelates, the establishment 
of monasteries and religious houses, and the 
learned writers of that country, are extremely 
interesting. His works which relate to Ire 
land, from the invasion of the English, are 
in general excellent, and worthy a man of 
his merit ; but his treatise on its antiquities 
is of small moment ; he was not sufficiently 
acquainted with its language, to be able to 
consult the monuments of that people, so 
that he has, at a small expense, acquired 
for himself the title of antiquarian. 

Anthony Bruodine, a native of the county 
Clare in Ireland, was a recollet and professor 
in theology in the convent of that order at 
Prague. Among other works he composed 
a volume in quarto, entitled, " Propugnacu- 
lum Catholicae veritatis, pars prima histor- 
ica, &c," printed at Prague in 1668. 

John Lynch, priest and archdeacon of 
Tuam, and native of Galway in Connaught, 
was learned in the language of his country, 
and ably conversant in all kinds of literature. 



The troubles produced to his country by the 
war of the parliamentarians, and tyranny of 
Cromwell, obliged him to leave it. In 1652, 
he came to France, and published among 
other works, a volume in folio, printed in 
1662, under the title of " Cambrensis Ever- 
sus," and under the borrowed name of " Gra- 
tianus Lucius." Our author with much 
judgment and solidity refutes the calumnies 
that Cambrensis had advanced against his 
country. In the chronology he is not very 
correct, and though his book be not, properly 
speaking, a history of Ireland, many inter- 
esting facts, taken from the antiquities of 
that country, are found in it. 

Sir Richard Belling, a native of the county 
Dublin, has left us a volume in duodecimo, 
printed in Latin, at Paris, ui 1650, under the 
title of " Vindiciarum Catholicorum Hiber- 
niae libri duo," and under the borrowed name 
of " Philopater Irenaeus." In the first book 
of this volume we discover a sufficiently 
exact account on the affairs of Ireland, 
from the year 1641 till 1649. The second 
is a refutation of a work written by a monk 
named Paul King, on Irish affairs. 

Peter Walsh was a native of Moortown 
in the county Kildare ; being admitted into 
the order of St. Francis, he studied at Lou- 
vain, where he became professor of theology. 
There are many of his works in English, 
concerning the affairs of his time. The 
first part of his prospectus of Ireland has 
been given, and printed in duodecimo, at 
London in 1682. In this he begins with 
the history of the country, to end it with the 
twelfth century ; but though the recital of 
facts contained in it be sufficiently correct, 
still the want of order and system discover- 
able, makes the reading of it irksome. The 
second part, which he promised, has never 
appeared. 

Roderick O'Flaherty, an Irish gentleman, 
was born at Moycullin in the county Gal- 
way ; it was the patrimony of his ancestors 
for many ages, but confiscated in the troubles 
which had arisen in 1641 ; he was a man of 
letters, and profoundly skilled in the history 
of his own and foreign countries. He has 
left us a large volume, in Latin, composed 
from the most authentic monuments, and 
which he dedicated to the duke of York, 
who soon afterwards became king of Great 
Britain, under the name of James II. It was 
printed in quarto at London, in 1685, under 
the title of " Ogygia," wherein he treats of 
the ancient history of Ireland before Chris- 
tianity. In this book he displays great eru- 
dition, and a deep knowledge of chronology, 
as appears from the testimony of two great 



THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 



53 



men, Loftus and Belling, whose approvals 
are found printed at the head of his work. 
Stillingfleet also cites him with eulogy.* 
The second book of his Ogygia is still in 
manuscript, without being printed. 

Hugh O'Reilly, an Irish gentleman and 
native of the county Cavan, was master in 
the court of chancery, and register to the 
council under James II. Having followed 
the fortunes of that prince into France, he 
was nominated his chancellor for the king- 
dom of Ireland. In 1693 O'Reilly published 
a small volume in English, which has for its 
title, " Ireland's case briefly stated," that is 
to say, an abridgment of the state of Ireland, 
since the reformation, wherein the things 
which happened in that country, are repre- 
sented without disguise. He reproaches 
Charles II. with want of gratitude to his 
Irish subjects for their services : he shows 
the injustice and bad policy of that prince, 
for having confirmed the murderers of the 
king his father in their possessions and 
wealth, as rewards for their regicide ; the old 
proprietors were for those objects stripped 
of their fortunes, whose only crime was their 
faithful allegiance to their king. He speaks, 
in fine, like a man who, in pleading his own 
cause, pleads that of his country. His com- 
plaints it appears were well founded, where- 
as the king his master, to whom he commu- 
nicated the purport of his writings before 
they would be printed, was pleased to say, 
that " they contained but too many truths." 

Francis Porter, a native of the county of 
Meath, and monk of the order of Saint 
Francis, was for a long time professor of 
theology in the college of Saint Isidore, at 
Rome, and president of it for some time. 
Among other works, he has left us a volume 
in Latin, and printed in quarto at Rome, in 
1690, under the title of " Compendium An- 
nalium Ecclesiasticarum Regni Hibernia;." 
After his' description of the kingdom, and a 
list of its kings, he speaks of the war of the 
Danes : the remainder relates to the affairs 
of the church. 

Louis Augustin Allemand, a lawyer in 
the parliament of Paris, published in that 
city, in 1690, " L'Histoire Monastique 
d'Irelande," in the French language, and 
dedicated it to James II., king of Great 
Britain and Ireland. The learned author 
follows with great exactness those who have 
written on the same subject before him, viz., 
Usher, Ware, Colgan, and others, and it 
can be affirmed, that, for a stranger, who 
had never seen the country of which he 
writes, his work is very correct. 

* Pref. ad Orig. Brit. 



William Molyneux was bom in Dublin, 
and has published many excellent works. 
Among others, one upon " The State of 
Ireland," was dedicated by him to the prince 
of Orange : he proves in it, that that country 
was never conquered by Henry II. ; that he 
granted, according to treaty, a parliament 
and laws to the people of Ireland ; that the 
ecclesiastical state in that country was inde- 
pendent of England, and that the English 
could not bind the Irish by laws made where 
the people had not their deputies. 

Matthew O'Kennedy, an Irish gentleman, 
and doctor of laws, master in the court of 
chancery, and judge of the admiralty, in 
Ireland, has written a small volume in Eng- 
lish, printed at Paris, in 1705 : it contains 
an historical and chronological dissertation 
on the royal family of the Stuarts, who are 
(he says) of Irish descent, through the colo- 
nies that were sent at different periods into 
Albania. This treatise has not escaped 
criticism ; it has been abused by Father De 
la Haye, an Anglo-Scotchman, in a letter 
to the duke of Perth, wherein there are 
more invectives against Kennedy and his 
country, than proofs against his dissertation, 
the object of his attacks, as appears by Ken- 
nedy's reply, in the shape of a letter, to 
what De la Haye had advanced ; this was 
printed at Paris, in French, in 1715, with 
the letter of that father subjoined to it. 

Walter Harris, counsellor, has published 
two volumes in folio, in English, on the 
history of Ireland, under the title of "The 
Works of Sir James Ware on Ireland, 
revised and augmented." The first volume 
was printed at Dublin in 1739, and the 
second in 1745 ; a third which he promised, 
has not yet appeared. The Irish people are 
deeply indebted to this learned man, for the 
pains he has bestowed, and the interesting 
researches he has made to complete that 
work, which he "has considerably enlarged 
and enriched with many tracts that escaped 
the vigilance of his prototype, and which 
merit for him the title of author instead of 
editor, which he has modestly taken. 

The dissertations upon the ancient history 
of Ireland, given in England by an anonymous 
writer, and published at Dublin, in 1753, 
through the care of Michael Reilly, display 
an extensive knowledge in the antiquities of 
that country. This work is flowery in its 
style, and the matter handled with peculiar 
delicacy and neatness. I wish that author 
had continued his writings upon that subject ; 
the nation will lose n?nch, should he repose 
beneath the shade of his first laurels. 

Such are the principal authors that have 



5 l 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



treated on the history of Ireland, within the 
three last centuries : the greater part of 
them are of English extraction, and cannot 
be suspected of being partial to ancient 
Ireland, no more than those English authors, 
whom I have made use of. Such are the 
sources from whence I have taken the mate- 
rials that compose this history, without 
adopting the fables of some, or following 
the exaggerated criticism of others. Anti- 
quity ever deserves respect ; " Sua detur 
antiquitati venia ;" nor should the caprice 
of the envious be a sufficient cause to dis- 
pute it. 



CHAPTER III. 

FABULOUS HISTORY OF THE GADELIANS. 

It is more than probable that Ireland 
remained desert and uninhabited from the 
creation to the deluge. No history, not 
even that of Moses, offers any thing which 
can lead us to suppose, that before the 
universal deluge, men had discovered the 
secret of passing from one country to another 
that was separated by water. The ark, 
which was constructed by order of God 
himself, and which served to preserve man 
on the watery element, is the first vessel of 
which we have any knowledge. Consequent- 
ly the story of the three Spanish fishermen, 
who were driven by contrary winds on the 
coast of Ireland, some time before the deluge, 
and the account of Keasar, daughter of Bith, 
according to others niece of Noah, who, by 
means of a vessel which she had built after 
the model of the ark,* retired to that island, 
to save herself from the waters of the deluge, 
should be rejected as a fiction, and unworthy 
of being admitted into a serious history. 

There are some old collections of charters, 
with many other monuments in writing, of 
the church of Cluan-Mac-Noisk, in Latin 
" Cluanensis," cited by O'Flaherty in the 
dedicatory epistle of his Ogygia,t which fix 
the arrival of the. first colonies in Ireland, 
under Partholan, in the year of the world 
1 9694 three hundred and twelve years after 
the deluge ; this colony was followed by the 
Nemedians, the Fomorians, the Firbolgs, and 
the Tuatha de Danains.^ Although most 
historians || who speak of the first inhab- 
itants of Ireland after the deluge, mention 

* Ware, cap. 2. t Page 10. t Ware, cap. 2. 
§ Ogyg- part 2, p. 65 ; part 3, p. 2. 
|| Ogyg. part 2, p. 73. 



those colonies ; they do not however agree 
upon the origin of those people. Some con- 
sider them to have been originally from 
Scythia, others from Thrace,* or Migdonia ; 
but the opinion of those who suppose that 
they came from Britain and Gaul, appears 
more natural, without being subject to the 
same improbabilities. Those authors fol- 
lowing this principle, that all nations had 
been peopled one from the other succes- 
sively,t say, that according to order and 
reason, Asia Minor, being nearest to the 
cradle of the human race, must have been 
peopled by the descendants of Japhet before 
Greece, Greece before Italy, Italy before 
Gaul, Gaul before Britain, and Britain be- 
fore Ireland ; that therefore those countries 
must have drawn their first inhabitants one 
from the other, from Asia to Ireland : by 
such gradation they pretend that Ireland 
received her first inhabitants from Britain, 
or from Gaul. The conjecture is a strong 
one. The analogy that is between the name 
of those people and the inhabitants of Belgic 
Gaul, and other nations, either of Gaul or 
Britain, added to the proximity of those 
countries, gives to it an appearance of plausi- 
bility. The Fomorians and Firbolgs may 
have been descended from the Belgae of 
Belgic Gaul, and the Tuatha de Danains 
from the Danmonii, an ancient people of 
Cornwall in Britain. Whatever truth may 
be in these conjectures, Parthobin having 
landed with his colony in Ireland,! divided 
the island between his four sons, Er, Orbha, 
Fearon, and Ferghna ; but his posterity, after 
three hundred years' residence in the coun- 
try, perished miserably by the plague, at 
Binneadair, at present Howth, near Dublin ; 
after which time the island continued unin- 
habited for the space of thirty years, until 
the arrival of the second colony commanded 
by Nemedius. 

It is said that Neivy, or Nemedius, § great 
grand-nephew of Partholan, having learned 
by some means the disasters and tragical 
end of his relations in Ireland, and wishing, 
as heir of Partholan, to succeed him in the 
possession of that island, embarked with 
thirty-four transport vessels, carrying each 
thirty persons, without counting Macha, his 
wife, and his four sons, Starn, Janbaneal, 
Annin, and Fergus, who followed his fortune 
in the expedition. Macha died after twelve 
years, and was interred in a place since 
called from her name, Ardmach. 

* Camd. Brit. edit. Franc, p. 12. 
t Ogyg. part 1, p. 7, part 2. 
t Walsh, Prospect of Irl. part 1, sec. 1. 
§ Ogyg. part 2, p. 65. 



FABULOUS HISTORY OF THE GADELIANS. 



Nemedius was not long in peaceful pos- 
session of his new kingdom, when he was 
disturbed by the Fomorians or Fomhoraigs. 
Nemedius fought some successful battles 
against them : the first was near the moun- 
tain called Slieve Bloemy ; the second at 
Rossfraochin, in Connaught, where Gan and 
Geanan, the principal commanders of these 
strangers, were slain ; the third at Murbuilg, 
in the country since called Dalriada, other- 
wise Route, in which Starn, son of Neme- 
dius, lost his life. But the fourth battle was 
fatal to him, his whole army having been 
cut to pieces. His son Arthur, who was 
born in the country, and Jobean, son of 
Starn, were found among the slain.* Ne- 
medius, unable to survive so great a misfor- 
tune, died of grief some short time after- 
wards at Oilean-Arda-Neivy, at present 
Barrymore, in the county of Cork ; after 
which the Fomorians easily made them- 
selves masters of the whole' island. Those 
of the colony of Nemedius who had escaped 
the last defeat, after some few unavailing 
efforts, being unable to bear the tyranny of 
those new masters, resolved to abandon the 
country. 'Jobath, grandson of Nemedius, 
led a part of the colony into the north of 
Germany, from whence are descended the 
Tuatha de Danains. f Briotan Maol, grand- 
son of Nemedius by Feargus, established 
himself with his tribe in Britain,}: called, ac- 
cording to the Psalter of Cashel, from his 
name, and his posterity settled there under 
the name of Britons. This opinion, which 
is supported by a number of ancient Irish 
chronologists, agrees as to the time, with 
Henry of Huntington, who says, that the 
Britons came into Britain in the third age 
of the world, " Brittones in tertia mundi 
state venerunt in Brittaniam ;" this account 
merits at least as much credit as the fable 
of Geoffry of Monmouth about Brutus, which 
has been opposed and rejected by his own 
countrymen. 

In some time after, the Firbolgs or Bel- 
gians, another people of Britain, to the num- 
ber of five thousand men, commanded by 
five chiefs, either by the defeat or desertion 
of the Fomorians, took possession of the 
island. Those five leaders were, Slaingey, 
Rughruighe or Rory, Gan, Gannan, and 
Sengan, all brothers, and children of Dela, 
of the race of the Nemedians. They divided 
the island into five parts or provinces, which 
gave birth to the pentarchy, which lasted 



* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 7. 

t Keating. 

t Walsh, Prosp. of Ireland, part 1, sect. 1. 



with little interruption till the twelfth cen- 
tury. Slaingey, governor of Leinster, was 
the chief of the pentarchy, and monarch of 
the whole island. The people were known 
by three different names, viz., Gallenians, 
Damnonians, and Belgians ; but the last 
was the general name of the whole colony ; 
their dominion lasted about eighty years 
under nine kings, who were, Slaingey, Rory, 
Gann, Geanan, Sengan, Fiacha, Rionail, 
Fiobgin, and Eogha, who married Tailta, 
daughter of a Spanish prince, who gave 
name to the place of her burial, still called 
Tailton, in Meath.* 

In the reign of Eogha, the colony of the 
Tuatha de Danains, whose ancestors had 
been conducted into the north of Germany 
by Jobath, grandson of Nemedius, t as we 
have already said, made a descent upon Ire- 
land under the conduct of Nuagha Airgiod- 
lamh, who immediately gave battle to the 
Firbolgs, commanded by Eogha their king, 
at Moyturey near Lake Masg, in the terri- 
tory of Partrigia, otherwise Partry, in the 
county of Mayo .J The latter lost in one 
day the battle and possession of the island, 
and were so reduced as to seek an asylum 
in the islands of the north. Nuagha, having 
lost one hand in the action, had one made 
of silver, whence the name of Airgiodlamh 
is derived, which signifies silver hand. 

It is said that the Tuatha de Danains 
were very skilful in the art of magic, which 
was the theology of those barbarians. Be- 
fore they landed in Ireland, they passed 
through Norway and Denmark, where their 
diabolical science procured them respect. 
They brought from that country the famous 
stone called, " Lia-Fail," in Latin, " saxum 
fatale."' This stone, which gave to Ireland 
the name of " Innisfail," that is to say, the 
island of Fail, was used at the coronation of 
their kings : it is pretended, that during the 
ceremony an astonishing noise issued from 
it, like the statue of Memnon in the Thebaid, 
from which a distinct sound was heard, when 
struck by the first rays of the rising sun. 
But the coming of the Messiah, which made 
all those pagan superstitions vanish, caused 
this stone also to lose its virtue. There is 
a prophecy, likewise, which says, that where- 
soever the stone should be preserved, a prince 
of the race of the Scots should reign ; which 
gave rise to the following lines : 

Cineadh Scuit saor an fine, 
Munab breg an f haisdine. 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 9. 
t Ogyg. part 2, page 81. 
t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 10. 



56 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Mar abfhuighid an Lia-fail, 
Dlighid flait heas do ghabhail. 

which are found thus translated into Latin 
in the History of Scotland, by Hector Boe- 
tius : 

Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocumque loeatum 
Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem. 

In the beginning of the thirteenth century 
of Christianity, Feargus the Great, son of 
Earcha, having been elected by the Dal- 
riads of Albania for their chief,* and seeing 
that he was able to get himself crowned 
king, sent to ask this stone from Murtough, 
then monarch of Ireland, in order to render 
the ceremony of his inauguration more solemn 
and august, and to perpetuate the diadem in 
his own family ; the monarch readily grant- 
ed the request of Feargus, who -got him- 
self crowned first king of the Dalriads of 
Albania, on that stone which was preserved 
with veneration in the abbey of Scone, till 
the thirteenth century, when it was forcibly 
carried off by Edward I., king of England, 
and placed in the chair which is used at the 
coronation of the kings of England, in the 
abbey of Westminster, where it is, they say, 
still preserved. 

The colony of the Tuatha de Danains, 
thus called from three of their chiefs, bro- 
thers and children of Danan, daughter of 
Dealboith, of the race of Nemedius, was in 
possession of that island, according to the 
Psalter of Cashel, for the space of one hun- 
dred and ninety-seven years governed by 
seven kings successively, namely, Nuagha 
Airgiodlamh, Breas, Lugha-Lamh-Fada, in 
Latin " Longimanus," Dagha, Delvioth, Fi- 
agha, and the three sons of Kearmada, name- 
ly, Eathur, Teahur, andKeahur : who reigned 
alternately, a year each, for thirty years. 
Those three brothers were married to three 
sisters ; they took surnames from the differ- 
ent idols which they worshipped. Eathur, 
who had married Banba, was called Maccuill, 
from a certain kind of wood which he adored. 
Teahur espoused Fodhla, and worshipped 
the plough ; he was called Mac-Keaght. 
Keahur, husband of Eire, displayed better 
taste than his brothers, as he took the sun 
for his divinity, and was thence named Mac- 
Greine, that is to say, the son of the sun. 

Ireland, which, until the reign of those 
three brothers, had no other name but that 
of Inisfail, or Iniselga, changed it with her 
king, and was called by the name of the 
reigning queen, alternately, Banba, Fodla, 

* War. Antiq. Hiber. cap. 5, Ogyg. part 1, p. 45. 



and Eire ;* but the latter was more used, 
as it was in the year of the reign of Ke»hur, 
and consequently when the island was called 
Eire, that the children of Milesius conquer- 
ed it. 

Those first inhabitants of Ireland, having 
been destroyed successively, at last gave 
way to the Scoto-Milesians, and were forced 
to yield to them the possession of the island. 

Some of our modern authors give us, after 
their ancient Fileas, the following detail of 
the origin, voyages, and transmigrations of 
the Scoto-Milesians. 

Japhet, one of the sons of Noah,t had 
seven sons, who were the first of the human 
race in Europe, and a part of Asia ; viz., 
Gomer peopled Gaul and Germany ; Magog 
occupied Scythia, at present Tartary, Madai 
and Javan established themselves in the 
several provinces of Greece, Thubal in Spain, 
Mosoch in Italy, and the countries which 
extend from the Mediterranean as far as be- 
yond the river Ister - r and Thyras possessed 
himself of Thrace. " Ab his divisae sunt 
insula? gentium in regionibus suis."J 

According to the " White Book," called in 
the Scotic language, " lesvar-drom-sneach- 
ta," and that of " Conquests and Invasions," 
both written in the times of paganism, and 
cited by Keating,^ Magog, son of Japhet, 
had three sons, viz., Baath, Jobath, and 
Fathoehta. From the first was descended 
Fenius Farsa, king of Scythia, from whom 
the Gadelians and Milesians derived their 
origin ; the second was chief of the Ama- 
zons, Bactrians, and Parthians ; the third 
was ancestor to Partholan, and consequently 
of the Nemedians, the Firbolgs, and Tuatha 
de Danains, who were the first inhabitants 
of Ireland. 

Fenius Farsa, king of the Scythians, had 
two sons, viz., Nenual, the elder, heir to his 
crown, and Niul, who being very learned in 
the languages multiplied by the confusion of 
Babel, made a voyage into Egypt, where he 
married Scota, daughter of king Pharaoh 
Cincris, and established himself in the coun- 
try of Capacirunt on the borders of the Red 
Sea. Niul had by the princess his spouse, a 
son whom he named Gaodhal, who, at the 
time that Moses was making preparations 
to draw the people of Israel out of captivity, 
having been bitten by a serpent, was pre- 
sented by his father to the holy patriarch, 
who cured him by a touch of his wand ; but 
there remained always a green spot in the 

* Ogyg- part 3, cap. 15. 

f Gen. cap. 10. 

t Ibidem, ver. 5. 

§ Page 53, et seq. 



FABULOUS HISTORY OP THE GADELCANS. 



. r W 



place of the wound, which caused him to be 
called Gaodhal-Glas, otherwise Gadelas,the 
word glas in the Scotic language signifying 
green. Moses foretold, on curing him, that 
the land which would be inhabited by his 
posterity, who were called, and even to this 
day are called, Clanna-Gaodhal, or Gade- 
lians, that is, the children of Gaodhal, would 
be free from serpents, and all venomous rep- 
tiles, which has been verified in regard to 
the islands of Crete and Ireland. 

The posterity of Niul, in the third gene- 
ration, became numerous, and were conse- 
quently suspected by the Egyptians, who, 
under the orders of Pharaoh-En-Tuir, their 
king, formed the resolution of making war 
against those strangers. Finding themselves 
unable to oppose the superior forces of the 
Egyptians, they embarked under the conduct 
of Sur, son of Easur, son of Gaodhal, and 
after a few days sailing, landed in the island 
of Crete, where their chief died,' and was 
succeeded in the command by Eibher, other- 
wise Heber-Scot, his son. From this flight 
of the Gadelians out of Egypt, we must 
understand what Washingham, an English 
monk and historian in the fifteenth century, 
says in his book called, " Ypodigma." " The 
Egyptians," says he, " having been swallow- 
ed up in the Red Sea, those who survived 
that disaster expelled a certain noble Scy- 
thian, fearing lest he should usurp a power 
over them. Being thus driven away, to- 
gether with his family, he came to Spain, 
where he lived for many years ; his race 
was multiplied exceedingly, and from thence 
they came to Ireland."* 

Heber-Scot, having the command of the 
Gadelians, departed from the island of Crete, 
and sailing through the iEgean and the 
Euxine seas, he arrived in the river Tanais 
in Scythia, the country of his ancestors, 
where his colony settled for some time ; they 
were commanded after his death by his de- 
scendants successively from father to son ; 
viz., by Agnamon, Tait, Adrioin, and Lam- 
phion. A persecution however was raised 
through jealousy of the Scythians against 
them, and they were compelled to take refuge 
among the Amazons, having Adnoin for their 
chief. After sojourning there for some time, 
they departed, under the conduct of Lam- 
phion, the son of Adnoin, for the country 

* " The Egyptians being drowned in the Red 
Sea, those who remained drove from among them 
a certain noble Scythian who lived in the country, 
lest he should usurp dominion over them. After 
being driven out, lie with his family came to Spain, 
where he lived for many years ; and from thence 
came to Ireland." — Ad. ann. 1185. 



called in their language, " Gaethluighe," 
which some think to be Gothia, or Gothland ; 
but more probably, according to O'Flaherty,* 
Getulia, in Africa, conformably to this verse 
from Propertius in Camden :f 

Hibernique Geta?, pictoque Britannia curru. 

They remained in that country during 
eight generations, under the command of 
eight chiefs, the descendants of Lamphion, 
viz., Heber-Glun-Fion, Eibric, Nenuaill, 
Nuagatt, Alluid, Earchada, Deaghatha, and 
Bratha. By the last they were led into 
Spain, inhabited at that time by the descend- 
ants of Tubal, son of Japhet. 

These new-comers, under the command 
of Breogan, son of Bratha, made war with 
success against the old inhabitants, and be- 
came masters of the northern provinces, 
where Breogan built a city, which he called 
Brigantia, or Braganza, after his own name. 

This captain had ten sons, namely, Cu- 
ailgne, Cuala, Blath, Aibhle, Nar, Breagha, 
Fuad, Muirtheimhne, Ith, and Bille. This 
last was father of Gallamh, otherwise Mileag- 
Espaine, in Latin, Milesius, the ancestor of 
the Milesians or ancient Irish ; Ith had a son 
called Lugadg, or Lugadius. Milesius, after 
whom the ancient Irish were called Clanna- 
Mileag or Milesians, became in his turn 
chief of the colony of the Gadelians, and 
after having secured and extended by many 
victories the conquests of his predecessors, 
he made peace with his enemies, and formed 
the resolution of visiting the country of his 
ancestors. He left part of the colony to 
guard his new kingdom, and embarked with 
the remainder for Scythia, where he was 
honorably received by Riffloir, then king ; 
who knew that this prince was, as well as 
himself, descended from Fenius-Farsa, with 
this difference, that Riffloir had his origin 
from Nennual the elder, and successor to 
the throne of his father ; whereas, Milesius 
was descended from Niul the younger. 

Milesius became by his courtly manners 
so great a favorite with the king, that he 
appointed him his first minister, and general 
and chief over his troops ; as a greater proof 
of his confidence, he gave him his daughter 
Seaug in marriage, by whom he had two 
sons, Donn and Aireach, surnamed Feabhrua. 
But the death of his wife, added to some 
difference he had with the king, caused him 
to leave Scythia. He embarked with his 
two children and little troop of faithful 
Gadelians, for Egypt, where the king, Pha- 
raoh-Nectonebus, gave him the command of 

* Ogyg' P art ^> ca P' "7. t Edit. Lond. p. 87. 



58 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



his army in a war in which he was engaged 
against the Ethiopians. 

Milesius acquitted himself of that com- 
mission as usual, with honor, and Scota 
the king's daughter was given him in mar- 
riage, as a reward for his services. He had 
by this princess in Egypt, Heber-Fionn and 
Amhergin. During his residence in that 
country, he caused twelve young men of 
his suite to be instructed in the different 
arts and sciences then in use, in order that 
they might, on their return to Spain, instruct 
their countrymen in the same. 

Milesius thinking it time to put an end to 
his labors, and to join once more his rela- 
tions and friends in Spain, to enjoy with 
them the sweets of repose, after a residence 
of seven years in Egypt,* took leave of the 
king and all his court, to return with the 
princess his wife, his children, and attend- 
ants. After arriving in an island called Irene, 
on the frontiers of Thrace, Scota was deliv- 
ered of a son, whom they called Ir.t During 
their voyage she had another, to whom they 
gave -the name of Colpa ; and at length, 
after many fatigues and dangers by sea and 
land, they arrived in Spain, where this great 
captain, after appeasing some troubles which 
had arisen during his absence, and having 
had two more sons, Aranann and Heremon, 
ended his days in peace. 

The family of Breogan, of which that of 
Milesius king of Gallicia, his grandson, 
formed the most considerable branch, was 
become numerous 4 A drought of several 
years, followed by a want of grain and all 
kinds of provisions, having caused a famine, 
ruined and compelled them to seek a reme- 
dy for so pressing an evil. All the chiefs 
of the tribes assembled at Braganza, to de- 
liberate on what should be done. The re- 
sult of" the conference was, to abandon their 
settlement in Spain, and seek for one in 
some other country ; particularly as Caicer, 
the druid, a famous prophet among them, 
had foretold long before, that their descend- 
ants should be possessed of the most wester- 
ly island in Europe. § But as it was of im- 
portance to learn where that island lay, be- 
fore they should bring the whole colony 
thither, the assembly intrusted the discovery 
of it to Ihy, otherwise Ithe, (son of Breogan 
and uncle of Milesius,) a man of prudence 
and consummate experience. Ith having ac- 
cepted the commission, equipped a vessel, 
and taking one hundred and fifty soldiers on 

* Lecan. fol. 13, p. 2, col. 1. 

t Keat. p. 80, et seq. 

t O'Sull. Compendium, vol. i. lib. 3, cap. 1. 

6 Keating. 



board, besides rowers and sailors, he set out 
with Ludgadh, his son, to make the discov- 
ery to which he had been appointed. On 
his arrival in the north of the island, he 
offered sacrifices to Neptune, and inquired 
from the inhabitants what the name of the 
country was, the people who inhabited it, 
and likewise the prince who ruled there : 
they told him that the island was sometimes 
called Innisfail, sometimes Inis-Ealga, and 
that it was governed by three princes who 
were brothers, and children of Kearmada of 
the nation of the Tuatha de Danains ; that 
they were then at Oileag-Neid, at present 
Inish-Owen, in the northern part of the pro- 
vince, since called Ulster. Ith, conducted 
by a guide, and escorted by one hundred of 
his soldiers, took the road to Oileag-Neid. 
On his arrival he was presented to the 
princes, who received him honorably, and 
seeing him possessed of much wisdom, they 
appointed him arbiter of their differences, 
namely, on whom should the right of suc- 
ceeding Kearmada, their father, devolve. 
Ith having acquitted himself on this occasion 
to the satisfaction of the parties concerned, 
he exhorted them to peace and union among 
themselves, congratulating them on their 
happiness in possessing so fertile a country, 
and situated in so fine a climate ; he then 
set out to join the rest of his men, whom 
he had left to guard his vessel. The three 
princes began to reflect on the praises which 
Ith had bestowed on their country, and con- 
ceiving a mistrust towards him, they looked 
on him as a man of an enterprising turn, 
and capable of coming with a more numerous 
force, to conquer a country which he thought 
so fine. In order to obviate that danger they 
dispatched a force of one hundred and fifty 
chosen men, commanded by MacCuille, in 
pursuit of him ; they attacked him at a place 
since called after his name, Moy-Ith, in the 
county of Tyrone. The combat was bloody, 
and the resistance on the side of the Gade- 
lians obstinate, till at length seeing their 
commander Ith dangerously wounded, and 
unable to withstand the superior force of 
their enemies, they reached their vessel with 
difficulty, and embarked for Spain, but had 
the misfortune, during their voyage, to wit- 
ness their commander expire of his wounds. 
During the interval of Ith's expedition, Mile- 
sius, after a reign of thirty-six years in 
Gallicia, died, universally regretted by the 
whole colony ; but the arrival of Lugadius, 
who presented to them the dead body of Ith, 
his father, added considerably to their afflic- 
tion. With eyes bathed in tears, and lan- 
guage the most energetic which the grief of 



FABULOUS HISTORY OF THE GADELIANS. 



59 



a son (who loved his father tenderly) could 
make use of,- he displayed the perfidy of 
those three princes of the western isle, and 
forcibly impressed upon them, that, as the 
death of his father had been the effect of his 
zeal for the common cause, he trusted, that 
an attempt whereby the law of nations had 
been violated, and an insult that might re< 
fleet upon the entire colony, should not b< 
left unpunished.* 

The Gadelians, affected by the just resent 
ment of Lugadius,f prepared themselves for 
revenge, resolved to shed in sacrifice to the 
manes of Ith, the last drop of their blood, 
and without loss of time had a fleet of sixty 
sail equipped with every thing necessary for 
so important an expedition. The little fleet 
being provided with all things, and ready to 
sail, the entire colony, that is to say, the de- 
scendants of Breogan divided into different 
tribes, embarked with their wives and chil- 
dren, their vassals, a number of soldiers, 
artisans, and laborers of every kind, under 
forty chiefs, of whom the principal were the 
eight sons of Milesius, namely, Donn, Ai- 
reach, Heber-Fionn, Amhergin, Ir, Colpa, 
Aranahn, and Heremon, with their mother 
Scota. After coasting along part of Spain, 
Gaul, and Britain, they at length arrived on 
the southern ctfast of the western island, 
which had been promised to them by their 
druids. While they were preparing to dis- 
embark, they were overtaken by a violent 
storm, which soon changed their hopes into 
despair. The heavens were darkened ; a 
wind from the southeast swelled the waves ; 
their confusion was great and the danger 
inevitable, so that in a little time the fleet 
was scattered, and out of sixty ships of which 
it was composed, not two of them remained 
together. The first victim to Neptune's 
wrath was Donn ; he perished with his entire 
crew, on the western coast of the island, at 
a place called after his name, Teagh-Duinn. 
Aranann was driven to sea by a sudden gust. 
Ir was shipwrecked upon the southern coasts, 
his body was found upon the strand, and 
buried in a craggy island, called Skeilg- 
Mihil, within a few leagues of Dingle in the 
county of Kerry : it is called, in Mercator's 
map of Ireland, Midelskyllighs. Heremon, 
Aireagh, and Colpa, were driven by the storm 
towards the north. The two last, with the 
whole of their attendants.perished. Colpa 
being wrecked at the mouth of the river, 
afterwards called the Boyne, the place was 
named Invear-Colpa, that is, the bay of Col- 
pa, below the city of Drogheda. The storm, 



Keating 



t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 16. 



however, having abated, and being succeed- 
ed by a calm, Heremon, more fortunate than 
his brothers, reached Invear-Colpa, and at 
the same time Heber-Fionn, Amergin his 
brother, with all their attendants, disem- 
barked at Invear-Skeiny, at present Bantry, 
in the county of Cork, or rather the county 
of Kerry.* 

This account, says Keating, is taken from 
an ancient poem of Eochaid O'Floin, begin- 
ning with those words : " Taoisig Na-Luing 
Sinter lear," related in the Psalter of Cashel .f 

Heber-Fionn had no time to rest after his 
fatigues ; for at the end of three days he 
was attacked at Sliave-Mish,t at present in 
the barony of Truchanaimy, in the county 
of Kerry, by a party of the Tuatha de Da- 
nains, commanded by the princess Eire, 
wife of Mac-Greiny, who, after losing a 
thousand men, was put to flight by the 
Milesians. 

The princess Eire, after collecting the 
remains of her army, led them to Tailton, 
where the princes being assembled, she gave 
them an account of her defeat. The Mile- 
sians lost three hundred men in the action, 
besides Scota, the widow of Milesius, Fais 
a lady of quality, some druids, and several 
officers who had fallen. Scota and Fais were 
buried at the foot of a mountain, in two 
valleys, which were called after their names, 
Glean-Scoithin and Glean-Fais. 

Heber, after this first advantage, having 
refreshed his troops, advanced into the coun- 
try to make further discoveries, in hopes of 
meeting some of the colony that were scat- 
tered by the storm some time before, and, 
after a long and fatiguing march, arrived at 
Invear-Colpa, where he found Heremon with 
his division, by whom he was informed of the 
disasters that had befallen his brothers Ai- 
reagh and Colpa, who had perished on that 
coast. The brothers now uniting their forces, 
formed their plans of operation for a cam- 
paign. They determined to go in quest of 
the enemy, who, according to the reports of 
their scouts, was not far off.fy They began 
their march, and after a few days came up 
with the three princes of the Tuatha de 
Danains, in the plains of Tailton, with a 
formidable army ready to meet them. || The 
action began, and this battle, which was to 
decide the fate of both parties, was for a 
long time doubtfvd, the troops on both sides 
making extraordinary efforts ; the latter to 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 10. 

t Ogyg. part 2, page 82 and 83. 

t Ogygia, part 2, p^ge 86. 

§ Gratianus Lucius, cap. 8, page 58. 

|| Walsh, Prosp. of Ireland, part 1, sec. 1. 



60 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



defend their patrimony against the invaders, 
who wished to wrest it from them ; the for- 
mer, less to revenge the death of their coun- 
tryman, than to obtain the possession of an 
island which had been destined for them, ac- 
cording to the prophecy of the druids. At 
length the three princes of the Tuatha do, 
Danains, together with their principal offi- 
cers having fallen, the army was put into 
disorder, and the rout became so general, 
that more were killed in the pursuit than on 
the field of battle. That day, so fatal to the 
Tuatha de Danains, decided the empire of 
the island in favor of the Milesians. 

Heber-Fionn and Heremon, brothers and 
children of Milesius, as chiefs of the colony, 
divided the island between them. Heber 
possessed Deisiol Eirionn, that is, the south- 
ern part, afterwards called the province of 
Munster, where he built a palace. Heremon 
enjoyed the sovereignty of Leinster, and had 
the palace of Rath-Beothaig built at Air- 
geodross, upon the banks of the river Nore, 
in the county of Ossory ; at the solicitation 
of his wife Thea, daughter of Lucha, son of 
Ith, he afterwards built the palace of Tea- 
mor, which signifies the residence of Tea. 
They gave the northern parts of the island, 
at present the province of Ulster, to Heber- 
Donn, son of Ir, and to some other chiefs. 
The descendants of Heber-Donn, called the 
Clanna-Rorys, built in the county of Ar- 
magh the palace of Eamhain-Macha, which 
lasted for almost seven hundred years, and 
was possessed by that tribe till the time of 
the three brothers, called the three Collas, 
by whom that superb edifice was destroyed. 
They conferred on their cousin Lugadh, son 
of Ith, the. sovereignty of Corca-Luidh.* The 
fiefs and lordships throughout the various 
provinces were, in fine, distributed among the 
other chiefs, according to their rank and 
merit j and in consideration of the services 
which the remaining party of the Firbolgs 
had rendered them in the conquest of the 
island, they bestowed on them the province 
of Connaught, which their descendants re- 
tained till the third age of Christianity. I 
do not find that any portion was given to 
their brother Amhergin,whowas still living, 
and a druid by profession ; he was probably 
treated like the tribe of Levi, who possessed 
no share in the land promised to the Israel- 
ites. 

The two brothers Heber-Fionn and Here- 
mon reigned together during the space- of a 
year ; but the ambition of Heber's wife be 
came the cause of her ruin. Not content 
• 
* Ogyg. part 1, page 11. 



with the division that was made between the 
two princes, she influenced her husband to 
do justice to himself by force of arms. Prince 
Heber, weak and condescending, yielded to 
the importunities of his wife, and declared 
war against his brother Heremon.* War 
being now commenced, the two armies met 
upon the plains of Geisiol, the frontier bound- 
aries of the provinces of Leinster and Mun- 
ster. t The battle was bloody and obstinate, 
but Heber and his chief officers being slain,^ 
Heremon, like a second Romulus, became 
sole possessor of the island, over which he 
reigned forthirteenyears.§ This is confirmed 
by the authority of Aongus Celide or Coli- 
deus, an author of the eighth century, cited 
by Ware in the second chapter of his An- 
tiquities of Ireland. || The foregoing is a 
slight sketch of what ancient and modern 
histories set forth respecting the origin of the 
Milesians ; let us now view the difficulties 
which would be advanced against the voyages 
and transmigrations of the Gadelians. The 
first is, to reconcile a point of chronology on 
the subject of Gaodhal, who, according to 
the manuscripts followed by Keating, was 
the sixth descendant from Japhet, and con- 
temporary of Moses, which made the four- 
teenth or fifteenth generation after Shem. 
Keating injudiciously supposes that he has 
smoothed a difficulty by imagining Niul or 
some of his ancestors to have lived for many 
ages, in order to make the sixth descendant 
on one side fall in with the fourteenth on the 
other ; but if mankind lived then to a great 
age, the supposition is equally applicable to 
the ancestors of Moses, as to those of Niul. 
It is more natural to think that the anachro- 
nism has arisen through some copyist of the 



* War. Antiq. cap. 2. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 17. 

t Grat. Luc. cap. 8, page 58. 

§ " After several battles and doubtful events of 
war between the brothers, victory fell at length to 
Heremon, and in one of these battles Heber, his 
brother, being slain, Heremon became sole master 
of the kingdom, and was the first monarch of the 
Irish people, who inhabit the kingdom to this day." 
—Gerald Camb. Topography of Inland, c. 7. 

|| " The island Hibernia was divided between the 
two princes of the army called Milesians, and into 
two parts. Heber obtained the southern parts, and to 
Heremon fell the northern, together with the monar- 
chy. Heremon was the first of the Scots who ruled 
over the whole of Ireland, during 13 years, and had 
5 sons elected, 4 of whom governed the kingdom 
for 3 years, and Jarel, the prophet, during 10. • Of 
the descent of Heremon, 58 kings ruled over Ire- 
land before Patrick had preached the doctrines and 
sufferings of Christ to the Irish. After the time 
of Patrick, 50 kings of the above lineage ruled 
over Ireland." — Ware's Antiquities, and Ogyg. p. 
3,c. 7. 



FABULOUS HISTORY OP THE GADELIANS. 



61 



manuscripts of the Milesians, who might 
have omitted some generations between Ja- 
phet and Niul. As to the histories of those 
times so far remote, there are many things 
in them very obscure, and several difficulties 
therein hard to be resolved. Do we not see 
the learned differ about the king that reigned 
in Egypt in the time of Moses, and who was 
drowned in the Red Sea 1 ' Some pretend 
that it was Amenophis, father of Sesostris, 
while others say that it was Pheron, son of 
the latter. The Hebrews, the Greeks, and 
the Latins disagree concerning the number 
of years that elapsed from the time of the 
creation to the coming of the Messiah ; 
their differences, however, do not affect the 
truth of the events which are recorded to 
have happened at that time, viz., the crea- 
tion of the world, the deluge, the genealogy 
of Abraham, whether in ascending up to 
Adam, or descending down to Moses. A 
similar anachronism with respect to Gaodhal 
and Moses, ought not to destroy the truth 
of the history of the Gadelians, as to their 
origin and genealogy. 

It will be perhaps again objected, that 
navigation being unknown at those early 
periods, it cannot be believed that the Gade- 
lians had been able to make such distant voy- 
ages by sea, as from Egypt to Crete, from 
Crete to Scythia, from Scythia to Africa, from 
Africa to Spain, and from Spain to Ireland. 

This difficulty will vanish if we but con- 
sider that the art of sailing had been at all 
times in use, at least since the deluge. We 
know that long before Solomon, the Phceni- 
cians, Egyptians, and Greeks possessed the 
art of navigation. The Phoenicians, says 
Herodotus,* who traded to all countries, 
with the merchandises of Egypt and Assyria, 
arrived at Argos, a trading city in Greece, 
and after disposing of their merchandise, 
they carried off the wives of the Greeks, toge- 
ther with Io, daughter of king Inachus, who 
reigned at Argos about the year of the world 
3112 ; after which, some Greeks trading to 
Tyre, carried away in their turn, Europa, 
daughter of the king of Tyre, to be revenged 
for the insult their countrymen sustained by 
the carrying off of their wives from Argos. 

We find that David, after conquering and 
reducing the kingdom of Edom into a pro- 
vince of his empire, established commerce 
at Elath and at Asiongaber, two ports on the 
Red Sea. But Solomflh carried it still far- 
ther, for in his time they traded from the 
Red Sea along the coast of Arabia, Persia, 
the Indies, and as far as the western coast 
of Africa. History informs us that Nechao, 

* Lib. 1. 



the second of the name, and king of Egypt, 
having equipped a fleet on the Red Sea, had 
Phoenician pilots brought to command it. 
This fleet, after having coasted along the 
Red Sea, entered the ocean, and crossing 
the Torrid Zone, doubled the Cape of Good 
Hope, and after sailing round Africa, re- 
turned to Egypt through the Straits of Gib- 
raltar, by the Mediterranean Sea ; so it is 
more than probable, that from the earliest 
times, and immediately after the deluge, man- 
kind had discovered the art of building ships, 
from the model of the Ark, which had saved 
their ancestors from the waters of the deluge. 

But it may be asked, why did they not 
establish themselves in some part of the 
continent, rather than expose themselves to 
so many dangers by sea, to seek after an 
island in the Atlantic Ocean, and separate 
themselves forever from all intercourse with 
mankind ? The weakness of that question 
will be perceived, when we consider that a 
taste for voyages and emigrations prevailed 
in the early ages of the world. Men had 
not been sufficiently settled, nor property in 
the possession of lands established as it has 
since become. For besides, a colony of 
Tyrians, who, having coasted along Asia 
Minor, Greece, Italy, Gaul, and the several 
countries which surround the Mediterra- 
nean Sea, without stopping in any, sailed 
through the Straits of Gibraltar into the 
ocean, established themselves in the west- 
ern coast of Spain, and built the city of 
Cadiz, long before Utica and Carthage. 
Moreover, there were colonies sent into dif- 
ferent countries by the Egyptians, Phoeni- 
cians, Greeks, and Carthaginians, who were 
themselves a colony of Phoenicians. Car- 
thage herself, after having founded three 
hundred cities on the coast of Africa, and 
finding herself still overcharged with inhab- 
itants, sent Hanno with a fleet and thirty 
thousand volunteers, to make discoveries on 
the coast of Africa beyond the Pillars of Her- 
cules, and to establish some colonies there.* 

The Scythians, from whom the Gadelians 
were descended, and who were masters of 
the vast regions which extended, from the 
Boristhenes to the country of the Massage- 
tes, and from the Saces to the east of the 
Caspian Sea, had neither cities nor houses ; 
they were continually roving, and lived in 
tents, sometimes in one country, sometimes 
in another. 

* The learned are divided about the time of the 
expedition. Strabo supposes it to have been a few 
years after the Trojan war ; but Vossius, who be- 
lieves Hanno to be^nore ancient than Homer, as- 
serts that it took place at least a century before the 
taking of that city. 



,''V 









I 



62 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Whatever truth may be attached to what 
I have now related with regard to the voy- 
ages and transmigrations of the Gadelians 
in different countries, it appears at all times 
indisputable, that that people derived their 
origin from the Scythians ; their name Kinea 
Scuit, or Scota, denotes it.* The accounts 
of foreign authors and those of their Fileasf 
confirm it. Newton,^; with Appina and oth- 
ers, says, that Greece and all Europe had 
been peopled by the Cimmerians or Scythi- 
ans from the borders of the Euxine Sea, 
who, like the Tartars in the north of Asia, 
led a wandering life. Spain had perhaps 
her share in peopling a part of Europe, and 
consequently the ancient Spaniards were 
descended from the same Scythians. Al- 
though the Milesians claim the glory of hav- 
ing come directly from Egypt to Spain, they 
do not at the same time lose sight of their 
Scythian origin. They call themselves at 
all times the descendants of the Iberians or 
Scythians of the Euxine Sea.§ They pre- 
tend that the colony, after having been led 
into different countries by their princes, es- 
tablished themselves at last in Spain. How- 
ever, if they pass themselves for the children 
of Magog, rather than of Gomer, from whose 
posterity Gaul, Germany, and other countries 
of the north had been peopled, it is a matter 
which is of itself but of little importance. 

The truth of the Scoto-Milesians having 
passed from Spain to Ireland is supported 
by proofs that are equally strong. Foreign 
authors are in perfect accordance with the 
monuments of that people on that head ; 
this constitutes a certainty beyond all doubt. 
Among the number are Nennius of the ninth 
century, Walsingham, Henry of Hunting- 
ton,! Buchanan,TI and others. The opinion 
of these authors, says Camden, accords with 
the opinion of the Irish, who gladly call them- 
selves the descendants of the Spaniards.** 

* War. Antiq. Hibern. cap. 1, page 3. 

t Bards. 

t Chron. Dublin edit, page 10. 

§ Ogyg. part 2, page 66 et 82. 

|| " The Britons came into Britain during the 
third age of the world, and the Scoti into Ireland 
in the fourth age. Whereas those matters are un- 
certain, it is indubitable, that they came from Spain 
to Ireland, and emigrating from thence, they added 
a third nation in Britain to the Britons and the 
Picts." — Huntingdon, pp. 88, 729. 

^ " There is a prevailing report, which says, that 
a great number of Spaniards, who were either driven 
from the country by the great ones, or from a re- 
dundancy of population, went of their own accord, 
and passed into Ireland." — Buchanan, b. 4, c. 5. 

** " To this opinion, prevalent among the Irish, 
may be added, i. e. ' they confess most freely,' that 
they are descended from the*Spaniards." — Irish 
Writers, vol. 2, c. 5. 



We can likewise add to this the authority 
of an ancient Latin manuscript in Gothic 
characters, of which Harris speaks :* it was 
discovered a few years ago, in the archives 
of a monastery in Gallicia, by Sir John 
Higgins, counsellor of state, and head phy- 
sician to Philip V. This manuscript is 
entitled " Concordantia Hispania; atque Hi- 
berniae a. Sedulio Scoto genere Hiberniensi 
et Episcopo Oretensi," and is attributed to 
Sedulius the younger, who lived in the 
eighth century. The subject of it is, ac- 
cording to Harris, as follows : Sedulius 
having acquired a high reputation by his 
commentaries on the Gospel of St. Matthew, 
and the Epistles of St. Paul,t Pope Gregory 
II. sent him into Spain, having nominated 
him bishop of Oreto, to allay some troubles 
that had arisen among the clergy of that 
nation. Sedulius, meeting with some oppo- 
sition from the Spaniards in consequence of 
being a stranger, wrote this treatise, wherein 
he shows, that, as an Irishman, and being 
descended from the Spaniards, he should 
consequently enjoy the same privileges as 
they did. He continued therefore to enjoy 
his bishopric, until driven from it by the 
Moors. The pope afterwards nominated 
him titular bishop of Great Britain, and in 
that quality he assisted at a council at Rome, 
against unlawful marriages.J 

The testimony of the Spaniards them- 
selves, particularly of Alderetus, in his An- 
tiquities of Spain, and of Florianus del 
Campo, joined to a tradition among the 
people, who look upon the Irish as their 
children, and as a colony which had left 
their country, in consequence of which they 
are treated as inhabitants of the country, 
particularly in Gallicia, and the northern 
parts of the kingdom, where they enjoy the 
same privileges as the natives ; these are 
conclusive proofs on the subject, although 
Camden pretends that it was ambition made 
Florianus del Campo say, that the Brigantes 
had passed from Spain into Ireland, and 
from thence into Britain. 

The great difficulty consists in settling 
the time of the transmigration of the Scoto- 
Milesians from Spain to Ireland, on account 
of the different calculations of the annalists. 
Following the ancient monuments, Keating 
fixed it 1300 years before the birth of Jesus 
Christ. Cambrensis, and the author of the 
Polychronicon, reckon 1800 years from their 
arrival in the island,^ till the mission of St. 

* Irish Writers, vol. 2, c. 5. 

t Usser, Primord. cap. 16, page 780. 

t Binii Concil. tome 5. Baleus, Cent. 14, n. 28. 

§ Walsh, Prospect of Ireland, page 393. 



RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. 



63 



Patrick in the fifth century, which agrees 
pretty nearly with the calculation of Keat- 
ing. The number of kings who reigned in 
Ireland from Heremon to the twelfth age of 
Christianity was 181. The epoch of their 
commencement in the time of Heremon de- 
pends upon the length of their reign ; if we 
allow to each a reign of fourteen years, we 
must necessarily ascend from the twelfth 
century upwards to the epoch fixed upon 
by Keating ; but if with Newton,* we give 
to each a reign of eighteen or twenty years, 
which, in a warlike nation, is not probable, 
we must ascend much higher than that era. 
Camden, as well as Nennius, presumes that 
we should search for their migrations in more 
modern times ; this, however, is not conclu- 
sive. O'Flaherty, who was much more capa- 
ble than those foreigners of fathoming the 
antiquities of his country, has in accordance 
with ancient monuments, defined the time 
that each Milesian king reigned, from the 
arrival of the colony in Ireland until the 
birth of our Saviour, and places it in the 
time of Solomon, that is, about 1000 years 
before Jesus Christ. t This account agrees 
with the period of the conquest of Spain, 
by Sesac or Sesostris, of which Newton 
speaks,| and which, according to Buchanan, 
was probably the cause of the flight of that 
colony, " A potentioribus domo pulsam." 

We might, perhaps, with a greater ap- 
pearance of truth, place that event a century 
later, that is, in the time of Melcartus, or 
Hercules the Tyrian, who was, according 
to Newton, the second conqueror of Spain, 
and the founder of Carteia, particularly as 
that learned man thinks, that they had not 
taken distant voyages (such as to Britain or 
Ireland) before the time of that conqueror. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OF THE RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE 
MILESIANS. 

It is not easy to define the religion of the 
ancient Milesians ; it appears, however, by 
their history, that Tighernmas,§ the seventh 
king of that race, was the first king who in- 

* Chron. Dublin edit. chap. 1, p. 55 and 57. 

t " The best among the Irish writers are agreed, 
that it was during the reign of Solomon the Scoti 
passed from Spain to Ireland." — Ogyg. part 2, p. 
83. 

X Chron. Dublin edit, page 17. 

§ Keating on the reign of Tighernmas, a. m. 
3085. 



troduced idolatry among them. The same 
histories inform us,* that that unhappy 
prince was, together with a great number 
of his subjects, struck dead by an invisible 
hand, on the day we call " All Saints," 
while they were employed in worshipping 
the idol, called in their language, " Crom- 
Cruadh," in the plains of Moy-Sleachta, near 
Fenagh, in the barony of Mohill, territory 
of Briefny, at present the county of Leitrim: 
that, till then, their ancestors, the Gadelians, 
had a knowledge of the true God,f and fol- 
lowed the religion of the patriarchs, having 
received that divine impression from Moses 
and the Israelites, with whom they had some 
connection before the passage of the Red Sea. 
However this be, no nation was ever more 
superstitious afterwards than the Milesians : 
and though they neither worshipped cats, 
dogs, crocodiles, nor the vegetables which 
their gardens produced, as the Egyptians 
did ; still they had many gods of various 
sorts and orders. This inclination to idol- 
atry, common to them with other nations, 
(not excepting the people chosen and im- 
mediately governed by God himself,) was 
strengthened by the example of the Tuatha 
de Danains, their immediate predecessors in 
the possession of the island, who worshipped 
the sun, the moon, sometimes the plough, 
and other things made by the hands of men ; 
but as these divinities, resting upon the ca- 
price or inventions of man, could not fix the 
mind, the objects of this worship were fre- 
quently changed. 

Great honors were paid to the druids 
and bards among the Milesians, as well as 
to those among the Britons and Gauls. 
The first called Draoi in their language,! 
performed the duties of priest, philosopher, 
legislator, and judge. Caesar has given, in 
his commentaries, § a well-detailed account 
of the order, office, jurisdiction, and doctrine 
of the druids among the Gauls. As priests, 
they regulated religion and its worship ; 
according to their will the objects of it were 
determined, and the divinity often changed ; 
to them, likewise, the education of youth 
was intrusted. Guided by the druids, the 
Milesians generally adored Jupiter, Mars, 
Mercury, Apollo, the sun, moon, and wind; 
they had also their mountain, forest, and 
river gods.|| These divinities were common 
to them, and to other nations of the world. 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 21, 22. 
t Grat. Luc, cap. 8, page 59. 
} War. Antiq. Hibern. cap. 5, Ogyg. part 3, 
cap. 22. 
4 Lib. G. 
|| War. Antiq. Hibern. cap. 5. 



64 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



It is known that Augustus had a temple 
raised in Gaul, in honor of the wind Cir- 
cius.* 

According to the Annals of Ulster, cited 
by Ware, the usual oath of Laogare II., king 
of Ireland in the time of St. Patrick, was 
by the sun and wind. The Scythians swore 
by the wind, and sometimes by a cimeter 
or cutlass, in use among the Persians, upon 
which was engraven the image of Mars. It 
is mentioned by Jocelin, an English monk 
of the order of Citeaux, in his life of St. 
Patrick,! written in the twelfth century, that 
the same Laogare, before his conversion, 
adored an idol named Kean Croithi, which 
signifies, " Head of all the Gods." In the 
register of Clogher, there is mention made 
of a stone ornamented with gold by the 
pagans, which gave oracles. J From this 
stone the town was called Clogher, which 
signifies " golden stone." Charles Maguire, 
prebendary of Armagh, and dean of Clogher 
in the 15th century, says in his notes on the 
registry of Clogher, that that stone was still 
preserved at the right of the entrance into 
the church. Ware, in the same chapter, 
speaks of the fatal stone called Liafail, or 
" saxum fatale," which the Tuatha de Da- 
nains brought with them to Ireland, and 
which groaned when the kings were seated 
on it at their coronation. That stone, he 
mentions, was sent into Albania to be used 
at the coronation of Fergus ; that Keneth 
had it placed in a wooden chair, in which 
the kings of Scotland sat at the time of their 
coronation, in the abbey of Scone, whence 
it was transferred by Edward I., king of 
England, and placed in Westminster Abbey. 
The superstition of the druids and the 
authority of the oracles were in as high 
veneration among the Milesians as among 
other people, until the birth of our Saviour, 
which put an end to all such illusions. 

As legislators and judges, the druids were 
arbiters in all public affairs, and were in- 
vested with a power to reward or punish. 
Every kind of privilege and immunity was 
conferred on them ; they were also exempt 
from contributing to the necessities of the 
state. Their doctrine was a kind of theology 
and philosophy ; they professed the magic 
art, and the knowledge of futurity. § 

The druids, says Csesar, are indebted for 
their 1 origin and institution to Britain, and 
those of Gaul went thither to be perfected 



* Ibidem. t Cap. 56. 

t War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 5. 

§ Euseb. prep. Evang. lib. 5, Suidas, Niceph. 
Calixt, Eecles. Hist. lib. 1, cap. 17. 



in their profession ; but whether those of 
Britain owed the origin of their order to the 
Milesians, or they to the Britons, is a matter 
of little moment, and upon which I do not 
pretend to decide ; however, there was this 
difference between the druids of the Gauls, 
the Britons, and those of the Milesians, 
that the last communicated by means of the 
oghum mysteries, which the others never 
committed to writing. 

It is certain that after the confusion of 
tongues at Babel, and the dispersion of 
mankind, every family or colony formed for 
itself a system of religion in the different 
countries where they settled, and that, for 
the exercise of it, a society of men intrusted 
with its duties was necessary to be formed. 
These ministers were known throughout a 
great part of Europe, by the name of druids. 
They were known among the Greeks by the 
name of Sophoi, or philosophers ; among 
the Persians, Magi ; the Indians, Gymno- 
sophists ; and Chaldeans, among the Assyri- 
ans.* 

The different nations among whom reli- 
gion was administered by the druids, endea- 
vor to discover in their languages, the origin 
and etymology of the word " Druid." In 
" dru," which signifies faithful, the Germans 
think to have found it. The Saxons derive 
it from " dry," which means magi. In 
Armorica the Word " deruidhon" was in use. 
The Milesians, who apply the word " dry- 
ithy"f to signify druid, take it from " dair," 
which means oak, with which their island 
was formerly covered, from which the an- 
cients called it, " Insula nemorosa."J The 
Greek interpretation of the word druid adds 
probability to the opinion of the Milesian, 
A£u£ in Greek, signifies oak, a tree sacred to 
Jupiter,^ because the druids chose the forests 
of oak, to celebrate in them their superstitious 
mysteries, to which Lucan, lib. 1, alludes, 

"nemora alta remotia, 

Incolitis lucis," 

or because they made use of the mistletoe 
of the oak in their religious ceremonies. 
Ovid makes allusion to it, when he says, 

" Ad viscum druidce, druidos clamare solebant." 

Pliny is explicit and clear upon this 
matter : there is nothing, he says, so sacred 
among the druids, (it is thus the Gauls call 
their magii,) as the oak and the mistletoe. 



* Diogen. Laert. prologue, 
t Droiii. 

t " The woody island." 
§ Claud, lib. 1. 



RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. 



65 



which that tree produces. They chose forests 
of oak wherein to celebrate their religious 
ceremonies, whence the name druid is most 
probably derived from the Greek interpreta- 
tion. Every thing which that tree produces, 
is, according to them, a gift of heaven, and 
a sign of its being chosen by the gods. The 
priest, (continues Pliny,) dressed in white, 
climbs the oak, and with a golden knife 
detaches from it the mistletoe, which was 
thought to be a sovereign antidote against 
all distempers. The most ancient and 
celebrated oracle in Greece, was consulted 
under the oak, in the forest of Dodona. 
God himself, in the time of the patriarchs, 
appeared to men in woods of oak ; temples 
were erected in them to his honor, and cov- 
enants made between God and man ; sacri- 
fices were also offered in them, and angels 
announced to man the commands of the 
Lord. When the Jews had apostatized, and 
abandoned the worship of the true God, they 
sacrificed upon high mountains, and beneath 
the oak they burned incense, " Subtus univer- 
sam quercum frondosam," so that according 
to sacred and profane history, the oak was 
held in great veneration by the ancients.* 

The Milesian bards, called Filea or Fear- 
dana, were not less esteemed than the druids ; 
they enjoyed high privileges, and sat, with 
a right of suffrage, in the assemblies of the 
state. Possessions and property were given 
them by the monarch, provincial kings, and 
the private lords. Strabo and Lucan oall 
them poets or.prophets.f Pompeius Festus 
says,J that a bard is a man who sings in 
verse the praises and deeds of great men.fy 
Diodorus Siculus calls a bard a composer of 
hymns. || David Powell informs us, that the 
Welsh bards were employed in preserving 
the genealogies and armorials of their no- 
bles : the Milesians had those of their own 
country similarly employed. That matter, 
as Ware observes, is largely treated of in the 
laws of Hoel-Dha :^f he says, too, that among 
the number of the bards was the celebrated 
poet, Dubtach-Mac-Lughair,** " Poeta egre- 
gius Hibernicus," who composed many po- 
ems in honor of the false gods ; but that 
after he had been, by the preaching of Saint 
Patrick, converted to the true faith, he appli- 
ed his talents to the praises of the Almighty 
and his saints. ft 

* Ezech. cap. 6, v. 13. 

t Geograph. lib. 4. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 27. 

§ Lib. 1. || Lib. 5. 

V Antiq. Hibern. cap. 5. 

** Ibidem. 

tt Jocelin, cap. 45. 



There were two divinities whose worship 
was universal among the Milesians ; the first 
was Beul, the same perhaps as Bel among 
the Asiatics. We discover in their histories, 
that, in the reign of Tuathal Teachtmar,* 
a portion of land was taken from each prov- 
ince to appropriate it as a demesne for his 
use. Assemblies were held each year in 
the dismembered portion of Connaught.f 
In this general assembly of all the states,! 
called the meeting of Uisneach, in the bar- 
ony of Rathconra, in Westmeath, animals 
were sacrificed and offered to Beul, when 
invoking his protection for the fruits of the 
earth ; and to render the festival more sol- 
emn, it was ordained, that in every territory 
of the island, two fires should be kindled ; 
and that between them a number of beasts 
of every kind should be made to pass, in 
order to preserve them against all infectious 
distempers for the ensuing year. The day 
fixed upon for the ceremony agrees with 
our first day of May, which was, and is still 
called by the Irish, " Lha-Beul-tinne," which 
signifies the day of Beul's fire, the Irish word 
Ilia signifying day, and tinne fire.^ 

The same monarch ordered another meet- 
ing to assemble every year atTlachta, in the 
portion appropriated for that use, in the prov- 
ince of Munster ; it is now called the barony 
of Clanlish, in the King's County. The 
sacred fire was lighted there, to apprize the 
druids and pagan priests that they were to 
assemble on the eve of the first of November, 
and consume in it the sacrifices offered to 
their household gods. It was forbidden, 
under penalty of a fine, to kindle a fire in 
any other place on that night, which was 
not taken from the sacred fire. 

The second divinity that was worshipped 
among the Milesians, which continued till 
the time of Christianity, was the Golden 
Calf. Keating gives us, on the reign of 
Cormac Ulfada, an example of that impious 
devotion, in the conduct of Maoilogann the 
druid, towards that prince, who, having 
resigned the crown, withdrew to a small 
country-house at Anacoille, near Tara, to 
devote himself to the worship of the true 
God, whom he had already known. The 
minister of Satan came to seek him in his 
retreat, and proposed to him the worship of 
the Golden Calf ; he reproached him for 
having withdrawn himself from a religion 
that had been so long established, and which 
his predecessors down to him had professed. 

* Keating on the reign of Tuathal Teachtmar. 
t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 56. 
\ Anno Domini, 130. 
§ Ogyg. part 2, p. 62. 



66 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



The pious prince answered him with a mild- 
ness and resolution worthy the first heroes 
of Christianity, that he adored but the one 
true God, the Creator of heaven and earth; 
that as to those gods made by the hands of 
men, he knew them not. This profession 
of his faith cost him his life, for the night 
following he died, by an unnatural death, 
after he had ordered that he should not be 
buried among the pagan kings, his predeces- 
sors, because he wished his ashes not to 
mingle with idolaters. 

It requires but a slender knowledge of 
history to discover the changes which a 
long interval of time and place produces. 
Those who at present inhabit a country live 
far differently from the ancient inhabitants 
of the same country ; but few ages are suf- 
ficient to make that difference perceptible. 
The French, now-a-days, differ widely in 
their taste and manner of living from those 
that have gone before them but a few cen- 
turies. In the age we live in, what analogy 
is there between our customs and those of 
the surrounding nations ? If then we com- 
bine these two considerations, it cannot sur- 
prise us that men who lived two or three 
thousand years ago, in countries apart from 
us, had customs different from ours. We 
need only ascend 800 years from the present 
time, and it will be found that every country 
was then less rich, and the people less pol- 
ished ; and the farther we proceed thus, the 
poorer the country will appear to have been, 
and the inhabitants of it more barbarous. 

The Milesians have had their origin from 
the Scythians, and their customs from the 
Egyptians. These two rival nations were, 
no doubt, in their time the most polished of 
any in the world. Scythia was shortly after 
the deluge erected into a kingdom ; it lasted 
till the tyrannical sway of the kings of Baby- 
lon, and was so polished, that other nations 
borrowed their laws, and the form of their 
government from it. From these circum- 
stances an emulation arose between them 
and the Egyptians, and in their struggle for 
pre-eminence, the Scythians had always 
the advantage.* Herodotus loads them with 
praises when speaking of the rash expedi- 
tion undertaken against them by Darius, to 
revenge some hostilities committed by them 
when pursuing the Cimmerians into Asia, 
and for putting down the empire of the 
Medes, who were then masters of that part 
of the world. Justin, an excellent historian 

* " There was a long dispute between the Egyptians 
and Scythians, in which controversy the Egyptians 
were defeated, and the Scythians appeared to be 
the more ancient." — Polydorus, b. 1. 



in the time of Augustus, says, in his epitome 
of Trogus Pompeius, when speaking of the 
heroic actions of the Scythians, that they 
never tinderwent a foreign yoke ; that they 
routed with disgrace Darius, king of the 
Persians ; and that Cyrus and his whole 
army were destroyed by them : that Zopy- 
rus, general of Alexander the Great, together 
with the whole of his forces, fell beneath 
their blows ; and that they heard of the Ro- 
man arms without having ever felt them.* 

Egypt has been in like manner always 
looked upon among the ancients as the most 
renowned school in matters of government 
and wisdom, and the cradle of the arts and 
sciences. So convinced of this was Greece, 
that most of the great men, as Homer, Pytha- 
goras, Plato, and her two great legislators, 
Solon and Lycurgus, went into Egypt to per- 
fect themselves, and draw from thence the 
rarest knowledge in all kinds of erudition. 
Of the wisdom of the Egyptians, God him- 
self bears a most glorious testimony, in be- 
stowing praise upon Moses for his having 
been instructed therein.! 

Those are the sources from whence the 
Milesians have taken the first rudiments of 
their government, manners, and customs ; 
having their origin from the Scythians, and 
their education from the Egyptians. 

The trade which the Phoenicians carried 
on with that people did not a little contribute 
to its perfection.^: Newton observes that 
the Edomites, when scattered and subdued 
by David, withdrew, some to Egypt, another 
part to the coasts of the Persian Gulf, and 
•that others of them came and settled upon 
the coasts of the Mediterranean, where 
they fortified Azotus, and took possession 
of Sidon. 

They carried with them to all the coun- 
tries to which they went the sciences and 
arts, particularly those relating to astronomy, 
navigation, and the use of letters, which they 
were in possession of in Idumea, before the 
time of Job, who makes mention of it. It 
was among them that Moses learned to com- 
mit the law to writing. They changed the 
name Erythrcea into that of Phoenicia, and 
called themselves Phoenicians : the country 
along the coasts of Palestine, from Azotus 

* " The Scythians themselves continued either 
without being invaded or invincible ; they routed 
Darius, king of the Persians, and forced him to fly 
from Scythia in disgrace ; the Scythians slew Cyrus 
with his whole army : and Zopyrus, general of 
Alexander the Great, they overcame and destroyed 
with the entire of his forces. They heard of the 
Romans only by name." — Chron. page 12. 

t Acts vii., 22. 

t Chron. page 12. 



RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. 



67 



to Sidon, was called Phoenicia. They after- 
wards spread themselves along the shores 
of the Mediterranean as far even as Spain, 
where the Milesians, who were then inhab- 
iting that country, had an opportunity of 
forming an intercourse with them. The 
trade between these two people was not 
confined to Spain alone ; it extended itself to 
Ireland, where they traded with those Mile- 
sians who had made themselves masters of 
the island. Thus, it is probable that the lat- 
ter may have received their characters from 
the Phoenicians, and thatFenius Farsa,*from 
whom, it is said, they are descended, is the 
same as Phenix or Phaenius, who was among 
the Phoenicians the first inventor of letters. f 

Notwithstanding all these advantages, it 
is natural to think that the Milesians had 
been, like other people who were their con- 
temporaries,, rude and barbarous in their 
manners. . . | _• 

Pomponius Mela, and Strabo, represent 
them as a nation ignorant of every virtue, 
and who lived upon human flesh. These 
traits appear to have been mere conjectures 
without any foundation,! as Strabo himself 
acknowledges, " Horum etiam, quse comme- 
moramus, dignos fide testes non sane habe- 
mus." It is true that their histories have 
left us one example of the barbarous custom 
imputed to them by Strabo, in the conduct 
of a nurse, \ in the times of paganism, who 
being intrusted with the care of a young 
princess, fed her with the flesh of children, 
thinking, from a diabolical superstition, that 
such food would give her additional charms. || 
But does not this affectation of their histo- 
rians, by recording so inhuman an act, lead 
us to discover that the barbarity ascribed 
to the nurse was the crime of an individu- 
al, and not a custom common to an entire 
nation 1 Such inhumanity, attributed by 
Strabo to the Milesians, was not peculiar to 
them : it prevailed likewise, according to 
him, among the Scythians, Gauls, Spaniards, 
and other nations.^ 

Polybius informs us, that Annibal rejected, 
with horror, the cruel proposal which the 
Gauls made to him of eating human flesh.** 

* Samuel Bochart Cadomensis apud War. Antiq- 
Hib. cap. 1. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30, p. 219. 

X Camd. Brit. edit. p. 788. 

§ War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 2. 

|| Keating. 

IT " It is said to be a custom among the Scythi- 
ans to feed on human flesh, and that the Gauls, 
Spaniards, and ms*iy others, when pressed by 
famine during a siege, have practised the same 
thing." — Strab. b. 4. 

** Rollin, Hist. Ancienne. 



This custom prevails at present among the 
Hottentots, and other inhabitants of Africa.* 
Saint Jerome says that he saw in Gaul, the 
Scots, a people of Britain, feed on human 
flesh.f 

Dempster, a Scotch writer, and a man 
very zealous for the glory of his country, 
makes use of all his talent to turn from his 
countrymen the disgrace of the above im- 
putation :+: but as he finds himself confound- 
ed by the weight of the authority of Saint 
Jerome, he seeks to avoid the blow by eva- 
sion, and observes, that instead of the word 
" Scotos," which is generally met with in St. 
Jerome's text, it should be read " Gothos," 
and as the words " Gentem Britannicam," 
are characteristic of the Scots of Albania, 
and evidently distinguish them from the 
Scots of Ireland, he pretends, on the authority 
of Erasmus, that the words are not found in 
the ancient editions of that father's works : 
but Usher confutes him on his assumed 
authority from Erasmus, and moreover adds, 
that all the editions of St. Jerome, and par- 
ticularly the Basle edition in the year 1497, 
contain the words " Gentem Britannicam. "§ 

Has any custom ever been more barbarous 
than that of sacrificing children, which pre- 
vailed so generally among the Phoenicians, 
Carthaginians, Gauls, Scythians, Greeks, 
and Romans- — nations in every other respect 
very polished 1 It was a custom with the 
kings of Tyre, to sacrifice in times of great 
calamity, their sons, in order to appease the 
anger of the gods.|| Individuals, likewise, 
when they endeavored to rescue themselves 
from any great misfortune, resorted to the 
same, and were as superstitious as their 
princes, so that those who had not children 
of their own, purchased them from the poor, 
that they might not want the merit of such 
a sacrifice. The same custom continued 
for a long time among the Phoenicians, and 
the Canaanites. The children who were 
inhumanly burnt, were cast either into a hot 

* Pet. Lorn. Comment. Hib. cap. 13, p. 131, et 
seq. 

t " What shall I say of other nations, when I 
myself, while very young, have seen in Gaul a 
British people who had been Scots, feed upon hu- 
man flesh." — Hieron. b. 2, against Jovinianus. 

t Apparat. ad Hist. Scotie. lib. 1, cap. 4. 

§ " Dempster himself was not able to show that 
these words were inserted in a certain ancient book, 
much less in all ; neither has Erasmus written, at 
any time, such a thing. All the editions of the 
works of St. Jerome (particularly that published 
at Basle in the year 1497) have, in this place, dis- 
played to us the British nation." — Usher, Church 
History, cap. 15, p. 589. 

|| Philo. 



68 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



furnace, or shut up in a statue of Saturn, 
which was set on fire.* In order to stifle 
the cries of the unhappy victims during this 
barbarous ceremony, the air resounded with 
the noise of drums and trumpets. Mothers 
made it an honor and a point of religion, to 
assist at the cruel spectacle, without shed- 
ding a tear, or uttering' the least lamenta- 
tion, t They were so callous and inhuman 
as to caress their children and appease their 
cries, lest a victim offered with a bad grace, 
and in the midst of tears, might be displeas- 
ing to the gods. 

The Carthaginians retained till the de- 
struction of their city, the barbarous custom 
of offering up human victims in sacrifice : J 
it was, however, suspended for a few years, 
lest they might bring on themselves the 
wrath and power of Darius the First, king 
of Persia, who had forbidden them to offer 
human victims, and had likewise enjoined 
them not to eat the flesh of dogs. During 
the battle which was fought in Italy, between 
Gelon the tyrant of Syracuse, and Hamilcar 
the Carthaginian general, which lasted from 
morning till night, the Carthaginian general 
did not cease to offer up in sacrifice to their 
gods, living men in great numbers, by having 
them thrown into a burning furnace ; and 
seeing, says Herodotus, § his troops give 
way, he cast himself into it not to survive 
his shame. || In times of pestilence, children 
were sacrificed in great numbers to their 
gods, without pity for an age which would 
excite compassion in the most cruel enemy, 
by which a remedy for their evils was 
sought in crime, and barbarity made use of 
to appease the gods. 

When Agathocles laid siege to Carthage, T 
the unfortunate inhabitants of that city as- 
cribed their misfortune to the just anger of 
Saturn against them for having sacrificed, 
instead of children of the first quality, (to 
which they had been accustomed,) those of 
strangers and slaves. To make amends for 
their supposed crime, they offered up in 
sacrifice to Saturn, two hundred children 
of the first families in Carthage, besides 
three hundred citizens, who, thinking them- 
selves guilty of the same crime, voluntarily 
sacrificed themselves likewise. 

Solinus says, that the ancient Irish had 
the custom of drinking the blood of those 
whom they had slain, and of besmearing 

* Plutarq. de Superstitione, p. 171. 

t Tertull. in Apollog. Quint. Curt. lib. 4, cap. 3. 

t Plut. de Sacra Vindicatione Deorum 

§ Lib. 7. 

|| Justin, lib. 17. 

IT Diodor. lib. 20 



their faces with it ;* that the mothers pre- 
sented, upon the point of a sword, the first 
food to their male children, praying that 
they might not die in any other way than in 
war, or with arms in their hands. It is very 
probable that Solinus is not better informed 
on the subject than Strabo, who cannot 
vouch, by witnesses worthy of belief, for all 
that he advances. We need but examine, 
at present, into the habits of other people 
of antiquity, and they will be discovered to 
have" been rude and barbarous. 

The inhabitants of the Balearic islands, 
accustomed themselves from their earliest 
youth to the use of the sling. Mothers 
placed upon the branch of a very tall tree, 
pieces of bread intended for the breakfast 
of their children, who were to continue fast- 
ing until they could strike them down from 
the branch. It is therefore an injustice to 
reproach a nation for barbarous manners, at 
a time when the evil generally prevailed in 
other countries. - _, 

The ancient Irish, called Milesians, or 
Clanna Mileag, that is to say, the children 
of Milesius, were divided into four tribes, 
namely, those of Heber, Heremon, Ir, and 
Ith. They preserved their race pure, and 
made no alliances with the lower orders, nor 
with their vassals, who had followed them 
from Spain. They formed four great families, 
who were descended from the same father. 
They preserved their genealogies carefully, 
and knew the whole line of their ancestors, 
down to the chief of their tribe. This pre- 
caution was essential in regard to the suc- 
cession to the throne, because it was required 
that those who aspired to it should be de- 
scended from one of the tribes. Each tribe 
possessed, in the beginning, their own portion 
of the island, and each portion was divided 
into lands and lordships, possessed by the 
different branches of the tribe. Each tribe 
had a number of vassals or farmers to culti- 
vate their-lands, and conduct their numerous 
flocks of cattle, which formed their chief 
wealth. Every one was called by his name : 
they did not take the name of castles or 
villages, like the nobles of the present day, 
but they usually added to their names that 
of their fathers, with the adjective Mac, 
which signifies son, as Laogare Mac-Niall. 
The custom of the people of the east, says 
M. Rollin, was to add to the name of the 
son that of the father ; for instance, Sarda- 
napalis is composed ofSardan and Pal, which 
means Sardan, son of Pal. This custom 
was followed by the Gr^ks and Romans. 

* Lib. 20. 



RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. 



69 



It is observed, even to this day, in Muscovy, 
where Wits is sometimes added to the names 
to signify the son of such a one, as Petrowits, 
the son of Peter, Jeannowits, son of John. 
The Fitz made use of among the Saxons in 
England, implies the same thing ; for in- 
stance, in the names Fitzgerald, Fitzmaurice, 
Fitzsimon, Fitz signifies son, and is the same 
as the son of Gerald, the son of Maurice, 
the son of Simon : we discover also in the 
same country the Thompsons, the Johnsons, 
which names signify the sons of Thomas, of 
John, &c. The tribe which usually bore 
the name of their chiefs, sometimes changed 
them, to take that of some one among their 
chiefs, who was renowned for some great 
action, as the tribe of Ir, which took the 
name of Clanna-Rory, which signifies the 
children of Rory. 

There was among the Milesians, great 
simplicity without refinement, proportioned 
to the time in which they lived, but not 
always without that mixture of vice so com- 
mon among other people. "We discover 
among them neither those pompous titles 
of nobility invented within the last seven or 
eight centuries, nor that multitude of ex- 
penses, nor luxury, the necessary cause of 
many new fashions, which tend to the ruin 
of many families. This great simplicity, 
joined to a general prejudice that that which 
is most ancient is always most imperfect, 
easily convinces us that they were rude in 
their manners. 

The arts and trades were not unknown to 
the Milesians :* having discovered among 
them mines of gold, silver, tin, lead, and iron, 
they had learned to melt and manufacture 
them.f The forges of Airgiodross,J of which 
their historians speak ; the arms which they 
made use of, such, as the sword, the lance, 
the axe, and other instruments, § show us 
that there were among them workmen who 
knew how to make use of the hidden treas- 
ures with which nature had enriched their 
island. Their churches and houses were 
generally built of wood, which is a proof 
that there were carpenters among them. 
Their churches, says Bede, were not built of 
stone, but of oak-wood artificially wrought. || 
Saint Bernard, in speaking of an oratory 
which Saint Malachy caused to be built in 
Ireland, says that it was made of polished 
wood solidly put together ; to this remark 

* Keating on the reign of Tighernmas. 

t Idem, on the reign of Enna, surnamed Air- 



t Grat. Luc. capP8, p. 59. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 21 et 28. 

|| " Not of stone, but of wrought oak.' 



he adds, that it was a very handsome Scotic 
structure.* Their chariots, whether for war 
or travelling, and the great number of ships 
that they made use of, as well for fishing 
(which was largely carried on among them) 
as for the frequent expeditions which they 
made into Britain and other countries, prove 
that they must have had mechanics to con- 
struct them. In ancient times, they made 
use of little boats built of light wood,t or of 
osier, which they covered with the skins of 
horses, oxen, or of some wild beast, and 
these boats they called curraghs.J With 
those small vessels they easily crossed the 
Scythian valley, which signifies the sea that 
separates Ireland from Britain. But ac- 
cording as they became perfect in the arts, 
they built much larger and more solid ves- 
sels, to transport their armies and colonies 
to Albania.^ 

The manufacture of cloth, stuffs, and every 
thing necessary to cover and preserve them 
from the inclemency of the weather, was in 
very general use among the ancient Irish. || 
The men, says Cambrensis, wore trousers 
or " braies," in Latin, " braccae," whence a_ 
part of Gaul was called " Gallia Braccata." 
The Persians, Scythians,1T Sarmatii,** the 
ancient people of the Palatinate, called 
Vangiones, the Batavians.ft Hebrews,!! 
and almost every nation had the same cus- 
toms. 

Among the Irish, the tunic, drawers, 
leggings, and boots, were composed of one 



* " A Scotic work very handsome." — Gratianus 
Lucius, c. 8, p. 62. 

t Grat. Luc. cap 8, p. 62. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 34. 

§ " Claudianus clearly proves, that the Irish 
afterwards were provided with better fleets ; when, 
he says, ' The Scot moved all Ireland, and the sea 
foamed with the hostile oar.' " 

" An army of Scots, on board a number of ships, 
passed into Britain, and Niellius being monarch of 
Ireland, six sons of Muredus with a large fleet 
seized upon the northern parts of Britain. These 
foul flocks of Scots and Picts came forth from their 
curraghs in which they crossed the Scythian val- 
ley." — Solinus, Cambrensis, and Gildas, in Grat. 
Luc. c. 12, p. 115. 

|| Grat. Luc. cap. 12, p. 112. 

IT " With skins and sown trousers, they drive 
away pinching cold, and the face alone of the whole 
person appears." — Ovid, b. 3. 

** " The whole body is enveloped in trousers, 
and even the face (except the eyes) is covered." — 
Mela, b. 2. 

tt " The Sarmatians, Vangiones, and savage Ba- 
tavians imitate thee with loosened trousers." — 
Lucan. in Grat. Luc. c. 13, p. 123. 

tt " These men were bound, and with trousers 
and cap, were cast into a burning furnace." — Dan- 
iel, c. 3, ver. 21. 



70 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



piece,* and so tight, that the form of the 
body appeared, by which they differed from 
those of other people, who wore this dress 
loose and flowing. Besides this the Irish 
wore a cloak of purple, which they called 
"falling," like the "pallium" of the Greeks, 
and the "toga" of the Romans. They con- 
sidered it as befitting the gravity of man to 
wear those cloaks. The English called them 
mantles., from " mantelum" and " mantele," 
mentioned by Plautus and Pliny. Mantles, 
mantelets, and mantillas, have undoubtedly 
derived their etymology from the same 
source. They wore their hair long, and 
allowed the beard to grow on the upper lip :f 
their head-dress consisted of a cap raised to a 
point, of the same materials as their clothes ; 
this cap was called, in their language, 
" barredh," perhaps from the " biretum," 
worn by the Gauls ; but more probably from 
"barr," which signifies top, and from the 
word " eda," which means clothing. Finally, 
on their feet they wore sandals, or soles 
tied with many strings. The Irish women 
dressed themselves with much modesty. A 
small mantle of cloth, embroidered or trim- 
med with fringe, according to the quality of 
the person, which hung down to the knees,| 
covered their other dress. Their head-dress, 
called in their language, " fileadh," con- 
sisted of a piece of fine linen, with which 
they enveloped the head in a spiral form, 
and thus made a kind of veil tied behind. 
The unmarried women, as a mark of distinc- 
tion, wore long hair platted, and interwoven 
with ribands. 

The different classes among the Irish 
were distinguished by the number of colors 
in their dress. § The mechanics and work- 
ing classes wore but one color, the soldiers 
two ; officers three ; those who exercised 
hospitality four ; || the nobles fives the his- 
torians and learned six ;Tf which shows the 
esteem in which men of letters were held : 
lastly, the kings and princes of the blood 
wore clothes of seven colors. The plaid, or 
robes of different colors, which are still 
worn by the Scotch Highlanders, are prob- 
ably the remains of this ancient Milesian 
custom. 

In the earlier periods, the Milesians slept 
under tents, after the manner of the Scythians 
their ancestors ; however, as soon as they 
were well secured in their possessions, they 

* Grat. Luc. cap. 13, p. 122 et seq. 

t Idem, cap. 13, p. 125. 

X Grat. Luc. cap. 12, p. 112. 

§ Keating on the reign of Tighernraas. 

|| Grat. Luc. cap. 8, p. 59, et cap. 10, p. 105. 

lr °gyg- part 3, cap. 23. 



evinced a taste for building houses and 
towns.* Stones were not used in their 
buildings, the use of which was not known 
to the Britons and Gauls.f Their houses 
were built of wood, their furniture was very 
plain, and all their vessels made of wrought 
wood, according to the taste of the times. 

The Irish were remarkable for their hos- 
pitality .J The unfortunate always found 
refuge among them.§ The Spaniards, Gauls, 
and Britons, sought an asylum in that coun- 
try, to secure themselves from the tyranny 
of the Romans ;|| princes who were perse- 
cuted in their own country, found there a 
safe retreat. Dagobert II., son of Sigebert, 
king of Austrasia, having been expelled his 
kingdom by Grimoald, mayor of the palace, 
was received with distinction in Ireland, 
where be remained in exile during twenty- 
five years. T Oswald, king of the Northum- 
brians,** with his brothers and several lords, 
found refuge among the Scots, that is to say, 
the Irish, " apud Scotos exulabant," among 
whom they remained for sixteen years, till 
the death of the tyrant whose fury they 
wished to avoid. 

Alfred, king of the Northumbrians, and 
one of the successors of Oswald, having been 
driven from the throne of his ancestors, 
withdrew into Ireland,!! where he made a 
considerable progress in the study of litera- 
ture, and in the art of governing. Bede 
mentions a number of Englishmen, both no- 
bles and others, who went to Ireland in the 
time of the holy bishops Finan and Colman, 
to be instructed in divine learning, and to 
perfect themselves in the practice of a mo- 
nastic life. || He adds, also, that the Scots 
supplied them, gratis, with every thing ne- 
cessary for their support, even with books 
for their studies. §§ 

* War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 22. 

t Grat. Luc. cap. 10, p. 99. 

X " They are indeed the most hospitable of man- 
kind. You cannot gratify them more, than either 
to visit them of your own accord, or invite them to 
visit you in turn." — Stan. Irish Hist. b. 1, p. 33. 

§ Petr. Lombard, cap. 12, p. 111. 

|| " Many, no doubt, passed into Ireland, from 
Spain, Gaul, and Britain, to draw their necks from 
the iniquitous oppression of the Roman yoke." — 
Camd. Brit. edit. p. 682. 

IT Hist. Ecclesiast. de Fleury. Abrege' Chron. 
de Calmet. 

** Abrege 1 Chron. du Pres. Hayn. 

tt Bede, Hist. Eccles. lib. 3, cap. 1 et seq. 

XX Bede, Malmsburiensis, et Harps feldius apud. 
Grat. Luc. c. 14, p. 128. 

§§ " All of whom the Irish most freely received, 
and afforded them daily food, without payment : 
they likewise supplied them wrtm masters and books 
without remuneration." — Bede's Church Hist. c. 
27, b. 3. 



RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. 



71 



The love of hospitality was not confined 
to individuals, it was the general taste of the 
nation ; as there were lands assigned by the 
government to a certain number of persons, 
who were appointed to exercise it in the 
different provinces. They were named 
" Biatachs," from " Bia," in Latin, Victus, 
which signifies all kinds of food. The office 
of Biatach was considered honorable by the 
Irish.* In order that it might be discharged 
with dignity, none but nobles were appointed 
to it ; besides the lands assigned by the state, 
they should be the lords of seven boroughs 
or villages, feeding seven herds of one hun- 
dred and twenty oxen each, without counting 
the produce in grain, after seven ploughs 
every year. The Hospitalers took care never 
to be taken unprepared. Large pots, filled 
with all kinds of meat, supplied in abundance 
every thing to satisfy their guests. The fare 
was plain and frugal : they were unacquaint- 
ed with sauces and ragouts : their general 
food was flesh, fish, bread baked in the 
ashes, milk, butter, honey, and herbs, prin- 
cipally water-cresses, which were much used 
by them, as well as by the ancient Persians 

Hospitalit]?, when confined to the limits 
prescribed by prudence, is a virtue belong- 
ing to charity ; but among the Irish it was a 
vice which might be called prodigality, and 
tended to the ruin of families. For besides the 
hospitable institutions established by public 
authority, the houses of private lords were 
like inns, where every one was welcome 
particularly the bards, or Fileas, who were 
equally loved and feared, on account of their 
satirical genius, as they were lavish of praise 
or cutting satire, according to the good or 
bad reception they received.! 

Among the Milesians, music formed part 
of a good education ; every one was desirous 
of knowing how to sing or play on some in- 
strument. J The office of music-master to the 
king, was among the number of those created 
in the third century, in the reign of Cormac- 
Ulfada.^ These appointments consisted of 
a gentleman companion, a druid, a judge, a 
doctor, a poet, historian, musician, and three 
stewards. Those who filled these offices 
always followed the court ; the gentleman 
was companion to the king; the druid super 
intended the affairs of religion ; the judge 
interpreted the laws, and decided all con 
troversies among the people ; the doctor 
watched over the king's health ; the poet 
celebrated his great deeds ; the historian 

* Grat. Luc. Jjp. 14, p. 130. 

t Petr. LombTbap. 12, p. 111. 

t Keating on the reign of Cormae.Ulfada. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 63. 



kept his history and genealogy ; the musi- 
cian amused him during his repasts, and in 
his hours of recreation ; lastly, the stewards 
received the revenues of the crown, and 
managed the affairs of the household. These 
officers continued till the eleventh century, 
in the reign of Brian Boroimhe, except that 
in the time of Christianity, in the place of 
the druid, a bishop was substituted, and was 
confessor to the king. 

Giraldus Cambrensis bears the following 
testimony to the Irish music. This nation, 
says he, particularly excels and surpasses 
all others in musical instruments, on which 
they perform with precision and lightness, 
and draw even from discordance the most 
melodious harmony.* The harp was their 
most general instrument,! there was one in 
every house, either for their own use, or for 
those strange musicians who passed the way. 

The city of Tailton, now a small village, 
in the county of Meath, was renowned not 
only for the games and military exercises 
which were celebrated there,} but also for 
the assembly which was held every year 
relating to marriages. § The fathers and 
mothers who had children of either sex to 
settle in life, repaired thither from the differ- 
ent parts of the kingdom. The young men 
and the females lodged in separate quarters, 
and the parents met and treated together in 
the public squares, and stipulated for the 
marriage of their children. 

The care of nursing and bringing up 
children of rank among them was confided 
to people of independence, or wealthy farm- 
ers, whose wives suckled them, or in case 
of any obstacle, had them suckled by others 
under their own eye. The honor of nurs- 
ing a child of rank, joined to the protection 
which they expected from them, was con- 
sidered as ample recompense. They took 
more care of them than of their own child- 
ren, and procured them every thing that 
could flatter their good or evil propensities. 
There were likewise landlords whose title 
depended on nursing one or more of the child- 
ren of the lord from whom they held the land. 

The descendants of Fiacho Suidhe, bro- 
ther of the monarch Conn-Keadcahagh, from 

* " I discover that this nation (i. e. Ireland) 
pays a laudable and industrious regard to their mu- 
sical pursuits, and excel, in this particular, every 
other people. Their movements in music are quick 
and sweet, their melody and concord are in com- 
plete harmony." — Girald. Cambr. Hist. c. 19. 

t " They (i. e. the Irish) are devoted to music and 
the harp ; they strike harmoniously the strings, which 
are of brass, with their nails." — Camd. p. 714. 

t Keating. 

§ 0&y£- part 3, p. 46. 



72 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



whom the O'Fallans derive their origin, be- 
ing lords of Deasia, a territory comprising 
almost the whole county of Waterford, un- 
dertook in the beginning of the third century 
to nurse and educate Eithney-athach, daugh- 
ter of Eana-Kinsealach, king of Leinster, 
hoping, as the druids had prognosticated, 
that the marriage of that princess with Aon- 
gus, son of Madfroach, king of Munster, 
would tend to aggrandize their fortune. 
The prediction of the druids came to pass 
accordingly ; Aongus gave them an exten- 
sive territory to the north of the river Suir, 
extending from the side of Clonmel and 
Cashel, called " Deasia.Tuasgirt," or north- 
ern Deasia. 

The attachment of the young people for 
those who had nursed them, sufficiently 
marked their gratitude ; they loaded them 
with favors, considered them as deserving 
implicit confidence, and often preferred them 
to their near relatives.* The nurses gene- 
rally shared the love of their children with 
the mothers. They were received by them 
with tenderness and respect, and sat at the 
table, whatever company might be present. 
If these children had any cause of discontent 
in the paternal mansion, they sought refuge 
with their nurses, who received them with 
open arms ; the latter often entered with too 
much facility into their ambitious views, and 
encouraged them sometimes to revolt, not 
only against their brothers, but also against 
their parents, which was often productive 
of troubles in families, and civil wars in 
the state. 

The funeral ceremonies of the Milesians 
savored of the barbarism of the ancient 
times. When any person of distinction or 
a chief of their ancient families died, they 
prepared feasts, and kept open houses for all 
those who assisted at the funeral. t The 
wives of their vassals, who were much at- 
tached to them, or other women who were 
professed mourners of the dead,:); like the 
" PraeficEe," mentioned by Servius, came in 
crowds, and entering one after the other, with 
every appearance of despair, the hall where 
the corpse was exposed, they uttered loud 
cries and lamentations, reciting the geneal- 
ogy, and singing in verse, with a plaintive 
and melancholy voice, the virtues and ex- 
ploits of the deceased, and those of his earli- 
est ancestors. This kind of elegy, or rhym- 
ing funeral oration, being ended, they were 
brought into another hall, where all kinds of 



* Grat. Luc. c. 11. 

t Stanihurst, de Rebus Hib. lib. 14, p. 47. 

t Grat. Luc. c. 13, p. 122. 



refreshments were prepared ; these women, 
who relieved each other every hour, contin- 
ued this ceremony as long as the corpse re- 
mained exposed. The day being appointed, 
and every thing ready for the interment, the 
body was carried to the place of burial, ac- 
companied by the same women, making the 
air resound with their cries. This custom, 
however barbarous it may appear, not being 
in unison with the present taste, was not 
without a precedent. Among the Jews, 
those who followed a funeral bewailed with 
a loud voice, as appears by the burial of 
Abner :* there were women who made it a 
profession to cry on those occasions ; and 
hymns were composed to be used as funeral 
orations to illustrious persons, such as David 
composed for Saul, and that of the prophet 
Jeremiah for Joshua. f The ancient Romans 
also employed professed mourners at fune- 
rals, which is proved by its being prohibited 
in the laws of the twelve tables .J 

The ancients paid particular respect to 
the remains of their deceased relations and 
friends. The Greeks burned them, to pre- 
serve their ashes in urns. The Hebrews 
buried the lower orders of the people, and 
embalmed persons of rank, to place them in 
sepulchres ; they sometimes burned per- 
fumes on the dead bodies. The Egyptians 
embalmed their dead, surrounding the body 
with drugs of a drying quality : they were 
then placed in sepulchres ; they sometimes 
covered them with fine linen and dissolved 
gum, and preserved them in that state in their 
houses. § The Romans, Gauls, Germans, Bri- 
tons, and people of the north, sometimes burn- 
ed their dead, and sometimes buried them. 
Pomponius Mela asserts that it was the cus- 
tom among the druids, who were the priests 
and legislators of most of these nations.! 

A number of caves or subterraneous 
vaults, (called by the Greeks " hypogae," by 
the Latins " Conditoria" or " requietoria,") 
which have been discovered within a fevf 
centuries in Ireland, would make it appear 
that the Milesians anciently burned their 
dead. These caves were constructed of flat 
stones, sometimes of marble, some of which, 
raised perpendicularly, supported the others, 
which were placed horizontally over them, 
forming a kind of centre, without plaster or 
any other cement. The bodies were depos- 
ited in those vaults ; after which they were 
covered with earth in the form of Pyramids, 

* Reg. 3, ver. 31, Jerem. 8, v. 17. 
t 2 Reg. 1, v. 17. ft 
t War. Antiq. Hib. &Sp. 32. 
§ War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 32. 
|| Geograp. lib. 3. 



CIVIL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE MILESIANS. 



'«:< 



which were sometimes flattened on the top 
like a Dutch cheese, and are called "moats" 
by the people of the country. Ware says, 
that some of this kind are still to be seen at 
Naas, in the county of Kildare, and at Clo- 
nard, in Meath ; so that those vaults, first 
constructed on the surface of the earth, were 
in course of time completely covered with it. 
Virgil and Lucan alluded to those pyramids 
in speaking of the heaps of earth which 
were raised over the ashes of kings.*-—— — 
The caves enclosed in those pyramids dif- 
fered in size ; some were six feet long, others 
but two. Entire skeletons, and urns filled 
with ashes, were sometimes found in them 
In 1646, a sepulchre of black marble was 
found buried in a hill in the neighborhood 
of Dublin ; its length was fourteen feet two 
inches ; and its breadth two feet one : this 
sepulchre contained a quantity of ashes and 
bones. Molyneux, in his treatise on' the 
""Danish mounts," describes a subterraneous 
vault which was discovered at New-Grange, 
in the county of Meath. t This vault, which 
was of an irregular form, was nineteen or 
twenty feet high, and ten in diameter. There 
were three caves or niches formed in the 
side of the vault, each about ten feet in 
length, five in breadth, and the same in depth. 
The great vaidt contained two skeletons, 
which were found lying on the ground. The 
entrance was through a small hole, in a kind 
of gallery or conduit, eighty feet long, three 
feet wide, and unequal in height, as far as 
the opening of the vault, where it was ten 
feet high. The whole, that is, the vault, 
cave, and gallery, was built of large stones, 
covered over with earth in the form of a hill. 
Many others, of the same description, have 
been discovered in Ireland within the last 
century. Caves of different sizes have been 
found, some six feet in length, others but 
two. The former were intended as a burial 
place for those bodies that had not passed 
through the fire ; the latter to contain the 
ashes of such as had been burned. These 
monuments were only built for people of 
rank, as much to perpetuate their names, as 
to distinguish them from the lower classes, 
who were buried under heaps of earth and 
gravel. But these customs were abolished 
some time before the birth of our Saviour, 
by EochaX.,J surnamed Airive, who estab- 

* " There was the tomb of king Dercennus built, 
beneath a high mountain, with a mound of earth ; 
it was covered by an old laurel and a shading oak." 
— Virgil, JEneid, b-11. 

" And let the ashes of kings repose beneath a 
raised mound of earth." 

t Page 197. 

\ Keating on the reign of Eocha Airive. 



lished the use of graves, as more convenient, 
and more conformable to the respect due to 
the dead, which custom has been since fol- 
lowed.* 



CHAPTER V. 

£>Y THE CIVIL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT 
OF THE MILESIANS. 

Heber and Heremon, brothers, and chil- 
dren of Milesius, king of Gallicia, having 
conquered the Tuatha de Danains, reigned 
together in Ireland for the space of one 
year, but some differences having arisen 
between them, Heber was killed at the battle 
of Geisiol, in that part of the country at 
present called the King's county, and left 
his brother sole master of the island,! who 
established a monarchical government, which 
lasted, with scarcely any interruption, till 
the arrival of the English in the twelfth 
century, that is, about 2200 years. 

The government, however, experienced 
some change under Eocha IX., surnamed 
" Felioch," or the " melancholy. "{ This 
monarch was the first who established the 
pentarchy, and erected the provinces of Ire- 
land into kingdoms, \ the investiture of which 
he conferred on the chiefs of the tribes, 
who were at that time in possession of them, 
on condition of paying an annual tribute. || 
In his time the Irians, descendants of Ir, 
were still in possession of Ulster.1I The 
Heberians, descendants of Heber, and the 
Dergtines, of the race of Lugadh, son of Ith, 
were possessed of the two Munsters, which 
they governed alternately ; but their pos- 
session had been disturbed some time before 
the reign of that monarch, by the establish- 
ment of the Deagades of Lough Earn, of 
the race of Heremon. Leinster was under 
the dominion of the Heremonians, descend- 
ants of Laogare Lore, son of Ugane More ; 
and Connaught belonged to the Firdomnians, 
of the race of the Firbolgs, who were divided 
into three branches, the chiefs of which were, 
at that time, Fidhac, Eocha Allat, and Tin- 

** In whatever light this government 
of the Milesians is considered, it cannot be 

* Grat. Luc. page 8, p. 65. 

t A. M. 2992. 

% Keating on the reign of Eocha Felioch. 

§ A. M. 3989. 

|| Ogyg. part 3, cap. 40. 

if Grat. Luc. cap. 8. 

** Idem. 

10 



71 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



called a pentarchy, as Cambrensis has it 
From the time of Heremon till the reiga of 
Eocha IX., a thousand years, this people 
were governed sometimes by one king, and 
sometimes, but seldom, by two together, af- 
ter the manner of Sparta. From Eocha IX., 
till the twelfth century, the provincial kings 
had, to a certain degree, divided the govern- 
ment of the island between them ; but their 
subordination to, and dependence on the mo- 
narch, completely excluded the idea of a pen- 
tarchy, which implies, among the princes 
composingit, an equality and independence of 
one another, as was the case with the Saxon 
princes, in the time of the English heptarchy. 

This division of the supreme power by 
Eocha, contrary to all rules of good policy, 
by increasing the discord which had always 
reigned among the Milesians, weakened con- 
siderably the sovereign power, so necessary 
to keep the people in subjection. The link 
of the general welfare being broken, the 
interests of the chiefs who ruled in the 
several kingdoms were separated, so that 
they often took up arms one against the 
other, and sometimes against their general- 
in-chief. 

Cambrensis, with his usual confidence, 
asserts, that it was a custom with the kings 
of Ireland to take possession of the govern- 
ment of the whole island by force of arms, 
without the solemnity of coronation, or any 
right, either by inheritance or succession. 
However, we may judge of the belief which 
should be attached to this author, and all 
those who have imitated him, by the char- 
acter I have drawn of him in the preliminary 
discourse on this subject. Harris reproaches 
Ware, whose works he translated, of having 
given but a very imperfect idea of the an- 
cient government of Ireland, and of having 
too closely copied the calumnies of Cam- 
brensis, without sufficiently fathoming the 
truth.* 

The crown was neither absolutely heredi- 
tary norpurely elective among the Milesians. 
The son did not always succeed to his father's 
throne, and the younger often reigned to the 
prejudice of the elder ; in case of the chil- 
dren being minors, the brother, uncle, or 
cousin of the deceased lung was called to the 
throne, or the nearest relative capable of 
governing alone, and commanding the 
armies. f The same laws which excluded 
minors, excluded also from the throne all 
those who were not descended from one of 



* Harris, vol. 9, cap. 10. 

t Petr. Lomb. Comment, de Hibern. cap. 3, page 
45 et 46. 



the three sons of Milesius, Heber, Heremon, 
or Ir. A successor was appointed to the 
crown during the monarch's lifetime, as the 
king of the Romans was elected in the em- 
pire ; this heir, who was his son, brother, 
uncle, or his nearest relation capable of 
governing, was called " Tainiste," from the 
name of the ring finger ; and, as this finger 
by its place and length is next to the middle 
one, so that prince was next to the monarch 
in rank, dignity, and power. It is from 
thence Davis and Ware give the name of 
" Tanistry" to the law concerning the suc- 
cession of the crown in Ireland.* 

The candidate was obliged to prove his 
origin by the registries of his family, and the 
Psalter of Tara ; which induced the Milesians 
to preserve the genealogies of their families 
with as much care and precision as the 
Hebrews. The family of Ith, uncle of Mi- 
lesifls, was not absolutely excluded from the 
crown, as we find the names of three of them 
in the list of the Irish kings. Besides his 
birth, the candidate should be a knight of 
the golden chain, called in their language, 
" niadh-niask," as we should say, " Eques 
Torquatus," from a chain of gold which was 
worn on the neck.f This order was insti- 
tuted by king Munemon, and was the only 
title of honor used by the Milesians after 
that of king. | The pompous titles of duke, 
marquis, earl, and baron, introduced within 
the last few centuries, to flatter the am- 
bition of men, and often conferred on peo- 
ple whose only merit consisted in being the 
favorites of princes, were unknown to them, 
as well as to the Greeks, Romans, and 
other nations of antiquity. 

Notwithstanding the wise precautions 
adopted by the Milesians in the election of 
their kings, -those candidates who thought 
themselves unjustly excluded, roused by the 
ambition of reigning, and supported by the 
factions of their vassals, (not, however, with- 
out any right to the succession, as Cam- 
brensis asserts,) often, at the expense of the 
public peace, decided by their arms what 
was, in their opinion, unjust in the choice of 
the electors. § 

We do not discover in the ancient monu- 
ments of the Milesians any vestiges of the 
ceremonies used before Christianity, at the 
coronation of their monarchs, whether it be 
that the registries and acts in which these 
ceremonies should be noted have been lost, 
or fallen into the hands of those who wish 

* Ogyg- part 1, page 57 et 58. 

t A. M. 3271. t B. C. 729. 

§ Ogyg. part 1, p. 58. 



CIVIL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OP THE MILESIANS. 



7S 



we should be ignorant of them : however, as 
their historians have preserved some parti 
culars of the inauguration of the provincial 
kings, it is probable there were still more 
august ceremonies for the coronation of their 
monarchs. 

It cannot be denied that crowns were used 
by the Milesians, of which frequent mention 
is made in their annals : we discover in them 
that the Asion, that is, the crown of the 
queen of Cahire-More, was stolen at the 
assembly of Tara ;* that Donogh O'Brien 
king of Munster, and partly of Ireland,! had 
taken the crown of his ancestors with him. 
when he made a voyage to Rome. Ward 
a respectable antiquarian, says that the Irish 
kings appeared in all solemnities, even at 
battle, with the crown on their heads.J This 
mark of distinction was fatal, according to 
Marianus Scotus, to the monarch Brian 
Boroimhe, at the famous battle of Clontarf, 
where he was recognised and killed by some 
Danes that were frying. fy According to Hec 
tor Boetius, the kings of Scotland, from Fer 
gus I. to Achaius, who died in 819, wore a 
crown of plain gold, in the form of a palli- 
sade or rampart, " Militaris valli forma. "|| 
There can be no doubt of their having bor- 
rowed this ensign of royalty from their an- 
cestors the Milesians, as they were descend- 
ed from them. If The following fact leaves 
no doubt on this subject. In 1692, a crown 
of gold, in the form of a cap, was found ten 
feet deep in the earth, by some laborers 
who were cutting turf in a bog at Barnanely, 
otherwise " the Devil's Bit," in the county 
of Tipperary, in Ireland. This crown, which 
weighs five ounces of gold, is tolerably well 
wrought ; it resembles the crowns of the 
emperors of the East, composed of a helmet 
and diadem, according to the description 
Seldon gives of it.** It has neither cross, 
nor any other mark of Christianity, which 
gives rise to a belief that it was made in 
the time of paganism. This curious piece of 
antiquity was sold to Joseph Comerford, and 
by him preserved in the castle of Anglure, in 
Champaign, which estate he purchased. 

It does not appear that the anointing, 
which now constitutes part of the coronation 
ceremony of the European princes, had been 
in use among the Milesians. ft This custom, 

* °gyg- P- 46. 

t Idem, p. 47. 

X Vit. Rumoldi, p. 170. 

4 In the year 1014. 

|| Lib. 2 et 10. 

IT Keat. preface. 

** Tit. Hon. part 1, chap. 8. 

tt Ogyg. part 1, page 47. 



the first examples of which we discover 
among the Hebrews, did not exist, accord- 
ing to Onuphrius Panvinius, among the em- 
perors of the East before the time of Justinian, 
or of Justin his son, about the year 565.* 
It was introduced, .according to that author, 
into the west by Charlemagne, " in 800 : 
however, we discover in history, that Pepin, 
his father, had been consecrated and anointed 
king of the^ Franks, by Boniface, Archbishop 
of Mayence, in virtue of the power granted 
him for this purpose by Pope Stephen II. 

In the first ages of this rising monarchy, 
that is, till the reign of OUave Fola, the 
Milesians, like many other people in those 
ancient times, followed the laws dictated by 
nature.f Their government was not yet 
founded on fixed laws, or their laws were 
too general to embrace private cases that 
might arise between the king and his sub- 
jects, or between the subjects themselves.}: 
The Greeks and Romans labored for a 
considerable time under the same inconve- 
niences, for the Athenians formed a nation 
long before the time of Draco and Solon, 
their first legislators, and the Roman people 
had existed three hundred years, before they 
received from the Athenians the laws of the 
Twelve Tables. 

During this interval, the Milesians la- 
bored with emulation, princes as well as the 
people, in cutting down the forests with 
which the island was covered, in cultivating 
the land, and preparing it for tillage and 
pasture, in order to derive from it every 
thing necessary for their subsistence. 

Ollave Fola directed his thoughts to ob- 
jects more elevated and more worthy of a 
king, convinced that it would in some man- 
ner be degrading to mankind, to think only 
of sustaining Iife'.§ He knew that men born 
for society had need of laws to regulate 
their morals, and to exercise distributive 
justice. He conceived the design of ac- 
complishing it, and after having collected, 
and reduced to the form of a history, all the 
monuments of his ancestors, down to his 
own time, as Eithrial, one of his predeces- 
sors, had done before him, he convened a 
triennial and general assembly of all the 
states, in form of a parliament, at Tara, in 
Meath, which afterwards became the usual 
residence of the monarchs. || 

This assembly was called in their lan- 

* De Comitiis Imperatoriis, cap. 2. 
t A. M. 3320. B. C. 680. 
X Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30. 

§ Lecan, after Feirchirtne, an antiquarian who 
lived more than 100 years before Jesus Christ. 
Keat. on the reign of Ollave Fola. 



76 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



guage Fcis-Tcamrach, signifying the assem- 
bly of the nobility, druids, historians, and 
other learned men. It was held in a great 
hall in the palace of Tara, at the time an- 
swering to our months of October and No- 
vember. The most perfect order was pre- 
served, every one taking his place according 
to his dignity. It was on this occasion the 
king ordered coats of arms to the chief of 
each family, according to his rank, to dis- 
tinguish them one from the other, and to 
serve as a rule for the master of the cere- 
monies, whose office was to mark the rank 
of each member in the assembly ; which he 
performed by hanging the buckler and coat 
of arms of each person on the wall opposite 
to the place intended for him.* It must be 
observed that, until then, the different fam- 
ilies composing the colony of the Milesians, 
had no arms peculiar to them ; they had 
only a banner bearing as an escutcheon a 
dead serpent and a wand, in memory of the 
cure of Gaodhal their ancestor, which served 
as an ensign to the whole colony .f The 
Gadelians had borrowed this custom from 
the Israelites, whose different tribes carried 
different banners, to avoid confusion in their 
march in the desert, as our regiments march 
under their respective colors. 

In the first session of the assembly at Tara, 
it was established as a fundamental law of 
the state, that every three years the king, 
nobility, and principal men in the kingdom 
should, under certain penalties, repair in 
person, or, in case of sickness or any other 
obstacle, send deputies to Tara at the .time 
appointed, to deliberate on the necessities 
of the state, to establish laws, and confirm or 
change the old ones, as the general welfare 
might require. . The princes and other lords 
were then confirmed in the possession of 
those lands and lordships which they had 
received in the division made by Heber and 
Heremon, after the conquest of the island 
over the Tuatha de Danains. It was after- 
wards decreed by the assembly, that each 
lord should maintain, at his own expense, 
a judge and historian, to whom he should 
assign a portion of land sufficient for the 
maintenance of their family, so that being 
free from all domestic embarrassments, they 
might devote their time exclusively to their 
employment. It was the duty of the judge, 
called in Irish " brehon," to watch over the 
observance of the laws in his lord's posses- 
sions, and to administer justice ; in some 
cases an appeal against his decisions was 



* Keat. on the reign of Ollave Fola. 
t The annals of Leath-Cuin 



referred to the triennial assembly. The 
historian's office was to preserve in writing, 
their genealogies, alliances, and noble ac- 
tions ; and to present every three years to the 
general assembly, the annals and anecdotes 
of his patron, to undergo the criticism of a 
committee of nine, viz., three princes, three 
druids, and three historians. Those acts thus 
examined and corrected, if necessary, were 
registered in the great book generally called 
the Psalter of Teamor or Tara ; a formality 
absolutely necessary to give them validity. 
To obviate also prevarication, and prevent 
the errors which might afterwards be intro- 
duced into those annals, through bribery or 
seduction on the part of the lords ; through 
flattery or a hope of reward, on that of the 
antiquarians, the delinquents were subjected 
to heavy penalties : so that if one of them 
wefe convicted of evasion, either by con- 
cealing or adding any fact or circumstance 
contrary to the truth, he was punished in 
proportion to his crime ; sometimes by the 
confiscation of his property, the loss of his 
place, or a shameful expulsion from the 
assembly, and sometimes by death ; so that 
the fear of those penalties was an effectual 
curb, which rendered them vigilant and at- 
tentive in the discharge of their duties. This 
custom of examining the annals of private 
families, and enrolling them in the Psalter 
of Tara, lasted without interruption till the 
twelfth century of Christianity, and without 
any change, except that when the pagan 
priesthood was abolished by the preaching 
of the gospel in the fifth century, the three 
druids were replaced by three bishops to 
examine these memoirs, with the three 
princes and three chronologists ; so that 
Saint Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, having 
assisted as judge, with other bishops, at one 
of those assemblies, he had all the ancient 
books of the Milesians brought before him, 
and having examined them, he approved of 
the Psalter of Tara, with several other his- 
tories, written long before his time, and 
burned 180 volumes filled with the super- 
stitions of the pagan and idolatrous religion, 
which the Milesians had till then professed ; 
a proof that they knew the use of letters 
before the time of that apostle.* This cus- 
tom of keeping public registries to preserve 
their history was not confined to the Mile- 
sians ; it was common to the Chaldeans and 
Egyptians. There were learned men in those 
countries, who wrote and preserved in their 
archives every event. Josephus, in his first 
book against Appian, assigns it as the cause 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30, page 219. 



CIVIL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE MILESIANS. 



77 



of the antiquities of the Chaldeans and 
Egyptians having been so well preserved, 
while, from a contrary cause, few vestiges 
of antiquity remain among the Greeks. 

The book or registry of Tara is called, 
in the Irish language, " Psaltuir Teavair," 
that is, the Psalter of Teamor or Tara, 
being written in verse, or a kind of rhyming 
prose, like the ancient Arabs, who wrote 
their histories in verse. Measured words 
are always the most easily retained, which 
reason induced the Hebrews to compose 
hymns on all considerable events, such as 
the hymns of Moses, of Deborah, of the 
mother of Samuel, and the Psalms of David.* 
Since the time of Christianity, several copies 
of them were taken by public authority, and 
deposited in different cathedral churches in 
the kingdom, under care of the bishops, 
both for the convenience of those who might 
want to consult them, and in case any acci- 
dents might arise. either from fire or war. 
Those copies were also called Psalters, 
after the original, as the Psalter of Ardmagh, 
and the Psalter of Cluan-Mac-Noisk, of 
which some copies are still extant. 

Besides the public offices, created in the 
assembly of Tara, every lord had a physi- 
cian, poet, and musician, to each of whom he 
assigned a certain portion of land. These 
lands, as well as those of the judges and 
historians, were considered sacred and ex- 
empt from all taxes and impositions, even in 
time of war, like those of the pagan priests 
in Egypt. These offices, and the lands be- 
longing to them, were confined to certain 
families. We see an example of the same 
custom in the fourth chapter of Genesis. 
And none were allowed to study medicine 
among the Greeks, but those belonging to 
the family of Esculapius. Nevertheless, 
to excite emulation, they were conferred on 
merit, without regard to the degree of rela- 
tionship, in order that each member of the 
same family should endeavor to perfect him- 
self in his profession ; a convincing proof 
of the taste of the Milesians for the arts and 
sciences, even in those barbarous times. f In 
fine, wise laws were enacted in this assem- 
bly, to maintain the public peace, and to pre- 
serve to the subjects the secure possession of 
their properties and liberty. All violence 
against members of the assembly during the 
sessions, was prohibited under pain of death ; 
the same sentence was pronounced against 
those guilty of robbery, murder, rape, and 
other similar crimes, without the monarch 



* Exod. 15, Deut. 32, Jud. 5, 1 Reg. 2. 
t Grat. Luc. cap. 3. 



having the power of pardoning the guilty, 
as he had given up, in favor of justice, this 
portion of the royal prerogative. Copies 
of this were then distributed, by order of 
the assembly, among all the private judges 
in the kingdom, to serve as rules in the ad- 
ministration of justice. 

Such was then the civil and political 
government, early formed among the Mile- 
sians, founded on laws dictated by Ollave 
Fola, the Solon of his time. Carthage and 
Rome, two celebrated rival cities, were, at 
that time, but coming into existence. Sparta 
and Athens had scarcely seen the splendid 
days of Lyeurgus and of Solon. It was, un- 
doubtedly, this antiquity which made Plu- 
tarch give the name of " Ogygia" to Ireland. 

Ollave Fola, having arranged by those 
wise regulations every thing concerning the 
government of the state, turned his thoughts 
to the arts and sciences. The Milesians had 
already some slight knowledge of them, 
which they had acquired in Egypt, where the 
Gadelians, their ancestors, had sojourned 
for some time. During the voyage which 
Milesius afterwards made into Egypt, where 
he remained for seven years, he had twelve 
young men of his suite instructed, in all the 
sciences of the Egyptians, and who after- 
wards served as masters to such of the 
colony as he had left in Spain. But these 
first impressions were soon lost ; the Mile- 
sians, occupied during the first centuries in 
cultivating their lands and new inheritance, 
neglected the arts and sciences. This wise 
monarch, wishing to remedy that neglect, 
founded schools of philosophy, astronomy, 
poetry, medicine, history, &c, at Teamor. 
Those schools, called in their language 
Mur-Ollavan, " the houses of the learned," 
were protected by the monarchs his succes- 
sors, particularly by Cormac-Ulfada, who 
had their foundations enlarged. 

Tuathal-Teachtmair,* having ascended 
the throne which his father had lost together 
with his life, in a revolt of the lower orders,t 
convoked the assembly of Teamor, as his 
ancestors were accustomed to do, on their 
accession to the throne ;J and having re- 
ceived the faith and homage of his subjects, 
he convened two other assemblies, one at 
Eamhain, in Ulster, and the other at Cru- 
achan, in Connaught.fy In these assemblies 
the decree of Ollave Fola was renewed, for 
the continuance of the triennial assembly at 
Tara, with the investigation and registering 

* In the year of our Lord 95. 

t Keating on the reign of Tuathal-Teachtmair. 

t Grat. Luc. cap. 8, p. 68. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 56. 



78 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



the annals, which had been interrupted by 
the usurpation of the lower ranks of the 
people. A celebrated regulation was insti- 
tuted for mechanics. They appointed sixty 
of each trade in every district in the island, 
to inspect and govern the others.* No one 
was allowed to work at any trade without 
having been approved of by these commis- 
sioners, who were called, in the language 
of the country, " Jollanuidh," which signi- 
fies, expert in their art or profession. Such 
was the first plan or origin of the bodies of 
trades and mechanics in Ireland. 

About the time of our Saviour, the learned 
in the jurisprudence of the country began 
to make collections of the laws, and to com- 
mit them to writing, several of which are 
mentioned by their historians.f In the time 
of Conquovar, king of Ulster, who began to 



* Grat. Luc. cap. 12, p. 113. 

t " In the reign of Conchovar, king of Ulster, 
there were two poets of great celebrity : Forch- 
ernus, son of Deagas, (from whom the Deagadce 
of Munster were descended,) and Nedius, son of 
Adnaus, and grandson of Uthirius, composed a 
dialogue on the laws. The same Forchernus com- 
mitted to writing, at the palace of Emania, in 
Ulster, rule.s on poetry and various kinds of verse. 
This book, called Uriaceacth-na-Negio, which signi- 
fies precepts for poets, Kenfoela, the son of Olillius, 
in the reign of Donald, king of Ireland, revised, 
after several centuries. The same Forchernus, 
also Nedius, and likewise Athneus, chief poet of 
King Conchovar, inserted among authors who have 
written axioms on the laws which are termed 
' Coelestia Judicia,' as among the Greeks, the 
' sayings of wise men.' Morannus, son of Car- 
breus, king of Ireland, and supreme judge under 
Feradachus, king also of Ireland, produced like- 
wise ' coelestia judicia.' Cormac, king of Ireland, 
(whose studies on the law, and those of the son of 
Carbreus, in the reign of his successor, are still 
extant.) Fithelus, judge of King Cormac, and 
Finnus, son of Coballus, general and son-in-law of 
the same Cormac. Among other authors of ' celes- 
tial axioms,' are numbered Factnaus, son of Sen- 
chaus, grandson of Coelclinius ; Serchaus, son 
of Olillius ; Nereus, son of Fincollaus ; Rognius 
Rosgadhach, poet, son of Hugonius, king of Ire- 
land ; Manius Nilnessius, poet ; and Ethna, daugh- 
ter of Armalgadius. 

" Similar 'judicia' also the Christian king, Dub- 
thacus O'Lugair, who had been, on the arrival of 
St. Patrick, a heathen, practised. Of him Jocelin 
makes mention, c. 45 ; and Sanchanus, Torpes. 
tius, in the time of Guarius, king of Connaught. 
Kenfoela, son of Olillius, of whom we made men- 
tion above, composed together a work from the 
writings of the ancients, entitled ' Celestia Judicia.' 
These were three brothers of O'Burechanus, i. e., 
Ferananus, bishop ; Boethgalus, judge ; and Mal- 
tulius, poet, when Cathaldus, of Fingunius, was 
king of Munster. 

" A little before Conchovar, when Fergusius, son 
of Ledeus, was president of Ulster, Seannus, son 
of Agius, flourished as a writer ; he composed 
' Fonn Seanchuismhoir.' The ' Celestia Judicia' of 



reign some years before the Christian era, 
Forchern and Neid-Mac-Aidnha, two cele- 
brated poets, composed a dialogue on the 
laws.* The same, with Athirne, chief poet 
of Conquovar, were the authors of the axi- 
oms of the laws, called "judicia Crelestia," 
as the axioms of the sages of Greece were 
called " Dicta Sapientium."f Fearadach, 
the monarch, and Moran his judge, were cele- 
brated for their justice, and their writings on 
the laws.J Modain-Mac-Tolbain, judge un- 
der Constantine, surnamed Keadcaha, made 
a collection of laws, called " Meillbreatha."^ 
Fiothall, or Fithic Fiorgothia, one of the 
legislators at Tara, under Cormac, surnamed 
Ulfada, has left a treatise upon laws entitled 
Fiondsuith. King Cormac, and Cairbre his 
son, made a code of laws, called " Dula," 
which was divided into three parts, and 
which contained regulations on various mat- 
ters. |[ 

All those works on law, with many others 
of the same nature, were collected in the 
eighth century, and formed into one body of 
laws, by three brothers, Faranan, Boethgal, 
and Moetul, the first of whom was a bishop, 
the second a judge, and the third a poet and 
antiquarian. This collection was called 
" Brathaneimhadh," signifying sacred judg- 
ments. The matter it contained is briefly 
explained in the following Irish lines : 

Eagluis, flatha Agus filidh 
Breitheamb Dhios gacbdligh, 
Na bruigh fo aidh dar linn, 
Na saor agus na gabhan. 

which are thus translated into Latin by 
Gratianus Lucius :Tf 

" Quid sit jus Cteri, Satrapse, -vatisque, fabrique, 
Nee non agricolae, liber iste docebit abunde." 



Eugenius, son of Darthactus, have been celebrated. 
Those of Aehaus, son of Luctaus, king of Mun- 
ster ; those also of Carithniathus and Nemthenius, 
were nearly equal to Conchovar. Feradachus, king 
of Hibernia, under whom Monannus flourished. 
He was celebrated for his writings ; Modanus, son 
of Sulbanus, in the time of Quintus Centimachus, 
king of Ireland, composed a book of laws. I shall 
pass over Conlaus, a celebrated judge of Connaught, 
who contended with the druids in his- writings ; 
also Senchaus, son of Coelclinius, father of Fact- 
naus, whom we mentioned above ; and Kinethus 
O'Commid, and other pagans, whose names and 
epochs there is not at present an opportunity 
of introducing." — Ogyg. part 3, c. 30, pp. 217, 
218. 

* Ogyg. part 3, c. 30. 

t In the year of Christ 70. 

t Grat. Luc. c. 20, p. 175. 

§ Anno 148. 

|| Anno 234. Ogyg. part 3, cap. 69 

T Grat. Luc. cap. 20, page 157. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



79 



Gratianus Lucius mentions his having seen 
several large volumes on Irish laws, written 
in large characters on parchment. In the 
space between the lines, there were words 
written in small characters to explain what- 
ever might be obscure in the text, with com- 
mentaries on the margin, like the books of 
civil and canon laws.* 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE WARS OP THE MILESIANS. 

War was the ruling passion of this people. 
We see by their histories, that, for the most 
trifling cause, they declared war and fought 
the most bloody battles. They were scarcely 
in possession of their new conquest, when 
the two brothers, chiefs of the colony, de- 
clared war against each other, which ended 
in the death of one of them ; and it may be 
said, that of the great number of kings who 
governed them for more than two thousand 
years, more than two-thirds of them perished 
on the field of battle. According to the cus- 
tom of ancient times, the crown of the van- 
quished was the prize of the victor, which 
was a proof of their martial and warlike 
genius, and also of a spirit of discord, which 
was finally the cause of the destruction of 
their monarchy, and the loss of their liberty. 

The same disorders prevailed in all times 
and in all countries, particularly where the 
crown was elective. Not to speak of the 
empires of Babylon, of the Egyptians, the 
Medes and the Persians, Rome, that eternal 
city, was founded in blood ; that empire, in 
other respects so polished, was at one time 
torn by the factions of the Triumvirs, and at 
others by those of Czesar and Pompey, of 
Octavius and Antony. If, among the Mi- 
lesians, he who imbrued his hands in the 
blood of his king succeeded to the throne, the 
same thing is discoverable among the As- 
syrians, and the kings of Israel. We see 
also in Rome, that Otho having killed Gal- 
ba, succeeded him in the government, and 
Vitellius succeeded Otho, the former of 
whom fell by the hands of Vespasian 

In more recent ages, we discover many 



* " I myself have seen many thick volumes of 
Irish laws, written on parchment, and among them 
the text written in large characters, having the 
lines moderately separated, for the more easy in 
terpretation of the words compressed in smaller let- 
ters. We see more copious comments introduced 
in the page, having the text the same as in books of 
laws." — Gratianus Lucius, c. 20. 



similar examples in the neighboring coun- 
tries. In Germany, Rudolphus, Albert, 
Henry VII., Frederick III., Louis of Ba- 
varia, Charles, nephew of Henry, and Gon- 
ther, all perished either by conspiracy or 
poison.* Italy was long torn by the fac- 
tions of the Guelphs and Gibelins. In Spain, 
Alphonso III. and Alphonso IV. deprived 
their own brothers of their eye-sight. Peter, 
the legitimate son of Alphonso XL, was de- 
posed and assassinated by Henry his natural 
brother ; Garzias was massacred by Sanctius, 
and Sanctius by Vellidus ; finally, all Spain, 
under Roderick, saw herself betrayed and 
given up to the Moors, by Count Julian, a 
Spaniard, whom Bodin calls prince of Celti- 
beria : which treachery, in the space of 
fourteen months, caused the blood of seven 
hundred thousand Spaniards to flow. Dur- 
ing the heptarchy in England, twenty-eight 
Saxon kings were murdered, the most of 
them one by the other, not to mention those 
who were deposed. In the kingdom of 
Northumberland alone, four kings were as- 
sassinated, and three deposed, within the 
space of forty-one years ; so that this peo- 
ple remained without a king for thirty years, 
no one daring to assume the title or the reins 
of government.t What dreadful cruelties 
and evils were committed in the wars of the 
barons, under the kings John, Henry III., 
and Edward II. ; the last of whom was de- 
posed, and then assassinated, by order of his 
own wife and son. The wars between the 
houses of York and Lancaster were not less 
fatal. The assassination of Richard II., and 
of Henry VI., with several thousand men 
killed on both sides, were the fruits of these 
unhappy broils. It would be endless to re- 
late all the atrocities and cruelties of which 
that people afford an example. If, as is but 
too certain, so many awful excesses have 
been committed in England, in times so re- 
cent, not to add the catastrophes of a simi- 
lar kind which occurred in other countries, 
it should not appear astonishing that Ireland 
underwent certain revolutions, the dreadful 
effects of which were but partially felt ; it 
would therefore be very unjust to impute to 
the people of Ireland alone, tragical events, 
of which so many other nations have afforded 
such dreadful examples. 

From the time of Heremon,^ the first ab- 
solute monarch of the Milesian race, Ireland 
was governed by kings descended from one 
of the three sons of Milesius,§ Heber, Here- 



* Bodin. Meth. Hist. p. 450. 
t Math. Westmonas, lib. 1, cap. 3 
X A. M. 2996. 
6 B.C. 1008. 



SI) 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



mon, and Ir, and sometimes from Ith, son 
of Breogan, uncle of Milesius, for about se- 
ven hundred years, till the construction of 
the palace at Eamhuin, in Latin " Emania," 
in the province of Ulster, by Kimboth, the 
monarch, and until the age of Ugane More, 
who reigned a short time after.* 

The most celebrated princes that reigned 
in Ireland during this interval of time, were, 
Tighernmas, who, according to the book of 
Lecan, was the first who introduced idolatry 
into the island : he also discovered gold and 
silver mines in this country, and established 
the difference of rank by the number of co- 
lors worn in the clothes. t By this decree, 
the learned men held a distinguished rank, 
being next to that of king. 

Eocha II. led some troops into Albania, 
and forced the Picts to renew their alliance, 
and pay the tribute stipulated for by their 
ancestors with Heremon. 

Aongus or Eneas, surnamed Oll-Muccagh 
and Oll-Buagagh, on account of the success 
of his arms against his enemies, undertook 
an expedition into Albania for the same pur- 
pose. He won thirty battles over the Picts 
and Orcadians, who, notwithstanding the 
alliance concluded with Heremon, wished to 
shake off the yoke, and free themselves from 
the tribute they were obliged to pay to the 
kings of Ireland ; on his return, he defeated 
his rebellious subjects in four different ren- 
counters, and was at last killed at the bat- 
tle of Sliave-Cua, in Munster. 

Enna I., surnamed "Airgeah," which 
signifies rich or wealthy, had cuirasses, or 
bucklers of silver forged at Airgiodross, 
which he distributed among the great men 
of the kingdom, and those officers who had 
distinguished themselves in battle. 

Munemon, the monarch, to excite emula- 
tion among his subjects, instituted the military 
order of the Golden Chain. This order was 
the only title of honor known among the 
Milesians, after that of king. The knights 
of this order, like the Roman knights, wore 
chains of gold on their necks. They were 
called Niadh-Niask, in Latin " Eques-Tor- 
quatus." To be received into this order the 
candidate was obliged, besides the proofs of 
his nobility, to give some, also, of his skill. 
A buckler was tied to a post in the middle 
of a plain : he was more or less honored, 
according to the number of lances he broke 
on the buckler in running, and admitted 
into the order, or rejected if the number was 
not sufficient. Froissart mentions the same 

* Ogyg. part 2, page 86. 
t Fol. 290, page 2, col. 2. 



ceremony to have been observed at the re- 
ception of the sons of the king; and as they 
were sometimes admitted at a very tender 
age, the size of the lance was in proportion 
to their strength.* This order became 
illustrious among them, as none but members 
of the royal family could aspire to it. Al- 
dergode, son and successor of Munemon, 
ordered rings of gold to those who excelled 
in the arts and sciences. 

Ollave-Fola, who reigned as monarch 
about seven centuries before the Christian 
era, a. m. 3324, b. c. 680, was the father 
of letters ; he convoked a general and trien- 
nial assembly of the states at Teamor, or 
Tara, in Meath. This assembly was cele- 
brated for the wise laws enacted there for 
the administration of justice, and the general 
government of the state. This may be 
termed the epoch and beginning of a polished 
and steady government, founded on laws, 
among the Scoto-Milesians. This monarch 
loved the sciences, and protected the learned ; 
he founded a college at Tara, in which he 
established, antiquarians and professors for 
the instruction of youth. To this prince 
was given the name of Ollave Fola, which 
signifies the doctor of Ireland ; " Ollave" 
meaning learned, and Fola being one of the 
ancient names of this island ; the college was 
called Mur-Ollavan ; " Murus su habita- 
culum doctorum," the asylum of the learned. 

Rotheact II. was the first who invented 
chariots, to hide the deformity of his legs ; 
as Virgil speaks of Ericthonius,f fourth king 
of Athens, although the poet does not express 
the motive. 

Seadna II., who was succeeded by Simeon 
Breac, established the paymentof the troops. 

Enna II. had money coined at Airgio- 
dross. 

The reigns of Conang, surnamed Bog- 
Aglach, signifying the fearless, and Duach 
II., surnamed Laighrach, are celebrated in 
the annals of the Scoto-Milesians, a. m. 
3753, b. c. 431. The former was renowned 
for his bravery, justice, and the moderation 
of his government, which gained him the 
love and affection of his people ; the latter 
for his promptitude in the administration of 
justice, and in punishing the guilty; so that 
those princes carried the government to great 
perfection. 

The relation which exists between war 
and those who are the actors in it, requires 
mention to be made of the militia, and arms 

* Gratianus Lucius, chap. 13, p. 124. 

+ " Ericthonius was the first who ventured to join 
the chariot to the steed, and victoriously display 
himself on the rapid wheel." — Virg. Geor. b. 3. 



WARS OP THE MILESIANS. 



81 



of the Milesians, before I speak of their 
wars. Keating attributes to Sedna II., mon- 
arch of Ireland more than four hundred 
years before Jesus Christ, the formation of 
a corps of militia, which was always ready 
to defend the country against foreign inva- 
sion, and to preserve peace and tranquillity 
at home. The same prince provided for 
their subsistence by allowing them pay ; he 
afterwards regulated their discipline.* This 
militia was composed, in time of peace, of 
three legions, and each legion of three thou- 
sand men ; but in time of war the numbers 
were increased, in proportion as the public 
welfare required it.f Each legion had a 
commander, equal nearly in rank to our 
colonel : each of whom had captains, lieu- 
tenants, and other subaltern officers under 
him, and the three legions were commanded 
by one general. This cohort was in garrison 
during the winter, visited the coasts in sum- 
mer, and maintained the public peace. To 
be received into it, the candidate should be 
of an honest family, irreproachable in his 
morals, and his parents were obliged to be 
responsible for his conduct ; he should be 
of a certain height, strong, robust, supple in 
body, and ready to die rather than fly before 
the enemy. In order to prove his courage, 
he was placed in a plain, armed with a 
buckler and cimeter, and at the distance of 
ten paces were nine men, who all darted 
their javelins against him at the same time ; 
if he had the skill to ward off the blows with 
his arms, he was reputed worthy of being 
received into the corps ; but if he had the 
misfortune to let himself be wounded, he was 
excluded forever. 

This militia was kept up for a long time, 
and was called, in the first ages of Christiani- 
ty, Fiorina Erionn, from Fionn-Mac-Cumhal, 
a descendant of Nuagha-Neaght, king of 
Leinster, who had the command of it. The 
romances of the ancient bards concerning 
this militia, have afforded to some late 
writers an opportunity of giving of it ex- 
travagant and absurd accounts, by ascri- 
bing to those who composed it a gigantic 
stature of fifteen cubits, while they were 
but ordinary men, distinguished indeed from 
others by their acknowledged bravery, and 
an inviolable attachment to the service of 
the state. Romances and fables have been 
composed at all times and in all countries 
to amuse the credulous and the ignorant 
An author who introduces them into a seri- 
ous history, is only casting ridicule upon 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 33. 

t Walsh, Prosp. of Ireland, sect. 2, p. 51. 



the nation, the history of which he is 
writing, and thus diminishes the authority 
of his most authentic monuments. Ware 
mentions that there had been, among the 
Milesians, two kinds of foot-soldiers, differ- 
ently armed ;* the first was called the Gal- 
loglasses ; they wore helmets, and coats of 
mail which covered their bodies :f their 
arms were the pike, sabre, and axe, like the 
ancient Gauls of whom Marcellin speaks. J 
The others, called Kearns, were light-armed 
troops, with javelins, lances, or cutlasses, 
called in Irish, " skeynes," and slings for 
throwing stones, which they used with as- 
tonishing skill. They had also some cav- 
alry ; they used no saddles, like the ancient 
Gauls, Romans, and Numidians, whose cav- 
alry was formerly so much esteemed. Their 
arms were lances and arrows. They had 
foot-soldiers in their suite called Daltines, 
who were armed with darts, and whose duty 
it was to mind the horses of the cavalry. 
There was also light cavalry, called by 
Ware, " Hobellarii," or light-horse. § They 
used chariots, not only in travelling, but 
also in war, of which their history gives many 
instances.! Thadeus, the ally of Cormac- 
Ulfada, and who assisted to place him on the 
throne, was seated in a chariot at the battle 
of Crionn-Chincomar : he received as much 
land as he could drive over in his chariot in 
one day as a reward for his services. In the 
sixth century Diarmod the monarch, wish- 
ing to take revenge on the family of Saint 
Columb, for the threats and freedom of 
manner in which that saint had spoken to 
him, assembled a considerable army, com- 
posed of chariots, cavalry, and infantry .TT 
" Collecto grandi exercitu in curribus, et 
equitibus, et pedestribus," &c. 

The arms of the Milesians were made of 
brass, like those of the ancient Greeks.** 
They took particular pride, says Solinus, in 
the neatness of them : the handles of their 
swords were made of the teeth of marine 
animals, which they rendered as white as 
ivory. ft Their bucklers of osier, their bows 
and small arrows, showed their connection 
with the Scythians from whom they had 
derived their origin. Like them they used 

* Antiq. Hibern. cap. 12. 

t Camd. Brit. edit. Lond. page 718. 

t Stanihurst de Rebus Hib. lib. 1, p. 40 et 41. 

§ Antiq. Hibern. cap. 7. 

|| Id. cap. 12. 

T Usser. Primord. Eccl. page 902. 

** Grat. Luc. c. 13, p. 113 et 114. 

"H" " Those who study neatness indent the hafts 
of their swords witli the teeth of marine animals, 
for they approach to the whiteness of ivory ; men 
glory in the use of arms." — Solinus, c. 24. 



• 



82 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



a martial cry, which was, farah, farah, as 
we should say, take care. Those kinds of 
cries were used by the Greeks and Romans ; 
the former, according to Plutarch and Suidas, 
used the word eleleu : Marcellinus tells us, 
that " Barritus" was the cry of the Roman 
soldiers going to battle. The god Pan, it 
is said, was the author of this military cry, 
which, having caused the precipitate flight 
of the enemy in the middle of the night in 
the expedition of Bacchus- into India, gave 
rise to the saying of ■panic terror* Instead 
of drums and cymbals, the Milesians, like 
the Lacedemonians, made use of the flute 
and pipe in their armies.f 

As the Picts were the first enemies whom 
the Scoto-Milesians had to encounter, it is 
necessary first to investigate their origin and 
establishment in the north of Britain. Kea- 
ting, O'Flaherty, and most Irish authors, 
after the Psalter of Cashel, fix the arrival 
of the Picts in Ireland, and their passage in- 
to the north of Britain, in the reign of Here- 
mon.J We find the following narrative 
concerning that people, in the ecclesiastical 
history of the venerable Bede. 

" The Britons, having taken possession of 
the greater part of that island, (Britain,) the 
Picts, who came originally, it is said, from 
Scythia, had embarked in long vessels on 
the ocean, and having been driven by the 
winds beyond the coasts of Britain, found 
themselves on those of Ireland. Having 
landed in the northern part, they asked per- 
mission of the Scots to settle among them ; 
which was refused — the Scots saying it was 
impracticable, the island being too small to 
contain both ; however, said they, take this 
salutary advice which we give you ; not far 
hence is an island lying to the east, which we 
can discover in fine weather ; go and settle 
there ; if any one oppose you, you may rely 
on succor from us. Thereupon the Picts 
sailed towards Britain, and began to inhabit 
the northern parts, the Britons being in 
possession of the south. The Picts having 
no women, determined to ask some from the 
Scots, who consented to grant their request 
on condition, that in case any doubt should 
arise to which of the descendants, male or 
female, of the royal family, the crown 
should belong, he who established a claim 
by the female line should be preferred. 
This condition was accepted by the Picts, 
which custom still prevails among them."$ 

* Ogyg. part 3, page 47. 
t Aulus Gaelius, lib. 1, cap. 11. 
X Ogyg. part 2, page 86. 

§ " It happened that a race of Picts from Scy- 
thia, having entered on the ocean with a few long 



Usher, in his treatise on the antiquities 
of the churches in Brjtain, gives different 
opinions on the origin of the Picts.* He 
says that the north of Europe, namely, the 
Cimbrian Chersonesus, and Scandinavia, irr- 
habited by the Danes, Goths, and Vandals, 
and known to the ancients by the name of 
Germanic Scythia, was called by Proco- 
pius of Czesarea, " Thule," and inhabited 
by the Picts, according to Claudiahin his 
panegyric on the fourth consulship of Hono- 
rius,f which has made many believe that 
the Picts of Albania derived their origin 
from them. But Usher himself seems to 
doubt if it were Scandinavia or some of the 
northern isles that was called " Thule,"}: 
which doubt appears the better founded, as, 
according to the map of the Atlantic Island, 
drawn by the Sampsons, eminent geographers 
of the last century, Thule is an island situ- 
ated in the arctic circle, in the same latitude, 
but to the west of Scandinavia, now known 
by the name of Iceland. However, were we 
to suppose with Procopius,that Scandinavia 
was called " Thule," and say with Claudian 
that it was inhabited by Picts, colonies per- 
haps of the Scandinavians and the Dacians, 
who painted their bodies by making incisions, 
and introducing colored substances between 
the skin and the flesh, with which they formed 



ships, the force of the winds driving them around, 
arrived in Ireland, after passing every coast of 
Britain ; they landed on the northern coast, and 
having discovered there a nation of Scots, sought 
likewise for themselves permission to settle in those 
parts, but being unable to obtain it, the Scots 
replied that the island would not contain both ; how- 
ever, we may give you a wholesome counsel which 
you can pursue ; we know another island which is 
near to ours, it lies to the east ; we are accustomed 
to see it in bright days. If you wish to go thither, 
you can make it habitable for yourselves, and if 
you meet with opposition apply to us for aid. The 
Ficts after this began to inhabit Britain in the 
northern parts, whereas the southern were in pos- 
session of the Britons. When the Picts applied to 
the Scots for wives, because they had no women, 
they granted them their request, on the following 
conditions, viz., if any doubt should arise to which 
descendant, male or female, (being of royal lineage,) 
the crown should belong, the decision should be 
made in favor of the latter; such is the custom to 
this day among the Picts."— Bede's Church Hist. 
b. I, c. 1. 

* Cap. 15, p. 578. 

t " The Orkneys were moistened with the blood 
of the routed Saxon, and Thule was heated by that 
of the Picts." — c. 15, p. 578. 

t " He implies by obvious and explicit remarks, 
that pirates of the Saxons possessed the Orkneys, 
as the Picts did Thule, whether that were Scandi- 
navia, or whether it might have been another of the 
northern islands, as the Scots were in possession 
of Ierna." — Usher, c. 15, p. 579. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



s:j 



all kinds of figures ; it does not follow that 
a colony of Scythians established in the 
north of Britain, and called, long after, Picts 
by the Latins, are descended from those of 
Scandinavia, particularly as this custom of, 
painting the body was common to different 
nations.* It must however be acknowledged, 
that the situation of Scandinavia with re- 
spect to the north of Ireland, where it is 
said that people had landed, is favorable to 
this opinion, and renders it more probable 
than that of Keating, who says they came 
from Asiatic Scythia, by traversing the vast 
countries which separate it from the west- 
ern coast of Gaul. 

Usher also gives the opinion of several 
others concerning the time of the arrival of 
the Picts in Britain ; he does not, however, 
seem to adopt them : he mentions, among 
others, that of Meevinus, or Melkinus Acal- 
lonius, and of Harding, who say that Gadela, 
and Scota his wife, had come into Albania, 
with the Picts, in the year of Jesus Christ 
seventy-five. f But these authors differ from 
Eumeneus the Rhetorician, who,"in his pan- 
egyric on Constantius Chlorus, mentions 
the Picts and Irish as the common enemies 
of the Britons, before the time of Julius 
Caesar : " Pictis et Hibernis assuetos hos- 
tibus."| Others, not having well understood 
the opinion of Gildas and Bede, place the 
first settlement of the Picts in Britain in the 
fifth century, under Theodosius the younger ; 
as Bede, having spoken of the dreadful 
ravages committed by the Scots and Picts 
in Britain, adds that the latter had stopped to 
recruit themselves for the first time in the 
extremity of the island. " Picti in extrema 
insulae parte tunc primum et deinceps requi- 
everunt."^ However, those words, in the 
natural sense of the author, only represent 
a cessation of hostilities, and a truce on the 
part of those barbarians, " cessante vasta- 
tione hostili," and by no means their first set- 
tlement in the island, as those authors assert. || 
It is also possible, that when the Romans 
had increased their power in Britain, the 
Picts might have been forced to confine 
themselves to the inaccessible parts of Cale- 
donia, and sometimes to withdraw them- 
selves to the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Isle 

* Plin. lib. 22, cap. 1. 

t " If we attach belief to the words of John Har- 
dinge, who says that Gadela and his wife Scota, 
the illegitimate daughter of king Pharo, came with 
the Picts into Albania, in the year of Christ 75." — 
Usher's Church Hist. c. 15, p. 180. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 18. 

§ Ward, Vita in Sancti Romuldi. p. 369 et 370. 

II Ogyg- p art 3» ca P' i8- 



of Man, or of " Thule," to which the expe- 
ditions of Agricola, Severus, and others, 
might have contributed : and that the return 
to their country might have been confound- 
ed with their first settlement, a. m. 3149. 

Eocha II. was the first of the kings of 
Ireland, as I have already remarked, who 
crossed over to Albania with his troops, and 
obliged the Picts to renew their alliance with 
him, and pay the tribute stipulated between 
their ancestors and Heremon, b. c. 851. 
But Fiacha I., successor of Eocha, sent over 
Angus, surnamed OUbuagach, his son, a 
warlike prince, who defeated them in several 
rencounters, and obliged them to acknow- 
ledge their dependence on the Irish crown.* 
Finally, Angus I. completed their defeat, 
having routed them in thirty battles, with 
their allies the inhabitants of the Orkneys 
and other islands. This expedition of Angus 
was followed by a peace that lasted near five 
hundred years between those two nations, 
which was at length interrupted by the inva- 
sions and hostilities committed by Reactha, 
surnamed Righdearg, in the north of Britain.! 

The palace of Eamhuin, so celebrated in 
the history of Ireland, was built by order of 
Kimboath the monarch, or his queen Macha, 
in the barony of Oneland, county of Ard- 
mach, in the year of the world, 3654, to 
serve as a place of residence for the princes 
of the race of Ir, who commanded at that 
time in the province of Ulster.}: From the 
wars of the Milesians with the Picts, till 
the foundation, of this palace and the reign 
of Ugane More, I discover but little worth 
relating : the monuments of the Irish before 
that period are both uncertain and doubtful ; 
the plan which I have proposed to myself to 
follow not allowing me to enter into an 
exact detail of all their private wars, I leave 
it to those who have it better in their power 
than I, to examine the ancient monuments 
of the country. § Besides, as objects viewed 
at too great a distance become almost in- 
visible, it is nearly the same with facts 
relating to such distant times ; their great 
antiquity renders them at least obscure : 
objects should be brought near, the better 
to distinguish them. 



* " Herein it must be noticed, that the Picts had 
settled then, for the first, time, in the northern part 
of the island, and continued afterwards in that 
country, after the devastations and cruel subjection 
(as Gildas had already described) had ceased in 
Britain."— Usher, p. 609. 

t Walsh. Prosp. d'Irl. part 1, sect. 1. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 37. 

§ Tigernachus Cluanensis, autor XI. sseculi, 
apud Ogyg. part 3, cap. 86. 



84 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



Ugane More, descended from Heremon 
in the twentieth degree, reigned in Ireland 
about three hundred years before Jesus 
Christ, a.m. 3700. On his accession to the 
throne, he convoked the assembly at Tara,* 
in which he received hostages and the oath 
of allegiance from his subjects, who con- 
firmed his election,! and enacted a law by 
which the crown was declared hereditary in 
his family, in order to prevent the disorders 
caused by elections, and too great a number 
of pretenders to the throne. J This monarch 
was surnamed More, or the Great, from his 
having conquered a number of islands lying 
to the west of Europe. He had several 
children by Keasair, his wife, daughter of a 
king of Gaul ; among others, Laogare Lore, 
and Cobtagh, Coel Breag, who reigned suc- 
cessively. These two princes were the 
ancestors of all the kings of the branch of 
Heremon, who afterwards reigned, and of 
all the illustrious families of that race.fy 
Laogare Lore having been murdered by his 
brother Cobtagh, || who seized on the crown, 
Maion, afterwards called Lavra-Loinseach, 
son of Oilioll Aine, and grandson of Lao- 
gare, fled from Corcaduibhne, now Corca- 
guin, in the county of Kerry ,Tf where he 
had been spending some time with Scoriat, 
king of that country, and took refuge in 
Gaul, with the relations of Keasair, his 
grandmother ; he was honorably received 
there by the king, who gave him the com- 
mand of his troops. He acquitted himself 
of this commission with so much bravery, 
that, as a reward for his services, the king 
granted him two thousand two hundred men, 
to enable him to lay claim to the crown of 
his ancestors ; with this succor he embarked, 
and having arrived in the bay of Lough- 
garm, now Wexford, he was informed that 
the usurper was holding his court at Dion- 
riogh, near the river Barrow, in the county 
of Carlow ; he marched thither with all 
possible diligence, and having surprised and 
defeated his rival, he ascended the throne. 

While the children of Ugane More divided 
the sovereignty of the island, sometimes 
between themselves and sometimes with the 
descendants of Heber, the princes of the 
race of Ir governed in Ulster without inter- 
ruption, from the founding of the palace of 
Eamhuin, to the time of Rory the Great, 
the chief of that tribe, who, from being 

* Keating on the reign of Ugane. 

t Grat. Luc. 3, 8, p. 63. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 38. 

§ Keating on the reign of Laogare. 

|| Grat. Luc. cap. 8, p. 64. 

IT Ogyg. part 3, cap. 39. 



prince of Ulster, succeeded to the monarchy 

a. m. 3913, b. c. 87. It was from him this 
tribe took the name of Clanna-Rory, that is, 
children of Rory. They were again con- 
firmed in the possession of this province by 
the monarch Eocha IX., when he created 
the provinces into kingdoms, and gave to 
the chief of each tribe who had till then 
possessed it, the title of liing, a. si. 3986. By 
this new regulation, the first king of Ulster 
was Fergus, son of Leighe, and grandson 
of Rory the Great.* He was succeeded 
by Fergus Boigh, son of Rossa-Ruah, son 
of Rory, who, having been dispossessed by 
Conquovar, otherwise Connor, surnamed 
Nessan, son of Facthna, and grandson of 
Rory, took refuge in the province of Con- 
naught, then governed by Queen Maude, 
where he placed himself at the head of the 
Connaughtmen and those malecontents who 
had followed his fortune, and waged war 
against his province, which lasted for seven 
years.f During his stay in Connaught, he 
had three sons by Maude, namely, Kiar, 
Core, and'Cormac, of whom we shall here- 
after have occasion to speak.J The empire 
of the Clanna Roiys in Ulster was at length 
shaken by the war which Colla-Huais and 
his brothers carried on against them in the 
fourth century. 

Minister was governed alternately by the 
descendants of Heber and Ith, who formed 
two tribes, called Deirghtine and Dairine, 
from the settlement of the Milesians in Ire- 
land, to the time of Duach-Dalta-Deagadh, 
who introduced into this province the Ear- 
nochs of the race of Heremon,^ a. m. 3950. 

b. c. 50. Deaga, and Tigernach-Teadban- 
nach, his brother or cousin, chiefs of the 
colony of the Earnochs, having usurped the 
government of the province after Duach, 
were confirmed in their possessions, with 
the title of kings, by the monarch Eocha 
IX., which interrupted the succession of the 
legitimate princes for some generations, till 
Modha-Nuagadh, chief of the Heberians, 
put an end to their usurpation, in the reign 
of the monarch Con Keadcaha, towards the 
end of the second century. 

Leinster was always governed by princes 
descended from Laogare-Lorc, son of Ugane 
More of the race of Heremon. Its first 
king, by the regulation of Eocha IX., was 
Rossa-Ruah, son of Feargus-Fairge. 

Connaught was in the possession of the 
Firdomnians, the remains of the ancient 

* Ogyg. part 2, p. 127, 128. 
t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 45, 46. 
t Ibid. cap. 46. 
§ Ibid, part 2, p. 122. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



85 



Firbolgs, to whom the Milesians had given 
some lands, in gratitude for the services they 
had received from them in the conquest of the 
island over the Tuatha de Danains.* O'Fla- 
herty distinguishes three different branches 
of this race who governed Connaught in the 
time of Eocha IX., namely: the Fircraibs 
who were in possession of the southern 
part of the province, on the side of Limer- 
ick, the chief of whom was Fiodhach, son 
of Feigh ; the Gamanrads, who inhabited 
Irras in the west, now Galway, as far as 
the confines of Ulster, governed by Eocha- 
Allet ; the Tuatha-Taidheans, who possess- 
ed the rest of the province on the side of 
Leinster, had Tinne, son of Conrath, for 
their chief. These three chiefs were called 
kings by Eocha IX., each in his own ter- 
ritory ; the triumvirate lasted but a short 
time. Tinne having married Mew or Maude, 
daughter of the monarch, was created sole 
king of the province. After the death of 
Tinne, Maude, queen of Connaught, mar- 
ried Oilioll More, son of Rossa Ruah, king 
of Leinster, by whom she had seven sons, 
called the seven Maines.f Oilioll was at 
length killed by Conall Kearnagh, son of 
Amergin, a prince of the race of Ir, and 
descended in the fourth degree from Rory 
the Great. Maude having reigned 98 years 
in Connaught, sometimes a widow, and some- 
times under the power of a husband, died at 
an advanced age, leaving the crown to Maine 
Aithreamhuil, one of the seven sons she had 
by Oilioll More. The latter was succeeded 
by Sanbus, of the race of the Firdomnians, 
who long after lost his life in a battle against 
the .monarch Tuathal.| 

After the death of Eocha IX., Eocha- 
Airive succeeded to the monarchy, and af- 
ter ten years was replaced by Ederskeol, of 
the race of Heremon, and of the tribe of the 
Earnochs, who, from being king of Munster, 
was raised to the dignity of monarch of the 
whole island. The book of Lecan fixes 
the birth of our Saviour in the reign of this 
monarch : " Ederscolio regnante Christus 
natus in Bethlehem Juda :"§ but Flannus de 
Monasterio places it in the reign of Conare 
the Great. O'Flaherty discovers the means 
of making them agree, by supposing that the 
real birth of our Saviour took place in the 
last year of the reign of Ederskeol, and by 
commencing the general Christian era with 
the reign of Conare the Great, his son.|| 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 11, et 43. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 47. 

t Idem, part 2, p. 139. Idem, part 3, cap. 46. 

§ Fol. 295, vorso. 

II Ogyg. part 2, p. 129. 



The birth of Jesus Christ preceded the 
death of Herod, as the edict of death pro- 
nounced by that tyrant against infants, was 
the cause of the flight of Saint Joseph, with 
the child Jesus, into Egypt. Herod died in 
the month of March, before Easter, and his 
death was preceded, according to the calcu- 
lations of astronomers, by an eclipse of the 
moon on the night of Friday to Saturday, 
that is, from the ninth to the tenth of Janu- 
ary, of the Julian year 4713 : the year of 
Rome, according to Varro, 753, and the third 
of the 194th olympiad.* The epoch of the 
Christian era was fixed by Dionysius the 
Lesser on the calends of the succeeding 
month of January, after the Julian year 
4714. t This period is at least two years 
later than the real birth of our Saviour, 
which, according to O'Flaherty, is sufficient 
to reconcile the opinions of the book of Le- 
can and of Flannus de Monasterio, concern- 
ing the king who reigned in Ireland at the 
time of the nativity. 

In the reign of Conare the Great, the 
provincial kings were : Conquovar-Nessan, 
son of Feachna-Fatagh, and grandson of 
Rory the Great, of the race of Ir, in Ul- 
ster ;f Carbre-Nia-Ferr, son of Rossa- Ruah, 
and grandson of Feargus-Fairge, of the race 
of Heremon, in Leinster ;§ Oilioll-More, 
brother of Carbre, with Maude his wife, 
daughter of the monarch Eocha-Felioch, in 
Connaught ; Eocha-Abraruah, in southern 
Munster, and Cury-Mac-Daire, grandson of 
Deaga, chief of a branch of the Earnochs in 
northern Munster. Angus-Ossory, whose 
patrimony is still called Ossory, from his 
name, married Kingit, daughter of Cury- 
Mac-Daire. |[ 

The reign of Conare was long and happy, 
peace and abundance were universal ; it was 
the Augustan age of Ireland. He was, in 
fact, contemporary of Augustus, Tiberius, 
&C.TT The only war in which he was en- 
gaged during his reign, was against the 
Leinster people, to revenge the death of 
Ederskeol, his father, who was killed at 
Allen, by Naud-Neacht, prince of that prov- 
ince, who succeeded him for six months.** 
He defeated them at the battle of Cliach, 
imposed an annual tribute on them, and de- 
creed the separation of Ossory from Lein- 



* Joseph. Antiq. Judaeor. lib. 17, c. 8, pp. 9 
and 10. 

t Ogyg. proloq. p. 39, et part 2, p. 131 

t Ogyg. part 2, 131. 

§ Id. part 3, c. 45. 

|| Kennedy, p. 71. 

1T Ogyg. part 3, c. 44. 

** Idem. cap. 45. 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



ster, to be forever annexed to Munster.* 
This monarch, having reigned thirty years, 
unfortunately ended his days by fire, in his 
castle of Bruighean-da-Dhearg, in Meath, 
which was set on fire by robbers, a. d. 35. f 
His successor, after an interregnum of five 
years, was Lugha-Riadearg, grandson of 
Eocha Feliogh, who lulled himself in a fit of 
despair, by falling on the point of his sword, 
a.d. 58. He was succeeded by Conquovar- 
Abraruah, grandson of Rossa-Ruah, king 
of Leinster ; the latter was succeeded by 
Crimthan-Nianair, son of Lugha-Riadearg, 
a.d. 39. 

The Milesians began already to be known 
in Britain by the name of Scots.J Gildas 
Britannicus, an author in the sixth century, 
and after him Bede, mention their incur- 
sions into Britain, conjointly with the Picts ; 
" Scotorum a circio, Pictorum ab aquilone."^' 

Crintham, on his return from an expedition 
into Britain, from whence he brought im- 
mense riches, died of a fall from his horse, a. 
d. 56, having reigned sixteen years, and left 
his crown to Fearadach, his son, who after- 
wards died a natural death at Tara, a.d. 70. 

Fearadach was succeeded by Fiatagh 
Fin, of the race of the Earnochs, from 
whom the tribe of the Dal-Fiatachs derived 
their name ; the latter was killed in battle 
by Fiacha V., surnamed Finola, son of 
Fearadach, of the race of Heremon, who 
succeeded to the throne, a. d. 73. 

The first remarkable civil war broke out 
among the Milesians at this time ; it was 
caused by the revolt of the plebeians, and 
had almost proved fatal to the ancient con- 
stitution of the state. They were the de- 
scendants of the soldiers, mechanics, and 
laborers of every kind, who had accompa- 
nied the children of Milesius from Spain to 
Ireland, and who had shared their fatigues 
in the conquest of the island. The remains 
of the Firbolgs and the Tuatha de Danains, 
who had escaped the sword of the Milesians, 
and who had been permitted to remain by 
submitting to the conquerors, joined the ple- 
beians. After the island had been subdued, 
they received no share in the lands, with the 
exception of a few families of the Firbolgs, 
who were established in Connaught. They 
always remained a body of people, and a 
distinct tribe of inferior rank to the Mile- 
sians, and were not allowed to intermarry 
with them. They were not suffered to 
emerge from a state of vassalage, nor aspire 

* Kennedy, p. 81. 
+ °gyg- P art 9 » cap. 38. 
t Idem, part 3, cap. 52. 
§ Bede, cap. 12. 



to any office under the government — chil- 
dren were obliged to follow the profession of 
their fathers, which was that of the servile 
and mechanic arts ; the liberal arts, such as 
history, judicature, music, and the profession 
of arms, medicine, &c, being reserved for 
the inferior branches of the Milesians. They 
were excluded from all share in the supreme 
power, which was confined exclusively to 
the descendants of Milesius. In fine, the 
nobility never degraded themselves by low 
and shameful alliances ; and people of the 
lower order never attained the first dignities 
of the state, as is but too often the case at 
present. The plebeians groaned for many 
ages under the weight of their vassalage ; 
but at length, weary of servitude, they made 
an effort to free themselves, and shake off 
the yoke which appeared to them insupport- 
able. As they required a chief, they fixed 
upon Carbre, surnamed Kin-Cait, which sig- 
nifies the head of a cat, as it is said he had 
the ears of one, to head them in the rebellion. 
This man was a descendant of the Firbolgs, 
a decided enemy to royalty and nobility, in- 
triguing, and capable of great enterprises. 
(One Cromwell is able to overthrow the 
best-Sstablished government.) The rebellion 
broke out in the reign of Fiacha V. The ple- 
beians, not daring to raise openly the stand- 
ard of revolt, had, by the advice of Carbre, 
their chief, recourse to treachery, in order to 
accomplish more securely their perfidious 
design. For this purpose they prepared a 
magnificent banquet at Moy-Cru, in the prov- 
ince of Connaught, to which they invited the 
monarch, princes, and all the nobility in the 
kingdom.* This banquet, which lasted nine 
days, terminated tragically for the guests, 
who were all murderedt in the banqueting- 
hall, by armed men whom the conspirators 
had engaged for that barbarous purpose, 
contrary to public faith, as it occurred some 
centuries after to the Britons, who were mas- 
sacred by the perfidious Saxons on the plains 
of Salisbury. The rebels being delivered of 
their tyrants, (as they termed the monarch 
and nobility,) chose for their king the mon- 
ster who had so well abetted them in their 
rebellion. Carbre did not long enjoy his re- 
gicide — he reigned but five years. Moran, 
his son, too just a man to continue the usurp- 
ation, having abdicated the throne, was suc- 
ceeded by Elim, who reigned twenty years. 
O'Flaherty does not agree with Keating 
concerning the order and succession of the 
monarchy from Crimthen-Nianair, to Tua- 

* Grat. Luc. cap. 8, p. 66. 
t Anno. 80. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



87 



thal-Teachtmar ; but they are in accordance 
as to the number and names of the monarchs 
who occupied the throne during that interval .* 
O'Flaherty seems also to insinuate, on the 
authority of the annals of Tigernach, that 
the monarch Fiacha V. was put to death by 
the provincial kings of Tara. However this 
be, Tuathal, son and heir of Fiacha, to 
save himself from the fury of the plebeians, 
withdrew into Albania, to the king of the 
Picts, his grandfather, by Eithne his mother, 
till, like a second Demetrius, he was re- 
established on the throne of his ancestors. 

Agricola was sent about this time to Bri- 
tain, in the capacity of prefect ; he fortified 
the isthmus formed by the two seas, from 
Edinburgh in the east to Dunbarton in the 
west. " Praesidio firmavit," says Tacitus, 
" summotis velut in aliam insulam hostibus." 
Some time after he sailed round Britain 
with a fleet, discovered it to be an island, 
and conquered the inhabitants of the Ork- 
neys. 

During this usurpation Ireland was torn 
by opposite factions. On one side, the ple- 
beians being in possession of the supreme 
power, practised unheard-of cruelties against 
the nobility ; on the other, a few nobles, at 
the head of their troops, ravaged the country, 
destroying all by fire and sword, and in their 
pursuit of the plebeians gave them no quarter. 
The most dreadful consequences ensued ; 
mechanics gave up their work to run to 
arms ; laborers abandoned their fields and 
left them uncultivated : famine was the result. 
In this confusion, the people began at length 
to open their eyes to the misfortunes of the 
state : they considered that the only remedy 
was to recall the legitimate heir, and place 
him upon the throne of his fathers. A depu- 
tation was sent to Tuathal, who was attended 
by a number of faithful subjects, the fol- 
lowers of his misfortune. # He received the 
embassy with kindness, and embarked for 
Ireland, with the generous resolution of de- 
livering his country from tyranny and re- 
storing peace, whereof little remained but 
a slender remembrance and a deceitful sha- 
dow. Having landed at Irras Domnoin, in 
Connaught,t a considerable body of troops, 
commanded by Fiacha Caisin, joined him, 
with whom he marched directly to Tara, 
where he was received by the nobility, de- 
nominated the saviour and liberator of his 
country, and proclaimed king, with the 
usual ceremonies, by the name of Tuathal- 
Teachtmar, in Latin, Tuathalius Bonoven- 



* *-*gyg. P art 3, ca P- 55- 
t Ogygia, part 3, cap. 55. 



tura.* The law, enacted some centuries 
before, in favor of Ugane-More, one of his 
ancestors, was renewed to perpetuate the 
crown in his family. 

Nothing less than the total annihilation of 
the chief could quell the rebellion. Elim 
kept the field with an army determined to 
support his claims. Tuathal immediately 
collected what troops he could, and marched 
forward to meet the enemy, whom he came 
up with at Acaill, near Tara. The two 
armies being in sight of each other, the 
signal was given and the action began. The 
rebels were unable to make a long resistance. 
The presence of the legitimate prince in- 
spired the royal troops with courage, as 
much as it depressed that of the enemy, who 
could not withstand the first onset ; they 
abandoned the field to the conquerors, 
having lost several men, with their chief. 
Tuathal, elated at this success, pursued the 
rebels everywhere ; and having gained sev- 
eral victories over them, (to the number, it 
is said, of eighty-five,) crushed a rebellion 
which had lasted twenty-five years. Being 
then in peaceable possession of the kingdom, 
and having no longer any thing to fear from 
the rebels, he convened the general assembly 
at Tara, in order to revive the old constitu- 
tion of the state. He began by restoring 
the ancient proprietors, particularly those 
who had been the companions of his misfor- 
tunes, to the possession of those lands from 
which they had been expelled, and with 
which the tyrants had rewarded the rebels 
who had supported them in their usurpation. 
This prince, although a pagan, did not think 
that the estates of his faithful subjects should 
become the pay of iniquity or the reward of 
regicide, as has been the case in the same 
country within the last century. 

The. reign of Tuathal was long, and filled 
with troubles and disorders. He had several 
children by Bann, his queen, daughter of the 
king of Finland, and among others two 
daughters, Dairine and Fithir, the former of 
whom was married to Eocha Ainchean, king 
of Leinster. This barbarous prince, either 
tired of his wife, or the younger sister having 
more attractions for him, confined the former 
in a castle, put on mourning, as if she had 
been dead ; and having repaired to the court 
of his father-in-law, Tuathal, at Tara, ap- 
peared inconsolable for the pretended loss of 
his wife, and acted his part so well with the 
credulous monarch, that he obtained from 
him the other sister, to console him for the 
loss of the deceased. The marriage having 

* Ogyg. P art 3, cap. 56. 



88 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



been concluded to the satisfaction of all 
parties, Eocha took leave of bis father-in-law 
and the whole court, and returned to his 
province with his new queen. However, his 
joy was soon changed into somtow. The two 
sisters were much surprised to see each other 
rivals ; and having discovered the treachery 
of Eocha, they died a short time after of 
grief, without the slightest anger towards 
each other. Tuathal having learned the tra- 
gical end of his daughters, resolved to punish 
the perfidy of Eocha, and published mani- 
festoes throughout the island, to show the 
justice of the war he was going to undertake 
against the king of Leinster, to avenge the 
affront he had received in the person of his 
daughters. The provincial auxiliary troops 
havingjoinedhim, he entered Leinster,laying 
waste the country as he passed. Eocha, not 
finding himself able to defend his country, 
nor face an army so superior to his own, had 
recourse to negotiation, which succeeded, 
after many humiliations on his part. The 
monarch, naturally disposed to peace, and 
wishing to spare the people, who suffered 
so much by war, listened to his proposals and 
consented to grant him peace, on condition 
of a tribute, payable every two years to him 
and his successors on the throne of Ireland. 
The king and people of Leinster submitted 
joyfully to the conditions, and peace was 
restored. This tribute, called in their lan- 
guage " Boroimhe Laighcan," and which 
consisted of six thousand ounces of silver, 
with a certain number of oxen, sheep, &c, 
having caused many wars between the 
monarchs who required the payment of it, 
and the people of Leinster, who wished to 
shake off the burden, was abolished in the 
seventh century by the monarch Fionnach 
II., at the request of Saint Moling.* 

In the reign of Tuathal, the emperor 
Adrian had a wall built in Britain, with 
stakes fixed in the earth and sods of green 
turf, which extended from Newcastle and 
the mouth of the river Tyne in the east, to 
near Carlisle in the west, in order to check 
the irruptions of the Scots and Picts 
This wall, which was eighty-two miles in 
length, was eighty miles south of the limits 
fixed by Agricola, by which the empire lost 
eighty square miles of territory. But as 
the adherents of the Scoto-Milesians, not- 
withstanding the intestine wars so frequent 
in the reign of Tuathal, continued to make 
irruptions from time to time into Britain, the 
Romans were obliged to keep troops there 
to repress them, as well as the Picts and 

* Ogyg- P art 3) ca P- 56 



Britons, who had revolted. The emperor 
Antoninus, having harassed them, removed 
the wall of Adrian as far back as the Forth, 
which Agricola had fortified some years be- 
fore, and by this means extended the fron- 
tiers of the empire. 

After a reign of thirty years Tuathal was 
tilled at the battle of Moyline, in Dalradie, 
i part of the province of Ulster, by Mai, 
king of that province, who, by this victory, 
succeeded him in the monarchy. In the life 
of Agricola, by Tacitus, we find an account 
which throws considerable light on the his- 
tory of Ireland of that time, fixes its period, 
and deserves to be investigated. " In the 
fifth year of the campaigns of Agricola," 
says Tacitus, " one of the kings of Ireland, 
expelled by an intestine commotion, fell into 
his hands ; the general detained him in his 
camp under the guise of friendship ; but 
watched him closely, as one who might, on 
the first opportunity, become a useful in- 
strument in the design he had formed of 
attempting the conquest of Ireland."* Taci- 
tus adds, " that he saw this prince in Rome, 
and heard him say, that with one legion 
and a few auxiliary troops he could reduce 
the whole country to subjection."! 

By some reflection we may discover the 
relation that exists between the account of 
Tacitus, and the history of that period. This 
prince of whom Tacitus speaks, was an un- 
fortunate king exiled by a civil commotion. 
The history of, Ireland of that period only 
mentions Tuathal to whom this account can 
relate, and chronology also favors it ; the 
expedition of Agricola into Britain is fixed 
in the year 82, and the massacre of the 
monarch and nobility by the plebeians in 
Ireland, about a year before this period. 
Agricola, saj's Tacitus, posted troops along 
the coast of Britain, next to Ireland. Tuathal 
was obliged to conceal himself from the 
plebeians, to take refuge with the king of 
the Picts, his grandfather. It was undoubt- 
edly in this flight that he was taken by the 
vanguard of Agricola, and carried off by 
force in irons by this Roman general. In 
effect the word exceperat means as much 
that he was taken by surprise, as that he 

* " In the fifth year of Agricola's expeditions, he 
received one of the princes of the country who had 
been driven out by an insurrection of the people, 
and retained him under a show of friendship. That 
part of Britain which lies opposite to Ireland, he 
furnished with troops more from hope than alarm." 
— Tacitus 7 Life of Agricola, p. 499. 

T " I have often heard him say, that with one 
legion and a few auxiliaries, the country (i. e. Ire- 
land) might be subdued." — Tacitus' Life of Agri- 
cola, p. 499. 



WARS OF THE MILESIAN.-. 



89 



went of himself to implore the assistance of 
Agricola. The massacre of the monarch 
and nobility of Ireland was committed, ac- 
cording to Gratianus Lucius, in the year 
65 ; and should we suppose, as he does, that 
Tuathal was not then born, but that the 
queen Eithne,his mother, who was then with 
child, had fled to Albania, to the king of the 
Picts, her father, where she was delivered of 
that prince, it would nearly agree with our 
calculation, as the prince would be then 26 
years of age, at the time of the expedition 
of Agricola into Britain, As it was not 
without some design on Ireland, that Agri- 
cola had posted troops along the coast of 
Britain, opposite to this island, it is probable 
that he offered to serve the captive prince, 
by proposing to re-establish him on the 
throne of his ancestor, and that Tuathal, 
seeing the unhappy state of his affairs, had 
listened to him with eagerness ; but the pro- 
ject failed. Agricola was recalled in 85, 
and brought his captive with him to Rome : 
it was there, according to the testimony of 
Tacitus, that this prince had said, that with 
one legion and a few auxiliary troops he 
could easily reduce Ireland. It may be 
observed, that at this same time, Agricola 
sent against the Caledonians three legions, 
8000 Britons, and 3000 horsemen, making in 
all about thirty thousand men ; Ireland is 
larger than Caledonia, better peopled, and 
more warlike. How then could one legion 
reduce it to subjection? It is not difficult 
to explain the paradox, if we suppose that 
there was an understanding formed to second 
foreign forces. What understanding could 
be"more powerful than the just obedience 
which a lawful prince would require, from 
his old subjects, the cries of those always 
ready to submit to their legitimate sovereign 
the striking image of a virtuous prince in- 
voking the rights of justice, compassion, 
nature, and his throne ? And who but the 
lawful heir to the crown could flatter himself 
with conquering a powerful kingdom with a 
single legion 1 We may readily imagine 
that a prince dethroned by the intrigues of 
a usurper, and the cabals of a few rebel 
subjects, always has a number of faithful 
people attached to his interests. Those are 
certainly the circumstances which made the 
king, expelled from Ireland by a domestic 
sedition, mentioned by Tacitus, say, that one 
legion and a few auxiliary troops would 
suffice to reduce the whole country to sub- 
mission ; and those circumstances naturally 
indicate Tuathal, who was reinstated a short 
time after in the kingdom of his ancestors, by 
his own subjects, without any foreign aid. 



The merit of Tuathal conspires also to 
favor our conjectures. We see - that on his 
return, he displayed not only that courage 
and valor which characterized his nation, 
but in all hisaKons, the prudence, discipline, 
and successful designs that distinguish a 
man formed in the best schools, which were 
those of the Romans at that time. It was 
only at Rome that he could have received 
the happy education which the histories of 
the country ascribe to him, and acquire that 
intelligence which made him a consummate 
general, from his first entrance into the 
career of arms. Thus every thing leads us 
to believe, that the king mentioned by Ta- 
citus was Tuathal, and never did conjecture 
more closely resemble the truth. According 
to this calculation, he ascended the throne 
towards the end of the first century. He 
reigned thirty years, and died in 125, so it is 
in this year we should fix the' beginning of 
the reign of Mai, his successor.* 

Mai was descended from Rory the Great, 
of the race of Ir ; he reigned but four years, 
and was killed by Feilim, surnamed Reacht- 
mar, son of Tuathal, who thus revenged on 
him the death of his father. Feilim governed 
Ireland in peace for the space of nine years, 
and was commended for his great justice. 
He established the law of Talion, of which 
an example is found in the book of Kings. 
This penalty, which generally consisted of 
money, and was proportioned to the crime, 
was called " Eruic" by the Irish. Feilim 
diedanatural death, leavingseveral children, 
who were Fiacha-Suidhe,the ancestorof the 
Deasies ; Conn, surnamed Keadcaha, who 
afterwards became monarch ; Eocha-Fionn, 
father of the Fotharts ; the three Conalls, 
and Luagne. 

About this time the Munster people in- 
vaded Leinster, and the kingof that province, 
called Cuchorb, assembled all his forces, of 
which he gave the command to Lugadh- 
Laighis, son of Laoighseach-Kean-More, 
and grandson of Conall Kearnach, who was 
the most skilful captain of his age.f 

Lugadh, to prove himself worthy of the 
confidence of the king of Leinster, began his 
march, and coming up with the Munster 
army at Athrodain, now Athy, in the county 
Kildare, he made a dreadful slaughter of 
them, and obliged them to repass the Barrow. 
The enemy having rallied at Cainthine, 
afterwards calledLaoighise, Lugadh attacked 
them again, with the same success as before ; 
but they were completely defeated at Slighe- 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 57. 

t Keating on the reign of Cormac Ulfada. 



90 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Dhala, now Bealach-More-Ossory, and ren- 
dered incapable of continuing the campaign. 
The king of Leinster, in gratitude for the 
services of Lugadh, conferrerL on him the 
country called after him, Lf^Bhise, Leix, 
or Leis, of which Maryborough, in the 
Queen's county, is now the capital.* This 
territory was in the possession of the O'Mor- 
dhais, in English Moore, his descendants, 
till the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 

Cathire More,t of the branch of the Here- 
monians, who governed Leinster, succeeded 
Feilim ; he had thirty sons, ten of whom, 
that left posterity, were the ancestors of the 
kings who reigned in Leinster till the twelfth 
century, and of many other families of that 
province. 

The will of Cathire More, cited by O'Fla- 
herty, who mentions to have seen it in writing, 
and to which Rossa Failge, his eldest son, 
was executor,'is the only thing curious in the 
reign of this monarch. I merely introduce 
it here to show the singular taste of those 
ancient times : this will contains the different 
legacies he had left to his children, and th6 
nobility of Leinster. J To Breasal-Eineach- 
glass, his son, he left five ships of burden ; 
fifty embossed bucklers, ornamented with a 
border of gold and silver ; five swords with 
golden handles, and five- chariots drawn by 
horses. To Fiacha-Baikeada, another son, 
he left fifty drinking-cups ; fifty barrels made 
of yew-tree : fifty piebald horses, with the 
bits of the bridles made of brass. He left to 
Tuathal : Tigech, son of Main, his brother, 
ten chariots drawn by horses ; five play 
tables ; five chess-boards ; thirty bucklers, 
bordered with gold and silver, and fifty 
polished swords. To Daire-Barrach, another 
of his sons, he left one hundred and fifty 
pikes, the wood of which was covered with 
plates of silver ; fifty swords of exquisite 
workmanship ; five rings of pure gold ; one 
hundred and fifty great-coats of fine texture, 
and seven military colors. To Crimothan 
he bequeathed fifty billiard-balls of brass, 
with the pools and cues of the same material ; 
ten tric-tracs of exquisite workmanship ; 
twelve chess-boards with chess men. To 
Mogcorf, son of Laogare Birnbuadhach, he 
left a hundred cows spotted with white, with 
their calves, coupled together with yokes of 
brass ; a hundred bucklers ; a hundred red 
javelins ; a hundred brilliant lances ; fifty 
saffron-colored great-coats ; a hundred dif- 
ferent colored horses ; a hundred drinking 
cups curiously wrought ; a hundred barrels 

* Ogyg. P art 3> ca P- 51. 

t Anno. 144. 

t Ogyg. part 3, c. 59 



made of yew-tree ; fifty chariots of exquisite 
workmanship ; fifty chess-boards ; fifty 
tables used by wrestlers ; fifty trumpets ; 
fifty large copper boilers, and fifty standards, 
with the right of being a member of the coun- 
cil of state of the king of Leinster. Lastly, he 
bequeathed to the king of Leix, a hundred 
cows ; a hundred bucklers ; ahundred swords ; 
a hundred pikes, and seven standards. Ca- 
thire, having reigned thirty years, was killed 
at the battle of Moyacha-, near Tailton, in 
Meath. 

Conn-Keadcaha, sonofFeilim-Reachtmar, 
and of Ughna, daughter of the king of Den- 
mark, succeeded Cathire-More, in the year 
148 : he was sumamed Keadcaha, from the 
hundred victories he had gained over his 
enemies. Gratianus Lucius calls him, in 
Latin, Constantius Centimachus ;* he is 
calledby 0'Flaherty,t Quintus Centimachus, 
and by others Centibellis. The reign of 
this monarch presents a scene of blood and 
carnage. I shall not relate the great number 
of battles by which he acquired the surname 
of Keadcaha, but confine myself to the prin- 
cipal war which he waged with Modha- 
Nuagat, king of the province of Munster, 
and in which he had least success. To 
understand the cause of this war, it is neces- 
sary to refer to earlier times. The Deagades, 
a branch of the Earnochs, of the province 
of Ulster, having been expelled by the 
Clanna-Rorys, were kindly received by 
Duach, one of the ancestors ofModha. These 
new-comers, not content with the lands and 
possessions which they had received from 
the liberality of that prince, usurped the 
sovereignty of the province after his death. 
ModhaNuagat, a prince of the race of He- 
ber, and true heir to the crown of Munster, 
seeing with regret three princes of the tribe 
of the Deagades established in this province, 
disputed the sovereignty of it with them ; 
and not being of himself able to support his 
claims, he had recourse to Daire-Barrach, 
son of Cathire-More, and prince of Leinster, 
whose friend he was, they having been 
brought up together. Daire, who knew the 
justice of his cause, made an alliance with 
him, and gave him a body of troops to enable 
him to establish his right. With this succor, 
Modha returned to his province, and meeting 
the enemy, commanded by Angus, brother 
of Luigh-Allatach, at Vibh-Liathain, in the 
county of Kerry, he gave him battle ; the 
action was very brisk, but at length victory 
declared in favor of Modha, who cut a 

* Cap. 8. 

+ °gyg- part 3, c. 60. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



01 



number of the enemy to pieces, and put the 
rest to flight. In this extremity, Angus 
implored the assistance of the monarch, 
who sent him fifteen thousand men. With 
this reinforcement he endeavored to retrieve 
his affairs, but his fate was the same as be- 
fore, being defeated at Crioch-Liathain, in 
the county of Kerry, by Modha, who after 
those two victories made himself master of 
the province, and ordered all the Earnochs 
who would not submit to his government to 
leave it. 

This war was followed by another still 
more bloody and more obstinate. The as- 
sistance which the monarch had afforded 
the Earnochs, excited the anger of the king 
of Munster to such a degree, that he re- 
solved upon taking revenge by force of arms. 
Hostilities began on both sides ; but the 
king of Munster not feeling himself in a 
condition to make head against the superior 
forces of the monarch, wisely withdrew from 
the contest, and retired to Spain, where he 
remained for nine years, and married Beara, 
daughter of Heber-More, king of that coun- 
try.* This alliance procured him assist- 
ance ; he returned to his country with foreign 
troops, and began hostilities anew against 
the monarch. During the many years 
which this war lasted, the devastation was 
dreadful ; the consequence of which was, 
the division of the island between the con- 
tending parties ; and the monarch, after 
losing the battles of Broisne and Sampaite, 
in the King's county ; of Greine, in the 
county of Waterford ; Athlone, in the county 
of Roscommon ; Gabhran and Usnigh, in 
east and west Meath, and some others, was 
obliged to submit. This division was 
called by the Irish " Leath-Cuin," and 
" Leath-Modha," which signifies the half, or 
portion of Conn, which was the northern part 
of the island, and the half of Modha, which 
was the southern.! After this division, 
Modha raised some fresh cause of conten- 
tion, which gave rise to another war, and 
showed that nothing but the government of 
the whole island could satisfy his ambition. 
The two armies met in the plains of Moylena, 
in the country of Ferakeall. Before the 
engagement began, the king of Munster was 
murdered, in the morning, in his bed, by Golle, 
son of Morn, a descendant of Sanbus, king 
of Connaught. Conn, delivered from so for- 
midable a rival, resumed the title of monarch 
of the whole island, without respect to the 
divisions, which never afterwards took place . 



* Ogyg. P art 3, c. 6Q. 
t Grat. Luc. c. 8. 



During the reign of Modha-Nuagat, in 
Munster, a general famine prevailed through- 
out Ireland : this king was warned of it 
some time before by a famous druid belong- 
ing to his court. To obviate this disaster, 
he appointe!r stewards and economists to 
prevent too great a consumption of grain. 
His subjects were compelled to limit their 
expenses ; and a certain portion of the pro- 
ductions of each year was, by order of the 
king, collected into granaries. The time 
of the calamity having come, Modha availed 
himself of the opportunity to make the other 
provinces tributary to him. He sold his 
grain at an advanced price ; and instead of 
ready money, he required of the purchasers 
an annual tribute for assisting them in their 
wants ; by which means he increased his 
power considerably. During the wars of 
Conn-Keadcaha with the king of Munster, 
the Deagades or Earnochs still formed a 
considerable tribe, commanded by Mogalama, 
whose son, named Connare, married Saraid 
or Sara, daughter of Conn. The monarch 
formed this alliance with Mogalama in order 
to raise friends, and create a kind of diver- 
sion in the province of Modha, his enemy. 
He afterwards gave Sabia, his second daugh- 
ter, widow of Mac-Niad, of the race of Ith, 
(by whom she had a son called Lughaidh, 
otherwise Mac-Conn,) in marriage to Oilioll- 
Olum, only son and heir of Modha. By this 
double alliance he reconciled the Deagades 
with the Heberians, and smoothed for Conare, 
his son-in-law, the way to the monarchy, his 
own son being yet a minor, and consequent- 
ly, according to the fundamental laws of 
the state, incapable of reigning. The third 
daughter of this monarch was Maoin, wife 
of Inchade, son of Fionn-Chada, grandson 
of Ogamain, king of Ulster, and mother of 
the three Ferguses, one of whom, surnamed 
Dovededagh, was afterwards monarch. 

After the arrival of the Milesians in Ire- 
land, the form of government in Munster un- 
derwent many changes. It was sometimes 
governed alternately by the two tribes of 
Deirghthine, and Dairine : the former of the 
race of Heber Fionn, the latter of that of 
Ith. While one commanded as sovereign, 
the other filled the office of chief justice, or 
supreme judge. It was sometimes divided 
into two parts, forming two kingdoms ; 
namely, northern and southern Munster. 
This government was interrupted by the 
Deagades for more than two centuries ; that 
is, from the death of Duach-Dalta-Deagha, 
till the time of Modha-Nuagut,* and the 

* Keat. on the reign of Art- Aonhir. 



92 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



reign of Oilioll-Olum, his son, who was the 
first absolute king of the whole province, 
and of the race of Heber.* This king had 
three sons by Sabia, daughter of Conn- 
Keadcaha : Eogan-Mote, Cornrac-Cas, and 
Kiann. The first was killed^P the battle 
of Moy-Muchruime, and left a son called 
Fiacha-Mulleathan, who was ancestor of the 
Mac-Cartys, and other collateral branches. 
Cormac-Cas was chief of the O'Briens, and 
other branches, which derive their origin 
from them. From Kiann are descended 
the O'Carrolls, of Ely, and others. Oilioll- 
Olum, having secured the crown in his 
family, made a law whereby the succession 
was rendered alternate between the descend- 
ants of Eogan-More and those of Cormac- 
Cas, which law was religiously observed for 
many centuries.! In the reign of Conn, the 
emperor Severus built a wall in Britain, to 
check the irruptions of the 1 barbarians. 

This monarch, after a long reign, rilled 
with troubles, was betrayed by Eocha-Fionn- 
Fothart, and Fiacha-Suidhe, his brothers, 
and assassinated near Tara, by fifty robbers 
disguised as women, whom Teobraide-Ti- 
reach, son of Breasal, and king of Ulster, 
had employed for this purpose .% He was 
succeeded by his son-in-law, Conare II. 

Conare II. was son of Mogalama, of the 
tribe of the Deagades of Munster,§ de- 
scended, in the sixth degree, from Conare 
the Great, monarch of Ireland at the time 
of the birth of our Saviour. His mother 
was Eithne, daughter of Lughaidli, son of 
Daire, of the tribe of the Coreolugaidhs, 
of the race of Ith, and paternal aunt of 
Lugaidhe-Mac-Conn, who succeeded to the 
monarchy some time after. || 

Conare had by Sara, daughter of Conn- 
Keadcaha, three sons, called the three Car- 
bres ;H namely, Carbre-Musc, whose de- 
scendants, as well as the country they had 
possessed in the county of Tipperary, from 
Ballaigh-More-an-Ossor'y, as far as Carrick, 
on the river Suire, now known by the name 
of Ormond, took the name of Muscraighe 
or .Muskerry ;** Carbre Baskin, to whose 
descendants Corca-Baskin, in the western 
part of the county of Clare, anciently be 
longed ; and Carbre-Riogh-Fada, otherwise 
Riada, who was chief of the tribe of the 
Dalreudini of Ireland and Scotland, men> 

* °gyg- P a rt 2, p. 174. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 65. 

X Idem. cap. 62. 

§ Anno. 183. 

|| Ogyg. part 3, c. 63. 

IT Grat. Luc. c. 8. Walsh, Prosp. of Irel. sec. 6. 

** Keat. p. 115, Lond. edit. 



tioned by the venerable Bede.* His de- 
scendants, who had not gone over to Albania, 
first settled in Kiery-Luachra, and in Orery, 
near Muskerry,t from whence they after- 
wards went to Ulster,:); and formed a new 
establishment in the county of Antrim, which 
was called Dalrieda, at present Route. § 

In the reign of Conare, Ogaman, of the 
tribe of the Dalfiatachs, of the race of Here- 
mon, succeeded Teobraide-Tireach in the 
government of Ulster, which till then had 
been governed by princes of the race of Ir. 

Conare II. having been killed in the 
seventh year of his reign by Neivy-Mac- 
Straivetine, his brother-in-law, Art, sur- 
named Anofhir, son of Conn-Keadcaha, be- 
ing of age, laid claim to the crown of his 
ancestors, and was proclaimed king without 
opposition. His first care was to banish his 
paternal uncle, Eocha-Fionn-Fothart, and 
his whole race from Meath, to punish them 
for the death of Conla and Crinna, his bro- 
thers, and for their perfidy to Conn-Keadcaha 
his father, whom they had betrayed to the 
assassins employed by the king of Ulster. || 
Eocha, being stripped of his possessions 
near Tara, took refuge with his family in 
Leinster, where he was kindly received by 
the kinsmen of his wife, grand-daughter of 
Cathire-More ; they gave him estates on 
both banks of the river Slaney, in the county 
of Wexford, which were called, from his 
name, " the Fotharts," and remained for 
several centuries in possession of his de- 
scendants, the O'Nuallans.Tf 

In the reign of Art, his nephew, Lughaidhe- 
Mac-Conn, of the tribe of Dairine, race of 
Ith, and son of Saive (afterwards wife of 
Oilioll-Olum) by her first husband, being 
judge of the province of Ulster, was deprived 
of office, and afterwards driven into exile by 
Oilioll-Olum, as well for some injustice he 
committed in the fulfilment of his duty, as 
for having (notwithstanding his prohibition) 
espoused the quarrel of Neivy against the 
three Carbres, who wished to revenge the 
death of their father. Mac-Conn withdrew 
into Albania, where he established a colony, 
the command of which he gave to his son 
Faha-Canan.** The ambition of reigning, 
and a desire of taking revenge for the dis- 
grace of being driven into exile, induced him 



* Lib. 1, cap. 1. 

t Kennedy, p. 107, after the book of Lecal, 
fol. 112. 

X Ogyg. part 3, cap. 63. 

§ Usser. Primord. cap. 15, p. 611. 

|| Anno. 194. 

IT Ogyg. part 3, cap. 64. 

** Ogyg- part 3, cap. 67. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



93 



to form an alliance with a British prince, 
who supplied him with troops to execute his 
design. With this succor he embarked, and 
after a few days' sailing reached the bay of 
Galway, where he disembarked his forces, 
and was there joined by several of his adhe- 
rents. After resting his troops for seven 
days, he began his march and came up with 
the monarch Art, accompanied by the nine- 
teen sons of Oilioll-Olum, and an army 
ready to meet him, at Moymucroimhe, near 
Athenry, eight miles from Galway. The 
action was bloody, and the resistance obsti- 
nate on both sides ; but the monarch having 
been killed, with Forgo, king of Connaught, 
and seven sons of the king of Munster, the 
royal army was defeated. The king of 
Connaught was succeeded by Kedgin-Cru- 
achna, his paternal uncle. After this vic- 
tory, Lugaidhe-Mac-Conn had himself pro- 
claimed monarch of Ireland.* 

During the reign of this monarch, Cormac, 
surnamed Ulfada, son of Art, wishing to 
secure to himself the crown which Mac- 
Conn had wrested from his father, endeavored 
to attach friends to his cause .f With this view 
he invited Fergus, surnamed Dovededagh, 
of the tribe of the Earnochs, king of Ulster, 
to a feast at Breagh, on the river Boyne, in 
Meath, near the frontiers of Ulster. But 
Fergus, jealous of the merit of this young 
prince, or rather of his right to the monarchy, 
to which he himself aspired, made his ser- 
vants insult him by setting fire to his heard 
with a torch.| Cormac seeing plainly his 
life was in danger, sought shelter by flight, 
and withdrew into Connaught. It is assert- 
ed by O'Flaherty,^ after the book of Lecan,|| 
and other ancient monuments, which he 
quotes, that Lugaidh was already deposed 
and expelled from Tara by Cormac, and ha*d 
retired to Munster ; and that he was after- 
wards assassinatedby a druid, called Comain- 
Eigis, in a place named Gort-Anoir, near 
Dearg-Rath, in the plain of Magh-Feimhin. 
However this be, the result proved the 
ambition of Fergus. After the retreat of 
Cormac, he marched with an army towards 
Tara, and having gained two victories over 
Kiann and Eocha, both sons of Oilioll-Olum, 
who opposed his claims, he was declared 
monarch, but did not long enjoy his elevation. 
Cormac being still a fugitive, had recourse 
to Thadee, son of Kiann, to whom he rep- 
resented the dreadful situation of his affairs, 
and implored his protection and assistance 

* Ann. 224. 

t Keating on the reign of Fergus.* 
t Ogyg. part 3, c. 68. Grat. Luc. c. 8. 
§ Ogyg. part 2. || Ad. an. 254 



against the usurper. Thadee was a very 
powerful prince, lord of the vast domains of 
Ely, on the frontiers of Leinster and Mun- 
ster. He received this persecuted prince 
with all the distinction due to his birth, and 
the tenderne^ of a near relation. He fur- 
nished him with troops to support his right 
to the throne, which Fergus possessed so 
unjustly, and to take revenge, at the same 
time, for the death of his father. Every 
thing heing prepared, the two princes 
marched at the head of the army towards 
the frontiers of Ulster, and came up with the 
monarch and his two brothers, also called 
Fergus, who were waiting for them with 
considerable forces, at Crionn-Chin-Comar, 
in the territory of Breigia, (Breagh,) in 
Meath. Both sides fought for some time 
with equal success, and victory appeared 
doubtful, till Thadee, with a body of reserve, 
by one effort decided the fate of the day. 
The loss of the enemy was considerable : 
Fergus and his two brothers were found 
among the number of the slain. After this 
battle, Cormac was universally acknow- 
ledged monarch of the whole island ; and to 
requite his kinsman and ally for the services 
he had rendered him in this war, he granted 
him large possessions, extending from Dam- 
liagh, now Duleek, as far as the river Liffey. 
This territory, which remained for a consid- 
erable time in the possession of his descend- 
ants, called the Keniads, from Kiann his fa- 
ther, was known by the name of Kiennacte.* 

Fergus was succeeded in the government 
of Ulster by Rosse, son of Inchad, of the 
race of Ir, a. d. 234, who was succeeded 
the following year by Aongus-Finn, son of 
Fergus-Dovededagh. Fergus-Fodha, of 
the race of Ir, succeeded Aongus two years 
after, who reigned seventy-five years, and 
was the last king of that race who reigned 
at Eamhain.t 

In the reign of Cormac, the descendants 
of Fiacha-Suidhe, son of Feilim-Reachtmar, 
one of the brothers of Conn-Keadcaha, still 
possessed an extensive territory near Tara, 
called Deasie-Teamrach, now the barony of 
Deasie.J Those princes, though nearly allied 
to the monarch, declared war against him 
on some feigned cause of dissatisfaction. 
The monarch was unfortunate in the first 
battle, having lost an eye, and Keallach, his 
son, being killed ; butinthe second the rebels 
were cut to pieces, and forced to abandon 
Deasie.fy They sought refuge in Munster, 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 68. 

t Ogyg. part 2, p. 152. 

t Keating on the reign of Cormac. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 69. 



94 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



where Oilioll-Olum, king of that province, 
who was still living, received them favor- 
ably, and gave them a territory in the coun- 
ty of Waterford, which they called Deasie, 
after that which they had lost near Tara by 
their revolt. This territory* was in the 
possession of the O'Fallons, their descend- 
ants, till the twelfth century. 

About a century after their first establish- 
ment in this country, they extended their 
dominion, through the liberality of Aongus, 
son of Nadfraoch, king of Munster, who 
gave them the plain of Moy-Femen, or 
Machair-Caissil, on the side of Cashel and 
Clonmel, which was called North Deasie. 

Aidhe, grandson of Conall-Cruachan, who 
had succeeded Kedgin-Cruachan, on the 
throne of Connaught, having incurred the 
resentment of Cormac, was vanquished at 
the battle of Moy-Ai in the county of Ros- 
common, and afterwards deprived of his 
crown by the monarch, who nominated 
Niamor, son of Lugne, his brother, in his 
stead ; but the latter having been assassi- 
nated a short time after by Aidhe, whom he 
had succeeded, the monarch was so highly 
incensed, that he nearly annihilated the 
race of the Firdomnians, and placed Lu- 
gadh, brother of Niamor, on the throne of 
Connaught.* 

Cormac had several wars to maintain 
against the provincial kings. Gratianus Lu- 
cius, after the annals of Tighermnach, saysf 
he defeated them in thirty-six battles, con- 
quered the Ulster people twice near Granard ; 
killed a considerable number of them, with 
their king, Aongus-Finn, son of Fergus 
Dovededagh, at the battle of Crinn-Fre- 
gabhail ; banished several to the Isle of 
Man and the Hebrides ; punished the Lein- 
ster people for some crimes they were guilty 
of, and renewed the Boroime, or tribute, 
which Tuathal had imposed on them some 
years before. He defeated the Munster peo- 
ple in several engagements, but was repulsed 
by Fiacha-Mulleahan, successor to Oilioll- 
Olum, who died in 250, and Cormac-Cas, 
his paternal uncle. He was also obliged to 
repair the losses caused by his army in that 
province. This prince was great and magni- 
ficent both in peace and war : " Vir tam 
marte quam arte, tam bello quam eruditione 
clarus."| During the wars in which he was 
engaged, he was not forgetful of literature, 
and enlarged the establishment founded at 
Tara by Ollave Fola, instituted academies 
for military discipline, history, and jurispru- 

* Ogyg- part 3, cap. 69. 
t Grat. Luc. c. 8, p. 70. 
t Grat. Luc. c. 8, p. 70. 



dence, and renewed the laws concerning 
the Psalter of Tara, and the registering of 
the history of individuals. Finally, he sent 
a considerable fleet to Albania, which rav- 
aged that country during three years.* 

Eocha-Gunnait, grandson of Fergus Dove- 
dedagh, of the tribe of Dalfiataghs, race 
of Heremon, succeeded Cormac, a. d. 258 ; 
he reigned but one year. 
• Carbre Liffeachair, son of Cormac-Ul- 
fada, succeeded Eocha, a. d. 264. During 
the reign of this monarch, Aidhe, son of 
Garadh, succeeded Lugadh-Niamor, on the 
throne of Connaught. He was the last of 
the race of the Firdomnians who reigned in 
this province. 

The Irish militia having revolted against 
the monarch,! after the death of Fionn-Mac- 
Cumhail, their chief, he took Connaught 
troops into his- service,}: with whom he 
defeated his rebel subjects in seven different 
engagements. fy But at length Modh-Corb, 
son of Cormac-Cas, and grandson of Fion- 
Mac-Cumhail, by Samuir, his mother, being 
then king of Munster and chief of the Dal- 
caiss, put himself at the head of the rebels, 
and marched to Tara, where the monarch, 
and Aidhe, king of Connaught, were ready 
to receive him. The battle was fought at 
Gabhra, near Tara, in Meath, in which the 
monarch, after defeating in single combat 
Osgar, son of Ossine, and grandson of Fionn, 
who was then commander of the militia, was 
killed by Simeon, son of Keirb, of the tribe 
of the Fotharts. The king of. Connaught 
having survived this engagement, gave bat- 
tle a second time to the king of Munster at 
Spaltrach, in Muscry, and by the death of 
Modh-Corb, revenged that of the monarch. 

During the reign of Carbre, Carausius, a 
native, it is said, of Menapia, in Ireland, [| 
assumed the regal dignity in Britain.^! He 
was a man of low birth, but warlike, and an 
experienced mariner.** " Vir rei militaris 
peritissimus," says Eutropius, whom the em- 
perors Dioclesian and Maximian had ap- 
pointed to defend the maritime parts of Gaul 
against the incursions of the Franks and 
Saxons ;ft but his love for wealth having 
instigated him to act contrary to the public 
welfare, he was declared an enemy to the 
state, and condemned to death ; whereupon 

* Ogy?' part 3, cap. 69. 

t Keating on the reign of Carbre. 

t Grat. Luc. cap. 8. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 70. 

|| Camd. Brit. edit. Lond. p. 748. 

IT .Usser. p. 584. 

** Wareus, c. 10. 

tt Ogygia, part 3, cap. 71. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



95 



he got himself proclaimed emperor of Britain, 
and, in spite of the Roman power, supported 
himself in this rank for seven years, till he 
was killed by Alectus, who, after acting the 
same part for the space of three years, was 
defeated by Constantius Chlorus. 

Faha-Airgeach, and Faha-Cairpeach, bro- 
thers, and children of Mac-Conn, reigned 
together for one year after Carbre : the for- 
mer having murdered the latter, he shared 
the same fate himself, as he was killed by 
the militia at the battle of Ollarbha, a river 
at Moylinne, in the county of Antrim, a.d. 
284. 

,--' Fiacha-Streabthuine, son of Carbre Lif- 
feachair, succeeded those two unfortunate 
princes, a. d. 285.* He was surnamed 
Streabthuine, from Dun-Streabthuine, where 
he was nursed.f He had one son, Muirad- 
hach-Tireach, and a brother, Eocha-Dubh- 
lein : this brother had three sons by Glean, 
daughter of the king of the Picts, called 
Cairioll, Muireadhach, and Aodh ; better 
known by the name of the three Collas, 
namely, Colla-Vias, Colla-Da-Crioch, and 
Colla-Meann. In the reign of Fiacha, 
Conde, of the tribe of the Corcofirtres, suq- 
ceeded Aidhe, in Connaught, after whose 
death the sceptre of this province devolved 
on Muireadhach-Tireach, and remained in 
his posterity till the twelfth century. 

While Muireadhach-Tireach, son of 
Fiacha, fought with great success against 
the king of Munster, from whom he carried 
off both captives and booty, his father had 
encamped with another army at Dubhcho- 
mair, near Tailton, in Meath. The three 
Collas, jealous of the reputation of Muiread- 
hach-Tireach, their cousin, and fearing lest, 
if he became monarch, he should resent an 
injury they had done him, took advantage of 
his absence to make war against his father, 
and thus secure the crown for themselves 
With this view, they collected what forces 
they were able ; and having bribed some 
officers of the monarch's army, they gave 
him battle, in which he unfortunately 
perished. Colla-Vais, the eldest of the three 
brothers, was then proclaimed monarch, 
a. d. 315. Muireadhach-Tireach being in- 
formed of this sudden revolution, marched 
with a considerable body of troops towards 
Tara, where he gave the usurper battle, the 
success of which equalled the justice of his 
cause. After a reign of four years, Colla- 
Vais was dethroned ; and dreading the 
punishment which his crime deserved, he 

* Keating on the reign of Fiocha. 
t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 73, 75, et 76. 



left the kingdom with his two brothers, and 
about three hundred men who followed his 
fortune, and took refuge in Albania, with the 
king.of the Picts, his kinsman, who received 
him honorably. 

Muireadhach-Tireach, son of Fiacha- 
Streabthuine, already king of Connaught, 
became, by the flight of Colla-Vais, monarch 
of the whole island, a. d. 320. His mother 
was Aife, of the tribe of the Gallgaodhals or 
Gadelians of the Hebrides. He married 
Muirion, daughter of Fiacha, king of Kin- 
neal-Eoguin, now Tyrone. 

Notwithstanding the kind reception the 
three Collas had metwithfrom the kingof the 
Picts, they considered their separation from 
their native country as a most insupportable 
exile : so that, hearing of a general amnesty, 
granted by the monarch of Ireland to all 
those who had been concerned in the late 
revolution, they embarked for their country, 
accompanied by but twenty-seven men of 
the three hundred they had brought to 
Albania, leaving the rest after them. On 
their arrival in Ireland, they appeared before 
the monarch with every mark of sorrow for 
their crime, and easily moved a prince, who 
was naturally inclined to clemency, to forgive 
them. As those princes had no possessions 
to support their rank or the dignity of their 
birth, the monarch advised them to make an 
establishment in some part of the country, 
either by right of conquest or otherwise. He 
told them that the insult sustained by Cor- 
mac-Ulfada, one of their ancestors, from 
the people of Ulster, and the murder of 
Conn-Keadcaha by the orders of Teobraide- 
Tireach, had never been revenged ; that it 
would be a specious pretext for them to 
enter this province sword in hand, and es- 
tablish themselves by right of conquest, and 
that he would furnish them with troops. The 
three brothers, filled with gratitude, accepted 
the proposal, and set out for Ulster at the 
head of a body of troops furnished them by 
the monarch. On their arrival they were 
joined by malecontents to the number of 
seven thousand men, headed by a few nobles. 
With this help, which sufficiently proved 
the disposition of the people, and was a 
happy omen of their success, they marched 
to meet the enemy, who were at Carn- 
Eocha-Leath-Dearg,in the territory of Fear- 
moy, in Monaghan. The action began, and 
the resistance was so obstinate on both sides, 
that they fought for seven successive days. 
At length the king, Fergus-Fodha, being 
killed, and his army cut to pieces, the field 
remained in possession of the conquerors : it 
cost Colla-Meann, one of the three brothers, 



96 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



his life. The victorious army then pillaged 
the palace of Eamhain, the residence of- the 
kings of Ulster.* Thus ended the reign of 
the Clanna-Rorys in this province. .The 
Collas banished the people of Ulster to the 
north of lake Neagh, and took possession 
of a large tract of country, which they called 
Orgiell, named by the English Uriel, or 
Oriel ; it has since been divided into counties, 
namely, Louth, Armagh, Monaghan, and 
part of the counties of Down and Antrim, 
peopled by their numerous posterity. Mui- 
readhach-Tireach was killed at the battle of 
Portriogh, near lake Dabhal, in the twenty- 
sixth year of his reign. He was succeeded 
by Caolvach, the last monarch of the race of 
Ir. The first year of his reign was the last 
of his life, having been assassinated. He 
was succeeded by his murderer, a.d. 350. 

Eocha XII., surnamed Moy-Veagon, son 
ofMuireadhach-Tireach,tkingofConnaught, 
succeeded to the monarchy.^ He had four 
sons by Mung-Fionn, daughter of Fiodhuig, 
descended in the sixth degree from Oilioll- 
Olum, by Eogan-More ; namely, Brian, Fi- 
achra, Fergus, and Oilioll. The succeeding 
kings of Connaught were descended from 
Brian and Fiachra. Eocha had a fifth son, 
called Niall, well known in history, by 
Carthan-Cas-Dubh, daughter of a king of 
Britain. § This monarch was continually at 
war with Eana-Kinsealach, king of Leinster, 
and son of Laurade, great-grandson of Ca- 
thire-More. After being defeated in thirteen 
battles, the monarch died at Tara, and was 
succeeded by Crimthan, his brother-in-law, 
son of Fiodhuig, and brother of Mung-Fionn, 
of the race of Heber, a.d. 360. 

The throne of Munster ha vingbeen vacant 
in the reign of this monarch, he gave pos- 
session of it to Connol-Eachluat, of the 
branch of Cormac-Cas, contrary to the re- 
gulation made by Oilioll-Olum, concerning 
the succession to the crown of that province, || 
which incensed the princes of the branch of 
Fiacha-Mulleahan. They represented to 
Connol, that it was their turn to reign, ac- 
cording to the regulation of Oilioll-Olum, 
who decided that the two branches of Cor- 
mac-Cas, and Fiacha-Mulleahan, should 
reign alternately, and that, therefore, Core 
was real heir to the throne. Connol, as a 
just and disinterested man, left the affair to 
arbitrators, who having decided in favor of 
Core, Connol abdicated a throne which he 

* Ogyg. P ar ' 3, cap. 75. 

t Keating on the reign of Eocha. 

t Grat. Luc. cap. 8. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 79. 

|| Keating on the reign of Crimthan. 



might have retained. This generosity in- 
creased considerably the esteem in which 
the monarch held him ; and Core having 
died some time after, Connol reascended 
the throne. 

After an expedition which Crimthan had 
made into Albania, Britain, and Gaul, from 
whence he had brought immense booty, he 
was poisoned by Mung-Fiona, his sister, at 
Inis-Dorn-Glasse, an island in the river 
Muade,* who hoped by that means to place 
Brian, her son, whom she loved tenderly, on 
the throne in his stead ; but she was dis- 
appointed in her expectations ; for having 
tasted of the poisoned cup before she pre- 
sented it to her brother, she died the first ; 
so that the whole race of Brian was excluded 
from the monarchy, except Roderick O'Con- 
nor, and Terdelach, his father. f 

Niall the Great, son of Eocha- Moy-Vea- 
gon and Carthan-Cas-Dubh,J succeeded 
Crimthan on the throne of Ireland, a.d. 379. 
He was surnamed Noygiollach,^ as we 
should say in Latin, " Noviobses," from the 
nine hostages which he had forced his ene- 
mies to give him. He had one son named 
Fiacha, by Inne, his first wife, who was de- 
scended, in the sixth degree, from Fergus- 
Dovededagh, the monarch : and seven by 
his second wife, Roigneach ; namely, Lao- 
gare, Eogan, Eanna, Cairbre, Maine, Con- 
all-Gulban, and Conall-Creamthine. 

The monarch was a valiant and experi- 
enced warrior, as appears by the number of 
captives he had taken from the Picts, Bri- 
tons, and Gauls, and the immense booty he 
carried away.|| We must, however, examine 
the origin of the Scots, or Scotch, before we 
speak of his expeditions beyond sea ; the 
relation which exists between them and the 
Irish making this investigation necessary. 

The histories of the Milesians mention 
several colonies which they had sent at dif- 
ferent times to Albania, in the first ages of 
Christianity ; from which the Scots of Alba- 
nia, at present the Scotch, derive their origin. 
They are descended from the colonies which 
went from Ireland to Britain, and settled 
with the Picts in the northern parts of that 
island, which was at that time called Albania. 

The first colony of the Scoto-Milesians, 



* Grat. Luc. cap. 8. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 81. ■ 

t Keat. on the reign of Niall. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 85. 

|| " He was a man very valiant, most skilled in 
war. He overcame in several engagements the 
Albanians, Picts, and Gauls, and carried off great 
numbers of prisoners and of cattle." — Gratianus 
Lucius, c. 8, on the reign of Nellius. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



97 



which was established in Albania, was com- 
manded, in the beginning of the third cen- 
tury, by Cairbre, otherwise Eocha-Riada, 
son of Conare II., monarch of Ireland.* The 
emigration of this colony could not have 
taken place before the year 211 ; as the 
territory inhabited by this colony on its first 
settlement in Albania, was, at the time of 
the expedition of Severus into the north of 
Britain, (which Usher fixes in the year 208, )t 
in possession of the Dicaledonians, a tribe of 
the Picts, so called from their proximity to 
the wall of Adrian, which divided them from 
the Meaths in the south, as the Grampian 
or Drum-Albin hills (called by Fordonius 
" dorsi-Britannici") divided them from the 
Vecturians, another tribe of the Picts, occu- 
pying the north. J 

In this expedition, in which Severus lost 
fifty thousand men, he extended his conquests 
to the northern extremity of the country ; 
however, it is not said he had any other 
enemies to contend with than the Meaths, 
Caledonians, and Vecturians. He died three 
years afterwards at York, as he was pre- 
paring for a second expedition against the 
Meaths and Caledonians, who revolted. § 

Eumenes the Rhetorician is the first who, 
in the panegyric he delivered a century after 
at Treves, in presence and in honor of 
Constantine, spoke of the inhabitants of 
Albania by the name of Picts, whom he 
divides, with Ammianus Marcellinus, into 
Caledonians and Vecturians, after comparing 
the state of affairs in Britain, under Julius 
Caesar and Constantius Chlorus;|| so that 
in the whole of this history, given by Usher, 
after Herodian and Dio, no mention is made 
of a nation of Scots established in Britain. 
We must therefore fix their arrival in Alba- 
nia later than the year 211, which agrees 
with the time of Conare II., father of Riada, 
whose reign began in Ireland in 212. 

Usher and O'Flaherty assert, that the 
colony of Cairbre-Riada had first settled in 
the north of Ireland, and it was not till the 
beginning of the sixth century that they 
went to Albania with Fergus, three hundred 
years after the death of Riada ; but the 
former opinion seems more in conformity 
with Bede, who says that Riada went in per- 
son. The following are his own expressions : 

* Kennedy, pp. 105 and 106. 

t Index. Chronol. p. 1079. 

t Usser. appendix, pp. lOSj^et 1032. 

§ Usserius, Index ChronolT/p. 1080. 

j] " I do not allude, among his other numerous 
exploits, to his conquests over the Caledonians and 
Picts, besides whom there were others of that name 
as well as Veeturiaps." — Usher, e. 15, p. 586. 



— ■" Besides the Britons and-Picts, a colony 
of Scots having left Ireland under the com- 
mand of Reuda, from whom they were called 
Dalreudini, settled in Britain with the Picts, 
either peaceably or by force."* The second 
opinion is true, if we mean thereby the per- 
fect establishment of the Scots in Albania, 
forming a people governed by kings. 

Riada, with his colony, having taken pos- 
session of a territory to the north of the gulf 
of Dumbarton, which was in the possession 
of the Dicaledonians in the time of Severus, 
and ceded to him by the Picts in considera- 
tion of his aid against the Britons, gave 
the command of it to Kinta, his son ; after 
which he returned to Ireland, where he died. 
This commencement of the Scotch nation in 
Albania, though weak at first, became after- 
wards very powerful. 

To throw more light on this history, we 
must trace it back to its source, and examine 
the origin of Eocha-Riada, mentioned by 
Bede, under the name of Reuda. 

iEngus III ., (called jEneas by O'Flaherty,) 
surnamed Turmeach, monarch of Ireland, 
had two sons, namely, Ennius, Enna, Eadna 
or Eanda, surnamed Aighmach ; and Flacha, 
a. m. 3870, b. c. 130. f By the former, who 
was legitimate, he was ancestor of all the 
kings of Ireland who succeeded him.:): By 
the latter, the fruit of the incest he committed 
with his own daughter, or sister, in a state 
of intoxication, § he was ancestor of the Ear- 
nochsj Dalfiatachs, Deagades, Dalriads, and 
consequently of the Scotch, as we shall here- 
after see. If 

iEngus was surnamed Turmeach, signifying 
shame, for, although a pagan, he was always 
so much ashamed of the infamous action he 
had committed, that he endeavored to con- 
ceal it from the knowledge of the world, by 
committing the child, which was the fruit of 
his crime, in a little boat, to the mercy of the 
winds and waves, in hopes of its perishing. 
But like another Moses, the innocent child 
was preserved by some fishermen, who gave 
him the surname of Fearmara. Fiacha-Fear- 
mara had a son called Oilioll-Earn, who, 

* " In the course of time Britain, after the 
Britons and Picts, admitted a third nation, the Scots, 
among the Picts, who under the guidance of Reuda, 
left Ireland, and claimed, from either friendship or 
by the sword, a settlement among them, which they 
thus far hold ; from that leader they retain to this 
day the name of Dalreudini." — Bede's Church 
Hist, b.l.c. 1. 

t Ogyg. part 3, c. 40. 

t Lecan, fol. 294, p. 8, col. 3. 

§ Keating on the reign of jEngus. 

|| Grat. Luc. c. 8, p. 64. 

IT Kennedy, p/44. 



98 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



with the consent of the tribe of Ir, which 
then possessed Ulster, settled it with his vas- 
sals near lake Earn, from, whence his de- 
scendants, forming a considerable tribe, were 
called Earnochs. After Oilioll Earn, the 
tribe was successively governed by Feara- 
dach, his son, and Forgo, his grandson. 

Sir George M'Kenzie, in the preface to 
the reader, which he has affixed to his De- 
fence of the Royal Lineage of Scotland, 
mentions having seen an ancient manuscript 
belonging to the monastery of Hy, in which 
it was said that iEngus-Turteampher (the 
same undoubtedly as our iEngus-Turmeach) 
reigned in Ireland five generations before 
their Fergus I., and that it was under him 
the separation of the Scots of Ireland from 
those of Albania took place. This manuscript 
agrees perfectly with the genealogy of Forgo, 
who, according to the ancient monuments of 
the Milesians, is the fifth descendant in a 
direct line from iEngus III., surnamed Tur- 
meach. Would the conjecture be rash, were 
we to say that this Forgo, son of Fearadach, 
is the same as Fergus, son of Ferchard, who, 
according to Buchanan, was first king of 
Scotland ? The names are very nearly alike ; 
and the only difference arises from the Latin 
termination which Buchanan gives them, or 
from this author's ignorance of the ancient 
language of his country, in which those 
names were originally written. However, 
Forgo never left his country, but became, 
after his father, chief of the tribe of the 
Earnochs of lake Earn. In this rank he was 
perhaps called king, through courtesy, as it 
was general among the Milesians to give that 
title to princes, and lords of extensive pos- 
sessions. This conjecture will be much 
strengthened, if we compare the descendants 
of Forgo, down to Eocha-Riada inclusively, 
forming twenty generations, with the gene- 
alogy of the kings of Scotland, delivered by 
a Scotch antiquarian, at the coronation of 
Alexander II., and quoted by John Major, 
in his history :* it will be seen that those 
genealogies correspond exactly , in the names, 
pronunciation, and manner of writing them, 
in their order and number ; except that the 
Scotch antiquary, or perhaps the author who 
published it, adds one more. 

These two genealogies are represented in 
the two following columns : the left gives 
the genealogy of Forgo, according to the 
Milesians, and the right that of the kings of 
Scotland, according to the antiquary above 
mentioned. 



De Gest. Scot. ■ 



Forgo. 
Main. 


Forgso. 

Man. 


Earndail. 


Arindil. 




Rowein. 


Rothrer. 


Redher. 


Threr. 


Ther. 


Rosin. 


Rosin. 


Sin. 

Deaga. 

Kiar. 


Syn. 

Dechach. 

Jair. 


Olill. 


Eliala. 


Eogan. 


Ewan. 


Ederskeol, monarch 




of Ireland. 


Edherskeol 


Conar-More, monarch 

of Ireland. Conere-More. 


Carbre-Fin-More. 


Carbre-Find-More . 


Dare-Dorn-More. 


Dara-Deomore. 


Corbre-Crom-Chion 


Corbre-Edancrum. 


Luigh-Allatach. 


Lughtach-Etholac . 


Mogalama. 


Mogalama. 


Conare II., monarch 




of Ireland. 


Conare. 


Eocha-Riada. 


Ethad-Riad. 



It is evident, that in these two columns 
the names are fundamentally the same, and 
that if there are a few letters, more or less, 
or any transposition of letters, it creates no 
essential difference, and the error should 
only be attributed to the copyists. The 
addition of the name Rowein, which is in 
the catalogue of the Scotch antiquarian, is 
probably derived from " Roghein," which 
signifies " to be born of ;" and the antiquary 
having found it between the names Earndail 
and Rothrer, to show that Rothrer was son 
of Earndail, he took it for a proper name, 
thus adding a generation. 

By special privilege, or rather by a license 
belonging only to poets, Buchanan deviates, 
in this catalogue of the kings of Scotland, 
from the genealogy left by this antiquarian. 
He has obscured and disfigured the names 
of the kings, so that very few of them agree 
with it, although the antiquarian lived three 
hundred years before him, and consulted the 
ancient monuments, unknown perhaps to 
Buchanan, for this genealogy ; but the latter 
made up the deficiency by fiction. May we 
not reproach him as Camden has done in a 
like case, that he preferred deliberating with 
the subtlety of his wit, to thinking justly with 
others 1 " Maluit cum suo acumine delirare, 
qivam cum recepta lectione recte sentire."* 

With regard to the separation of the two 
people, mentioned in the manuscript of 
M'Kenzie, and from which this author claims 

* Brit, page 62. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



99 



some advantage in favor of his system, it 
should be considered less a local than a 
genealogical separation of the two branches, 
the chiefs of which were Ennius and Fiacha, 
without either of them having gone to Al- 
bania. 

Deaga, the ninth descendant in a direct 
line from Oilioll-Earn, was chief of the tribe 
of the Earnochs. The Clanna-Rorys, who 
had granted them an asylum, some time be- 
fore, in their kingdom, taking umbrage at 
their growing power, declared war against 
them, forced them to quit their establish- 
ment at Lake Earn, and seek their fortunes 
elsewhere. 

Deaga led them into the province of 
Munster, where Duach III., then monarch 
of the island, surnamed Dalta-Deagaigh, 
being the adopted son of Deaga, granted 
them a retreat in the northern part of the 
province, now called the county of Kerry, 
a. m. 3950, b. c. 50. This territory was 
called after their chief, Luaghair-Deag- 
haigh.* 

After the death of Duach, Deaga suc- 
ceeded to the monarch of the whole island ; 
he had three sons, Hiar, Dair, and Conal, 
to distinguish them from another tribe of 
the Earnochs, who descended from Eocha, 
brother of Deaga, and took the name of 
Dalfiatachs, from Fiatach, monarch in the 
first century ; it was called the tribe of the 
Deagades, from the name of their chief, 
which, according as they increased, were 
subdivided into other branches, as the Clan- 
Chonaires, Muskrys, Baskins, and Dalriads. 

The Deagades became so powerful in 
Munster, that they frequently disputed the 
sovereignty of it with the ancient proprietors, 
the Heberians. They governed sometimes 
alternately with them, and sometimes alone, 
till their power was limited by Modha- 
Nuagaid. Though this king had humbled 
them in war, their chiefs always preserved 
the rank and dignity of princes, till the 
marriage of Conare, son of Mogalama, with 
Saraid, daughter of Conn-Keadcaha. This 
marriage, by which Conare became son-in- 
law to the monarch, and brother-in-law of 
Oilioll-Olum, heir of Modha-Nuagaid, king 
of Munster, who had married Sabia, sister 
of Saraid, revived the expiring glory of the 
Deagades. Art, son of Conn-Keadcaha, 
was a minor at the death of his father ; and 
being incapable of reigning, according to the 
fundamental laws of the state, Conare, his 
brother-in-law, was raised to the monarchy, 
by the name of Conare II. He had by 

* Ogyg- P art 3, cap. 42. 



Saraid three sons, who became chiefs of 
three considerable tribes ; namely, Carbre- 
Musc, Carbre-Baskin, and Carbre-Riada. 
According to the book of Lecan, those three 
brothers were also known by the name of 
Angus, Oilioll, and Eocha.* 

The tribe of Carbre-Musc were called 
the Muscrys ; and their possessions, in the 
county of Cork, are still known by the name 
of Muskerry. Dal-Baskin, that is to say, 
the tribe of Cabre-Baskin, possessed Corca- 
Baskin in the county of Clare ; and the part 
of the tribe of Riada who remained in Ire- 
land, settled in Kiery-Luachra and Orrery, in 
the neighborhood of Muskerry. Some com- 
motions which afterwards arose in Ulster, 
between the Clanna-Rorys and the three 
brothers, called the three Collas, the latter 
having invaded a part of this province, which 
they erected into a principality or kingdom 
under the name of Uriel, was a favorable 
opportunity taken advantage of by this demi- 
tribe of Riada, then commanded by Fergus- 
Ulidian their chief, and fifth descendant, in 
a direct line, of Carbre, to form a new es- 
tablishment in the north of the island, which, 
according to Usher,f was called Dalrieda ; 
at present Route, in the county of Antrim. 

Eocha-Riada, as we have already seen, 
having established his son at the head of a 
colony in Albania, called also the Dalriads, 
there always existed between them and the 
Dalriads in Ulster a league of friendship, 
and close connection ; although separated by 
a small portion of the sea, they were always 
considered as the same tribe, and were long 
governed by the same chiefs. Encouraged 
by the success of the Dalriads, several others 
went to Albania, in the same and succeeding 
centuries, either to settle there, or to second 
the Dalriads in the incursions they made from 
time to time into Britain. The principal 
chiefs of those first colonies were Mac-Conn, 
who, having succeeded to the monarchy of 
Ireland, left the command of the colony to 
his son, Caha-Fanan, ancestor of the Mac- 
Allans, Campbells, &c, and Colla-Vais, 
from whom the Mac-Donnels, and many 
other illustrious families, both in Ireland 
and Scotland, derive their origin. Criom- 
than, son of Fiacha VII., and many others, 
brought colonies there. Such was the state 
of affairs of the Dalriads of Albania. They 
possessed a small portion of the country, 
which served as an arsenal and a retreat for 
their friends in Ireland, who came to join 
them. They did not yet form a kingdom or 

* Fol. 200, p. A. Fol. 112, p. B. col. 1, 2, 3. 
t Prim. cap. 15, p. 611. 



100 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



state independent of Ireland ; their little 
territory was nearly like Calais, which did 
not form a state independent of England. 
When this place was in the power of the 
English, the inhabitants were looked upon 
as English, and subjects of England — even 
the children born there. The Dalriads of 
Albania received from those of Ulster as- 
sistance both in men and money ; they 
enriched themselves with the spoils of the 
Britons, and began to live independent of 
the Picts, which excited the jealousy of the 
latter against them, and made them deliberate 
on some means of checking their increasing 
power.* 

The Dalriads, justly alarmed at the storm 
which threatened them, implored the protec- 
tion and aid of the monarch of Ireland, whom 
they still considered as their sovereign.! 

Niall, being anxious to preserve this por- 
tion of his empire in Albania, crossed the 
sea at the head of his army, and having 
reduced the Picts to reason, forced them to 
give up the territories of Cantire and Argyle 
to the Dalriads, and to live in peace with 
them. J Having appeased the troubles in 
Albania, he entered Britain with his forces, 
and ravaged the whole country, a. d. 388. 
He then embarked for Armorica, from 
whence he brought considerable booty, with 
several captives, in the number of whom was 
Patrick, afterwards apostle of Ireland, who 
was sixteen years of age, and his two sisters, 
Lupidia and Darerca.^ 

The first of the three devastations com- 
mitted by the Scots and Picts in Britain, 
mentioned by Gildas Britannicus, began in 
the reign of Niall, || who, encouraged by his 
former success, and by the retreat of Maxi- 
mus the tyrant,T[ who abandoned this island, 
by removing not only the Roman troops,** 
but also all the youth capable of bearing 
arms,tt whom he had taken with him into 
Gaul, (of which Gildas himself complains, )|| 

* Petr. Lombard. Comment, de Hibern. cap. 2, 
p. 31 ct 32. 

t Keat. on the reign of Niall. 

t Walsh. Prosp. of Irel. part 1, sect. 1. 

§ " At this time, a fleet from Ireland was ravag- 
ing the country in which St. Patrick was tarrying, 
and, according to a custom among the Irish, many 
were led into captivity, and among them Patrick, 
who was then in his sixteenth year ; also his two 
sisters, Lupida and Darerca. St. Patrick was 
carried prisoner into Ireland in the ninth year of 
Niall's reign, who ruled Ireland during 27 years, 
and laid waste Britain and Gaul." — Usher on the 
Life of St. Patrick, c. 17, p. 828. 

|| A. D. 393. 

IT Usser. Primord. Eccles. c. 15, p. 595. 

** Grat. Luc. c. 8. tt Ogyg. part 3, c. 85. 

tt " After this, Britain being stripped of her 



raised a powerful army and led it into Bri- 
tain. It was to those preparations, and to 
this armament of Niall, that Claudion al- 
luded in the subjoined verses, by introducing 
Britain as speaking for herself.* 

Niall, discovering that the Britons lived 
without apprehension, and placed too much 
confidence in the defence of the wall and 
intrenchments which Severus had built to 
protect them from the insults of the barba- 
rians, ravaged their lands and possessions, 
in conjunction with the Picts, and continued 
the devastation for several years. f It was at 
this time that the Britons sent a deputation 
to Stilico, a Roman general, who granted 
them one legion ; but this succor proved 
ineffectual against the barbarians, who ha- 
rassed the Romans by frequent skirmishing. 
Even this legion was recalled to Rome,J 
where Alaric, king of the Goths, was wag- 
ing war in the centre of the empire, having 
given them battle at Pollens, and afterwards 
laid siege to their capital. 

The fleet of Niall coasted along Britain 
during the time of this expedition,^ and 
afterwards sailed with him to Armorica, || 
where he was killed, on the banks of the 
river Loire,Tf by an arrow discharged by 
Eocha, son of Eana-Kinseallach, king of 
Leinster,** who thus took revenge for some 
affront he had received from the monarch. 
It was in the reign of Niall, that the six 
sons of Muredus, king of Ulster, with a 
considerable fleet, took possession of the 
northern part of Britain, where they found- 
ed a nation catled Scotia. ft 



forces and rulers, (though great,) and a number of 
her youth, (who, after accompanying the footsteps 
of the tj'rant, never returned,) she was unskilled 
altogether in the practices of war, and was now 
trampled upon by two nations from beyond the 
seas — the Scots from the west, and the Picts from 
the north. In this state of stupor and suffering has 
she continued for many years." — Usher on Gildas, 
c. 15, page 593. 

* " Stylicho, she says, hath fortified me when 
perishing by neighboring nations : when the Scots 
put all Ierna into motion, and the sea foamed with 
the oar of the enemy." — Usher. 

t " The British people, living unguardedly on 
account of the security of the wall which was built 
by Severus Caesar, were attacked by two nations, 
viz., the Picts from the north, and Scots from the 
west, who laid their country waste, and over- 
whelmed them with misery, for many years." — 
Usher, c. 15, p. 594. 

t Usser. c. 15, p. 595. 

§ Keating on the reign of Niall. 

|| Grat. Luc. cap. 8. 

If Ogyg. part 2, p. 159. ** lb. part 3, c. 85. 

tt " When Niellus the Great was monarch of 
Ireland, the six sons of King Muredus of Ulster, 
seized, with a powerful fleet, upon the northern 



WARS OF THE MILKS! \.\js. 



101 



Dathy, son of Fiachra, brother of Niall, 
succeeded him, and was the last pagan 
monarch of Ireland, after being king of 
Connaught, the throne of which he gave to 
his brother Amalgad, who gave his name to 
Ter-Amalgad, otherwise Tyrawly, a terri- 
tory in the county of Mayo. In the time 
of this monarch, Nedfraoch, of the race 
of Oilioll-Olum, by Eogan More, governed 
Munster, having succeeded Cork, his father. 
The king who reigned in Leinster at that 
time, was Eocha, son of Eana-Kinseallach, 
who had killed Ni'all-Noygiollagh in Armo- 
rica ; he was succeeded by his son Ran- 
dubh. 

During the reign of Dathy in Ireland, 
the Roman empire was torn on all sides. In 
Britain, Gratian had himself acknowledged 
emperor ;* however, his reign lasted but for 
a short time,t for, at the end of four months 
he was. killed by the militia, and Constan- 
tine put in his place. The latter drew with 
him into Gaul the few troops that the tyrant 
Maximus had left in Britain, and by this 
means the island was abandoned to the fury 
of the barbarians. The Burgundians and 
Franks made their irruptions into Gaul ; 
Rome was besieged by Alaric ; the Vandals, 
Swedes, and Alani, fell upon Spain ; the 
Goths, with Attalus and Atulphus at their 
head, entered Gaul, so that the empire be- 
came the prey of all these barbarous nations. 

The Scots and Picts, always the impla- 
cable enemies of the Britons, availed them- 
selves of these disorders to make their usual 
incursions into Britain. It was at that time 
that the second dreadful devastation men- 
tioned by Gildas (and which Usher speaks 
of, to have occurred in 426) took place, and 
caused the Britons to send deputies to Rome, 
in order to implore relief, that their country, 
so long a Roman province, might not be to- 
tally destroyed and effaced.^ 

parts of Britain, and a people who were descended 
from tliem were called Scotch." — Cambrensis in 
Topography. 

* Beda, lib. 1, c. 11. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 87. 

t " From these things we have collected the sec- 
ond devastation, and the second persecution, which 
Gildas remarks to have happened in Britain about 
the year 426. Sabellicus thus briefly describes the 
history of these events : ' When the Burgundians 
were ravaging Gaul, /Etius was forced to recall his 
troops from the island. He put all his forces into 
motion against the Burgundii, except one legion, 
which was left to guard the Parisians and their 
neighbors ta the south of them.' The Scots, after 
the departure of the legions, rise up, together with 
the people of Albania, and make their attacks with 
fire and sword, upon the maritime towns of Bri- 
tain." — Usher, c. 15, p. 603. 



Valentinian III., now emperor, sent to 
their relief the legion which iEtius had left 
at Paris. This cohort of disciplined troops 
repulsed the barbarians, and killed many of 
them. The Romans after this announced to 
the Britons that they could no longer under- 
take such distant and fatiguing expeditions ; 
that they themselves should learn the use of 
arms and military discipline, in order to de- 
fend themselves against their enemies. The 
Romans, before their departure, had a wall 
built of stone, eight feet in thickness and 
twelve in height, to check, if possible, the 
incursions of the barbarians. This wall 
was raised upon the same foundation as that 
which the emperor Severus had constructed 
of earth two centuries before. Towers were 
placed at regular distances, on the south side 
of Britain, to defend it against the incur- 
sions of the S.cots, who were generally 
hovering around the coast with their fleet. 
The Romans having regulated the affairs of 
Britain, took their last leave of the island.* 

In this interval, Dathy, monarch of Ire- 
land, and a warlike prince, who followed the 
footsteps of Niall, his predecessor, entered 
Britain in person, at the head of a large 
army ;f from thence he went to Gaul, and 
taking advantage of the consternation in 
which the Romans were,| on account of the 
number of enemies they had to encounter, 
he extended his conquests to the Alps,§ 
where he was killed by lightning, after hav- 
ing gained several battles over those who 
disputed his passage. || His body was 

" When their former enemies discovered that the 
Roman forces were withdrawn, they, aided with 
their fleet, invade the country, and put all to the 
sword ; they mow down and trample upon every 
thing in their march, The Britons dispatch am- 
bassadors to Rome, supplicating aid with tears and 
lamentations, saying, not to suffer their unhappy 
country to be entirely blotted out, nor that which 
had so long borne the name of a Roman province 
to be extinguished by wicked nations." — Bede's 
History of the Church, b. 1, c. 12. 

* " The Romans then announced to the Britons 
that they could no longer undertake painful expedi- 
tions for their defence: they advised them to run 
to arms, and attack the enemy with eagerness ; be- 
sides, they considered (as they were now forced to 
abandon them as allies) that this would benefit 
them, viz., to construct a wall from sea to sea, to 
be built of solid stone, where Severus formerly 
made a rampart. On the southern parts adjoining 
the ocean, where their ships were kept to watch 
the enemy, they built towers at proper intervals, 
towards the sea, and thus bid adieu to their allies, 
intending never to return." — Bede's Church Hist. 
b. 1, c. 12. 

t Keating on the reign of Dathy 

t Grat. Luc. cap. 8. 

§ Ogyg. part 2, cap. 160. 

|| Ogyg. part 5, cap. 87. 



102 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



brought to Ireland, and interred at Cruachan, 
the burial-place of the kings of Connaught. 

It is not astonishing that foreign authors 
have not mentioned those rapid expeditions, 
the only fruit of which was the devastation 
of the provinces, without leaving any colo- 
ny who might be interested in preserving 
to posterity the remembrance of the deeds 
of their ancestors, like the Burgundians, 
Franks, and others, who profited by their 
conquests. There were also but few wri- 
ters in those ages of trouble and darkness ; 
and the name of Pharamond would perhaps 
have remained unknown, were it not for the 
colony which he established in Gaul. 

The relation of this expedition of Dathy, 
mentioned in all the Irish writings,* agrees 
with the Piedmontese tradition, and a very 
ancient registry in the archives of the house 
of Sales, in which it is said that the king of 
Ireland remained some time in the castle of 
Sales. I received this account from Daniel 
O'Mulryan, a captain in the regiment of 
Mount Cashel, who assured me he was told 
it by the Marquis de Sales, at the table of 
Lord Mount Cashel, who had taken him 
prisoner at the battle of Marsaille. The 
army of Dathy, which was composed of se- 
lect troops of the Scots from Ireland, and 
Dalriads from Albania, were obliged (when 
they lost their chief) to disperse, and seek 
safety in flight and disorder. 

The Christian religion was not altogether 
unknown in Ireland in the reign of Dathy 
The first sound of the Christian name spread 
itself, it is said, in the island in the time of 
Conquovar Nessan,f king of Ulster, through 
Conal Kearnach, a celebrated wrestler,^ 
who, travelling for many years in foreign 
countries, arrived at Jerusalem at the time 
of the passion of our Lord. O'Flaherty 
relates that this account accords with a tra- 
dition frequently mentioned by the antiqua 
rians of that country ;§ but he appears to 
doubt it himself, as well as the prophecy of 
Bacrach the druid, who foretold, as the 
sybils had done, the miraculous birth and 
shameful death of a divine person, who was 
to be the Saviour of the human race. 

Indeed, it is not surprising that the gospel 
should have been introduced at an early pe 
riod into this island. The Scoto-Milesians 
were much inclined to travel ; and the 
apostles had preached the gospel freely to 
all nations, from India as far as Britain,! in 

* Kennedy, p. 137. 

t Keating on the reign of Conquovar. 

t Usser. Primord. cap. 16, p. 739. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 48. 

11 " Where men from every part of the world, 



the time of the emperors Tiberius, Cali- 
gula, Claudius, and till the tenth year of 
Nero. 

The progress of Christianity was so 
rapid, that there was no nation from east to 
west, not only on the continent but also in 
the islands in the middle of the sea, in 
which the gospel was unknown after thirty 
or thirty-five years.* 

Grave authors assert, that the gospel had 
been preached in the Britannic isles by 
some of the apostles ; they do not agree, 
however, respecting the names of these 
apostolical missionaries. Nicephorus in 
his ecclesiastical history,! says that " Si- 
mon Zelotus had carried the gospel as far 
as the Western Ocean and the British isles, 
and that this apostle was crucified in Bri- 
tain. "J This opinion is supported by the 
Greek menologists, but is contradicted by 
the Roman Breviary and martyrology, and 
by Bede, Usserius, and Ado, who fix the 
martyrdom of that apostle in Persia, on the 
28th of October. § 

Simon, the Metaphrast,|| after Eusebius, 
says, that St. Peter undertook that mission, 
who, according to him, had been a long time 
in Britain, " where he drew many to the 
faith of Jesus Christ, founded churches, 
ordained bishops, priests, and deacons. "II 
Others assert that it was St. Paul, and oth- 
ers St. James, son of Zebedee, who, accord- 
ing to Vincent of Beauvais, had preached 



from India to Britain, were ; even from the cold 
regions of the north and the south Atlantic ; so 
great were the multitudes of men from all nations." 
St. Jerome. 

* " Not islands, nor a continent, nor three parts 
which nature hath assigned to men." — Usher. 

" The word of God has been preached not only 
on the continent, but even in those islands lying in 
the midst of the sea ; they are full of Christians, and 
of the servants of God. The sea does not separate 
him who has made it. Cannot the words of God 
approach where ships approach ?" — St. Augustin. 

" So great was the progress in virtue, that the 
Romans, the Persians, the Medes, the Scythians, 
the Ethiopians, Sarmatians, Saracens, and every 
race of men embraced the yoke of truth in a space 
of 30 years."— Usher on St. Paul, p. 1053. 

" Being made preacher of the word of God, he 
gained the reputation of his faith, teaching both in 
the east and in the west. Coming to the bounda- 
ries of the west, and undergoing martyrdom, decreed 
by princes against him, he thus passed from the 
world." — St. Clemens, disciple of Paul, according 
to Usher. 

t Lib. 2, cap. 40, apud Usser. primord, cap. 1, 
p. 7. 

t Ogyg. part 3, c. 48. 

§ Tom. 2, Antig. Led. Henr. apud Usser. ibid. 

[| Metaphrast, Comment, de Petro et Paulo, ad 
diem 29 Junii. 

11 Baron. Annal. vol. 1, art. 61, Usser. ibid.. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



103 



the gospel in Ireland :* according to others, 
it was there that the canonical epistle was 
written, of which, in the general arid more 
probable opinion, James the younger, who 
was bishop of Jerusalem, was the author.! 
All the history of his preaching in Ireland 
and in Spain will fall of itself, if, as the 
critics say, he had been put to death by 
Herod, before the separation of the apostles. 
Although it be, among so many different 
opinions, difficult to discover the truth, it is 
probable that the gospel had been preached 
at an early period in those islands :% Gildas 
Britannicus bears testimony for his own 
nation, and the Christians whom Ireland 
produced in the first ages of Christianity are 
a proof in favor of this island. But as the 
divine word had fallen in a barren and un- 
grateful soil, and that it did not please God 
to give strength to it, those nations soon re- 
turned to their former worship. 

Among the number of the first Christians 
in Ireland, is St. Mansuy, in Latin, Man- 
suetus, a disciple, it is said, of St. Peter, 
who having preached the gospel in Lorraine, 
by order of this apostle, became first bishop 
of Toul, where he is honored as first patron. 
According to the present critics, the inhab- 
itants of Toul were not converted till the 
third or fourth century, in which case this 
saint could not have been a disciple of St. 
Peter. However this be, St. Mansuy is 
always acknowledged first bishop of Toul, 
and was canonized in. the eleventh century 
by Pope Leo IX., who was before bishop of 
this see. 

Several ancient writers mention the sanc- 
tity and country of St. Mansuy,^ extracts 
from whose works are to be found in the 
history of the Gallican church, written by 
Francis Bosquet, pretor of Narbonne, and 
published in Paris in 1636. The most cele- 
brated of those writers is Adso, abbot of 
Montiers-en-Derf, who wrote, in the tenth 
century, the life of this holy saint, by order 
of Gerrard, who was then bishop of Toul ;|| 
but the verses which were placed at the head 
of his work, in which he sings the praises of 
the saint, are omitted in the Bosquet edition. 



* In Spec. Hist. lib. 8, c. 7. Usser. p. 5. 

t Hug. Archipresbyter Toletanus in Chronic, 
apud Usser. primord. cap. 16, p. 743. 

t Britannorum inaccess Romanis loca, Christo 
vero subdita, Tertull. contra Jud. cap. 7. 

§ " From the annals of the Tullenses, St. Man- 
suetus was bishop and a disciple of St. Peter : he 
was from the nation of Scotia." — Usher. 

|| " Of Toul in Gaul, St. Mansuetus, a native of 
Scotia, was bishop and a disciple of St. Peter." — 
Usher. 



Dempster, always eager for the glory of his 
country, and desirous that it should have the 
honor of giving birth to this saint, quotes 
the first line of Adso, in which he is simply 
called a Scot, " protulerat quemdam gene- 
rosum Scotia natum, Mansuetum," but sup- 
presses the following stanza,* which plainly 
indicates his country to have been Ireland, 
anciently called Scotia, and implies, that, in 
the time of this saint, his country abounded 
with true worshippers. Dempster possesses, 
in an admirable way, the talent of appro- 
priating to himself what does not belong to 
him,f like the bird in the fable which decks 
itself with borrowed plumes ; and by means 
of the analogy of the names Scotia and Scoti, 
claims, says Usher, every character cele- 
brated for learning or piety mentioned by 
the ancients under the name of Scots, at a 
time when the Scoto-Britons were confined 
to the narrow limits of Dalriada, forming 
but an inconsiderable canton in Albania. J 

The modern Scotch follow the example of 
Dempster, and load the Irish with those re- 
proaches which they themselves have reason 
to expect from this nation. Abercromby, 
one of their authors, says gravely, " that he 
is sorry to reproach Ireland with the rob- 
bery not only of flocks and. cattle, but also 
of a number of great men. He must be 
poor indeed," adds he, " who boasts of what 
does not belong to him." 

These are high-sounding words, which 
prove nothing ; Abercromby should have 
begun with the source, by laying it down as 
an indisputable principle, and proving by 
authentic monuments, that the Scotch mon- 
archy had been founded previous to the 
year 503 : that this people alone were known 
by the name of Scots, before and after this 
period, till the ninth century, and the re- 
duction of the Picts ; and lastly, that mod- 
ern Scotland had been celebrated in the 
first ages of Christianity for piety and learn- 
ing, while ignorance and irreligion pre- 
vailed in Ireland ; but, unfortunately for 

* Inclyta Manusueti Claris natalibus orti 
Progenies titulis fulget in orbe suis, 
Insula Christicolas gestabet Hibernia gentes. 
Unde genus traxit et stratus unde fuit. 

t " The origin of Mansuetis descended of illus- 
trious parentage, shines in the world ; the island of 
Hibernia has borne a Christian people, and hath also 
borne him." — Ware. 

t " And from thence, as many of the Scoti as he 
had discovered of celebrity among writers (when 
the Scoto-Britanni were confined within the narrow 
boundaries of Dalrieda) to be drawn in crowds : he 
transfers them to the lesser Scotia, confines them 
to an angle, and confounds all in amass." — Usher, 
c. 16, page 738. 



104 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



him, the contrary has beenfrequentlyproved. 
The judicious reader may infer what degree 
of belief the Scotch authors, after Fordun, 
merit* (who was the first to forge their chi- 
merical' antiquity, in the fourteenth century) 
in comparison with Bede, Giraldus Cam- 
brensis, Luddus, Camden, the bishop of. 
St. Asaph, Stillingfleet, Usher, Ware, and 
so many others, who were foreigners, and not 
interested in this dispute. The learned El- 
fmstone, bishop and chancellor of Scotland 
under James the IV., was so little pleased 
with the historical chimeras of his country- 
men respecting ancient times, that he re- 
fers the curious to the ancient monuments 
of the Irish, to acquire a more ample know- 
ledge of them.f Buchanan himself was so 
diffident of this, that he confessed it was 
with difficulty he had determined on writing 
the history of his country .J But what should 
confound those plagiarists, and prove the 
vanity of their pretensions respecting the 
missionaries and learned men mentioned by 
foreign authors, under the name of Scots, 
is the obscurity of that, people before the 
ninth century, and their neglect in those 
early days, as Innes, one of their modern 
historians, allows. Camden, who describes 
Scotland and Ireland in his Britannia, says 
nothing of the religion of the Scotch, while 
he gives the highest praise to the Irish, both 
for their piety and learning : he says that 
Ireland was called the Island of Saints, on 
account of the rapid progress Christianity 
had made in it, and that it supplied all Eu- 
rope with swarms of missionaries. 

Usher, Colgan,^ Ware, and others, mention 
four holy bishops, called by Usher the pre- 
cursors of St. Patrick, as they had preached 
the gospel in Ireland|| some years before 
Pope Celestine had sent him to convert this 
island.^ Those saints were Declan, Ailbeus, 
Kieran, and Ibar.** Usher gives an abridged 



* See Chapters VI. and VII. of the first part of 
this history. 

t See the Preface of Stillingfleet, p. 53. 

t " Therefore I have long withheld myself from 
becoming one of that body, lest by admiring fables, 
as others, I should become puerile." — Buchanan in 
Camd., p. 85. 

§ Colg. Triad. Thaum, append. 5, cap. 15. 

|| Ware de Prffisul. et Antiq. cap. 29. 

IT Ogyg. part 3, cap, 85. 

** " Before St. Patrick, four very holy bishops 
came to Ireland and preached the doctrine of Christ. 
• — Ailbeus, Declaims, Ibarus, and Kieranus ; who 
drew, in the net of the gospel, many to Christ. In 
the meanwhile the Christian faith was advanced in 
Ireland, by the preaching of three other holy bish- 
ops, (besides Kiaranus,) before the arrival of St. 
Patrick : Bishop Ailbeus preached in various places, 
also St. Ibarus, who was bishop, and that most 



history of the life, country, and mission of 
these holy men. Declan, he says, son of 
Ere, prince of Nandesi, of the royal race of 
the kings of Tara, (who was apparently of 
the race of Fiacha-Suidne, brother of Con- 
Keadcaha,whose descendants were banished 
from Meath by the monarch Cormac Ulfa- 
da, on account of their revolt,) having been 
baptized by Colman, a priest distinguished 
for his sanctity, and afterwards, appointed 
bishop, was instructed in the Christian reli- 
gion by Dymma, who had lately returned to 
the country, of which he was a native. The 
young proselyte made so rapid a progress in 
the doctrine, that he drew after him a great 
number of disciples ; among others, Mochel- 
loc, Bean, Colman, Lachnin, Mob, Pind- 
lugue, and Caminan, each of whom built a 
cell or chapel in the environs of Mag-Scethih, 
otherwise " Campus-Scuti," in the territory 
of Nandesi and county of Waterford, which 
was the place where St. Declan resided. 

The desire of becoming perfect induced our 
saint to go to Rome, with some of his disci- 
ples. He wished to take, from the source 
itself, the spirit and morals becoming his 
station, and to receive from the Vicar of 
Jesus Christ, the orders and mission neces- 
sary to preach the gospel. On his arrival 
at Rome, he was received with distinction 
by the pope, St. Cyricius ; and his noble, 
mild, and affable deportment rendered him 
the admiration of the Roman people. After 
remaining some time at Rome, St. Declan 
was ordained bishop by the pope, and sent 
back to his own country, with full power to 
preach the gospel. 

We discover in the life of St. Declan that 
he met St. Ailbeus at Rome.* The latter 
was a native of the territory of Eliach, other- 
wise Ely-6-Carroll, in the province of Mun- 
ster, but now in Leinster. His father and 
mother were Olenais and Sandith. In his 
youth he was instructed and baptized by a 
Christian priest, sent by the holy see as mis- 
sionary to Ireland. 

After some time St. Ailbeus went to 
Rome, where he perfected himself in the 
holy Scriptures, under the guidance of bishop 
Hilarius, who having witnessed the sanctity 
of his life, and purity of his doctrine, sent 
him to receive orders from the hands of the 
pope. The sovereign pontiff received him 
with joy, and after keeping him for some 
time with him, consecrated him bishop for 
the mission of Ireland, his country, where 

holy prelate Declanus, in his own district, called 
Nandesi." — Usher, Church Hist., c. 16, p. 781. 
* Usser. Ind. Chronol. ad ami. 397. 



WARS OF THE MILESIAN'S. 



105 



he found an abundant harvest. It is said 
that he wrote rules for the monks. 

St. Kieran was born in Ireland, of noble 
parents, about the year 352, according to 
the calculation of Usher.* His father was 
Lugny, descended in the ninth degree from 
Aongus-Osraige, who had given his name 
to the territory of Ossory, and was chief of 
the Fitzpatricks.f Liedan, his mother, de- 
rived her origin from Lugaidge-Mac-Ithy,J 
whose descendants were the O'Driscols, 
lords of Corco-Luidhe, a maritime district 
in southern Munster, comprising the barony 
of Carbery, in the county of Cork, with the 
adjacent isles. 

The authors of the life of this saint do 
not agree concerning the place of his birth : 
some say he was born in Osraige, and others 
in the territory of Corco-Luidhe, the country 
of his mother. However this be, Kieran 
dedicated the first thirty years of his life to 
God in Clere island, called, in the Irish lan- 
guage, " Innis-Clere," on the borders of Cor- 
co-Luidhe, in practices of abstinence and 
every moral virtue, without having been as 
yet baptized. Having thus performed his 
novitiate, and the name of Christianity hav- 
ing reached him, he left his retreat with the 
intention of seeking, in the Christian reli- 
gion, what was wanting to his perfection. 
For this purpose he went to Rome, where 
he received baptism, and devoted twenty 
years of his life to the meditation of holy 
books. He was ordained bishop by Pope 
Anastasius, and set out on his return to 
Ireland, accompanied by five ecclesiastics 
of his own country, who were, Lugaid, 
Columban, Meldan, Lugace, and Cassan, 
about the year 402. 

Before Kieran left Italy, he met St. 
Patrick going to Rome, and the saints of God 
were rejoiced, says the author of his life.fy 
At that time St. Patrick was not bishop, nor 
nominated apostle of Ireland. Colgan, ac- 
cording to an old manuscript of Kilkenny, 
says that St. Patrick had on that occasion 
spoken to St. Kieran in these words : — 
" Continue your journey to Ireland ; in the 
middle of that country you will discover a 
fountain, called Fuaran ; you will there 
cause a monastery to be built, and in thirty 
years I shall visit you there." After this 
the two saints blessed each other with the 
kiss of peace, and then parted. 

St. Kieran's first care, after his return 
to Ireland, was to seek the fountain pointed 

* Usser. primord. Eccles. Britan. cap. 16, p. 788. 

t War. de Prsesul-Hib. 

t Colgan, Act. Sanet. Hib. p. 458. 

§ Usser. primord. cap. 16, p. 791. 



out to him by St. Patrick, and having dis- 
covered it on the confines of Munster and 
Leinster, in the country of Heli, at present 
the barony of Ballybrit, he had a small cell 
built there, and led in it the life of a hermit. 
This cell became afterwards enlarged, and 
was surrounded by a town : it was then 
converted into a monastery, and an episco- 
pal see, of which St. Kieran was first bishop ; 
it was called Sayghir, otherwise Seir-Kieran. 
This see was probably transferred to Agha- 
voe, in Upper Ossory ; whereas in the an- 
nals of Leinster, on the year 1052, a church 
is mentioned to have been built at Aghavoe, 
where the shrine of St. Canice was depos- 
ited. " Templum Aghavoe constructum 
est, et Cannici scrinium ibi collocatum." 
Canice, son of Laidec, a celebrated poet, 
was the founder and first abbot of the ab- 
bey of Aghavoe, where he died the fifth of 
the ides of October, in the year 599 or 600. 
The episcopal see was at length removed 
from Aghavoe to Kilkenny, towards the end 
of the 12th century, by Felix O'Dullany, 
then bishop. 

The talent which the Lord confided to 
Kieran produced good profit ; he drew many 
from the darkness of paganism and idolatry, 
particularly in the country of Ossory. His 
doctrine was confirmed by a great number 
of miracles, as related by Colgan.* Ware 
says, " He was a man greatly celebrated 
for his sanctity and his learning. I cannot, 
however, (continues he,) assert for truth that 
he was the Quirinus to whom, as to other 
bishops of Albania, Pope Gregory I. ad- 
dressed his 61st epistle,! which is still in 
the ninth book of the registry of that pope, 
although the great celebrity of Kieran, the 
long life he enjoyed, and the analogy of the 
name, induce us to believe it. j 

Indeed, the old Irish did not make use 
of K and Q ; the C among them was pro- 
nounced like those letters : as Ciaran (it is 
thus the Irish write this name) was pro- 
nounced Kieran or Quiaran, as Cicero was 
among the Romans, Kikero : in the same 
manner Ciaranus, Kiaranus, and Quiaranus, 
bear a strong analogy to Quirinus ; this adds 
strength to the conjecture of Ware. But 
chronology is opposed to him ; for by sup- 

* In vita Kiarani. t Usser. Vet. Epis. Syl. epis. 2. 

t " He was a man of great influence, on account 
of his sanctity and doctrine. I do not, however, 
venture to affirm that Quirinus was the same as 
he to whom the 61st letter of Gregory I. was writ- 
ten, as well as to other bishops in Ireland. The 
letter is still extant in the registry of Gregory; 
though the name of Kiaranus, his great age, and 
eminent sanctity, would incline us to it." — Ware. 



106 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



posing that Saint Kieran died in 549, we 
should also suppose that St. Gregory had 
written this epistle in his youth, and long 
before his elevation to the pontificate, which 
did not happen till 590. 

Saint Kieran ended at length his mortal 
career, at an advanced age, the 5th of March, 
549 ; so that we do not confound him with 
Saint Kiernan, abbot of Cluan-Mac-Noisk, 
who died this same year. The place of his 
death is uncertain ; according to some Eng- 
lish martyrologists, it was in the county of 
Cornwall in England ; and Dempster, with 
his accustomed license, places him in the 
calendar of the Scottish saints. 

The five companions of St. Kieran, who 
followed him from Rome, were ordained 
bishops, and labored with great zeal for the 
conversion of souls, particularly in Leinster, 
where they founded churches, viz., those 
of Cill-Airthir, Cluain-Ernain, Cluano-Cre- 
ma, Ferdrum, and Domnach-Mor in the 
plain of Magh-Echnach.* Lastly, St. Ibar, 
called in the Irish language .Ibuir, a native 
of the province of Ulster, preached the 
gospel with success in different parts of 
Ireland, particularly in the territory of Gei- 
siol He there founded a celebrated monas- 
tery in an island called Beg-Erinn, which 
means little Ireland, on the borders of Hua- 
Kinseallagh, at present the county of Wex- 
ford, where he ended his days with a high 
reputation of sanctity. This place was 
much frequented in succeeding ages by a 
great concourse of the faithful, who went 
thither for their devotion. 

About this time is recorded the martyr- 
dom of St. Eliph, whose acts are written at 
full length by Rupert, abbot of the abbey of 
Duitz, near Cologne, and briefly mentioned 
by Merscaus Cratepolius, in a small treatise 
on the saints of Germany. 

Saint Eliph, says he, son of the king of 
Scotia, (Ireland,) having given up vast pos- 
sessions in his own country, persuaded that 
it was delightful to serve God in poverty, 
came to Toul, followed by thirty-three dis- 
ciples, where he was cast into prison as a 
traitor to the country ; but he was delivered 
that night by the grace of God, and in a 
miraculous manner : after this he preached 
everywhere with zeal the word of God, 
and converted in a short time more than 
four hundred persons, whom he baptized ; 
this irritated the emperor Julian the Apos- 
tate (an avowed enemy to the Christian 
name) so powerfully against him, that he 
had him seized and beheaded. t This event 

* Usser. Vet. Epist. Syllog. epist. 2. 

t " Saiut Eliphius, son of the king of Scotia, 



happened, according to the catalogue of the 
archbishop of Cologne, in the year 393 ; but 
as that was the year in which Julian died 
in Persia, it is better to place the martyrdom 
of the saint in 360, when that emperor went 
into Gaul and was declared Augustus by the 
army, particularly as he suffered, according 
to Rupert, in conformity with the martyro- 
logies of Bede, of Ado, and the Roman, the 
6th of October, in presence of the emperor 
himself, on the banks of the river Vere, 
between the cities of Toul on the north, and 
Grands, an ancient city of southern Lorraine. 

The body of the saint was buried upon a 
mountain at some distance from the place 
of his martyrdom, called after him, Mount 
St. Eliph, from whence it was transferred by 
Bruno I., archbishop of Cologne,' and depos- 
ited in the church of St. Martin Major, 
which formerly belonged to the nation of 
the Scots. Rupert also mentions Euchar, 
bishop and martyr, brother of St. Eliph, and 
his three sisters, Menna, Libaria, and Susana, 
who suffered for the faith of Jesus Christ. 

According to the Roman martyrology, the 
festival of St. Gunifort, martyr, is kept at 
Pavia," the twenty-second of August. The 
acts of this saint's life are found in Mom- 
britius, torn. 1 ; in the catalogue of the saints 
of Italy, by Philip Ferrarius ; and in the 
Sanctuary of Pavia, by Guallas. This saint 
was descended of noble parents in Scotia, 
where he was converted to the Christian 
religion. Although persecution against the 
Christians was strong in his own country, 
still, being under the care of powerful pa- 
rents, he had not the opportunity to indulge 
the desire he had of martyrdom : it was this 
that made him undertake to leave his coun- 
try with his brother Gunibald and his two 
sisters, and come into Germany, where his 
sisters gave a glorious testimony of their 
faith in Jesus Christ, by their sufferings. 

It is difficult to determine the time in 
which these saints lived. The persecution 
which Ireland underwent in their time would 
induce us to suppose that it was before St. 
Patrick, and the complete conversion of the 

having abandoned vast possessions, was delighted 
to serve Christ the Lord God in poverty. In the 
city of Toul, together with thirty-three of his 
faithful companions, being betrayed, he was thrown 
with them into prison, but, by the goodness of God, 
was miraculously delivered in the night. After 
this, he himself preached with constancy and fer- 
vor, and made a great harvest in the vineyard of 
the Lord : he converted in a short time and baptized 
400 persons. But the emperor Julian the Apostate, 
being incensed against him because he boldly pro- 
claimed the glory of Christ, of whom he was 
envious, caused him to be arrested, and had him 
beheaded, a. d. 350." — Usher, c. 16, p. 785. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



107 



island. The place of their martyrdom is 
likewise uncertain. 

Dempster, who, in his doubtful acceptation 
of the name Scot, wishes to make them his 
countrymen, falls into strange contradictions 
on these two points. He first says, in book I. 
of his Ecclesiastical History, that the two 
sisters of these saints suffered martyrdom a 
year before their brothers, that is, in 419 ; 
but he appears to forget himself when he 
says, in his fourth book, that St. Dardaluch, 
one of the sisters, whose festival is observed 
at Fressing in Bavaria, on the calends of 
February, and whom he imagines to have 
been Scotch, had gone with her brothers 
from Scotland in 420, a time when a Scotch 
kingdom had not been yet known to be 
founded in Britain. The contradiction is 
still more obvious when he says, in the 
seventh book, that the two brothers had 
suffered martyrdom in 417, one at Como, 
and the other at Milan, in the time of the 
emperor Theodosius, as if the Christians 
had been persecuted at Milan, or in any 
part of Italy, in the time of that emperor.* 

On the calends of December, the festival 
of St. Florentinus, priest and confessor, and 
a native of Ireland, whose life is taken from 
the ancient monuments of the church in the 
city of Amboise, according to the martyrol- 
ogy of Usuard, is kept.f That saint after 
leaving his country, made a voyage to Rome, 
and was thrown into prison by order of the 
emperor Claudius. During his imprison- 
ment, he baptized ninety-six persons, both 
men and women, in the number of whom 
was Asterius, the jailer ; he then sent them 
to pope Calixtus to be confirmed. Although 
this event be considered to have occurred in 
the third century, it is not easy to determine 
the epoch with precision, on account of the 
difference of about fifty years, discoverable 
between the pontificate of Calixtus and the 
reign of Claudius. A farther difficulty 
arises by supposing that, according to the 
subsequent part of this saint's life, he had 

* " That these things had been divided into pe- 
riods without distinction of time, the arrangement 
of the years, which is incongruous and discordant, 
proves ; but this it confirms, that Cunibaldus was 
put to death at Canara or Comi, for Christ ; but 
Gunifortus was said to be put to death at Milan by 
the arrows of unbelievers ; as if Theodosius, who 
ruled as emperor at Milan, rendered the times pa- 
gan and not Christian." — Usher's Church History, 
c. 16, p. 795. 

t " Florentinus, a glorious confessor of Christ, 
was born in Ireland, and being brought up under 
the care and solicitude of his parents, Theophilus 
and Benigna, became worthy of the grace of God 
from his earliest youth." — Usher's Church History, 
p. 760. 



been contemporary of Theodebert, and Clo- 
thaire, who reigned in Gaul at the beginning 
of the sixth century. 

Laogare, son of Niall-Noygiollach, and 
cousin-german to Dathy, was his successor 
in the supreme government of Ireland, a. d. 
428. 

According to Usher, the third devastation 
of the Britons happened in the year 431, 
and- consequently in the reign of Laogare. 
The Scots and Picts having learned that the 
Romans refused assistance to the Britons, 
assembled all their force, and advanced to 
the side of the famous wall which the Romans 
caused to be built, extending from sea to 
sea, with the towers at proper distances, in 
which sentinels and armed men were placed 
for its defence. This barrier, defended by 
the undisciplined Britons, held out but for a 
short time. The sentinels were dragged by 
the barbarians from the walls by means of 
hooks.* A breach being afterwards made, 
they entered the country, and committed 
every species of cruelty, forcing the poor 
Britons who escaped the sword, to seek for 
safety in caverns and other hiding-places, to 
conceal themselves from their fury.f It was 
on this occasion that the Britons wrote to 
yEtius, the Roman consul, torepresentto him 
the deplorable state of their affairs, and to 
seek for some assistance from him. They 
mentioned among other things, " that the 
barbarians drove them into the sea, and that 
the sea drove them back on the barbarians ; 
so that they had only the choice remaining, 
of being either put to the sword, or drowned."| 
This letter did not produce the effect the 
Britons expected : the Romans had to defend 



* " The hooked weapons of the enemy cease 
not ; the undisciplined defenders being miserably 
dragged from the walls, were dashed against the 
ground." — Bede, b. 1, c. 12. 

t " The Romans having withdrawn themselves 
from Britain, the Scots sally forth from their cur- 
raghs, in which they were carried over the Scythian 
valley, these foul flocks united with the Picts, 
though differing in custom, were agreed in a similar 
thirst for blood ; in the 8th year of Theodosius, the 
Roman army being taken out of Britain, and their 
denial to return having become known to the Scots 
and Picts, these return and attack the whole coun- 
try from the north as far as the wall. The guards 
being either slain or entirely routed, and the wall 
partly broken down, the cruel robbers triumph in 
their career." — Bede and Usher. 

" In the 8th year of the Emperor Theodosius, 
the Roman army being withdrawn from Britain, the 
Scots and Picts return and attack the entire country 
from the north to the wall." — Chronicles of Usher. 

t " The barbarians drive us into the sea, the sea 
drives us back upon the barbarians, so that between 
this two-fold destruction, we are either drowned or 
put to the sword." — Bede's Church Hist. b. 1, c. 13. 



108 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



their own frontiers against the Huns, and 
could not send them the succor which they 
sought. But they found a remedy for their 
misfortunes in one noble effort, often the 
result of despair. Seeing themselves aban- 
doned by their old protectors, the Romans, 
and on the eve of perishing with famine, or 
falling into the hands of the barbarians, they 
formed the bold resolution of leaving their 
retreats, and to risk their lives in order to 
deliver themselves from slavery : they at- 
tacked the Scots and Picts unawares, and 
made a dreadful carnage among them. The 
Scots or Dalriads, alarmed at this resolution 
of the Britons, and not being supported as 
hitherto by the Scots of Ireland, abandoned 
their settlement in Albania, and withdrew to 
Ireland, having Eocha, surnamed Munraver, 
for their chief, and the Picts took refuge 
among the mountains of Albania.* It was 
on this occasion that Bede, after Gildas, 
said, that those daring robbers, the Irish, 
returned home, intending to go back in a 
short time.f Is not the dissolution of their 
pretended monarchy, mentioned by the 
Scotch, contained in the above account ? 
May it not be supposed that Eocha, who 
commanded the Dalriads in this shameful 
flight, Ere, his son, who led them back from 
Ireland to Albania some years afterwards, 
and Fergus, son of the latter, who became 
their king, are the same as Ethac or Echo- 
dius, who, according to Fordon, withdrew 
with his son Erth to Ireland, at the time of 
the edict of Maximus, and Fergus, son of 
Erth, who re-established the monarchy 1 

Although these refugees were well re- 
ceived by the Dalriads of Ulster, their kins- 
men and allies, they did not relinquish the 
desire of recovering their patrimony in Alba- 
nia. They returned after some time, com- 
manded by Ere, son of Eocha, their last chief, 
whom Usher calls the father of the Scotch 
lungs : " Qui Scotise regibusdeditoriginem."} 
They were soon followed by Maine-Leavna, 
son of Core, king of Munster, who settled 
with his colony in a territory, called after his 
name, Mor-Mor-Leavna, now the duchy of 
Lenox. The six sons of Muireadh, son of 
Eogan, and grandson of Niall, namely, the 
two Lodains, the two Aonguses, and the two 
Ferguses, with their vassals, followed the 
example and fortune of their countrymen 
the more willingly, as Erca, their mother, 
was of the family of Ere, then chief of the 
Dalriads, by Loarne, his eldest son, whose 

* Kennedy, p. 138. 

t " These daring robbers, the Irish, return home, 
purposing to come back after a short time." — Bede, 
b. 1, c. 14. t Primord. cap. 15, p. 689. 



grand-daughter she was.* All those tribes, 
united by the ties of a common origin, after- 
wards formed a numerous and powerful 
people. Besides Cantyre 'and Argyle, the 
residence of theirfathers before their retreat, 
they possessed the territories of Knapdal, 
Lorn, Brunalbain, and Lenox, with all the 
islands on the western coast of Albania ;f 
but still something was wanting to the per- 
fection of this colony. The Dalriads had 
till that time been divided into tribes, without 
laws, or any other form of government, 
commanded only by a chief, whose attention 
was divided between them and the Dalriads 
of Ulster. To obviate the disadvantages 
arising from so imperfect an administration, 
they thought on electing a king : the lot fell 
on Fergus, son of Ere, descended in the 
ninth degree from Eocha Riada. Fergus was 
in Ulster at the time of this election ; he 
departed immediately with a new colony, 
accompanied by his brothers, to take pos- 
session of his kingdom, where he was sol- 
emnly crowned on the superstitious stone, 
which Mortagh-Mac-Earca, his grand ne- 
phew, had sent him for this purpose.}: Ki- 
nal-Loarn derived his name from Loarn. 
eldest brother of Fergus, from whom are 
descended, by Ferguard-Fada, the Mac 
Lanes, the Mac Kenseys, and several other 
distinguished families in Scotland. 

Usher says that the Scots had returned 
to Ireland, their country, after the third 
consulship of iEtius, that is, in 446 ; that 
they soon afterwards returned, and settled 
again in the north of Britain, which was, he 
says, effected by Fergus, whose reign, ac- 
cording to the Scots of Ireland, agreeably to 
the arguments of Gildas and Bede, was sub- 
sequent to the consulship of iEtius.^ In 
his chronological table, he fixes the passage 
of Fergus and his brothers from Ireland to 
Albania, in the year 503. He afterwards 
refers to the life of St. Patrick, written in 
the twelfth century by Jocelin, an English 
monk, in which it is said that Ere, a prince 
of the Dalriads in Ulster, dying, had left 
twelve sons, of whom Fergus was the young- 
est ; that the latter, seeing himself despised 
by his brothers, and excluded from partici- 
pating the right to succeed his father, had 

* ^SyS 1 P ar * 3, cap. 39. 

t Usser. Primord. c. 15, p. 619. 

t Lecan. fol. 119, p. A. col. 2. 

§ " After the third consulship of jEtius, in the 
year 446, the Scots returned into their own coun- 
try, (Ireland,) and after a short time fixed a settle- 
ment in North Britain. This, it is thought, was 
effected through means of Fergusius : his reign, 
according to the Scots, of Ireland, as Bede has it, 
was later than the consulship of iEtius." — Usher's 
Church Hist. c. 15, p. 609. 



WARS OF THE MILESIAXS. 



109 



recourse to St. Patrick, and entreated him to 
make them do him justice ; that the saint, 
knowing the justice of his claims, inter- 
ceded with his brothers, and made them re- 
store to him the portion which belonged to 
him by right ; that having given him his 
benediction, he foretold that, although he 
then appeared humble and despised by his 
brothers, he would soon be their prince ; 
that his descendants would be powerful kings 
who would reign not only in Ireland, but 
also in a distant region.* The prophecy, 
says Jocelin, was literally fulfilled, Fergus 
obtaining the sovereignty in Albania, where 
his posterity have sincereigned. Usheragain 
quotes the annals of Tigernach, which fix 
the reign of Fergus in the beginning of the 
pontificate of St. Symmachus, about the year 
498 ; according to these annals, Fergus- 
More-Mac-Erca, which signifies Fergus the 
Great, son of Erca, with the Dalriads, pos- 
sessed a part of Britain, where he died.f 
Speaking afterwards of Ethach or Eocha- 
Munravar, father of Ere, who, the modern 
Scotch historians say, was brother of king 
Ugene, and who was killed according to 
them by Maximus ; he says that Camden, 
after a more ancient author, affirms him to 
be descended from Chonarus, and not from 
a doubtful line of the preceding kings 4 
" Fergus," says Camden, "was the first that 
reigned in Albania, from Brun-Albain as far 
as the Irish sea and Inch-Gall, and from that 
time, the kings of the race of Fergus reigned 
in Brun-Albain, until the time of Alpine, 
son of Eochal."^ This kingdom, which did 
not comprise one-fourth of the present Scot- 
land, remained in this state, governed by 
kings who were the descendants of Fergus. 
The Picts, who possessed the rest of Albania, 
had also their kings until the ninth century, 
when the Dalriads overthrew their monarchy, 
made themselves masters of all Albania, and 
suppressed even the name of Picts ; but the 

* " Though you may appear humble and despised 
now by your brothers, you will be in a short time 
their prince. From thee the best kings will come 
forth, who will rule not only in their own, but also 
in a distant and foreign land.'' — Usher's Church 
Hist. c. 15, p. 609. 

t •' Fergus-More-Mac-Erca, with the people of 
Dalriada, held a part of Britain, and died in it."— 
Usher's Church Hist. p. 610, c. 15. 

X Camd. Brit. edit. Lond. c. 15, p. 610. 

§ " But a more ancient author, cited by Camden, 
mentions the descent of Fergus not from that doubt- 
ful race of preceding kings, but from another 
stock. Fergus, he says, the son of Eric, was the 
first who, from the seed of Chronarus, ruled over 
Albania, as far as the Irish sea and Inch-Gall, (the 
Hebrides) and from thence were kings of the seed 
of Fergus, who ruled over Brun-Albain, till Alpinus 
son of Eochal." — Usher, c. 15, pp. 610, 611. 



country was not yet called Scotland : " as 
neither Dalriada," says Usher, " which was 
the seat of the British Scots until 840, nor 
even all Albania after the defeat of the Picts, 
had taken the name of Scotland, which did 
not take place imtil the eleventh century, 
when those two people, united together, 
formed but one and the same nation. There 
cannot be produced (continues Usher) any 
author who has described* Albania under 
the name of Scotland, before that period. "t 
When the English had given the name of 
Irish (in Latin Iri or Irenses) to the Scots 
of Ireland, and that of Ireland to their isle, 
this name was then adopted by the Germans, 
the French, the Spaniards, the Italians, and 
the Arabians, (which did not happen at first, 
for the name, Ireland, was not yet generally 
used among strangers,! as Adam de Breme, 
who lived in the eleventh century, and Nubi- 
gensis, in the twelfth, were the first who 
mentioned it ;)§ the name of Scotland was 
by degrees appropriated to Albania, || which 
was for some time called Scotia Minor, to 
distinguish it from Ireland, which was called 
Scotia Major,Tf the inhabitants of which did 
not lose, all of a sudden, the name of Scots ; 
they are so called, in the eleventh century, 
by Hermann, in the first book of his chro- 
nicle, and by Marianus Scotus, whom Flo- 
rentius Wigorniensis mentions in his annals ; 
when speaking of 1028, he says, "in this 
year was born Marianus, probably a Scot 
from Ireland, by whose care this excellent 
chronicle has been compiled from several 
histories."** We discover the same thing in 
a chronicle in the Cottonian library .jt Theo- 

* " Dalrieda had not been, in the year 840, the 
seat of the British Scots, neither had it the name 
of Scotia ; nor did Albania itself, after the defeat of 
the Picts, and until the two people formed but one 
body, receive the name of Scotia, which happened 
in the eleventh century after the nativity of Christ." 
— Usher, c. 16, p. 734. 

t " Thus we think, that no one can be named 
among those who have written in former years, that 
ever gave to Albania the name of Scotia." — Usher. 

X Hist. Eccles.cap. 217. 

§ Geograp. Arab, part 2, Climatis 7. 

|| Petr. Lombard. Comment. Hib. cap. 2, p. 34, 
cap. 13, p. 116. 

tf " It appears there were two Scotias, the great- 
er and the lesser. Ireland is designated by the 
name of ' Scotia Major,' and that part of Britain 
called by some Albania, and now in common, * Sco- 
tia,' was known by the name of Minor. So that 
the Albanian Scots flowed as it were from a river, 
out of Ireland, to the land which they now inhab- 
it." — Stanihurst, b. 1, p. 17. 

** " In this year was born Marianus, an Irishman ; 

he was probably a Scot; by his labors and study, 

these excellent chronicles were condensed and 

formed from different works." — Usher, c. 16, p. 735. 

tt " Marianus the chronographer, a Scot, was bom 



110 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



doric, abbot of the monastery of St. Trudon, 
in the neighborhood of Liege, who wrote, 
in the beginning of the twelfth century, the 
life of St. Rumold,* mentions this saint to 
have been from the island of Scotia, " Scotia? 
insulam," separated from Britain by the sea, 
which can only have reference to Ireland. 
St. Bernard, in his life of St. Malachy, dis- 
tinguishes this island from British Scotland, 
by calling it " Ulterior Scotia ;"t and when 
St. Malachy wished to build an oratory of 
stone, in the monastery of Benchuin, in Ul- 
ster, St. Bernard alludes to some envious 
person who said to the saint, " Oh, good 
man, why do you think of introducing nov- 
elties amongst us ? We are Scots, and not 
Gauls."| 

According to Bede, the building of stone 
churches was at that time unknown not only 
in Ireland but also in Britain. § Lastly, we 
have the testimony of Ceesarius d'Heisterbach 
in the thirteenth century, who makes use of 
the name " Scotia," to designate Ireland,! 
saying that if any one doubted the existence 
of purgatory, he need only go to Scotia, 
where he would find the purgatory of St. 
Patrick. 

The claims of the Milesians respecting the 
migrations of their colonies, which gave rise 
to the Scotch nation, are supported by the 
authority of a number of celebrated authors. 
Bede says, that besides the Britons and Picts, 
there was a third nation of Scots in Britain, 
who having left Ireland under the conduct of 
Reuda, their chief, took possession, either 
by force or peaceably, of the habitations 
which they had till then preserved, and were 
called from his name, Dalreudini.U 

Giraldus, surnamed Cambrensis,** says, 
that in the reign of Niall the Great in Ire- 
land, the six sons of Muredus, king of 
Ulster, with a considerable fleet, seized on 



in Ireland ; he composed the chronicle of chroni- 
cles." — Usher, c. 16, p. 735. 

* Vit. Rumold. lib. 7. 

t " From the further Scotia, he continued till he 
died."— Usher, c. 16, p. 376. 

t " O good man, what hath induced thee to 
introduce into our country this novelty ? We are 
Scots and not Gauls." — Usher, c. 16, pp. 736, 737. 

§ Hist. Eccles. lib. 3, cap. 25. Hib. 3, cap. 4. 
Dialog, lib. 12, c. 38. 

|| " He who doubts of purgatory, let him go to 
Ireland and enter the purgatory of St. Patrick."— 
Usher. 

If " Britain, after receiving the Britons and Picts, 
received among the Picts a third nation, the Scots, 
who, after leaving Ireland, secured for themselves, 
either by friendship or the sword, those parts which 
they still possess, and are from their leader Reuda, 
called Dalreudini." — Bede's Christ. Hist.b. 1, c. 1. 

** Topog. Hib. dist. 3, cap. 16. 



the northern part of Britain, and founded a 
nation called Scotia.* 

" It is certain," says Camden, " that the 
Scots went from Ireland into Britain ; for 
Isidorus calls that island Scotia, from a 
nation of Scots who inhabited it." Orosius, 
Bede, and Eginard, bear indisputable testi- 
mony, that Ireland was inhabited by the 
Scots.f Besides, he calls the Irish the an- 
cestors of the Scotch. " Hiberni Scotorum 
atavi."J 

The same author again expresses himself 
in a manner which leaves no doubt on this 
subject. If all history were lost, and that 
there remained no possibility to prove by 
writing, that the Scotch are descended from 
the Irish, the unity of the two languages 
common to these people would convince us 
of it more easily than the authority of the 
greatest historians.^ 

However, it is not necessary to have re- 
course to the English to prove what is 
allowed by the Scotch themselves. " It is 
proved by many arguments," says John 
Major, " that we have derived our origin 
from the Irish. We are told it by Bede, 
and our very language proves it ; nearly 
half the Scotch speak Irish, and it is not long 
since a still greater number spoke it." Im- 
mediately after this, when speaking of the 
Irish: " they have conveyed," says he, "their 
language from Ireland to Britain, which 
appears by our annals, and which authors 
have not omitted to observe, on this head. 
Thus, I say," continues this author, " that 
the Scotch derive their origin from the same 
source as the Irish, though in an indirect 
line."!! 



* " Scotia is called the northern part of the 
British island, because that nation was originally 
propagated by thern, and are known to inhabit that 
country. The analogy of their dress and arms, as 
well as of their habits, proves it to this day." — 
Giraldus Cam. in Stanihurst, and in Usher, c. 17, 
p. 245, c. 16, p. 725. 

t " It appears indeed that they passed from Ire- 
land into Britain, for Isidorus calls Hibernia ' Sco- 
tia,' from the nation of the Scots. And that the 
Scots inhabited Hibernia, the testimony of Bede 
and Eginarius is above all disputation." — Camd. 
p. 36. 

t Camd. Brit. edit. Franco, p. 59. 

§ " Who are indeed allied by a similarity of 
language, and that they have been of one origin, I 
think no one will deny. Even if every history had 
failed, and that no one had committed to writing 
that the true Scots had been produced from Ireland, 
their language being one and the same, would prove 
it more ably than the authority of the most grave 
historians." — Camden. 

|| " From various arguments it is admitted, that 
we have drawn our origin from the Irish, and this 
we have learned from Bede, an Englishman. A 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



Ill 



Buchanan is not less decisive on this sub- 
ject : saying, as Orosius, that all the inhab- 
itants of Ireland were called Scots in the 
beginning : he adds, " Our annals make 
frequent mention of the transmigration of 
the Scots from Ireland to Albania."* Im- 
mediately after, he refers to the distinction 
made between these two people, both called 
Scots. " Formerly," says he, " when both, 
that is, the inhabitants of Ireland and the 
colonies which they had sent to Albania, 
were called Scots, the former were called 
the Scots of Ireland, and the latter the 
Scots of Albania, to distinguish one from 
the other ;"t and in another place, speaking 
of the Scots of Albania, he says, " at the 
time that they were called Albini or Albains, 
their neighbors gave them the name of Scots, 
a name which denotes that they derived their 
origin from the Irish. "J 

Although the Scotch agree with the 
Milesians or Scots of Ireland, concerning 
their origin ; they, however, differ widely 
as to the time of the transmigration of the 
first colonies from Ireland to Albania. 

As a modern origin is not flattering to 
pride, and as every nation desires to be con- 
sidered ancient, the Scotch authors of latter 
times have formed a system of antiquity for 
themselves, by fixing their migration, and 
the beginning of their monarchy, a few 
centuries too early, and by multiplying the 
number of their kings. 

" Fame has given us to understand," says 
Buchanan, § " that a great number of Span- 
iards, either forced to quit their country, or 
leaving it of their own accord in order to 
relieve the state, which was already over- 
burdened with inhabitants, came and settled 



similarity of dialect proves it. A great part of 
Scotland speak the Irish language, and lately the 
greater portion of Scotch spoke Irish ; from Ireland 
they carried their dialect into Britain ; this is 
manifest by our annals, in which our writers were 
not remiss. I say, therefore, that from whomsoever 
the Irish have taken their origin, the Scotch have 
received from them their beginning, as a grand- 
son derives his from a grandfather." — Joannes 
Major. 

* " Nor is it only once that, as our annals say, 
the Scots passed from Ireland to Albania." — Buck. 
b. 2, p. 55. 

t " But when both in the commencement, i. e. 
the inhabitants of Ireland and their colonies who 
had been sent into Albania, might be distinguished 
by some mark, one from the other, they began to 
be called Irish Scotch, and the Albanian Scotch." 
— Buchanan, b. 2, p. 55. 

X " Though they call themselves Albanians, their 
neighbors the Irish call them Scotch, by which 
name their descent from the Irish is implied." — 
Buchanan, p. 64, b. 2. 

§ Lib. 4, Rev. Scot, page 97, et seq. 



in Ireland, where they became extremely 
numerous, under the name of Scots : from 
hence many spread themselves through the 
neighboring islands, without, a king, or any 
form of government. In the interval, a fleet 
of Germans, or Scythians, according to 
Bede, without either women or children, was 
cast by a tempest on the coast of Ireland. 
Those new-comers, after a long voyage, 
being destitute of every thing except their 
arms, sent to ask permission of the Scots to 
settle among them. The answer given them 
was, that their* own numbers were already 
too great for the island, from which, in con- 
sequence of its numerous population, they 
had been obliged to send colonies to the 
neighboring isles. However, being struck 
with compassion for the deplorable state of 
those strangers, they advised them to go to 
Albania, where they might easily make a 
settlement among a people disunited by civil 
war, and the opposite factions of several 
petty princes who commanded them. Pleased 
with the advice, and promises of aid from 
the Scots in case they met with resistance, 
they set out for Albania, where, after some 
battle's in which they were victorious, a 
considerable part of the eastern coast of 
Albania was surrendered to them, and they 
were long after called Picts,by the Romans 
and other neighboring people. 

" The Picts, confiding in the happy omen 
of future friendship from the Scots, obtained 
wives from them, and thereby contracted so 
close an alliance, that they seemed to form 
but one people ; so that the passage between 
the two countries being free, a number of 
Scots came and settled among the Picts, 
who received them with joy. The pleasure, 
however, at first produced by the arrival of 
these new guests, soon gave way to jealousy ; 
they saw, with pain, that they were becoming 
powerful ; and began to dread their future 
aggrandizement ; so that distrust was soon 
productive of quarrels, which ended in the 
separation of the two people that were 
friends so recently. The Scots withdrew 
to the mountains, and the Picts remained in 
possession of the fertile lands on the coast 
of the German Ocean. 

" The Britons, equally hostile to both 
parties, beheld their separation with plea- 
sure, and being desirous to take advantage 
of it, did all in their power to increase the 
discord which had already prevailed among 
them : they even offered to assist the Picts 
against their enemies. The Scots seeing the 
danger which threatened them, and fearing 
they should be crushed by the united power 
of the Picts and the Britons, thought of de- 



112 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



fending themselves ; but as their chiefs could 
not agree about the command, each thinking 
himself as well qualified as his neighbor, 
they sent to Ireland for a considerable body 
of troops, under the command of Fergus, 
son of Ferchard, an experienced general ; 
and to interest him still more, he was de- 
clared king with unanimous consent. Being 
invested with this dignity, and to justify the 
high opinion entertained of him, Fergus col- 
lected his troops with all possible diligence, 
to march against the enemy. Both armies 
being come in view of each other, a rumor 
was spread in both camps among the Scots 
and Picts, which prevented them coming to 
an engagement. It was reported that the 
Britons were equally opposed to both ; that 
they excited discord among them for the 
purpose of weakening and subsequently over- 
throwing them. The Scots and Picts being 
justly alarmed, hostilities ceased on both 
sides, and they began to treat of peace, that 
they might unite against their common ene- 
my. The Britons being thus disappointed, 
resolved to take immediate revenge. They 
assembled all the troops that they were able, 
and invaded the territory of the Scots, 
spreading terror everywhere they marched ; 
but they were soon checked by the Scots 
and Picts, who attacked them by surprise 
during the night, and made a dreadful car- 
nage among them. The greater part of the 
British troops, with their king, Coilus, per- 
ished on this occasion, which prevented the 
Britons from disturbing the Scots and Picts, 
after this, in their possessions. After this 
victory, Fergus again received the homage 
of his subjects, who confirmed, by oath, the 
succession of the crown to his descendants. 
He then returned to Ireland, to allay some 
troubles which had arisen during his ab- 
sence ; but being desirous of going back to 
his new kingdom, he unfortunately perished, 
in the twenty-fifth year of his reign, having 
been shipwrecked on a rock, called, from 
his name, Carrig-Fergus. The arrival of 
Fergus in Albania, is fixed in the time that 
Alexander the Great took Babylon ; that is, 
about three hundred and thirty years before 
Jesus Christ."* 



* "In the first place a story incessantly prevails, 
strengthened by numerous discoveries, that a num. 
ber of Spaniards, whether driven from the country 
by their more powerful masters, or from a redun- 
dancy of population, went of their own accord, 
passed over to Ireland, and seized upon the adjoin- 
ing parts of that island. To Fergusius, who was 
victorious, and to his posterity, the Scots, on his 
return, confirmed by an oath his title to that king- 
dom. After this, having brought matters in Scotia 



Such is the account which Buchanan, and 
nearly all of the historians of his country, 
give of the origin of the Scotch, and the 
foundation of their monarchy in Albania, by 
Fergus, son of Ferchard, which leaves no 
doubt concerning it ; they almost agree on 
this point with the Milesians. The greatest 
difficulty respects the time, and the real or 
affected error of the Scotch concerning 
Fergus I. 

They assert that their monarchy began 
under Fergus, son of Ferchard, three hun- 
dred years before Jesus Christ ;* that it 
lasted under thirty-nine kings, till the year 
360 ; that Eugene, who was at that time 
king, was killed in a battle by Maximus, a 
Roman general,! who, at the instigation of 
his allies, the Picts, pronounced sentence 
of banishment against all those who had 
escaped in the battle, and that in obedience 
to this edict, Etach, brother of the deceased 
king, with Erth, his son, and many others 
of the same nation, took refuge in Ireland, 
and some in Norway, and the neighboring 
islands 4 

John Major fixes this event in 353, fy Bu- 
chanan in 377, Hector Boetius in the se- 
cond year of the reign of Julian the Apos- 
tate, || that is, in the year of Christ 362 or 
363. After this dispersion, which, accord- 
ing to Fordon,^ lasted about forty -three 
years, the Scots regained the patrimony of 
their ancestors in Albania, in 403, through 
the valor of Fergus II., son of Erth, and 
grandson of Etach, brother of Eugene, their 
last king. 

The Milesians, on the other hand, take 
off a few centuries from this antiquity of the 
Scotch ; they maintain that Fergus, son of 
Earcha, (who was, we are sure, the same 
as Fergus, second son of Erth, mentioned 
by Fordon,) who is only the fortieth in the 
catalogue of kings, according to Buchanan, 
was first king and founder of the Scotch mon- 
archy, towards the end of the fifth, or be-_ 



under subjection, he passed over to Ireland, to sup- 
press by his influence, an insurrection, and this 
being accomplished, after sailing out of the harbor, 
for the purpose of returning, he was overtaken by 
a storm, and perished on a rock, which was thence 
called Fergusium ; this happened in the 25th year 
of his reign. His arrival in Albania is placed in 
the same year that Alexander, of Macedonia, took 
Babylon, almost 330 years before the birth of Christ." 
— Buchanan, b. 4, p. 97. 

* Walsh, Prosp. of Irel. sect. 6. 

t Usser. prim. Eccles. c. 25, p, 592. 

t Fordon. Scoti. Chronic, lib. 2, p. 45. 

§ Buchan. Degest. Scot. lib. 2, c. 1. 

|| Rev. Scotie. lib. 5. 

IT Scot. Hist. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



113 



ginning of the sixth century ; that the thirty- 
nine kings who had preceded Fergus, son 
of Erth, in the government of Scotland, ac- 
cording to the catalogue of Buchanan, were 
indeed his ancestors in genealogical order, 
wifhol(fchaving ever been kings of Scotland 
or elsewhere, with the exception of a few 
who reigned in Ireland. I could quote 
many Irish books in support of this state- 
ment ; but the authority of Camden and 
Usher, two celebrated authors, who have 
thoroughly investigated this subject, is suf- 
ficient ; the former, an Englishman, and 
incapable of resorting to a falsehood for 
the purpose of heightening the glory of the 
Irish nation ; the latter, though bom in Ire- 
land, was of English origin, and being nei- 
ther a Milesian nor a Scotchman, quite 
disinterested in the dispute. 

Camden, after refuting these two misera- 
ble arguments, (it is thus he describes them,) 
one drawn from a panegyric, the other sup- 
ported only by mere conjectures, which 
Buchanan, an excellent poet, advances in 
favor of the pretended antiqviity of his coun- 
try in opposition to Humphry Lhuid, a good 
antiquarian, says, that the name of Scotch 
is not discoverable in any author before the 
time of Constantine the Great.* He adds, 
that the accounts in which it is said the 
name and kingdom of the Scotch already 
made a figure in Britain, many centuries be- 
fore Jesus Christ, are all fabulous. t " Let 
us then learn," continues he, " the time of 
their first settlement in Britain, a. d. 379, 
from Giraldus Cambrensis, who says, that 
in the reign of Niall the Great, king of the 
province of Ulster, the six sons of Muredus 
came to settle in the North of Britain, where 
they founded a nation under the name of 
Scotia. These people, who till then led 
a wandering life, according to Ammianus 
' cum antea per incerta vagantes,' settled in 
Britain, which happened, says Camden, at 
the time of the decline of the Roman em 
pire under Honorius." 

The number of authors quoted by Usher, 
in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of his 
treatise on the antiquities of the British 
churches, to prove that the name of Scots, 



* " He will never remove from writers the name 
of Scots, before the time of Constantine the Great, 
which because Lhuidus asserts, he rushes on the 
man, attacks him, and endeavors to stab him with 
two miserable arguments, the one a panegyric, the 
other a conjecture." — Camden, p. 61. 

t " These are trifles which are written by the 
Scots, viz., that the name and kingdom of the Scots 
flourished in Britain many centuries before Christ." 
— Camd. p. 62 



and Hibernians or Irish, were synonymous 
till the eleventh century, and designated but 
one and the same people, leave no doubt as 
to the opinion of this learned man on the 
subject. Although those authors had fre- 
auent occasion of mentioning the Scots, 
respecting their exploits and enterprises 
against the Romans and Britons, they all 
describe them as a wandering people, hav- 
ing no settled residence in Britain. No 
mention is made, in any of their writings, 
of any people called Scots but those who 
came from Ireland. They knew no Scotch 
nation established in Albania before the 
Dalriads, or Dalreudini, as Bede calls them ; 
which is evident from the distinction made 
by Gildas Britannicus, an author of the sixth 
century, (who had an opportunity of know- 
ing his neighbors,) between the two enemies 
of the Britons. First, at the time of their 
attack on Britain, he calls them Scots and 
Picts ; then, speaking of the retreat of these 
barbarians, he says that the daring robbers, 
the Irish, had returned home to Ireland with 
the intention of coming back in a short time, 
and that the Picts had remained in the north- 
ern part of Britain.* Usher observes three 
things in this passage of Gildas :f first, that 
the Picts had rested, for the first time, in the 
north of Britain ; that is, they had for the 
first time ceased to ravage Britain ; secondly, 
that the Scots were the inhabitants of Ireland, 
as observed, says he, by Polidore Virgil ;J 
and thirdly, that the return of the Hibernians 
to Albania from Ireland, and their establish- 
ment in that country, were subsequent to the 
consulship of iEtius, and in the year 446. 

It appears that Le Nain de Tillemont 
was not well acquainted with this history, 
whereas he, as well as Bollandus, insinu- 
ates that all the Scots had passed into the 
north of England, to establish the kingdom 
of Scotland, and that they were distinguished 
from the Hibernians, and raised above them, 
&c. It was, it seems, reserved for Tille- 
mont to make observations not known to an- 
cient or modern authors who have treated on 
this subject; those authors speak, not of the 

* " From two very cruel nations beyond seas — the 
Scots from the west, and Picts from the north — 
Britain suffers and sighs during many years. The 
daring robbers, the Irish, return home, intending to 
come back in a short time. The Picts then settled, 
for the first time, in the north of the island." — 
Usher, c. 15, pp. 593-609. 

t Usser. Prim. Eccles. c. 15, p. 609. 

X " This being known, the Scots, influenced 
either from a hope of booty or an eagerness for a 
revolution, flew from Ireland, as Gildas relates, 
with precipitancy against the island." — Virgil, h. 
3, p. 122. 



114 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



whole nation, but of some colonies of Scots, 
who had gone to Albania ; they make use 
indiscriminately of the names Hibernians 
and Scots, to signify the same people. 

A foreigner, writing of a people with 
whom he is unacquainted, is often liable to 
mistakes, and easily falls into error, whlB 
he follows his own ideas in preference to 
authority ; aiming at being a critic, he has 
sometimes need of being set to rights 
himself. 

The Scotch writers of our days artfully 
circulate their doubts about their origin, 
and affect to render it uncertain. They 
differ not only from the authority of all for- 
eign writers on this subject, but even from 
that of their ancestors.* 

Abercromby, who published in Edin- 
burgh, in 1711, "The Military Exploits 
of the Scotch," says, that according to 
most antiquarians of his country — among 
others, Fordon, Boetius, and Buchanan — 
the Scots, or Scotch, having derived their 
origin from Greece and Egypt, and having 
passed through Spain to Ireland, came from 
thence to Albania. But the conjectures of 
Sir W. Temple appear to flatter him still 
more.f He confidently decides, that the 
Scotch have their origin from the Scythians 
of Norway, from a pretended conformity of 
manners, and a similarity which he supposes 
to have discovered in their customs. This 
supposition, says Abercromby, is supported 
by many observations and arguments taken 
from ancient and modern authors, which 
make it a problem whether the Scots of 
Ireland derived their origin from those of 
Albania, or the latter from the former. 
However, the testimony of Orosius, Isido- 
rus, Bede, Eginardus, Henry of Hunting- 
don, Cambrensis, Camden, Usher, and so 
many others, who assert that the first Scoto- 
Britons derived their origin from the Irish, 
ought to outweigh the surmises of a few in- 
dividuals. Abercromby was so well aware 
of this difficulty, notwithstanding his incli- 
ning to the contrary opinion, he is forced to 
acknowledge that history and tradition are 
on one side, and mere conjecture on the 
other 4 

Our author complains of the antiquarians 

* " When I speak of the Scotch, either here, or 
in any subsequent part of this history, I do not pre- 
tend to attack that nation, rendered respectable 
by the many rare qualities with which they are en- 
dowed ; and whose origin is common with that of 
the people of whom I write ; I only complain of the 
injustice of some of their authors." — Abbe M'G. 

t Pages 2, 3, and fol. 

t Abercromby on the life of Fergus I., b. 1, c. 1, 
p. 28. 



who reject the history of Fergus I., and the 
foundation of the Scotch monarchy in the 
time of Alexander the Great ; and who, as 
well as Luddus, Camden, the bishop of St. 
Asaph, Usher, Stillingfleet, Du Chene, le 
Pcre Labbe, Thomas Rose, and offers, fix 
this event in the year of Jesus Christ, 503 ; 
but his spleen is more strongly excited 
against Kennedy, who maintains this opin- 
ion in his genealogical dissertation, in which 
he proves that the royal family of the Stu- 
arts are descended from the Scots of Ireland. 
He gives a brief sketch of some principles, 
or rather some circumstances quoted by 
Kennedy, to support the authority of the 
ancient monuments or manuscripts of his 
country ; but he displays his insincerity, 
by giving those principles in a mutilated 
sense, and quite different from what they 
are in the writings of Kennedy, in order to 
make them appear ridiculous, and thereby 
apply to them this verse from Horace : 

" Spectatum admissi, risum teneatis amici." 

" Sir George M'Kenzie has (says our 
author) already, in a great measure, prov- 
ed from Irish manuscripts ; and the Right 
Honorable the Earl of Cromarty promises 
(and what one of his lordship's high rank, 
and still more eminent qualities, is pleased 
to promise, will, no doubt, be performed) to 
show from records and writers of the same 
nation, that the Scots were settled in Alba- 
nia long before the birth of our Saviour."* 

But will a system established on such 
proofs be received ? Mouldy and con- 
temptible manuscripts,! (it is thus Aber- 
cromby describes those cited by Kenne- 
dy,) constitute the basis and proofs which 
M'Kenzie gives us of the antiquity of his 
country. Still the proofs are imperfect : 
and the promise of the earl of Cromarty 
should be considered as real and unanswer- 
able proofs. Might we not rather apply 
here the words of Horace ? — 

" Risum teneatis amici." 

In order to judge of the strength of 
M'Kenzie's testimony, we should examine 
the link of the tradition and history of the 
Scotch, according to Abercromby ; " there 
were," he says, " both priests and druids in 
Britain •.$ they have probably written the 
history of their own times ; and even if 
they did not, men lived then to so advanced 
an age, that twelve generations could perpet- 
uate from father to son the tradition of eight 

* Page 5. 

t Aber. Life of Fergus II., lib. 1, c. 2, p. 92. 

t Pages 5, 6. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



115 



hundred years ; namely, from Fergus I., 
who lived three hundred years before Jesus 
Christ, till 503 of the Christian era ; which, 
according to the opposite party, was the 
time the monarchy had been founded. Be- 
sides, until Fergus I., the antiquarians were 
accustomed to deliver the genealogy of kings 
at their coronation. 

" The first monks succeeded the druids. 
The monastery of Hy, or Icolm-Kill, was 
founded in 560, and was the burial-place of 
the kings of Scotland till the reign of Mal- 
colm-Can-More. The monks of this monas- 
tery, as well as those of Paislyscoon, Pfus- 
cardin, Abercorn, &c, always wrote and 
preserved the history of Scotland, and the 
lives and history of her kings. Verimond, 
a Spanish priest, and archdeacon of St. 
Andrews, composed, in 1076, his history of 
Scotland, which he copies from those of the 
druids and monks. Verimond was copied 
in the fourteenth century by Fordon, and 
Fordon by Boetius, Lesley, Buchanan, &c." 
Such is the link and order of the Scotch 
history according to Abercromby. It ap- 
pears that we have no proof but the author- 
ity of Verimond, for all that happened in 
that country before the eleventh century ; 
it is the spring on which the whole of their 
history is supported, and the only means 
whereby M'Kenzie can fathom the antiqui- 
ties of his country. 

But besides that this history is not at pre- 
sent in being, and the existence of the author 
is doubted by many learned men — -a circum- 
stance well known to Abercromby, from his 
having appealed to Chambers of Ormond, 
and others, to support, by their testimony, that 
the author and his works have existed, how 
could a Spaniard read and understand the 
manuscripts of a language so difficult and lit- 
tle known, that the natives themselves could 
scarcely decipher it 1 How could a stranger 
be judged more capable of this undertaking 
than the inhabitants, who had the advantage 
of possessing the language in which those 
ancient monuments were written ? 

Abercromby discovering, as is seen, the 
insufficiency of the tradition of his country,* 
has recourse to Gildas, Nennius, and Bede. 
Gildas, who wrote in 540, " acknowledges," 
he says, " that he knew nothing concerning 
the Scots, except what he had borrowed from 
strangers." He thence infers, that if the 
Scots had not been established in Britain 
before the year 503, Gildas would have had 
some knowledge of them. Itseems, however, 
that the inference would have been more just 



to say, that if the Scots had formed a nation, 
governed by kings for the space of eight 
centuries, till the time of Gildas, as asserted 
by the modern Scotch, that author would 
have known them, and not have been obliged, 
in order to acquire a knowledge of their his- 
tory, to have recourse to the Scots of Ire- 
land, or to the Romans, who are probably 
those strangers to whom he alludes. But it 
is not surprising that this inconsiderable king- 
dom, which was only beginning to emerge 
from obscurity in the time of Gildas, and 
the extent of which was confined to three or 
four small territories in the western part of 
Albania, had been unknown to Gildas, at a 
time when there was so little trade and in- 
tercourse between the different nations. 

Abercromby derives but little advantage 
from Nennius in favor of his system. " This 
author," says he, " who lived in the begin- 
ning of the eighth century, had composed his 
history partly from that of the Scots. The 
Scots, therefore, had historians at that time." 
Who doubts it ? Before he proclaims vic- 
tory, he should remove all ambiguity, and 
prove, that in the ages Which preceded the 
time of Nennius, his ancestors alone were 
called Scots, even exclusive ofthe inhabitants 
of Ireland, known by the ancients as the true 
Scots. He then says, that Nennius affirms 
that the nation of the Scots is as ancient in 
Britain as the supposed king Brutus. Such 
far-fetched proofs, however, avail but little, 
whereas, according to Baker,* this Brutus 
lived a thousand years before Julius Caesar, 
that is, about seven hundred years before 
the period in which the Scotch fix the foun- 
dation of their monarchy by Fergus I. : it 
also appears that this passage in Nennius 
is obscure, as Usher thinks Brutus to have 
been the first Roman consul. t 

After Gildas and Nennius, he calls the 
venerable Bede to his aid, and uses all his 
subtlety to serve his interest. He confounds 
the facts related by this respectable author, 
and inverts the chronology and order of his 
history. " Bede," says he, " reckons the 
Scots among the most ancient inhabitants 
of Britain:" he says, "that the Britons 
having at first possessed the southern parts 
of the island, the Picts afterwards settled in 
the northern, and that after the latter, the 
Scots, under Reuda, their chief, founded a 
third nation with the Britons and Picts." 
He then introduced the Romans as a fourth 
colony, notwithstanding that Britain was not 
known to them till the time of Julius Caesar. 

* Chron. p. 1. 

t Frimord. cap. 15, p. 619. 



116 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



" The Scots therefore were settled in Brit- 
ain," says Abercromby, " before the inva- 
sion of the island by that conqueror." 

But, with his permission, the order of 
events does not always follow the order of 
the chapters in which they are related ; an 
historian is sometimes obliged, according to 
the matter he treats of in a chapter, to 
derange facts, and extend his narrative be- 
yond what is contained in the chapter which 
follows. It is thus that Bede, speaking of 
the colonies which had settled in Britain, 
mentions the Scots after the Picts, and before 
the Romans, although Usher and others fix 
their establishment in the island in the be- 
ginning of the third century. He indeed in- 
troduces the Scots after the Picts, not imme- 
diately, as Abercromby insinuates, but long 
after, and in succession of time, " procedente 
autem tempore." His naming them imme- 
diately after the Britons and Picts, arises 
from his having considered them as a colony, 
which had, like them, made Britain their 
country, and whose posterity still existed in 
his time, and formed a body of people. It 
is not so with the* Romans, whom he con- 
siders less as a colony than as conquerors. 
It was not customary with this people to settle 
colonies in conquered provinces, nor to dis- 
possess the old proprietors, but were satisfied 
with their submission, and a tribute which 
they levied to defray the expenses of a pre- 
fect or legate, and of the troops which they 
maintained in them to keep the people in 
obedience, and defend them against the in 
cursions of their enemies. Abercromby has 
an admirable turn for bringing facts together, 
when his interest is concerned ; and applies 
to the second century what belongs to the 
fifth. " Severus," says he, still quoting Bede, 
" caused a wall to be built, to serve as a 
rampart, against the unsubdued nations, 
namely, the Scots and Picts, two foreign 
nations, thus called, not that they were es- 
tablished out of Britain, but because they 
were separated, by two arms of the sea, from 
that part which was subject to the Romans." 

It is true that Bede says all this, but at 
different times, and under different circum- 
stances. He says, in the fifth chapter, that 
Severus, who lived in the second century, 
constructed, not a wall, as Abercromby af- 
firms, but a ditch, with pallisades, to check 
the unsubdued nations,* which he does not 
name ; but we may suppose that they were 

* " Where after many severe battles, the part of 
the island which he had recovered, he thought should 
be distinguished from the other unconquered parts, 
not by a wall but by a rampart." — Bcde's Church 
Hist. b. 1, c. 5. 



the Scots and Picts, the former of whom 
were a wandering people, having no settled 
residence in Britain,* or, perhaps, some can- 
tons of the Britons, who, dissatisfied with 
the yoke of the Romans, sometimes revolted 
against them. But when Bede, after Gildas, 
speaks, in the twelfth chapter, of the trans- 
marine or foreign nations, and adds the fol- 
lowing reflection, which is not in Gildas, 
namely, that those nations were not so called 
on account of having been established out of 
Britain, but only because they were separ- 
ated from it by two arms of the sea ; he 
speaks only with respect to the situation of 
the affairs of the Britons with the Scots and 
Picts in the fifth century, when the Roman 
power began to decline in Britain, and in 
other parts, under Honorius, as he says in 
the preceding chapter : " Ex quo tempore 
Romani in Britannia regnare cessarunt." 
Then Bede's remark on the epithet, " trans- 
marine," which Gildas gives to the Scots 
and Picts, is applicable to the former, who 
began, in the third century, to form settle- 
ments in Britain, without, however, consti- 
tuting a kingdom or making a state distinct 
from that of Ireland. Gildas and Bede speak 
of those foreign nations when mentioning the 
dreadful ravages committed by those bar- 
barians in Britain, in the beginning of the 
fifth century. They first call them Scots 
and Picts, and particularize the countries 
from which they came. They say, " the 
Picts came from the north, and the Scots 
from the west" — " Scotorum a circio," or, 
according to Fabius Ethelwerdus, " Scoti ab 
occidentali plaga," that is, from the west ; 
which can only refer to Ireland, and by no 
means to Scotland, which is immediately in 
the north of Britain, or, to speak more 
plainly, constitutes the northern part of the 
island. Those Scots who came from the 
west, are called by the same authors, at the 
time of their retreat, Irish, " revertuntur 
impudentes grassatores Hiberni domum." 

This account agrees with the comment 
affixed to the manuscript of Gildas, in the 
library of Cambridge, in which it is said 
that the passage in Gildas, " a duabus genti- 
bus transmarinis,"t should be rather applied 
to the Scots, whose love of pillage made 
them come every year from Ireland to Brit- 
ain, than to those already established by 

* " As it may appear, that these times were in 
the reign of Honorius Augustus : whereas then, ac- 
cording to Ammianus, they had no settled abode, 
that they had long harassed Britain and the parts 
designated by limits, but they appear to have settled 
in Britain." — Camd. p. 63. 

t Petr. Lombard. Comment, cap. 15, pp. 27, 28. 



WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 



117 



Reuda, according to Bede, in Albania, "quia 
Scoti tunc temporis in Hibernia habitabant, 
et Picti in Scotia, id est, ab aquilone."* 

It would still be repeating the same things 
were we to follow and repeat the proofs 
which Abercromby advances in favor of his 
system. All that he can say on this sub- 
ject has been as often refuted as proposed. 
His arguments are generally founded on 
sophisms and false principles. He always 
supposes that the ancients who spoke of 
Scotia, or the Scots, plainly indicated his 
country, though most of those authors ex- 
press themselves differently on that head. 
He often contends with phantoms, by sup- 
posing that they dispute with him the exist- 
ence of the Scots in Albania before the 
foundation of their monarchy in 503, though 
Bede, Cambrensis, Camden, and Usher, to- 
gether with historians of Ireland, repeatedly 
mention that the Dalreudini, and many other 
colonies from the same country, had settled 
in Albania in the third and fourth centuries. 
It is also known that their adherents and 
vassals, allured either through their alliance 
with the Picts, or by the hopes of plunder, 
crossed the sea to attack the Britons in their 
own country, even before the time of the 
Romans, as appears by the panegyric deliv- 
ered by Eumonius on the emperor Con- 
stantius,t in which he says, that when the 
Britons were conquered by Julius Caesar, 
they were rude and ignorant in the art of 
war, having till that time contended only 
with the Picts and Irish. Hegesippus,f in 
his treatise on the destruction of Jerusalem, 
says that Joseph Ben-Gorion, wishing to 
divert the Jews from going to war with the 
Romans, § the conquerors of the world, tells 
them that even Scotia trembles at the ap- 
proach of their arms : " Tremit hos Scotia 
quae terris nihil debet." But, says Aber- 
cromby, this passage cannot, as Camden 
asserts, relate to Ireland, which was never 
invaded by the Romans ; as if a conqueror, 
who, had already entered the neighboring 
country, was not to be feared : " When a 
neighbor's house is on fire, we become 
alarmed for our own safety." Besides, these 
words, || " quae terris nihil debet," naturally 
indicate an island separated from the rest of 
the worlds The Scots of Ireland dreaded 

* Usser. Primord. Eccles. c. 15, p. 593. 

t Page 258. t Camb. Brit. edit. Lon. p. 89. 

§ Usser. Prim. c. 16, p. 726. 

|| Petr. Lombard, c. 2, p. 19. 

IT " By the name Scotia, he obviously means 
Ireland, which he makes an island, neither joined 
nor connected with any other land, which Camden 
himself admits." — Usher, c. 16, p. 726. 



the fate of the Britons, Gauls, and so many 
other nations conquered by the Romans. 
Their fear, according to Peter Lombard, 
was one of the motives which induced them 
to make war against the Britons and Ro- 
mans, plundering the former, whom they re- 
garded as enemies to the Picts, their allies ; 
and forcing the latter to stop in Britain, in 
order to divert them from the idea of wish- 
ing to reduce Ireland into a Roman pro- 
vince, as they intended.* Accordingly, 
they ceased hostilities against the Britons, 
as soon as they had nothing to fear from 
the Romans ; " Cessavit vastatio hostilis."f 
The great reputation of Bede, Luddus, 
Camden, Usher, and others, whom Aber- 
cromby would have here to contend with, 
intimidate, and prevent him from underta- 
king to refute them. He attaches the blame 
solely to Kennedy, who is not, however, 
more criminal than they are ; invectives are 
the strongest arguments which he uses 
against him and his nation — arguments which 
generally supply the place of reasoning with 
ignorant and hasty men. J He reproaches 
them with the obscurity of their origin, of 
which, notwithstanding, they have no rea- 
son to be ashamed, says he, no more than 
their neighbors ; their savage customs, un- 
til the reign of James VI. of Scotland, and 
I. of England; the instability of their go- 
vernment ; the multiplicity of their kings, 
always at war with each other ; their want 
of commerce with foreign nations ; their ill 
success against the superior forces of the 
Danes ; their submission to the English ; 
their idleness, and the poverty which is in- 
separable from it; in fine, the negligence in 
the cultivation of their lands, and in build- 
ing with stone and cement. Such are the 
calumnies which Abercromby has published 
against the Irish nation, (not sparing even a 
number of ancient English families, who 
have constituted part of it for more than five 
centuries:) these aspersions deserve rather 
to be despised than refuted ; he attacks a 
whole nation for the supposed error of an 
individual. Kennedy proves, by the most 
authentic monuments, that the Scotch are 
the descendants of colonies which went at 
different periods from Ireland to Albania ; 
that their monarchy was not founded till the 

* " That they might restrain the Romans, and 
keep them from passing over to Ireland." — Peter 
Lombard, c. 2, p. 22. 

" They had a hope, and if opportunity presented 
itself, to conquer it." — Tacitus in his Life of Agri. 
cola. 

t Bede, lib. 1, cap. 14. 

t Abercromby, vol. 1, c. 1, p. 14. 



118 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



sixth century, as had already been affirmed 
by Bede, Camden, Usher, and others. He 
mentions that the Stuarts derive their origin 
from Ireland, by those same colonies ; is 
there any thing in that dishonorable or ex- 
traordinary for the Scotch nation, of which 
this author otherwise speaks with respect ? 
It appears that the assertions of Kennedy 
should not have drawn on his nation those 
bitter invectives with which Abercromby as- 
sails it, and which were only heightened by 
a foolish apology on his part. He says 
" that he is sorry to be obliged to expose a 
people whom he esteems on account of their 
acknowledged bravery, particularly in for- 
eign countries, their inviolable attachment 
to justice, and so many other good qualities, 
which are too numerous to mention here." 
Would it not appear that he makes allusion, 
in this tirade, to the fidelity of the Irish to 
their legitimate princes and their religion, 
in which he does them more justice than he 
intended ? In fine, since the union of the 
ancient and modern Irish, and their submis- 
sion to the kings of England, until the ac- 
cession of James I. to the throne, (a fatal 
period for them,) so far from betraying their 
lawful prince, they sacrificed all they pos- 
sessed to preserve his crown. The loss of 
their property and liberty is a decided proof 
of their loyalty, and the number of those 
who retained the Catholic faith, after a per- 
secution of two centuries, pleads strongly in 
favor of their attachment to religion. Aber- 
cromby appeals to the testimony of Ware 
for all he advances against the Irish ;* and 
after flattering this author highly, he quar- 
rels with him, and says he dishonored him- 
self, to the great astonishment of the learned, 
(of Scotland apparently,) by affirming that 
the most celebrated writers, missionaries, 
and saints, that Scotland had produced from 
the fifth to the sixteenth century, were Irish, 
solely on account of their being called Scoti, 
or Scots. But why have all authors, even 
the ancients, who have treated upon this 
subject — except the Scots of latter times, 
whose evidence should not be admitted in 
their own cause — fallen into the same error 
as Ware, and deserved the same censure 
from Abercromby ? It would seem that this 
author wished to anticipate the reproaches 
he deserves himself. Usher, having tho- 
roughly investigated this matter,! declares 
that all he has said was necessary to repress 
the insolent audacity of Thomas Dempster,:); 

* Pages 12, 13, 14. 
t Usser. Primord. c. 16, p. 737. 
t " That the insolent audacity of Thomas Demp. 
ster might be repressed." 



who, he says, was not ashamed to affirm, in 
his letter to Cardinal Barberini, (who was 
afterwards Pope, under the name of Urban 
VIII.,) that Ireland was never called Scotia, 
" Hiberniam nunquam Scotiae nomen habu- 
isse asseverare non puduit ;" though he him- 
self acknowledges that, according to Isido- 
res and Bede, Ireland was the country of 
the Scots : and to deprive Scotia Major, 
that is, Ireland, of every character cele- 
brated for learning and piety, mentioned by 
the authors under the name Scots, even 
those who had preceded the year 840, when 
the Scoto-Britains were confined to the nar- 
row limits of Dalrieda, which constituted 
but a small part of Albania.* " When 
Dempster," continues Usher, " endeavored 
to deceive Philip Ferrarius, who was com- 
posing a supplement to the Roman martyr- 
ology, and to make him an accomplice in his 
plagiarism, by giving him a list of the saints 
of Scotland to enrich the martyrology, this 
learned Italian having discovered the fraud, 
added an advertisement to his work, in which 
he says that, having followed certain authors, 
he attributed some Irish saints to Scotland, 
because, according to the ancients, Ireland 
was formerly called Scotia, and the inhabit- 
ants Scots, and that he thought fit to ap- 
prize the public of it, on account of certain 
authors who have robbed that island of her 
saints." It is thus he speaks of Dempster 
and his partisans.! 

But what can be the advantages which 
Abercromby derives from the history of 
Ware to authorize his calumnies ? This 
learned man begins his history of Ireland 
with Laogare, son of Niall the Great, and 
monarch of Ireland in the beginning of the 
fifth century. He says that he does not 
mention the predecessors of this monarch, 
as almost all that has been said of them is 



* " After this he transfers, in crowds, from our 
Scotia Major into Scotia Minor, and shoves and 
confines them also in an angle, all Scots whom he 
discovered celebrated by writers for their piety and 
learning, even those who flourished in the year 840. 
The Scoto-Britanni Dalriads were confined to very 
narrow limits." — Usher, c. 16, p. 738. 

t " Of this plagiarism, while Dempster was 
endeavoring to make Philippus Ferrarius an Italian 
a participator, the discovery of the Irish saints being 
made known to him ; this learned man, having at 
length discovered the fraud, took care to prefix for 
his readers the following admonition: — 'I have 
thought fit to apprize you, that copying after other 
writers, I have attributed to Scotland or England 
some Irish saints, which it was the more necessary 
to inform you, in order to be guarded against rob- 
bers:' such was the name he affixed to Dempster 
and his confederates, pointing them out as robbers 
of the saints." — Usher, c. 16, p. 738. 



DIFFERENT NAMES OF IRELAND. 



119 



fabulous, or, at least, mixed with, fable 
There were, then, from the acknowledgment 
of Ware himself, kings in Ireland before 
Laogare, and histories which make mention 
of them ; and though they were intermixed 
with the fabulous, as he asserts, he would have 
dated his history much farther back than 
Laogare, if the undertaking had not been 
too difficult for a man, who, not knowing the 
language of the country, was unable to 
fathom its antiquities sufficiently. Besides, 
this mixture of truth and fable is a vice com- 
mon to the ancient historians of every coun- 
try. Ware also says, that they considered 
it praiseworthy to seize on the property of 
strangers, as it tended to the public welfare ; 
but he also adds, that they imitated therein 
the Gauls and Spartans. He says that their 
judges, called " Brehons," distributed justice 
and decided lawsuits in the open air, and on 
high mountains, and that bastards frequently 
succeeded to the property of the father with 
the legitimate children. It would be indulg- 
ing in trifles to reproach a people with the 
ridiculous customs of their pagan ancestors, 
at a time when all nations were barbarous. 
Lastly, he says, they had no walled cities ; 
that their houses were built of wood, and 
covered with thatch, or straw. Those people 
who always fought in the open field, needed 
no fortified cities, and would have considered 
it as cowardice to conceal themselves behind 
walls in order to defend themselves against 
the enemy. With respect to their houses, it 
is unfit to reproach them with a custom 
common to all other nations. Cambrensis 
speaks of the castle of Pembroke* to have 
been built in the time of Henry I., with 
branches of trees and green turf, by Arnulph 
de Montgomery. The Britons, says Ceesar, 
gave the appellation of " a city," to a wood 
surrounded with a ditch and a hedge. t 
There are still to be seen in France, (which 
surpasses every other nation in refinement 
and good taste,) whole towns built of wood, 
and covered with thatch and straw. 

We easily discover the bad faith of Aber- 
cromby, who ascribes to Ware sentiments 
very foreign to him, concerning the succes- 
sion to the monarchy, and the inauguration 
of the kings of Tyrone and Tirconnel, which 
he only relates historically, after Cambrensis, 
as an imposition strange and incredible, 
" mirum videatur, et vix credibile quod 
tradit Giraldus,"J and not an historical fact 
taken from the registries of the country, or 



* Itim Cambria?, lib. 1, cap. 12. 
t De Bello Gall. lib. 5. 
t Cap. 4, p. _17. 



from any respectable author ; particularly 
as he suggests, in the twenty-third chapter, 
that the Topography of Cambrensis should 
be read with caution, and expresses his sur- 
prise, that men in his time, otherwise grave 
and learned, could have imposed on the 
public, by giving for truth the fictions of 
Cambrensis.* 

Abercromby draws inferences injurious 
to the authenticity of the histories of the 
ancient Irish, from those barbarous customs, 
so called from not being conformable to the 
customs of the present day. He thinks to 
annihilate thereby the authority of manu- 
scripts, which are made use of to combat the 
assumed antiquity of his monarchy : he has 
not, however, gained his cause, having to 
contend with enemies, who being better 
known are the more formidable. Such are 
the authors whom I have already quoted, 
and whose authority is so respectable. I 
might here add very many remarks oa the 
means which Abercromby makes use of in 
favor of his system. I do not pretend that 
this subject has been exhausted; but, as that 
is not the chief object in view, I leave the 
matter to others. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ON THE DIFFERENT NAMES OF IRELAND. 

Ireland was not unknown to the Phoeni- 
cians nor Greeks. Orpheus of Crotona, con- 
temporary, according to Suidas, of Pisis- 
tratus the tyrant,t who died in the sixty- 
third olympiad, and of Cyrus the Great, 
about 543 years before Christ, in his poem 
on the Argonauts, and Aristotle, in his Book 
of the World to Alexander, mention it under 
the name of " Ierna," whence Usher says 
that the Roman people could produce no 
testimony so authentic for the antiquity of 
their name .J 

Juvenal, Pomponius Mela, and Solinus, 
call this island " Juverna ;"fy Ptolemy, " Ju- 
ernia;" and Diodorus Siculus, "Iris." It 
is called " Iren," in the life of Gildas Bado- 
nicus,]| who went, says the author, to Iren 

" I cannot but wonder, how men otherwise 
grave and learned, could have imposed upon the 
Id for truths, the fictions of Giraldus." — Ware's 
Antiquities, c. 23. 

+ Ogyg. part 2, page 95 

t " Of a similar antiquity, neither the Romans 
themselves could produce a testimony." — Vsher, 
p. 724. 

§ Peter Lombard, Comment, cap. 1 

|| Lib. 5, p. 309, cap. 6. 



120 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



(Ireland) to consult the doctors in philosophy 
and theology ;* whence it arises, that we call 
the Milesians, or Irish, " Irenses," and 
« Iri."t 

Claudianus, Strabo, and Stephen of By- 
zantium, call it " Ierne." 

Rufus-Festus Avienus, in his book entitled 
" Oras Maritime," Maritime Coasts, which 
he composed after the most ancient Greek 
geographers, calls it the Sacred Island, 
" Insula Sacra ;"J so that this island, which 
was one day to become, and bear the name 
of " the island of saints," in the time of 
Christianity, was called in the times of 
paganism, by the heathen themselves, " the 
sacred island," which, perhaps, originated 
from its nurturing no venomous reptile.^ 

Plutarch, in his book " De facie in orbe 
lunas," calls Ireland " Ogygia." The poets, 
says Rhodogonus, call every thing that is 
ancient " Ogygium," from Ogyges, an an- 
cient king of Thebes. || Egypt was also 
called " Ogygia"H for the same reason, the 
Egyptians having been considered the most 
ancient people, and the inventors of most of 
the arts and sciences, from whom the Greeks 
themselves had borrowed them. 

Caesar, Pliny, Tacitus, Orosius, and gener- 
ally all the Latins call it " Hibernia." The 
derivation of this name is unknown. Some 
assert that it is derived from the Iberians,** 
a people of Spain who inhabited this island, 
or from Iberus, a river in that country, or 
from Iberia, which was sometimes the name 
of it. Others say that the name of Hiber- 
nia is derived from Heber, one of the sons 
of Milesius, or from Heremon, his brother. 

Lastly, this island was called by the Eng- 
lish, within the last six or seven centuries, 
Ireland.ft The derivation of this word is 
manifest, as it is evident that the word Ire- 
land has been composed of " Iris," or " Fea- 



* " He went to Ireland that he might find out 
the opinions of other doctors of philosophy and 
divine learning.'' — Life of Gildas, c. 6. 

t Odericus vitalis, ann. 1098. Hist. Eccles 
lib. 10. Elnothus Cantnr vita Canuti, cap. 10. 

t " From this the ancients have given it the 
name of Sacred Island ; it possesses a deep soil 
amidst the waters. The Hibernians (Irish) are its 
most extended possessors ; an island of the Albions 
lies near and open." — Festus Avienus in Camden. 

§ " Which name, on account of its happy soil 
has been given it ; likewise because no venomous 
reptile lives in it." — Ogyg. part 1, pp. 21, 22. 

|| " The poets call that ' Ogygia,' which is sig- 
nified to be most ancient." — Rhodogonus. b. 15, 
o. 33. 

IT Ogyg. parti, p. 22. 

** Peter Lombard, Comment, c. 1, p. 9. 

tt Philip O'Sullevan, lib. 1, cap. 1. 



ron Ire," signifying the land of Ire, and the 
English word " Land." 

It is absurd to seek the derivation of pro- 
per names among foreigners.* Every one 
should know the name of his own land or 
patrimony, better than his neighbors. 

Pliny informs us,t that we should seek 
the proper and natural name of a country, 
among the learned in the language of the 
country itself. The natural name of a 
country is that which is acknowledged and 
adopted by the inhabitants, and which has 
its root in their language, and not that which 
the caprice of strangers may give it. The 
following are the- observations of the histo- 
rians of the country on this subject : — 

Keating,| copying after the ancient monu- 
ments of this nation, says, that at the time 
of the first colonies, Ireland was sometimes 
called " Inis Alga," signifying the noble 
island ;§ sometimes " Inisfail,"|| that is, the 
island of Fail, from an enchanted stone called 
in them " Lia-Fail ;" and " Saxum Fatale," 
by Hector Boetius, which the Tuatha de 
Danains had brought thither.^f 

This island was afterwards, and imme- 
diately before the arrival of the Milesians, 
called sometimes Eire, sometimes Fodla, and 
sometimes Banba, the names of three queens, 
sisters, that married three brothers who 
governed this island alternately ; but Eire 
was at all times, and still is, the most general 
name, and the inhabitants are yet called in 
their language " Eirinachs," signifying na- 
tives of Eire, in Latin " Erigena." It was 
in this acceptation of the word that John 
Scot, an author of the ninth century, was 
generally called " Scotus Erigena." 

Camden agrees, that Erin (which is the 
same as Eire) is the real name of this island ; 
he says, that the names Ierna, Juverna, 
Juernia, Iris, Hibernia, and Ireland, are de- 
rived from it. " Ab Erin ergo gentis voca- 
bulo originatio pretenda."** But he is mis- 
taken in his conjectures concerning the deri- 
vation of the word Erin, which he supposes 
to have discovered in the Irish word " Hiar," 
signifying the west, as Ireland is the most 
westerly country in Europe. The name of 
Erin was given to this island by the inhab- 
itants themselves : if we derived it from 
" Hiar," it would be giving the island a name 



* " It is vain to deduce the cause of its name 
from any other language." — Camden. 
t Hist. Nat. lib. 1. 
t Book of Emigrations. 
§ Psalter of Cashel. 
|| Lecan and others. 
IT War, Antiq. Hib. c. 1. 
** Page 677. 



DIFFERENT NAMES OF IRELAND. 



121 



which implies, that it lies to the west of 
itself. Besides, O'Flaherty, a man learned 
and ably conversant in the language of the 
country, rejects this conjecture of Camden 
as an absurdity.* 

This island was also- called by the Mile- 
sians " Scotie, or Scuitte," in Latin Scotia,f 
and the inhabitants Kinneadh-Scuitte, or 
Clanna-Scoitte, from Scota, daughter of 
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, wife of Milesius, 
and mother of the Milesians ; or, according 
to others, from the word Scythia or Scythe, 
(Scythians,) of whom this people were a 
colony. 

Whatever be the derivation of this name, 
it is certain that the island was known to 
foreigners by the name of Scotia,! and the 
inhabitants by that of Scoti or Scots, from 
the third till the eleventh century. § The 
number of authors quoted by Usher, to sup- 
port the truth of this statement, forms a link 
which nothing can sever. || 

Porphyrius, the philosopher, whose words 
St. Jerome quotes, in his epistle to Ctesi- 
phon, against Pelagius, a Briton, and Celes- 
tinus, a Scot, makes mention, in the third 
century, of Britain, a province fruitful in 
tyrants, and of the Scotie nations, which, 
he says, were unacquainted with Moses 
and the prophets. " Neque enim Britannia 
fertilis provincia tyrannorum, et Scoticae 

gentes Moysen Prophetasque cogno- 

verant." Usher here corrects Erasmus, 
who affirms, that in some copies he had 
read " Scythicae gentes," instead of Scoticae. 

The Picts and Irish, called by Eumenius 
the Rhetorician, towards the end of the 
same century, in his eulogium on Constan- 
tius, the general enemies of the Britons, are 
designated by Ammian and Claudian, in the 
following century, by the names of Scots and 
Picts ; which proves, according to Usher 
that Ireland should be acknowledged as the 
country of the ancient Scots ; in confirmation 
of which, he quotes the lines of Claudian, 
wherein this poet represents the Scots as 
the inhabitants of the country called Ierne.T 

* " As much as the east is distant from the 
west, so much does Ere, Hiar in the Irish lan- 
guage, which implies westerly, differ in its mean- 
ing." — Ogyg. p. 20, part 1. 

t Philip O'Sullevan, Hist. Cathol. compend. cap. 2. 

t Petr. Lombard, Comment, cap. 1, p. 5. 

§ Idem. cap. 2, p. 15. 

|| Usser. Prim. Eccles. cap. 16, p. 728, et Ogygia, 
part 3, cap. 72. 

1T " It proves that Hibernia was the country of 
the ancient Scots, as is confirmed by the following 
lines from Clodianus : ' The icy Ierne bewailed the 
heaps of the Scots ; when Scotia and all Ierne 
were moved, and the sea foamed from the hostile 
oar.' " — Usher. 



We have the testimony of Paulus Orosius, 
in the fifth century, who says, in his descrip- 
tion of this island, that it was inhabited by 
the Scots ; " a Scotorum gentibus colitur."* 
St. Prosper, speaking of the pastoral soli- 
citude of Pope Celestine for the British 
isles.f in destroying the heresy of Pelagius 
in Britain, and causing the gospel to be 
preached among the Scots by Palladius,J 
distinguishes the island of Scots, by the 
appellation of barbarous, from Britain, which 
he calls the Roman Isle.§ The island of 
Scots, in the acceptation of the word by 
Prosper, can only refer, says Usher, to Sco- 
tia Major, that is Ireland, and by no means 
to Albania, which was not then called Sco- 
tia, and is not an island, as it forms a part 
of that of Great Britain. || 

In the sixth century we have the authority 
of Gildas, a British author, who, after say- 
ing that Britain had been trampled on by two 
barbarous nations, namely, the Scots, who 
came from the west, and the Picts, from the 
north, adds that the daring robbers (the 
Irish) had returned home, with the design 
of returning in a short time, and that the 
Picts had settled in the northern extremity 
of the island.f It is manifest that Gildas 
here mentions the Scots and Irish as the same 
people ; which is the inference that Usher 
draws from it, adding that Cogitosus, in the 
life of St. Bridget, agrees with Gildas.** 

In the seventh century, Isidorus Hispa- 
lensis says, that Scotia is the same as Ire- 



* Hist. lib. 1, c. 2. 

t Petr. Lomb. Comment, c. 2, p. 16. 

t Grat. Luc. c. 25, p. 213. 

§ " Nor with less care has he rescued the British 
isles from the same distemper, when he secretly 
excluded some who occupied the soil of their birth, 
from that part of the ocean, and a bishop being or- 
dained for the Scots, while he labors to keep the 
Roman isle Catholic, he made that which was 
Christian, barbarous." — St. Prosper in Usher, c. 
16, p. 797. 

|| " And Prosper distinguishing eloquently this 
island of the Scots from the Britons, must be neces- 
sarily understood to mean Scotia Major to be Ire- 
land, and not the Minor Scotia, which is Albania, 
(which was not Scotland at that period, neither is 
it an island, but forms a part of Great Britain.") — 
Usher's Church Hist. c. 16, p. 798. 

IT " From two very cruel nations beyond seas — 
the Scots from the west, and Picts from the north 
— Britain suffers and sighs during many years. 
The daring robbers, the Irish, return home, intend- 
ing to come back in a short time ; the Picts then 
settled, for the first time, in the north of the island." 
—Usher, c. 15, p. 593-609, 

** " Where he takes the Scots and Irish for 
one and the same people ; this is also observed by 
Cogitosus, as well in his prologue as in his epi- 
logue upon the life of St. Bridget." — Usher, c. 16, 
p. 729. 



122 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



land ; " Scotia eadcm et Hibernia."* The 
abbot Jonas affirms, in the life of St. Colum- 
banus, that the saint was born in the island 
of Ireland ; which island was inhabited by a 
nation of Scots ; that this nation, though not 
governed by the same laws as others, was 
remarkable for its fervor in Christianity, 
and surpassed all the neighboring countries 
in its faith. f We may add the authority of 
Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury, in his epis- 
tle to Ealfrid, and that of Adamnanus, abbot 
of Hy, in the Life of St. Columb. Those 
holy men always make use of the names 
of Irish and Scots, Ireland and Scotia, as 
synonymous 4 

The venerable Bede, who lived in the 
eighth century, and whose authority is so 
respectable, bears testimony to the truth of 
this statement ; to be convinced of which, it 
is only necessary to read, with attention, his 
Ecclesiastical History. According to the 
title of his first chapter, he proposes to treat 
of the situation and ancient inhabitants of 
Britain and Ireland, " de situ Britannia?, vel 
Hiberniae, et priscis earum incolis ;" and in 
the same chapter introduces the Scots as 
the inhabitants of Ireland, without mention- 
ing the name of Irish. We discover, in the 
sequel of his history, the distinction he 
makes between the Scots of Ireland and 
those of Albania. He frequentlymentions the 
former, whom he simply calls Scots ; and 
designates their country by the names, Sco- 
tia and Ireland. He says that the Picts had 
discovered the nation of the Scots in Ire- 
land,^ " inventa ibi gente Scotorum," and that 
Ireland was their country, " ha?c autem pro- 
pria patria Scotorum est."|| He distinctly 
characterizes them in the second chapter of 
his second book, when speaking of the pas- 
toral solicitude of Lawrence, archbishop of 
Canterbury, for the churches of the Britons, 
English, and Scots, who inhabited Ireland, 
which he points out as an island bordering 



* Origin, lib. 14, cap. 6. 

t " Columbanus was born in Ireland, an island 
of the sea : this is inhabited by the Scots, a people 
though differing in their laws from every other na- 
tion, are strong and flourishing in the doctrine of 
Christ, agreeing herein with the neighboring na- 
tions." — Usher, c. 16, p. 729. 

t " From this cause, we discover in Aldhelm, 
abbot of Malmesbury, in the epistle to Ealfrid, that 
the Irish and Scots, Ireland and Scotia, are sy- 
nonymous terms, and in Adamnanus, abbot of Hy, 
who writes of St. Columb. He makes use of the 
words, Scotia and Hibernia, (Ireland,) signifying 
that they are one and the same." — Usher, c. 16, p. 
729. 

§ Lib. 1, cap. 1. 

|| Grat. Luc. c. 14, pages 126 et 127. 



upon Britain ; " necnon Scotorum qui Hi- 
berniam insulam Britanniae proximam inco- 
lunt :" he says that this prelate knowing that 
the Scots were in error concerning the ob- 
servance of the Easter, had written a letter 
to them, exhorting them to preserve unity 
with the Church of Rome ; this letter was 
entitled " Dominis charissimis, fratribus 
Episcopis vel Abbatibus per universam Sco- 
tiam." It is remarkable that in the title, he 
uses the word Scotia to indicate the same 
country which he had shortly before named 
Hibernia. Bede says elsewere,* "that Pope 
Honorius sent letters to the Scots, who were 
in error concerning the celebration of Easter, 
as mentioned above, exhorting them not to 
think themselves more enlightened than 
every other church in the world, particu- 
larly as they formed but a small nation, 
situated at the extremity of the earth." 

' Misit Papa Honorius litteras genti Sco- 
torum, quas in observatione sancti paschee 
errare compererat juxta quod supra docui- 
mus." It is plain from these words of Bede, 
"juxta quod supra docuimus," and which 
are an incontestable proof of it, that the let- 
ters of Pope Honorius, and that of Lawrence 
of Canterbury, were intended for the same 
people, that is, for the Scots of Ireland, who 
were in error concerning the Easter, which 
they celebrated from the fourteenth to the 
twentieth of the moon. In speaking of 
Oswald, king of Northumberland,! he says, 
that " this prince, seeing himself in peace- 
ful possession of his kingdom, and eager 
for the conversion of his subjects, sent to the 
Scots, (among whom he and his attendants 
had received the grace of baptism,) to re- 
quest that they would send him a prelate 
capable of instructing his subjects. The 
Scots attended immediately to the pious re- 
quest of Oswald, and sent over Aidan, a 
man remarkable for his mildness, piety, and 
zeal in the cause of God, but not better in- 
structed than his countrymen in the celebra- 
tion of the Easter, which, as I have often 
mentioned, (continues our author,) was from 
the fourteenth to the twentieth of the moon. 
It was thus, says Bede, that the northern 
Scots and the whole nation of the Picts, 
celebrated the Easter ; but the Scots of the 
southern provinces of Ireland, he says, had 
already, by the admonition of the apostolic 
See, conformed to the canonical rite. "J To- 

* Lib. 2, cap. 19. 

T Idem. lib. 3, cap. 3. 

t " In this way the northern Scots and the whole 
nation of the Picts celebrated the Easter at that 
time. Besides this, the Scots who inhabited the 
southern parts of Ireland, had listened to the admo- 



DIFFERENT NAMES OF IRELAND. 



123 



wards the end of the same ehapter, he men- 
tions " that Aidan was a monk and bishop ; 
that he came from the monastery of the 
island of Hy, and that this island had been 
given to the Scots by the Picts, in gratitude 
for their having preached the gospel among 
them."* In the beginning of the following 
chapter, he plainly indicates the country of 
the Scots, by saying, " that there came from 
Ireland a monk called Columbanus,t emi- 
nent for the austerity of his life ; that he 
preached the gospel to the northern Picts, 
and that they granted him the island of Hy, 
where he built a monastery." The venera- 
ble Bede expresses himself otherwise about 
the country of St. Columbanus. In his chro- 
nological table, he says " that this great 
man came from Scotia to Britain to instruct 
the Picts. "J We should then misinterpret 
the history of Bede, if we did not discover 
that, according to this author, the terms 
Scotia and Ireland, Scots and Irish, are sy- 
nonymous, and signify the same nation and 
the same people ; that St. Columbanus, the 
apostle of the Picts, and founder of the mo- 
nastery of Hy, was a Scot from Ireland ; 
that Aidan, the apostle of the Northum- 
brians, and first bishop of Landisfarn, was 
from the same country, namely, from the 
province of the northern Scots, who were 
involved in the error of the Quartodeeimans, 
among whom Oswald had received baptism ; 
that this northern province which Bede dis- 
tinguishes from the southern Scots, on ac- 
count of their difference in opinion respect- 
ing their observance of the Easter,^ is the 
north of Ireland, comprising the neighbor- 
ing islands, among others that of Hy : were 
it otherwise, there would be a want of 
precision in the account which he gives ; 
besides, it is obvious, according to the plan 
and thread of his history, that he always 
mentions those Scots as inhabitants of Ire- 
land, to whom Lawrence, archbishop of 



nition of the Holy See, and conformed to the ca- 
nonical observance of the Easter." — Bede, b. 3, c. 3. 

* " Aiden was monk and bishop, and was ap- 
pointed to the island of Hy : as a present from those 
Picts who inhabit these tracts of Britain, Hy was 
given to the monks who had preached among them 
the faith of Christ." 

t " There came from Ireland, in the year of our 
Lord 565, the holy monk Columbanus, about to 
preach the word of God to the northern Picts, from 
whom he received the island, and permission to 
found a monastery." — Bede, b. 3, c. 3, 4. 

t " The presbyter, saint Columb, came from 
Scotia into Britain, to instruct the Picts, and in 
the island of Hy he founded a monastery." — Epito- 
me, p. 244. 

§ Peter Lombard, c. 15, p. 185. 



Canterbury, had addressed a pastoral letter 
respecting their observance of the Easter, 
" which I have often mentioned," says Bede. 
" Cujus sajpius mentionem fecimus." " The 
Picts (continues this author) labored un- 
der the same error as the Scots." Besides 
the proximity of those nations, separated by 
an arm of the sea but fifteen miles in breadth, 
and besides the commerce which had always 
existed between them, the Picts received 
from them the light of the gospel ; so that it 
is not surprising that they inhaled the ven- 
om of the error with which their apostles had 
been infected. "There came from Ireland 
(continues Bede) a holy man named Fursy, 
(and resuming the narrative towards the end 
of the same chapter,) who, after preachingthe 
word of God for many years in Scotia, quit- 
ted this island, of which he was a native."* 
Finally, Bede tells us that Ecgfrid, king of 
the Northumbrians, had sent an army into 
Ireland, under the command of Berte, to 
destroy an unoffending people. In the same 
chapter, he again quotes this passage of his- 
tory, where he again makes use of the word 
Scotia, instead of Hibernia, which he had 
used in the beginning.! With respect to 
the Scots of Albania, this author having 
ranked them with the Picts, as forming, long 
afterwards, a third colony in Britain, " pro- 
cedente autem tempore,":}: they are seldom 
mentioned by him ; and he carefully distin- 
guishes them from those of Ireland, by call- 
ing them sometimes Dalreudini, sometimes 
the Scots, who possessed, together with the 
Picts, the north of Britain, " Pictorum quo- 
que ac Scotorum gentes quse septentrionales 
Britanniae fines tenent ;"fy and frequently the 
Scots who inhabited Britain ; " Scoti qui 
Britannidm incolunt."|[ He also speaks of 
Edan, king of the Scots, who inhabited Brit- 
ain, without alluding to a kingdom of Scot- 
land in that island ; " Edan, rex Scotorum, 
qui Britanniam inhabitant ."If Although Bede 



* " A holy man named Fursius came from Ire- 
land, and (to resume the narrative) he preached, 
for many years afterwards, the word of God in 
Scotia, and left the island of which he was a na. 
tive."— Bede, b. 3, c. 19. 

+ " In the year of the Redemption 684, Ecgfri- 
dus, king of the Northumbrians, sent an army to 
Ireland, under the command of Bertus. He devas- 
tated the country, and inflicted great miseries on a 
people, who were innocent and most friendly to the 
English. The preceding year, he would not listen 
to the most reverend Egbertus, lest he should not 
carry war into Scotia, a country which did him no 
injury." — Bede, b. 4, c. 26 

t Lib. 1, cap. 1 

§ Lib. 2, cap. 5. 

|| Lib. 5, c. 24. T Lib. c. 34. 



124 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



says Usher, carefully distinguishes the Scots 
of Ireland from those who, in his time, in- 
habited a part of Albania ; he allows, how- 
ever, but of one Scotia, which is Ireland.* 

Alcuin, disciple of the venerable Bede, fol- 
lows his example on this subject, in speaking 
of St. Willibrord, bishop of Utrecht, whose 
life he wrote ; and in saying that this saint 
was a native of Britain, and studied divinity 
in Ireland, he uses indiscriminately the names 
Ireland and Scotia, which, according to him, 
says Usher, signified, in the time of Charle- 
magne, the same nation and the same 
people.! 

Eginhard, secretary to Charlemagne, or, 
according to some, his son-in-law, in his 
annals on the year 812, | informs us that the 
naval forces of the Normans landed in Ire- 
land,, the island of the Scots, and having 
given them battle, in which they were de- 
feated, that those barbarians who escaped 
shamefully took to flight, and returned to 
their country. § 

This fact is supported by the authority of 
several writers of that century, mentioned 
by Usher : as the monk of Angouleme, who 
wrote the life of Charlemagne, and Erme- 
noldus, by whom the annals of Fulda were 
compiled, who says in a few words, that the 
Danish fleet, having attacked Ireland, was 
defeated by the Scots. || . 

Rabanus, archbishop of Mayence, says, in 
his martyrology on the eighth of the ides of 
July, " Ireland is the island of the Scots :" 
and in another place, " Scotia and Ireland 
signify the same country. "If 

Walafrid, in his preface to the life of St. 



* " Though Bede distinguishes with care the 
Scots who inhabit Hibernia, (Ireland,) and the Scots 
who inhabit Britain, still Scotia is to him (as we 
have shown) always one and the same." — Usher's 
C. Hist. b. 4, c. 23. 

t " A man powerful in virtue, full of divine love, 
eloquent, vigilant, and ardent in acting, came to 
thee, O happy France, in the days of Pepin ; fruitful 
Britain was his mother, and the learned Hibernia 
nurtured him in sacred study ; he was named Wil- 
brordus. As I have already pronounced, fertile 
Britain was his mother, and the country of the 
Scots his illustrious instructor. He obviously 
shows, that Hibernia and Scotia were one and the 
same in the time of Charles the Great."— Usher 
Syllog. 

X Pres. Hain. AbnSge' de l'Hist. de France, p. 43. 

(j " A Norman fleet having attacked Hibernia, the 
country of the Scots, a battle was fought between 
the Normans and Scots, they were shamefully put 
to flight, and returned with a part only of their 
force." — Annals of Eginardus, on the year 812. 

II " A fleet of Danes are overcome by the Scots 
in battle." — Fulden's Annals. 

IT " Hibernia, the island of the Scots, is the same 
as Scotia." — b. 12. 



Gal, says he was a native of Ireland, " de 
Hibernia insula ;"* and again, that he was 
of the nation of the Scots, " de gente Scoto- 
rum."t 

Ninius, a British author, affirms that the 
Scots came from Spain to Ireland ; " Novis- 
sime venerunt Scoti a partibus Hispaniae ad 
Hiberniam." 

Rathrannus, a monk of Corbie, assures us, 
in his fourth book against the Greeks, that 
the Scots, inhabitants of Ireland, were ac- 
customed, in their monasteries and other 
religious houses, to fast till sunset, (the usual 
time of their repast,) except on Sundays and 
holydays.J 

In the tenth century, Hucbald, a monk of 
the Abbey of St. Amand,^ and the abbot 
Adso, in his poem on St. Mansuy, (in Latin 
Mansuetus,) to Girald, bishop of Toul, use 
indiscriminately the names Scotia and Hiber- 
nia, to signify the same country. 

Fabius Ethelwerdus,|| and the Anglo- 
Saxon annals, mention three Scots from 
Ireland, " tres Scotos de Hibernia," who 
came in the year 891 to Alfred, king of 
England ; theirnames were Dufslanus, Mac- 
bothus, and the third Magilmumenus, who 
was well versed in the arts and sciences, 
and a celebrated doctor among the Scots : 
" Artibus frondens, littera doctus, Magister 
insignis Scotorum." 

We discover in the life of Charlemagne, 
written in the same century by Notker le 
Begue, a monk of St. Gal, that two Scots 
from Ireland, deeply conversant in sacred 
and profane learning, came to France, with 
some British merchants.^! 

The same author, in his martyrology on 
the sixteenth of the calends of April, fixes in 
Scotia the birth of Saint Patrick, a bishop 
and native of Brittany, who preached the 
gospel to the Scots in the island of Ireland :** 
on the fifth of the ides of June in Scotia, the 
decease of St. Columb, surnamed Columb- 
Kill, on account of having been founder and 

* Lib. 1, cap. 2. t Lib. 2, cap. 46. 

t " The nation of the Scots who inhabit the 
island of Ireland, have a custom in all the monas. 
teries and religious houses, to fast every day, except 
on Sundays and holydays, and to take food only at 
noon, or in the evening." — Rathrannus Corbeieus, 
b. 4, against the Greeks. 

§ In vit& Lebuini. 

|| Ethelwerd. Chron. lib. 4, cap. 3. 

IT " It happened that two Scots came from Hiber. 
nia with British merchants, to the shores of Gaul, 
who were most learned in sacred as well as in pro- 
fane writings." 

** St. Patrick, bishop, died in Ireland, where he 
first preached the gospel of our Lord to the Scots : 
he was of the nation of Brittany." — Notker le 
Begue in Usher. 



DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 



125 



rectorof several churches and monasteries :* 
and on the eighth of the ides of July, the 
passion of St. Kilian, first bishop of Wirtz- 
burgh, and of his two disciples, Colonat a 
priest, and Totnan a deacon, who came from 
Ireland, the island of the Scots, and after 
receiving their mission from the holy see, 
preached the gospel in the same place, and 
the adjacent country.! An ancient author of 
the life of St. 'Kilian, quoted by Usher,f says 
that Scotia, which is also called Ireland, is an 
island in the ocean, the soil of which is very 
fertile ; but that it is still more celebrated 
by the illustrious saints to whom it gave 
birth ; among that number are St. Colum- 
banus, who gave lustre to Italy, St. Gal, 
to Germany, and St. Kilian, to Teutonic 
France.^ 

The unanimous opinion of so many re- 
spectable authors, during seven or eight cen- 
turies, should be an incontrovertible proof 
of the truth of what I assert. It appears 
that the Abbe de Fleury had thoroughly 
investigated this matter, as in his Ecclesias- 
tical History, when speaking of Scotia, and 
the Scots or Scotch, he always takes care to 
add, " that is, Hibernia and Hibernians," and 
sometimes Ireland and Irish. Had the au- 
thor of the abridgment of the history of 
France, by question and answer, published 
in Paris some years ago, informed himself 
more accurately on th« subject, he would 
have been more explicit respecting the name 
of the country to which Dagobert, son of 
Sigebert III., king of Austrasia, was sent 
by Grimoald, mayor of the palace ; he would 
not have simply said that it was to Scot- 
land ; he would have added, like the Abbe 
Fleury, " that is, to Ireland." 

* "In the island Hibernia, or Scotia, the decease 
of Saint Columb took place : he was surnamed 
Columb-Kill, on account of the number of cells, 
monasteries, and churches, which he had founded." 
— Notlcer le Begue, in Usher, c. 15, p. 687. 

t " The martyrdom of Saint Kilianus, the first 
bishop of Wurtzburgh, and of his two disciples, Co- 
lonatus a presbyter, and Totnatus a dean, who 
coming from Hibernia, the island of the Scots, hav- 
ing received their authority from the apostolical 
see, preached the name of Christ in that place and 
the surrounding country." — Notker le Begue, in 
Usher, c. 16, p. 732. 

t Prim. Eccles. cap. 16, 733. 

§ " Scotia, called also Hibernia, is an island in 
the ocean, very fruitful in its soil, but still more 
renowned for the sanctity of its people ; from 
among them, St. Columbanus gave lustre to Italy, 
St. Gal to Germany, and Kilianus to Teutonic 
France."— Usher, c. 16, p. 733. • 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ON THE DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 

Ireland was at all times divided accord- 
ing to the views and interests of those who 
possessed it. Partholan divided it into four 
parts, in favor of his four sons ; Nennius, 
for the same reason, divided it into three, 
and the Firbolgs into five. The children of 
Milesius, on their accession to the govern- 
ment of this island, made a new division of 
it : Heber, with the descendants of Itli, had 
this southern part, called Munster ; Leinster 
and Connaught fell to Heremon ; and the 
northern part, called Ulster, to the children 
of Ir. Ugane the Great, who lived three 
centuries before the Christian era, divided 
this island into twenty-five parts in favor of 
his children.* But the most celebrated di- 
vision of the island, which was confirmed by 
Eocha IX. before the time of Jesus Christ, 
and which still partially exists, was that of 
the fourparts orprovinces, and the separation 
which was shortly afterwards made of a cer- 
tain portion from each province, by Tuathal 
Teachmar, to form the king's domain,! 
called in their language Fearon-Buoird- 
Riogh-Erinn, which signifies, " domain of 
the king's table," at present the counties 
of East and West Meath.J Those parts 
answering to our provinces^ were called, in 
their language, Coigeadh, which implies a 
fifth. It would appear that the king's do- 
main formed the fifth part of this division, 
or that one of the other four was, at some 
time, subdivided into two, as Munster was 
divided into Eastern and Western Ireland, 
arid was long after divided into two parts, by 
Conn, monarch of the island, and Mogha, 
king of Munster. The line of separation, 
called Eisker Riada, extended from Dublin in 
the east to Galway in the west. The north- 
ern part, which fell under the dominion of 
Conn, was called " Leath Coinn, or the half 
of Coinn," and the southern, " Leath Mogha." 

The venerable Bede alludes probably to 
this division, when he mentions the north- 
ern and southern Scots.|| 

Besides those general divisions which 
were made either by the wisdom of legislators 
or by force of arms, Ireland was anciently 
divided by the Milesians into territories, that 
is, into principalities and dynasties, as it has 
been since by the English into counties and 

* Ogygia, page 18. 

t Peter Lombard, Comment, de Hib. cap. 3, page 
41. X Grat. Luc. c. 8, p. 68. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 46. || Ogyg. part 1, p. 24 



126 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



baronies. The chiefs of those territories, 
and the families who possessed them, were 
chosen from the tribe. The dynasties formed 
about thirty burghs or villages, comprising 
nearly the same extent of land as the baro- 
nies among the Anglo-Saxons, and the princi- 
palities were the same as our counties . Their 
chiefs were elective, and chosen by their 
own tribes, for life only ; they were subor- 
dinate to the chief of the province, as the 
latter was to the monarch. Those chiefs 
who naturally convey to us the idea of the 
.titles of duke, earl, and baron, were called 
Taoiseachs,* that is, lords : Thane among 
the Anglo-Saxons, signifies the same thing, 
namely, the chief of the tribe. 

The ancient names of those territories had 
a strong analogy and connection with the 
names and origin of their possessors, who 
were sometimes called kings through cour- 
tesy, according to the extent of their pos- 
sessions, and the number of their vassals : 
men never took the names of their lands ; 
on the contrary, they generally gave to their 
patrimonies names that indicated the pro- 
prietors, which are still preserved among 
the people, notwithstanding the efforts of 
the English to obliterate them by giving 
foreign names to the lands and lordships 
which they usurped. 

To understand more clearly the analogy 
between the names of the dynasties and the 
names and origin of the proprietors, we 
should observe that the words Dal, Hy or 
Ibh, Sioll, Clan, Kinall, Mac, Muinter, 
and others, are adjectives frequently used in 
the Milesian or Irish language, and which, 
in their primitive signification, denote the 
chiefs of families, and sometimes the dif- 
ferent branches ; but taken in a wider sense, 
they are applied to their territorial posses- 
sions. ,:' 

The word Dal, according to Bede, means 
part of a thing,! and may be used to signify 
a portion of territory, or the branch of a 
family ; but in its most natural signification, 
Dal means tribe or race, as Dal Riada, or 
tribe of Riada ;\ Hy or Ibh, signifies " of;" 
and Sioll, Clan, Kinall, Mac, Muinter, &c, 
the race or descendants of any one.§ 

The ancient territories of Ireland, || ac- 
cording to Keating, Gratianus Lucius, 
0'Flaherty,Tf and others, after the ancient 
monuments of the country, among others 

* Ogyg. part 1, pp. 24, 27, et 57. 

t Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. 1, part 1. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 63. 

§ Id. part 3, cap. 76. 

|| Cambrens. Evers. cap. 3. 

IT Ogyg. part 3, passim. 



the very ancient poem of O'Douvegan, are 
arranged in alphabetical order, in the dif- 
ferent provinces, at the end of this chapter, 
with the names and origin of the ancient 
proprietors, as far as they are known. 

There are some territories, the names 
alone of which have been preserved, while 
those of the proprietors are unknown ; and 
others, the names and proprietors of which 
are known, but their situation and extent 
cannot be ascertained, owing to the boun- 
daries and ancient names having been con- 
founded and changed by those strangers who 
have usurped them. We shall, however, 
subjoin them, in the form of a supplement, 
to those territories which are better known 
in each province, and distinguish them by 
an index. 

The province of Ulster remained, from 
the settlement of the Milesians in Ireland, in 
possession of the descendants of Ir, known 
by the name of Clanna-Rorys, or Rudri- 
cians .* This province underwent many rev- 
olutions ; the reign of the Rudricians was 
disturbed for the first time,t in the beginning 
of the third century, by the policy of the 
monarch Conare II., % who, dreading the 
power of those people, placed Ogaman, a 
prince of the tribe of the Dalfiatachs, of the 
race of Heremon, on the throne ; but they 
received the severest blow from Colla-Huais 
and his brothers, princes of the race of 
Heremon, in the fpurth century, who de- 
stroyed the palace of Eamhain.fy put an 
end to the sway of the Clanna-Rorys, and 
founded the small kingdom of Orgiell, which 
comprised the counties of Louth, Ardmach, 
and Monaghan.[| 

The tribe of the Magennises, chiefs of the 
Clanna-Rorys, though excluded from the 

* From the Clanna-Rorys, are descended the 
MacGenises, the MacCartans, the O'Mordhans, (in 
English, O'More,) O'Conhers-Kerry, O'Loghlins, 
O'Ferralls, MacGranuills, or MacRanells, Mac-an. 
Bhairds, (in English, Ward,) O'Lawlors, Magilla- 
gans, Scanlans, Brosnaghans, O'Cathils, O'Con- 
ways, Casies, Tiernys, Nestors, O'MarCachains, 
O'Tyns, O'Hargans, O'Flahertys, Dorcys, O'Hual- 
lachains, MacSheanloichs, O'Morains, O'Roda- 
chains, (in English, Rody,) O'Duains, O'Mainings, 
MacGilmers, O'Kennys, O'Kenellys, O'Keither- 
nys, MacEochaids, O'Carrollans, the Mac-an- 
Gaivnions, (in English, Smith,) and others. 

t Ogyg. part 2, p. 146. 

t Id. part 3, cap. 63. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 75, 76. 

|| The race of those brothers were numerous, 
and formed many noble tribes, such as the Mac 
Donnels of Ireland and Scotland, the MacMahons, 
Maguires, O'Hanluans, Magees, O'Floinns-Tuirtre, 
O'Ceallaigs, or O'Kelly, O'Madaighins, or O'Mad- 
din, O'Niallains, MacEagains, Neachtains, or Nor. 
tons, Shiehys, Dowels, Kerins, and the Nenys, &c. 



DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 



127 



crown of Ulster, made at all times a consid- 
erable figure in the province, and possessed 
the principality of Dalaradie, so called from 
Fiacha-Araidhe, one of the chiefs of that 
tribe, and king of the province in the third 
century : it is now the county of Down. 

Eogan and Conall Gulban, sons of Niall 
the Great, and brothers of Laogare the Mon- 
arch, took possession of Tir-Eogan, (Ty- 
rone,) and Tyrconnel, so called after them 
in the beginning of the fifth century.* 

Though the kingdom of Orgiell was con- 
fined to narrow limits, being surrounded by 
those principalities, which were so many 
sovereignties, it existed for a considerable 
time in this state. t Eocha, son of Mure- 
dach, son of Forga, son of Dalian, of the 
tribe of the Dalfiatachs, ruled over it in the 
time of St. Patrick ; but his impiety and op- 
position to the gospel having drawn on him 
the malediction of that apostle, the sceptre 
was transferred to Carell, his brother, and his 
descendants, to the number of thirty-five .J 

Leinster was possessed by a branch of 
the Heremonians. This race had formed 
two branches by Cobthach, surnamed Caol- 
breagh, and Laogare Lorck, his brother, 
both sons of Ugane-More, who lived about 
three hundred years before Christ. Most 
of the monarchs who followed, derived their 
origin from Cobthach : the descendants of 
Laogare reigned in Leinster. 

Cathoir, otherwise Cahire-More, of the 
race of Laogare, from being king of Lein 
ster, became monarch of the whole island 
in the second century, and left a numerous 
posterity ;§ the king who reigned in Lein- 



* The descendants of Eogan were the illustri 
ous tribe of the O'Neils, divided into three principal 
families ; namely, that of Dungannan, that is Ty 
rone, which was the first, Clanneboy, and Fews. 
The collateral branches are the Maglachluins, 
O'Cathains, (O'Kean,) MacSuibnes, (MacSwiny,) 
O'Gormleaghads, (Gormly,) O'Heodhasas, O'Con- 
nallains, O'Craoibhes, (Creagh,) O'Madagains, 
(Mullineux,) O'Mulvihils, O'Horins, O'Donallys, 
O'Cathmhaoils, (Caulfield,) MacGiollkellys, O'He- 
gertys, and the O'Dubhdiarmas. Conal Gulban 
gave birth to the illustrious tribe of the O'Donnels, 
O'Dohartys, O'Galaghers, O'Boyles, and the O'Da- 
lys, or Siol-Ndala. 

t Vit. Tripart. lib. 3, cap. 63, not. 92 et 93. in 
eund. lib. 

t It appears from this historical fact, taken from 
Colgan, that the O'Carrols, kings of Orgiel, de- 
scendants of Carrell, of the race of Dalfiatachs, 
should not be confounded with the O'Carrolls of 
Elie, who derived their origin from Heber, by Oilioll- 
Olum, and his son Kiann. 

§ This monarch had thirty sons, twenty of whom 
died without issue : the two most distinguished were 
Rossa-Failge and Fiacha.Baiceada. 

From the first are descended the noble families 



ster, of his race, in the time of St. Pat- 
rick, was Criomthan, son of Enna-Kin- 
sealach. 

Oilioll-Olum, of the race of Heber, first 
absolute king of the two Munsters after the 
expulsion of the Earnochs, in the beginning 
of the third century enacted a law render- 
ing the succession to the crown of the prov- 
ince alternate between the descendants of 
his two sons, Eogan and Cormac-Cas, call- 
ed after those two chiefs, the Eoganachts, 
and the Dalcaiss. In the time of St. Pat- 
rick, the sceptre was held by the descend- 
ants of Eogan. Aongus, son of Nadfraoch, 
of this race, governed the province, while 
Carthan Fionn, son of Bloid, of the race of 
Cormac-Cas, was prince of Thuomond, and 
chief of the Dalcaiss.* 

In the beginning of the fourth century, 



of the O'Connors-Faly, the O'Dempsies, O'Dunns, 
O'Branains, O'Riagans, MacColgaine.Clan-Oarbrys, 
O'Maolchiarains, O'Bearras, O'Hartaigs, O'Floinus. 

From Fiacha-Baiceada, the youngest, are de- 
scended the royal family, and the other considera- 
ble tribes of this province, as the MacMoroughs, 
(Cavanaghs,) O'Morochus, (Murphy,) O'Broius, 
O'Tuathails, (in English O'Byrnes and O'Tools,) 
O'Dowlings.O'Moel-Ryans, O'Kinsealaghs, O'Mul. 
duins, O'Cormaes, O'Duffys. 

From Dair-Barrach, another son of Cahire-More, 
are descended the O'Gormains, O'Moonys, Muillins 
or O'Maolans ; and from Cuchorp, are descended 
the O'Feadhails of Fortuath. The noble tribes of 
the Duibhidirs, or O'Dvvyers, with the O'Donogains 
and the Macgiolla-Phadruigs, (in English Fitzpat- 
rick,) formed two collateral branches of his race, 
some generations beyond Cahire-More. The former 
derive their origin from Conchorb, ancestor of the 
monarch, and the latter with the O'Braonains, 
from Broasal-Breac, one of his ancestors in the 
twelfth degree. 

* The descendants of Eogan, after the illustrious 
tribe of the MacCartys, chiefs of this race, are the 
O'Sullevans, MacAulifs, O'Callaghains, O'Keefs, 
O'Mahonys, O'Mariartys, O'Donoghoes, O'Dono. 
vans, O'Conaills, O'Dalys, O'Cuilleans, O'Hehirs, 
O'Meighans, Devorens, O'Treasaighs, O'Garvans, 
MacFinnins. — Ogyg. part 3, cap. 81. 

From Cormac-Cas descended the illustrious tribe 
of the O'Briens, chiefs of this family, O'Kenedies, 
MacMahons, MacCoghlains, O'Finallans, O'Re. 
gans, MacCraiths, O'Hogans, O'Shannaghains, 
O'Meadhras, Artureighs, (Arthur,) O'Henraghtys, 
O'Hicidhes, (Hickys,) Loinsighes, (Lonsy,) Seas- 
nains, (Sexon,) Huainins, Cormucains, Ryadys, Sla. 
trys, MacNemaras, Hurlys, O'Mullownys, O'Kear- 
nys, O'Hiffernans, O'Henegains, O'Neaghtains, 
Conrays, (King,) O'Deas, O'Brodys, Gradys, Clan- 
chys, O'Cuins, Keilliochairs, O'Beolains, O'Spea- 
lains, O'Hanraghains, O'Siodhachains, (Sihan,) 
Maceineirys, Congalaighs, O'Tuama, (Twoiny,) 
Murronys, Healys, and the Hartagans. — Idem. cap. 
82, Grat. Luc. cap. 3. 

From Kiann, third son of Oilioll-Olum, are de- 
scended the O'Carrols of Ely, O'Connors, Kian- 
achtas, O'Meaghairs, O'Haras, O'Garas, O'Flana- 
gans, Dulchontas, Corcrans, O'Casies. 



128 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Connaught was wrested from the Firdom- 
nians, a branch of the Firbolgs, who had 
possessed it until then with the good will 
of the Milesians. Muiradach-Tireach, son 
of Fiacha-Straivetine, was first king of Con- 
naught, of the race of Heremon ; which re- 
mained in the possession of his posterity for 
many ages.* Eocha-Moy-Veagon, his son, 
succeeded him ; who, having become mon- 
arch, left the province to his sons, namely, 
Brian, Fergus, and Oilioll. The two first 
were the ancestors of the Hy-Brunes, and 
Hy-Fiachras, whose posterity reigned in 
this province till the twelfth century. f 

Lastly, from the beginning of the fifth 
century,| Meath remained in the possession 
of the southern Hy-Nialls,^ that is, the 
descendants of Laogare, Conall-Crimthine, 
Fiach, and Maine, son of the monarch 
Niall the Great, of the race of Heremon. || 

Such was the general state of the prov- 
inces of Ireland, and its inhabitants, in the 
first ages of Christianity. We shall now 
examine the particular distribution of the 
island into dynasties, and the families to 
whom they belonged. 

IN ULSTER. 

Arachty-Cahan, a territory comprising 
nearly the whole of the county of Derry, 

* Ogyg- P art 3, cap. 73. 

t The O'Connors Don derive their origin from 
the illustrious tribe, of the Hy-Brunes, of which 
they were chiefs ; the collateral branches are the 
O'Connors-Roe, O'Connors-Sligo, O'Rourks, O'Rag- 
hallaighs, (O'Reilly,) MacDermots, MacDonaghs, 
O'Flahertys, O'Malys, O'Floinns, (Flynn,) O'Flan. 
egans, O'Hanly, MacMaghnus, O'Fallons, Mac- 
Kiernans, MacBradys, O'Donallans, O'Gairbfhias, 
(O'Garvy,) O'Brins, O'Malons, MacBrenans, Maol- 
lallas, or Lally, O'Creans, Maol-Breanoins, Maol- 
Mocheirges, O'Faithaigs, (Fahy,) O'Camhins, 
O'Domhleins, O'Breislins, MacAodhs, O'Cosnam- 
has, MacSamhragains, MacOirioghtaig-Tumal- 
taghs, O'Gealbhuidhes, Cruadlaoeh, (O'Crowly,) 
O'Concheanains, O'Fionnagains, O'Hallurains, 
O'Muirgheasas, O'Mahadys, O'Currains. 

The descendants of the tribe of the Hy-Fiachras, 
are the O'Dowds, O'Sheagnassys, O'Heyns, Kill- 
kellys, Kearaighs, O'Cleirighs, O'Braonains, Cho- 
maltains, Chedaighs, (Cead,) Cathmhoghas, (Caf- 
fuoighs,) Chreachains, Leanains. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 85. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, c. 85, Trias Thau. not. 1, in lib. 
2, Vit. 4. S. Brig. p. 564. 

II The O'Conlivans, or Kindellan, O'MaoIeach- 
luins, owe their origin to Laogare, and Conall- 
Crimthine ; Fiacha gave birth to the Maolmhu- 
adhs, (Mulloy,) Mac-Eochagains, (Mac-Geoghe- 
gan,) Mac-Cullins, and the Huiginns. The descend' 
ants of Maine are the O'Sionachs, (Fox,) O'Ha- 
gains, O'Ronains, Magawlys, O'Braoins, O'Dalys, 
O'Quins, Mac-Conmeies, Slambains, Mulcornys, 
Ciohliochains, Shiels, Cathalains, Murrys, and the 
O'Deignans. — Ogyg. part 3, c. 85. 



the patrimony of the O'Cahans, of the race 
of Heremon, by the monarch Niall-Noygiol- 
lach and Eogan his son.* Towards the end 
of the thirteenth century, Magnus, brother 
of O'Cahan, possessed that part of the 
country now called the barony of Cole- 
raine, situated on both sides of the river 
Bann, at that time called Douhy Clanna- 
Magnus. His eldest son, named Henry, 
gave to his posterity the name of Mac- 
Henry. His second son settled on the 
river Buash, in Route, in the county of An- 
trim, and his descendants always preserved 
the name of O'Cahan ; they were called 
Clann Magnus na Buasha, to distinguish 
them from the Clann Magnus na Banna, 
who, though the eldest branch, bear the name 
of Mac-Henry. O'Cahan was dispossessed 
in the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
and Mac-Henry in 1641, by Cromwell. 

Ardes, an ancient territory, now a barony 
in the county of Down, forming part of lower 
Clanneboy, is a peninsula, eighteen miles in 
length. This territory belonged to a branch 
of the O'Neills. 

Boylagh, a territory, now a half-barony, 
in the county of Donegal, the patrimony of 
the O'Buidhills, otherwise O'Boyle, a col- 
lateral branch of the O'Donnels. 

Breifne, Briefnia, or Brenny, formerly 
comprised the counties of Leitrim and Ca- 
van.f Aod-Finn, of the race of the Hy- 
Brunes, was prince of this country about 
the year 572 ; his race was called Sliocht 
Aodha-Finn. This country was divided 
into two territories, namely, eastern and 
western Briefne, in favor of the two prin- 
cipal branches of this race, the O'Rourkes 
and the O'Raghallaighs, (Reilly.) Eastern 
Briefne, also called Muntir-Maol-Morda, at 
present the county of Cavan, was the patri- 
mony of the O'Reillys. 

Clan-Bressail, a territory to the south of 
Lough Neagh, in the barony of O'Neland, 
in the county of Ardmach ; it formerly be- 
longed to the Mac-Canns, of the race of 
the Dalfiatachs. 

Clanneboy, or Clan-Hugue-Boy, a terri- 
tory which takes its name from the de- 
scendants of Hugue Boy O'Neill, and was 
divided into two parts, one northern, and 
the other southern, belonged formerly to 
the different branches of the O'Neills, of 
the race of Heremon. 

Southern Clanneboy comprised part of 
the territory of Ardes, with the land which 

* Phill. O'Sull. Compend. Hist. Cathol. torn. 3, 
lib. 1, page 115. 

t Act. Sanct. Hiber. vit. S. Berach. ad. 15. 
Februar. note 20, et seq. 



DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 



129 



extends from the bay of Dundrum, to the 
bay of Carrick-Fergus, in the county of 
Down, that is, the baronies of Castlereagh 
and Kinalearty. 

Northern Clanneboy is a territory in the 
county of Antrim, bounded on the east and 
south by the bay of Carrickfergus, and the 
river Lagan; on the west by the territory of 
Kilultagh, and on the north by the countries 
called Route and Glinnes, now the baronies 
of Kilconway and Glanarm. 

Conal-Muirthemne, an ancient territory, 
comprising nearly the whole county of 
Louth.* This territory was also called Hy- 
Conal, and Machaire-Conal, from Conal- 
Kearnach, to whose posterity it belonged. 

Dalaraidie, an extensive territory which 
comprised part of the county Antrim on the 
south and southeast, and most of the county 
of Down : this territory, which was some- 
times called Ulidia, was divided into several 
smaller ones. 

Dalrieda, otherwise Reuta and Route, a 
large territory of thirty miles extent, in the 
county of Antrim, from the river Bush to 
the cross of Glenfrinaght. This territory 
was so called from the demi-tribe of the Dal- 
riads, which had been established there in the 
fourth century by Fergus Ulidian, descended 
in the fifth degree from Cairbre-Rieda ; the 
other demi-tribe, mentioned by Bede under 
the name of Dalreudini, had already settled 
in Albania. To this territory has since been 
given the name of the country of Mac-Surley- 
Boy, that is, of the Mac-Donnels, of the race 
of Heremon, by Colla-Huais, to whom it 
belonged. 

Dufferin, at present a barony in the county 
of Down, forming a part of the country of 
the Mac-Cartans, of the race of the Clanna- 
Rorys. 

Fanid, a territory, now the barony of Kil- 
Macrenan, in the county of Donegal,! the 
patrimony of the Mac-Sweenys, a collateral 
branch of the O'Donnels. The territories 
of Tueth and Banach in the same county, 
were possessed by other branches of the 
Mac-Sweenys. 

Fermanagh,^ an ancient territory, now a 
county, the patrimony of the Maguires of the 
race of Heremon, by Colla da Crioch.fy 

Fews, at present a barony in the county of 
Ardmach, the patrimony of a branch of the 
O'Neills. 

Hy-Macarthen, a territory on the borders 
of Lough Foyle, in the county of Derry, so 

* Ogyg. P ar ' 3, c. 47. 

t O'SulI. Comment, torn. 3, lib 1, page 115. 

t Ogyg. part 3, c. 76. 

§ Keat. GeneaL 



called from Carthen, great-grandson of Colla 
Huais, to whom it belonged, and whose 
descendants were the Mac-Carthens, the 
O'Colgans, and the O'Conaills. 

Hy-Meith-Tire, a territory in the county 
of Ardmach,* at present the barony of Orior, 
the country of the O'Hanluans, (O'Hanlon,) 
of the race of Heremon, by Colla da Chrioch. 

Northern Hy-Niellia, so called from the 
descendants of four of the sons of Niall- 
Noygiollach, monarch of Ireland, to whom 
it belonged, comprised part of the counties 
of Tyrone, Tyrconnel, and other territories. 

Hy-Turtre,f a territory on the borders of 
the counties of Antrim and Down, east of 
lake Neagh, the patrimony of the O'Floinns 
and O'Donnellans, of the race of Heremon, 
by Colla Huais, and his grandson Fiacha 
Tort. 

Hy-Veach, or Iveach, a territory of an- 
cient Dalaradie, in the county of Down, 
now forming part of the baronies of upper 
and lower Iveach, with some other territories 
in the same county, the domain of the Ma- 
gennises, of the race of the Clanna Rorys, 
by Conall-Kearnach, and his son Irial or 
Vriel4 

Inis-Eoguin, a territory, at present the 
barony of Ennis-Owen, that is, the isle of 
Owen, (being a peninsula formed by the 
ocean on one side, and Lough Foyle and 
Lough S willy on the other,) in the county of 
Donegal, the patrimony of the O'Doghertys, 
a younger branch of the O'Donnels. § 

Kinel-Conail, otherwise Tirconnell, now 
the county of Donegal, the domain of the 
O'Donnells, of the race of Heremon, and of 
the monarch Niall, by his son, Conall-Gul- 
"fean. This territory was divided into several 
dynasties, inhabited by the different branches 
of this name. 

Kinel-Eoguin, a territory of northern Hy- 
Niellia, comprising the county of Tyrone, 
the domain of the O'Neills, of the race of 
Heremon, and of the monarch Niall-Noy- 
giollach, and Eogan, his son ; this territory 
was divided into several dynasties belonging 
to the different families of this name, of 
whom Dungannon was the chief, and in case 
of his dying without issue, one was chosen 
from Clan-Hughboy, or the Fews. 

Maghinis, or Moy-Inis, a territory in the 
county of Down, now trie barony of Lecale ; 
which formerly belonged to the Magennises. 

Mugdorne, now the barony of Mourne, a 
territory in the county of Down, bounded on 

* Ogyg. P ar ' 1, e. 66 ; Keat. Geneal. 

t Ogyg. part 3, c. 76. 

t O'SulI. Comment, torn. 3, lib. 1, page 115. 

§ O'SulI. ibid. 



130 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



the south by the bay of Carlingford, and 
belonging to the descendants of Colla- 
Maine. 

Oilean-Magee, a peninsula in the county 
of Antrim, north of Carrickfergus bay, the 
patrimony of the Magees, of the race of 
Heremon, by one of the Collas. 

Orgiel, Oriel, or Uriel, was an extensive 
territory, comprising the counties of Louth, 
Monaghan, and Ardmach, sometimes gov- 
erned by feudal kings.* Monaghan, called 
in the language of the country, Uriel, be- 
longed to the Mac-Mahons, who were divided 
into several branches, descendants of Here- 
mon, by Colla-da-Chrioch. 

Ulidia, see Dalaradie. 

Uriel, see Orgiel. 

JTJ 3 Calrie, a territory in eastern Breifny,f 
the patrimony of the O'Carbhaills, of the 
race of the Hy-Brunes, from whom are de- 
scended the Mac-Bradys. 

Clancarne, in the county of Orgiel, the 
patrimony of the O'Heagnys. 

Clanfogartaid, a territory in Orgiel, the 
patrimony of the Mac-Cartans, of the race 
of the CFanna-Rorys. 

Cualgne, a territory in the county of 
Louth. 

Donamaine, a territory in the county of 
Monaghan, the patrimony of the O'Nenys, 
of the race of Colla-da-Crioch. 

Glinnes, a territory between the bay of 
Oldfleet and Route, adjoining the barony of 
Glanarm. 

Hy-Bruin, a territory in the county of 
Tyrone, commonly called Muinter Birne. 
There are other territories of this name, the 
situation and extent of which are unknown, 
though mentioned in history, as Hy-Bruin- 
Ay, Hy-Bruin-Brefne, and Hy-Bruin-Scola. 

Hy-Cormaic, a small territory in the county 
of Deny, on the borders of Lough Foyle, 
enclosed by the territory of Hy-Macarthen. 

Hy-Conall, or Conall-Muirthemne, in 
Louth. :f 

Hy-Fiachria, a territory between the coun- 
ties of Tyrone and Derry.fy on the river 
Derg, which comprised the ancient bishopric 
of Ardsratha, afterwards united to that of 
Derry. 

Hy-Meith-Mhara, a maritime territory in 
the county of Louth, near Carlingford. 

Hy-Niellain, a territory near Ardmach, 
the patrimony of the O'Niellans, of the race 
of Colla-da-Crioch. 



* Ogyg. part 3, c. 76. 
t Grat. Luc. c. 3. 
t Ogyg. part 3, c. 66. 
§ Ibid. cap. 76. 



Hy-Semnia, a territory in ancient Dala- 
radie. 

Kenelmoigne, the patrimony of the 
O'Gormlaids. 

Kiennachta-Glenngemhin, a territory in 
the county of Derry, whence O'Connor 
Kiennachta had taken his name. 

Kilwarlin, a small territory in the county 
of Down, forming part of the ancient terri- 
tory of Iveach, now the barony of lower 
Iveach. 

Kilulta, a small territory in the county of 
Antrim, on the borders of lake Neagh, 
extending southward into the county of 
Down. 

Magh-Murthemne or Machaire-Conaill, 
the same as Conal-Murthemne. 

Muintir Birne, see Hy-Bruin. 

Oirther, a territory in the county of Ard- 
mach, the same as Hy-Meith-Tire. 

Route Reuta,* see Dalrieda. 

Sioll-Eoghuin, see Inis-Eoghuin. 

Tirconnel, see Kinel-Conaill. 

Tirmaccarthuin, a territory in the county 
of Tirconnel, the patrimony of the O'Mao- 
logains. 

Tirmbrassail and Tirtiole, in the same 
country, the patrimony of the O'Donna- 
ains. 

Tuaithratha, a territory in Orgiel, the 
patrimony of the O'Flanagans. 

Ulidia or Ullad, see Dalaradie. 

Uriel, see Orgiel. 

IN LEINSTER. 

Annaly, at present the county of Longford, 
anciently called Conmacne, the country of 
the O'Ferrals, of the race of Ir, by Feargus 
Roigh, and Maude, queen of Connaught. 

Clan-Malugra, otherwise Clenmalire, lying 
on both sides of the river Barrow, in the 
King and Queen's county, and including the 
baronies of Geashill and Portnehinch. This 
territory was in the possession of different 
branches of the O'Dempsies, of the race of 
Heremon, by the monarch Cahire-More and 
his son Rossa-Failge. 

Coille-Culluin, a territory on the frontiers 
of the counties of Wicklow and Kildare, the 
patrimony of the O'Culluins, of the race of 
Cahire-More, by his son, Fiacha Baicheada. 
This noble tribe possessed another large 
tract of land in the vicinity of Dublin, on 
which part of this city has been built. 

Crioch-Culan,f a territory in the county 
of Wicklow, including part of the baronies 
of Arklow and Newcastle, possessed by the 

* Ogvg- p. 3, cap. 59, 46. 
t Ogyg. part 3, c. 59. 



DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 



131 



O'Kellys, descendants of Maine Mai, bro- 1 hire-More, and his son Rossa Failge, but 



ther of Cahire-More 

Ely O'Carrol, formerly a territory in the 
province of Munster, at present in the King's 
county, including the baronies of Clonlish, 
Ballybrit, and probably that of Eglish, the 
domain of the O'Carrols of the race of Heber, 
by Oilioll-Olum,* and his son Kian. This 
territory was called Ely, from Eile Riogh- 
Dearg, one of the ancestors of this tribe 
who lived in the fourth century .f 

Fothart, a territory on the banks of the 
river Slaney,| in the county of Wexford, 
the patrimony of the O'Nuallans, descend 
ants of Eocha-Fionn-Fothart, brother of the 
monarch Conn Keadcaha. The barony of 
Forth, situated in this canton, still preserves 
some vestige of that name. 

Hy-Failge,^ or Offaly, otherwise Douhy- 
Faily, that is, the patrimony of Failge, an 
extensive territory, including part of the 
King and Queen's county and that of Kil- 
dare, bounded on the west and south by 
Kinalyach, Fearcall, Hy-Regan, and Clen- 
malire, on the north and east by part of the 
county of Meath, the barony of Carbury, 
and the great bog of Allen, and comprised 
part of the county Kildare, towards the river 
Liffey. This territory belonged to a tribe 
of the O'Connors-Faly, of the race of Cahire- 
More, by his son Rossa Failge, from the 
second till the last century, and was divided 
into several fiefs ; part of it still remains in 
the county of Kildare, erected into a barony 
under the name of O'Phaly. 

Hy-Kinseallagh, a territory comprising a 
considerable part of the county of Wexford, 
from the Barrow to the river Slaney, and 
from thence towards the east. This terri- 
tory formerly belonged to the O'Kinseal 
laghs, the Murchedas, (O'Murphy,) and the 
O'Dowlings, of the royal race of Cahire- 
More, by his son Fiacha-Baikeada. 

Hy-Mairche,|| or O'Mairche, a territory in 
the Queen's county, at present the barony 
of Slieve-Margie, on the river Barrow, 
bounding the counties of Kilkenny, Carlow, 
and Kildare, the patrimony of the Mac- 
Gormans, of the race of Cahire-More, by 
his son Dair-Barrach. 

Hy-Regan, or O'Regan, a territory in the 
Queen's county, now the barony of Tine- 
hinch, the patrimony of the O'Duinns^l of 
the race of Heremon, by the monarch Ca- 

* Keat. Geneal. of O'Carrol. 

t Ogyg. part 3, c. 68, et 87. 

t Idem. c. 59. 

§ Idem. c. 59. 

|| Grat. Luc. c. 3, et c. 26, page 242. 

■ Ogyg. P ar * 3> c. 59. 



belonging anciently to the O'Regans. 

Idrone, a territory, at present a barony in 
the county of Carlow, on the river Barrow, 
the patrimony of the Mac-Murroughs or 
Cavanaghs, of the race of Heremon, by 
Cahire-More and Dirmuid Na-Nagall, king 
of Leinster, by whom the English were in- 
troduced into Ireland in the twelfth century. 
Imayle,* a territory in the county of 
Wicklow, the ancient possessors of which 
were the O'Tuathails, (O'Toole,) of the race 
of Cahire-More, by his son Fiacha-Baikeada. 
Idough, at present the barony of Fassa- 
Dining, in the county of Kilkenny, the an- 
cient patrimony of the O'Brennans, a branch 
of the Fitzpatricks, of the race of Heremon. 
Lagisia, Lesia, or Leix, an extensive ter- 
ritory in the Queen's county, including the 
baronies of Maryborough, otherwise Porte- 
loise, Cullinagh, and other tracts of land 
which formerly belonged to the O'Mordhas, 
(in English, Moor,) of the race of Ir, by 
Rory the Great, Connal-Kearnach, and his 
son Laoiseach-Kean-More. 

O'Moerough, a maritime territory in the 
county of Wexford, in the barony of Beb- 
laghkeen, commonly called the Murrowes, 
forming part of Hy-Kinseallagh, the ancient 
patrimony of the O'Murchudas, otherwise 
O'Murphys. 

Osraigh, or Ossory,t an extensive terri- 
tory in the Queen's county, now a barony, 
belonged to the Mac-Giolla-Phadruigs, or 
Fitzpatricks, descendants of Heremon, | by 
the monarch Ugane-More, Breasal-Breac, 
and jEngus Ossory, the first of that race 
who settled in this territory in the first cen- 
tury.^ 

Ranilough, also called Colconnel, or the 
country of Fiagh-Mac-Hughs,|| a territory in 
the western part of the county of Wicklow, 
belonging to different branches of the 
O'Birnes of the race of Cahire-More, by 
his son Fiacha-Baikeada. 

Feargualuin, the patrimony of the O'Cos- 
craidhs. 

Fingall, a country in the county of Dub- 
lin, in the possession of a colony of Danes 
before the twelfth century. 



IN MUNSTER. 

Aradh-Cliach, a territory north-east of 
Limerick, probably the half-barony of Arra, 

* Walsh, page 287. 

t Keat. on the reign of Cahire-More. 

t Idem. Geneal. of the Mac-Murroughs. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, c. 27. 

|| a. m. 3700. 



132 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



in the county of Tipperary, belonged to a 
branch of the O'Briens, of the tribe of the 
Dal-Caiss. 

Beare, a territory in the western part of 
the county of Cork, now forms part of the 
baronies of Beare and Bantry, the domain 
of O'Sullivan-Beare, of the race of Oilioll- 
Olum, by his son Eogan-More. 

Carbury, a territory in the southern part 
of the county of Cork, now the baronies of 
east and west Carbury, the patrimony of., 
the Macartys-Riaghs, divided into several 
branches, and descendants of Oilioll-Olum, 
by his son Eogan-More ; the O'Donavans, 
a branch of the Mac-Cartys, had extensive 
possessions in the neighborhood of Ross. 

Coillnemanagh, now the barony of Kill- 
nemanna,* in the county of Tipperary, the 
domain of the O'Dwyers, of the race of He- 
remon, by Ugane-More and Breasal-Breac. 

Corco Baskin, a territory in the county 
of Clare, now the barony of Moyarta,t the 
patrimony of the Mac-Cartys, a branch of 
the Dal-Caiss. 

Corcumruaidhe, now the baronies of Cor- 
cumroe and Surrin,J in the county of Clare ; 
its ancient proprietors were the O'Connors 
and O'Loghlins, of the race of Ir, by Fer- 
gus-Roigh, and Maude queen of Connaught.. 

Desie, or Nan-Desie, now a barony in the 
county of Waterford, the ancient patrimony 
of the O'Faolans, otherwise Phelans, of the 
race of Heremon. Some ancient authors 
describe this country as being more exten- 
sive, and divide it into Desie-Tuasgirt, that 
is, northern Deasie, including all those 
plains which extend from the river Suire 
and Clonmel, by Cashel, towards Thurles, 
and Desie-Discerat, or Southern-Desie, ex- 
tending from the river Suir, on the south, 
as far as the sea, and comprising the entire 
county of Waterford. 

Douhallow, a territory, at present a bar- 
ony in the county of Cork, the patrimony 
of the O'Keefs, a branch of the Mac-Cartys. 

Dunkeron, now a barony in the county of 
Kerry, the domain of the O'Sullivans-More 
of the race of Oilioll-Olum, by his son Eo- 
gan-More. § 

Hy-Fogarta, a territory, now the barony 
of Eliogurty, in the county of Tipperary, 
the patrimony of the O'Fogarthys, or O'Fo- 
gartaidh, a branch of the tribe of the Eogan- 
achts.|| 

* Ogyg. part 3, c. 51. 
+ Ogyg. part 3, c. 46. 
t Grat. Luc. c. 3. 

§ Hist. Cath. Hiber. Compend. tome 3, lib. 1, 
e. 2. 

II Grat. Luc. page 28. 



Hy-Kierin, or Ikerin, a territory, now a 
barony in the county of Tipperary, bounded 
on the west by Upper Ormond, on the south 
by the barony of Eliogurty, and north and 
east by the King and Queen's county, be- 
longed to the O'Meaghairs, of the race of 
Heber, by Kiann, son of Oilioll-Olum. 

Ivreagh, a territory, now a barony in the 
county of Kerry, the domain of the Mac- 
Qartys-More, chief of the Eoganachts. 

Kierrigia-Luachra, or Ciaruidh, a terri- 
tory, comprising a great part of the county 
of Kerry, the patrimony of the O'Connors- 
Kerry, descended from Ir, by the monarch 
Rory the Great, and his grandson Feargua 
Roigh, and Maude, queen of Connaught. ' 

Kinel Meaky, now a barony in the county 
of Cork, the patrimony of the O'Mahonys, 
a branch of the Mac-Cartys. 

Muscraighe, an extensive territory in the 
county of Cork, now the baronies of Mus- 
kerry, Barrymore, and other dynasties, 
which belonged for more than two thousand 
years to different families of the Mac-Car- 
tys,* the descendants of Oilioll-Olum, by his 
son Eogan : this territory comprised seve- 
ral smaller ones, as Muscrighe-Breoguin, 
Muscrighe-Mitine, &c. 
; ' Muscraighe-Thire, a territory in the coun- 
ty of Tipperary, now the baronies of Upper 
and Lower Ormond, the ancient patrimony 
of the O'Kennedys, of the race of Oilioll- 
Olum, by his son Cormac-Cas. 

Oneagh, a territory, now the barony of 
Owny, in the county of Tipperary, the pat- 
rimony of the O'Moel-Ryans, of the race of 
Cahire-More, by his son Fiacha-Baikeada. 

Poble-Hy-Brien, a territory, now a barony 
in the county of Limerick, belonging to dif- 
ferent branches of the O'Briens. 

Thuomond, or Towoin-Hy-Brien, which 
comprised a large portion of the counties of 
Limerick and Clare, the patrimony of the 
O'Briens, chiefs of the Dal-Caiss. 

JTJf 5 Aghadeo, a territory in the county 
of Kerry, near Lake Lene, the ancient pat- 
rimony of the O'Connels. 

Balli-Mac-Eligod, and other lands in the 
barony of Truchanacmy, in the county of 
Kerry, the patrimony of the ancient family 
of the Mac-Eligods. 

Cloinifernain, a territory of Thuomond, 
the patrimony of the O'Cuinns, of the race 
of the Dal-Caiss. 

Corca-Eathrach, a territory in the county 
of Tipperary, which includes the city of 
Cashil. 

* °gyg- P a rt 3, p. 68. 
Keat. Geneal. et Ogyg. c. 46. 
A. M. 3950, B. C. 50. 



DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 



133 



Corcaoichaidh, the patrimony of the 
O'Scanlans, of the race of the Eoganachts 

Eoganacht, a territory in the county of 
Tipperary, between Cashil and Thurles. It 
was so called from Eogan, eldest son of 
Oilioll-Olum, to whose descendants it be 
longed. There were six other territories 
of this name in Ireland, but their situation 
is unknown. 

Fera-Muigh-Fene,a territory in the coun- 
ty of Cork, now the barony of Fermoy. 

Glinn, and other territories in the envi- 
rons of Lake Lene, the ancient patrimony 
of the O'Donoghoes, of the tribe of Eogan- 
achts. 

Hy-Conall-Gaura, also called Fearmore, 
a territory in the county of Limerick, in the 
barony of Conniloe. 

Hy-Finginte, a territory comprising part 
of the baronies of Connilloe in the county 
of Limerick, and Iraghticonnor and Clan- 
Morris in the county of Kerry. 

Hy-Liathain, a maritime territory in the 
southern part of the county of Waterford, 
in the barony of Desie. 

Imocuille, a territory, at present the bar- 
ony of Imo-Killy, in the county of Cork. 

Muighaghair, a territory in Thuomond, 
the patrimony of the Mac-Con-Maras, or 
Macnemara, of the race of the Dal-Caiss. 
Keating calls them the Macnemaras of Ross- 
Ruadh, and Sioll-jiEda. 

Muscri-Mithaine, a territory which be- 
longed to the O'Donnogains, the O'Cule- 
nains, and the O'Floinns. 

O'Flaithry, the patrimony of the O'Ca- 
thails or Cahill. 

O'Geamy, the patrimony of the O'Kear- 
naidhs, otherwise O'Kearny, of the race of 
Dal-Caiss. 

Onachach, or Poble-Hy-Callaghan, in 
the county of Cork, the patrimony of the 
O'Keallachains, or Callaghan, a branch of 
the tribe of the Eoganachts. 

Ormond ; see Muscraighe-Thire. 

Oweney-Hoiffernan, a territory in the 
county of Limerick, the patrimony of the 
Hiffernans, of the tribe of the Dal-Caiss.* 

IN CONNAUGHT. 

Aidhne, a territory in the southern part 
of the county of Galway, now the barony of 
Killtartan, the patrimony of the O'Seagh- 
nassys, of the race of the Hy-Fiachras, by 
Dathy, monarch of the island in the begin- 
ning of the fifth century. 

Breifne, Brifnia, or western Brenny, at 

* Grat. Luc. c. 3. 



present the county of Leitrim, was the pat- 
rimony of the O'Rourkes, a branch of the 
Hy-Brunes. This territory, like that of the 
O'Reillys, is known in ancient histories by 
the names of Brenny-O'Rourke, and Brenny- 
O'Reilly ; part of Annally, the country of 
the O'Ferrals, was also called Brenny. 

Calruidhe, or Calrigia. There were sev- 
eral districts of this name in Connaught, 
the precise situation of which is not known, 
as, Calrigia-Luirc, Calrigia-Anchala, Cal- 
rigia-Inse-Nisc. There was also Calrigia 
on the borders of Lough-Gill, forming a 
part of the barony of Carbury, in the county 
of Sligo, and Calrigia-Muighe-Murisk, in 
the barony of Tyrawly, in the county of 
Mayo. 

Clan-Fergail, an ancient territory on the 
borders of Lough-Corrib, now the barony of 
Clare, in the county of Galway, in which 
the town of Galway is situated : this dis- 
trict belonged to the O'Hallorans, a branch 
of the Hy-Brunes. 

Cloin-Moelruan, also called Slive-Hy- 
Flion, a territory in the barony of Dune- 
more, in the county of Galway, extending 
into the county of Roscommon, the patri- 
mony of the O'Flyns, a branch of the tribe 
of the Hy-Brunes. 

Conmacne, otherwise Muinter-Eolas, in 
the county of Leitrim, a territory belonging 
to the Magranuills, or Ranalds, who were 
descendants of Ir, by Feargus-Roigh.* 
There are many other districts of this name 
in Connaught, as Conmacne of Kinel-Dub- 
hain, or Conmacne of Dun-Mor, at present 
the barony of Donamore, in the county of 
Galway : the principal town is Tuam, which 
is an archbishopric. 

Conmacne-Mhara, in the county of Gal- 
way, now the barony of Ballinahinch : and 
Conmacne-Cuiltola, the barony of Kihnain, 
in the county of Mayo. 

Coolavin, at present a barony in the 
county of Sligo, forming part of ancient 
Coranne, which has been since the fourth 
century the patrimony of the O'Garas, of 
the race of Heber, by Kiann, son of Oilioll- 
Olum, king of Munster.f 

Coranne, a territory, now a barony in the 
county of Sligo, the patrimony of the Mac- 
Donoghs, of the race of the Hy-Brunes. :£ 

Corcachlann, a territory in the northern 
part of the county of Roscommon, an an- 



* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 43. 
t Ibid. cap. 95. 

t Keat. Geneal. of O'Connor Roe. Ogyg. part 
3, cap. 69. 



134 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



cient patrimony of the O'Hanlys and O'Broe- 
nans, a branch of the Hy-Brvmes.* 

Dartry, or Dartrigia, a territory in the 
barony of Carbury, near Lough-Gill in 
the county of Sligo, formerly the patri- 
mony of the Maglanchys, of the race of 
Ith.f 

Deabna-Feadha, now the barony of Moy- 
cullin, in the country called Tir-Da-Loch, 
from its being situated between two lakes, 
namely, Lough-Corrib on the north, and 
Lough-Lurghan, or the bay of Galway, on 
the south. This territory belonged anciently 
to the posterity of Gnomer and Gnobeg, of 
the tribe of Dal-Caiss, from whom are de- 
scended the Mac-Conrys ; and since the 
ninth century to the O'Flahertys, a branch 
of the Hy-Brunes. 

Hy-Maine,J or Mainech, a territory in the 
county of Galway, and patrimony of the 
O'Kellys, otherwise O'Ceallaighs, of the 
race of Heremon, by Colla-De-Crioch. 
This territory was so called after Maine- 
More, from whom the O'Kellys are de- 
scended, and who was the first of that tribe 
who settled there towards the end of the 
fifth century ; his descendants extended 
their conquests beyond the river Suck, in 
the county of Roscommon, and were di- 
vided into several branches, the chief of 
which was O'Kelly of Aughrim, who lost 
his possessions. 

Hy-Malia, Umalie,§ a territory southeast 
of the county of Mayo ; it included the 
barony of Morisk and part of Carragh, the 
patrimony of the O'Maileys, a branch of the 
tribe of the Hy-Brunes. 

Hy-Onach, a district in the county of 
Roscommon, comprising Elphin ; it ancient- 
ly belonged to the eldest branch of the Hy- 
Brunes. 

Luigne, a district in the county of Sligo, 
at present the barony of Leny, forming part 
of ancient Coranne, and patrimony of the 
O'Haras, of the race of Oilioll-Olum, by his 
son Kiann.|| 

Moy-Lurg, a territory in the county of 
Roscommon, on the right bank of the river 
Shannon, at present the barony of Boyle 
and patrimony of the Mac-Diarmuids, or 
Macdermots, a branch of the Hy-Brunes, 
who were subdivided into several branches 

Moy-Noy, or Maghery-Connoght, called 
" Planities Connachtiae," by 0'Sullivan,H 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 79. 

t Ibid. cap. 76. 

t Ibid. cap. 76. 

§ Ibid. 79. 

|| Idem. cap. 69. 

IT Hist. Hibern. Compend. torn. 3, lib. 1, c. 1. 



an extensive territory including the baronies 
of Roscommon and Ballintobber, under the 
dominion of the O'Connors-Don, chiefs of 
the Hy-Brunes and Clan-Murrays, of the 
race of Heremon, by Eocha-Moy-Veagon, 
and his son Brian. 

O'Fiochrache, a territory in western 
Breifny, the patrimony of the O'Dubhas, 
otherwise O'Dowd, of the race of Hy- 
Fiachras.* 

Partry-Kiara, or Partry-on-Loch, some- 
times called Couilleagh, a territory in the 
county of Galway, at present the barony of 
Kilmain, the patrimony of the Mac-Allins, 
by corruption Mac-Nally, of the race of Ith, 
by Lugha-Mac-Conn, monarch of Ireland 
in the third century, and his son Faha- 
Canan, chief of the Mac-Allins and Mac- 
Cambels of Argyle in Scotland, of whom 
they are a branch. 

Siolanamchad, or Silanchie, a territory in 
the county of Galway, at present the barony 
of Longford, on the banks of the Shannon, 
and patrimony of the O'Madagains, or Mad- 
dins, of the race of Heremon by Colla-da- 
Crioch. 

Siol-Murray, a territory in the environs 
of Sligoe ; it includes a considerable part 
of the barony of Carbury, formerly called 
Crioch-Carbury, the patrimony of O'Con- 
nor-Sligoe, a younger branch of the O'Con- 
nors-Don, divided in the person of Brien- 
Laighneach, son of Tourlough-More, and 
brother of Cahal-Crob-Dearg. 

Tir-Amalgaid, an ancient territory now 
the barony of Tirawly, in the county of 
Mayo, and patrimony of the O'Haras, of 
the race of Oilioll-Olum, by his son Kiann. 

JXX 3 Cloincathail,f a territory on the 
frontiers of Roscommon and Sligoe, near 
Elphin, and patrimony of the O'Flanaghans, 
a branch of the Hy-Brunes. 

Cloinfearumoigh, a territory in western 
Breifny, the patrimony of the Maccagadons, 
or Mac-Eogans, of the race of Colla-da- 
Crioch ; another branch of his name had 
possessions in northern Clan-Diarmada. 

Cloinmbrassail, a territory, and patrimony 
of the O'Donnelans, a branch of the Hy- 
Brunes. 

Cloinuadach, a territory and patrimony 
of the O'Fallumhoins, or O'Fallons, of the 
race of the Hy-Brunes. 

Coranne, an extensive territory in the 
county of Mayo, including Galang, at pres- 
ent the barony of Galang in the same 



* Grat. Luc. c. 3. 
t Ibidem. 



DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 



135 



county, with the baronies of Lugne, Leny, 
and Coranne, in the county of Sligoe. 

Deabhna-Nuadhat, a territory in the 
county of Roscommon, between the rivers 
Shannon and Suck, forming the baronies of 
Athlone and Moycarme. 

Dunamon, a territory in the barony of 
Ballymoe, in the county of Galway, ex- 
tending .owards Glinsk, the patrimony of 
the O'Finaghtys of the race of the Hy- 
Brunes. 

Gregagie, a territory in the county of 
Sligoe, on the border of lake Techet, other- 
wise Lough-Gara, comprising the barony of 
Coolavin. 

Hybh-Sen, or Hy-Orbsen, a territory in 
the county of Galway, on the borders of 
Lough-Corrib, or Lough-Orbsen, extend- 
ing into the baronies of Moy-Cullen and 
Clare. 

Hy-Bruin-Ratha, a territory in the county 
of Galway, in the barony of Athenry. 

Hy-Bruin-Sinna, a territory in the county 
of Roscommon, formerly called Tirmbruin 

Hy-Fiachria-Aidhne, a territory in the 
county of Mayo, on the river Moy, near 
Killala, now the barony of Erris, belonged 
formerly to a tribe of the Firbolgs, and 
since divided into dynasties, which were in 
the possession of other families. 

Irrosdomhnon, a territory in the county of 
Mayo. 

Ivediarmada, the patrimony of the O'Con 
chanains, of the race of the Hy-Brunes. 

Kierrigie-Ai, a territory in the county of 
Roscommon, afterwards called Clan-Ke 
theren. 

Kierrige of Lough-Nairn, a territory in 
the county of Mayo, now the barony of Cos- 
telo, the country of the Mac-Costelos ; this 
territory is sometimes called the barony of 
Belahaunes. 

Kinel-Cairbre, a territory in the county of 
Sligoe, now the barony of Carbury, extend- 
ing towards Lough-Gill. 

Moenmoye, an ancient and extensive ter- 
ritory in the county of Galway, since called 
Clanricard, including the six baronies of 
Clare, Dunkellin, Loughrea, Killartan, 
Athenry and Leitrim. 

Muinter-Eolas ; see Conmacne. 

Partry, a territory in the county of Mayo, 
now the barony of Carra, belonged to the 
Shoyaghs, (Joice,) and other families. 

Teallachindumhe, a territory in western 
Brefny, and patrimony of the Mactiegher- 
nains, or Mac-Kiernans, of the race of the 
Hy-Brunes. 

Tir-da-Loch, a territory situated between 
two lakes in the county of Galway, now 



the barony of Moy-Cullin. See Dealbna- 
Feadha. 

Tirm-Bruin ; see Hy-Bruin-Sinna. 

IN MEATH. 

Clan-Colman, a principality in Meath, on 
the left bank of the river Boyne,* extending 
as far as Taylton ; it belonged to the 
O'Moelsachluins, or O'Maoleachluins, of 
the race of Conal-Creamthine, son of 
Niall the Great. The eldest sons of this 
illustrious tribe were styled kings of Meath, 
and frequently succeeded to the monarchy. 

Crioch-Leogaire, or Hy-Leogar,t an ex- 
tensive territory on the banks of the river 
Boyne, which extended from Belatruim 
(Trim) to Tara, and belonged to the de- 
scendants of Laogare, monarch of Ireland 
in the time of St. Patrick, the chiefs of 
whom were the O'Caoindealvains, or Kin- 
dellans. 

Cuircne,J or Machair-Cuirckny, a ter- 
ritory in Westmeath, now the barony of 
Kilkenny-West, and patrimony of the 
O'Tolargs. 

Dealbna, or Delving (so called from 
Dealbhaodh, of the race of Heber, and 
tribe of the Dalcaiss, whose posterity in- 
habited these parts of the country,) a ter- 
ritory, now a barony in Westmeath, the 
ancient patrimony of the O'Finellans, who 
were dispossessed imder Henry II., in the 
twelfth century. 

Dealbna-Eathra, an extensive territory, 
now in the King's county, extending from 
Banaghir as far as the frontiers of West- 
meath, the patrimony of the Mac-Coghlans, 
of the tribe of the Calcaiss, who were sub- 
divided into several branches. 

Fearcall, a territory, formerly in Meath, 
at present in the King's county, including 
the baronies of Bally-Cowan and Bally-boy, 
and belonged since the fifteenth century to 
the O'Molloys, of the race of Heremon, by 
Nioll-Noygiallach, and his son Fiacha, who 
were subdivided into many other branches. 

Fertullagh, a territory, now a barony in 
Westmeath, the ancient patrimony of the 
O'Dubhlaidhs, or O'Dowlys, of the race of 
Heremon. || 

Hy-Machvais, Hy-Macvais, a territory on 
the river Inny, in Westmeath, now the bar- 
ony of Moy-Goish, the ancient patrimony 



* Keat. Geneal. Grat. Luc. c. 3. 
t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 85. 
t Idem. cap. 81. 
§ Idem. cap. 81. 
|| Grat. Luc. page 25. 



130 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of the Mac-Vais, or Mac-Voys, of the race 
of Collavais.* 

Kinel-Enda, or Kineal-Aodha, a territory 
in Westmeath, in the barony of Rathcou- 
rath, at the foot of the hill of Usneach, or 
Usny, and patrimony of the O'Broenans, 
of the race of Enna, son of Niall-Noygi- 
allach.f 

Kinel-Fiacha, by corruption Kinalyagagh, 
signifying the children or race of Fiacha, 
an extensive territory in Westmeath,:]: which 
includes, besides the barony of Moycashel, 
part of those of Raconrath, Mulingar, and 
Fertullach. This territory was divided into 
several fiefs, and belonged since the fifth 
century to the different branches of the 
Mac-Eochagains, or Mac-Geoghegans, of 
the race of Fiacha, son of the monarch 
Niall-Noygiallach. The chief of this tribe 
is Mac-Geoghegan of Moycashel. The 
fiefs belonging to the different branches are 
Donore, Castletown, Sionan, Newtown, 
Drommore, Lochanleonact, Larrah, Lou- 
hertan, Ballycommine, Couletor, &c. 

Teffia, or Teamhfna,^ an extensive ter- 
ritory, including, with half of Westmeath 
nearly the whole county of Longford ; it 
contains several small territories, namely, 
Caleroy and Muinter-Hagan, now the bar- 
ony of Kilcourcey, the country of the 
O'Sionachs, otherwise Fox, Mac-Hagains, 
Magawlys, &c. Bregmuin and Cuircne, 
now the baronies of Brawney and Kilkenny 
West. Those territories belonged to the 
descendants of Maine, one of the sons of 
Niall the Great. Teamhfna, in the county 
of Longford, was divided into northern and 
southern ; northern Teamhfna, also called 
Carbre-Gaura, included the environs of 
Granard : southern Teamhfna was near 
Ardagh, an episcopal see. 

XO^Bregia or Breagh, and Bregmagia, 
two territories in Meath, the former near 
Tara, the latter in the environs of Athruim. 

Broghe, the patrimony of the O'Mulledys. 

Corcaduin, the patrimony of the O'Dalys, 
in Irish, Sioll-Ndala.|| 

Dealbna-Teanmoy, a territory in Meath. 

Desies, now the barony of Deece. 

Fearbile, a territory, now a barony in 
Westmeath, the patrimony of the O'Han- 
biths. 

Finfochla, the patrimony of the O'Ru- 
adhrys. 

Kiennachta-Bregh, or Kiennachta-Ard,H 

* Ogyg. P art 3, cap. 7& 

t Idem. cap. 85. 

t Keat. Geneal. Ogyg. part 3, cap. 85. 

§ Idem. 

II °gyg- P ar ' 9. c 85. H Ibid. cap. 68. 



a large territory, extending from Duleek to 
the river Liffey : it was also called, on 
account of its situation and beauty, Moy- 
Breagh, which signifies " beautiful field." 
This territory belonged to the Keniads, de- 
scendants of Kiann, son of Oilioll-Olum, 
king of Munster. 

Luighnie, the patrimony of the O'Bruins. 

Moynalta, the patrimony of the Biataghs, 
believed to be a noble and ancient family of 
Danish extraction. 

Those principalities and dynasties which 
are now changed into counties and baronies, 
still retain some vestiges of their ancient 
names ; they belonged to the same families 
from the first ages of Christianity. Their 
possession was first interrupted about the 
end of the twelfth century by a colony of 
English, who usurped the properties of 
several of the ancient proprietors, particu- 
larly in the provinces of Leinster, Munster, 
and Meath. Many others were dispossessed 
in the different provinces, in the reigns of 
Elizabeth and James I. ; but under the 
tyranny of Cromwell and the Prince of 
Orange, the plunder was almost universal. 
However, notwithstanding these several 
revolutions, notwithstanding the repeated 
snares that have been so artfully laid to 
force them to rebel, and thereby furnish a 
pretext for confiscating their properties, 
there are still many ancient proprietors who 
enjoy the inheritance of their ancestors by 
an uninterrupted possession of ten, twelve, 
fifteen, and eighteen centuries ; a possession 
which, for duration, has few examples in the 
other nations of Europe. 

The nobility of the Irish cannot appear 
doubtful to those who take the trouble of 
comparing this length of possession, with 
what is said in the critical essay on their 
antiquity and traditions. Genealogists di- 
vide nobility into three classes ; the first is 
that of knighthood, the origin of which 
cannot be ascertained ; the second, though 
ancient, may still be traced to its commence- 
ment ; and the third, a new nobility, which 
has not yet numbered three generations. 
Nobility is one of those things not easily 
defined ; however, it manifests itself by the 
prerogatives which it confers ; it is looked 
upon by some as a mere chimera, and by 
others in an opposite light. Juvenal, a 
pagan writer, says it consists in virtue 
alone : " Nobilitas sola est atque unica 
virtus." Whatever be the origin and nature 
of nobility, it tends to establish subordina- 
tion in the state, and distinction of rank in 
society, by selecting from the crowd a 
certain number of men, who are raised 




IPAT IE. II © IK. 



APOSTLE Or IRELAND. 



' ■ ■ 



ClIKIHTIAN IRELAND. 



137 



above others, and invested with preroga- 
tives. Nobility was not, in ancient times, 
as it now is, founded on letters patent : ac- 
cording to the general opinion of men, a 
long possession of lands and lordships con- 
stituted nobility, as they thereby acquired 
certain subjects whom they called vassals. 
A family which has for several centuries 
kept possession of the same lands, and 
maintained itself in a certain degree of 
rank, without contracting any degrading al- 
liance, and of whose ancestors are recorded 
a long succession of those virtuous actions 
which attract the attention of mankind — 
such a family, I say, deserves to be placed 
in the first class of nobility, and should be 
considered as such, in every nation in the 
world. 

The constitution and first establishment 
of the Irish nation, were of a nature to give 
rise to nobles of the above description. 
We have already seen, in the preceding part 
of this history, and in the beginning of this 
chapter, that the children of Milesius had 
formed tribes, of which they were the chiefs, 
by the division they made of the island be- 
tween them. According as the population 
increased, the tribes were multiplied, and in 
time divided into many branches. The last, 
and most permanent division of those tribes 
into dynasties, which has lasted to the pre- 
sent time, took place in the third, fourth, 
and fifth centuries. The names of the 
dynasties, and those to whom they belonged 
in the fifth century, are mentioned by the 
historians of the country, and the different 
authors of the life of St. Patrick, when 
speaking of his apostleship in Ireland. 

Each of those tribes or dynasties had 
its chief, who was either the eldest of the 
tribe, or the most capable of governing it ; 
and the collateral branches who possessed 
lands and fiefs, acknowledged his authority. 
Though divided into different bodies, like 
the Israelites, they never forgot their com- 
mon origin : they were all more or less 
nearly allied in affinity, and by intermarry- 
ing they all enjoyed a mutual inheritance ; 
so that unless the whole tribe were extinct, 
there was always a legitimate heir to the 
dynasty ; on which account those great 
families were never confounded one with 
the other. Though several of those ancient 
proprietors were deprived of their posses- 
sions in the last century, on account of their 
religious zeal, and their fidelity to their le- 
gitimate princes, and consequently have 
fallen from that ancient splendor which can 
only be supported by riches, they are still 
looked upon in the country in the same 



light as their ancestors ; and, provided they 
can prove the purity of their blood, and 
regular descent from the chiefs of their 
houses, I see no reason why they should 
be excluded from the privileges of nobility, 
any more than others of the same blood, 
more favoi ^d by fortune, and who have pre- 
served th lr properties. In the latter part 
of this history I shall enlarge upon this 
subject, when there will be an occasion to 
speak of many illustrious families, originally 
from England, and who are well deserving 
the title of ancient nobility. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 

PART II. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The throne of Ireland being vacated by 
the death of Dathy, the last pagan monarch 
of this island, as we have observed in the 
sixth chapter of the first part of this history, 
the sceptre returned to the family of Niall, 
surnamed Noygiallach, in the person of his 
son Laogare, who began his reign in 428, 
and continued in it, except in one instance, 
from that period until the eleventh century. 

Though we have seen, in the first part, 
that there were Christians in Ireland in the 
first century, and long before the mission 
of St. Patrick ; that, independent of Cor- 
mac-Ulfada, monarch of this island in the 
third century, whose piety and religion had 
rendered him odious to the pagans, several 
had left their native country on hearing of 
the Christian name ; and that having become 
perfect in the knowledge of the evangelical 
doctrine, and the discipline of the Church, 
some had preached the gospel in the dif- 
ferent pagan countries in Europe ; others, 
filled with zeal for the salvation of their 
fellow-citizens, had successfully expounded 
to them the word of God ; still the nation 
was not yet considered as converted : this 
grace was reserved for the reign of Laogare, 
and the pontificate of St. Celestine I. This 
great pope, seeing the pious inclination of 
those people,* and the success of private 
missionaries among them, thought of send- 
ing them an apostle invested with full au- 



* Usser. Primord. Eccles. Brit. cap. 16, page 
797, et seq. 



138 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



thority to complete a work so happily be- 
gun.* 

The first whom he sent to Ireland, with 
all power requisite for his mission, was Pal- 
ladius, an archdeacon of the Roman Church, 
who, having been ordained bishop, or rather 
archbishop of all Ireland, set out, accom- 
panied by twelve missionaries, all equally 
inspired with the apostolical spirit, and pro- 
vided with several volumes of the Old and 
New Testament, and some relics of the 
apostles St. Peter and Paul, and of some 
other martyrs. On landing in the province 
of Leinster, he began his mission by preach- 
ing the faith of Jesus Christ ; but he was 
badly received by the pagans. Jocelin 
quotes a proverb, common in the country, 
signifying that " God did not reserve for 
Palladius, but for Patrick, the conversion of 
Ireland." However, he baptized a few per- 
sons, and founded three churches, the first 
of which was called " Kill-Fine," the second, 
" Teach-na-Romanach," or House of the 
Romans, and the third, " Domnach-Arte." 
After a short mission of a few months, he 
was expelled from Ireland by Nathi, son of 
Garchon, a prince of this country. This 
holy missionary withdrew into Britain, and 
died some time after at Fourdoun, in the 
country of the Picts : others assert that he 
suffered martyrdom in Ireland. 

The origin and country of St. Palladius 
have been the subject of much disputation. 
John Sichard asserts that he was a native of 
Ireland ; Anthony Possevin, in his Sacred 
Compendium, calls him a Briton ; Trithe- 
mins, in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical 
Writers, and others, copj-ing after him, 
affirm that he was by birth a Greek, con- 
founding him, probably, with Palladius, 
bishop of Helenopolis, in Bythinia, who 
died before the year 431, the time of the 
mission of St. Palladius among the Scots. 
However this be, there is another question 
more interesting, as being more closely 
connected with the object of this history, 
namely, to know who were those Scots for 
whom St. Palladius had received his mis- 
sion. The Scotch authors, namely, John 
Major, Boetius, Lesly, and Dempster, on 
the double acceptation of the name " Scot," 
assert that he had been sent to the Scots 
of Britain ; in which account they are fol- 
lowed by Polydore Virgil, the author of the 
English Martyrology, and by Baronius in 
his Annals on the year 429 ; but the latter, 
after a more minute investigation, corrected 



Trias. Thaum. vit. S. Patr. 



himself on the year 431, by saying that St. 
Palladius had been sent to Ireland. 

We need only read the sixth and seventh 
chapters of the first part of this history, to 
discover the error of those authors, in which 
it has been proved that the Scots had no 
fixed dwelling, or any monarchy founded in 
Britain, before the beginning of the sixth 
century, and that the terms Scots and Irish 
were synonymous till the eleventh. 

We may, however, mention here the au- 
thority of St. Prosper, whom I have already 
quoted, as he expressly speaks of the mis- 
sion of St. Palladius. This father, when 
praising the zeal of Pope St. Celestine for 
the conversion of the British Isles, says, 
that when he was endeavoring to preserve 
the purity of the faith in the Roman Isle, 
he ordained a bishop for the Scots, and con- 
verted to Christianity that island which had 
been barbarous.* St. Prosper here men- 
tions Palladius, as he says in his Chronicle, 
that Pope Celestine had ordained him bishop 
of the Scots who believed in Christ : " Ad 
Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatur a 
Papa Ccelestino Palladius." He also dis- 
tinguishes the island of Scots, which he 
calls barbarous, (a name given by the Ro- 
mans to all those who were not under their 
dominion,) from Britain, which he designates 
by the name of the Roman Isle. The island 
of Scots, as mentioned by Prosper, can only 
refer, says Usher, to Scotia Major, that is, 
Ireland, and by no means to Albania, which 
was not at that time called Scotia, and is 
not an island, as it forms part of that of 
Great Britain.! 

Lastly, we may add, that as St. Patrick 
succeeded St. Palladius in the same mission, 
they both preached the gospel to the same 
people, namely, the Scots of' Ireland.^ 

St. Prosper places the mission of St. Pal- 
ladius in Ireland under the consulship of 
Bassus and Antiochus ; which corresponds 



* " With equal care he rescued from the same 
distemper the British isles, when those who were 
enemies to grace, and occupying the soil of their 
birth, were shut out by that secluded part of the 
ocean : a bishop being ordained for the Scots, while 
he is eager to preserve the Roman isle Catholic, he 
rendered that which was Christian, barbarous." 

t " And Prosper, distinguishing eloquently this 
island of the Scots from the Britains, must be ne- 
cessarily understood to mean Scotia Major to be 
Ireland, and not the Minor Scotia, which is Alba- 
nia, (which was not Scotland at that period, neither 
is it an island, but forms a part of Great Britain.") 
—Usher's Church Hist. c. 16, p. 798. 

t " It isj>lain,that Palladius had been appointed 
for the same Scots to whom Patrick had been af- 
terwards sent.". — Usher. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



139 



with the year 431 of the Christian era. The 
venerable Bede fixes it in the eighth year of 
the empire of Theodosius the younger.* 
Baronius says the date of the latter should 
be corrected by that of St. Prosper ; he does 
not, however, observe, that Bede and Pros- 
per are in perfect accordance, as they count 
the years of the reign of Theodosius from 
the death of Honorius, which happened in 
423, as well as the elevation of Pope Celes- 
tine to the pontificate ; while that celebrated 
annalist (Baronius) dates from the time that 
those two emperors began their reign to- 
gether. 

Bollandus and le Nain de Tillemont 
seem to doubt that there were Christians 
in Ireland before St. Palladius. t " The 
Irish," says Tillemont, " give the histories 
of several saints of their country, many of 
whom were bishops, and assert that they 
had preached the gospel in their country, 
and converted many persons long before St. 
Patrick, even in the fourth century. Usher 
quotes, continues he, many fragments of the 
lives of those saints, in which can be easily 
discovered several very improbable things. 
We might judge far better of those lives, if 
we had them complete ; however, it suffices 
that Bollandus, who it appears has seen 
them, affirms that none were composed 
before the twelfth century, and that most 
of them are by very fabulous authors." 

The above is a severe, as well as an ill- 
founded censure. Bollandus, on account of 
a few hyperbolical phrases used in the lives 
of those saints, or some improbable facts, 
(the common result of the enthusiasm of 
ancient writers,) without distinguishing 
truth from falsehood, saps the foundation 
of their history, which he treats of as fabu- 
lous. However, without injuring the repu- 
tation which Bollandus has so deservedly 
acquired among the learned, Usher, who 
quotes those fragments as respectable monu- 
ments of antiquity, was as judicious a critic, 
and a much more competent judge in this 
matter, though he was of English extraction, 
and of a different religion from the saints 
whose lives he quotes, (two things which 
should remove all suspicion of prejudice on 
his part:) having been born and educated 
in Ireland, he had it better in his power to 
see and judge, than Bollandus, a stranger, 

* " In the year 423 of our redemption, Theo- 
dosius the younger reigned for 27 years, in the 
eighth year of whose reign Palladius was sent by 
Pope Celestine, as first bishop, to preach to the 
Scots who believed in Christ." — Bede, b. 1, Church 
Hist. c. 13. 

t Memoires, torn. 16, Vie de S. Patrice. 



who embraced too many objects to succeed 
in all. It is, besides, an incontestable fact, 
that in those ages, which immediately suc- 
ceeded the preaching, of St. Patrick in Ire- 
land, that country was celebrated for its 
knowledge in the sciences and literature. 
Therefore it is not probable they would have 
been so long without writing the annals and 
lives of the saints of that people. The re- 
mark bf Bollandus, that there were no lives 
of the saints of Ireland written before the 
twelfth century, is therefore highly incorrect. 
This learned author seems to confound some 
copies taken from the original lives, in the 
twelfth century, in order to preserve them to 
posterity, as well as the original ones ; as if 
we were to say, that the life of St. Patrick 
had not been written till the twelfth cen- 
tury, because Jocelin, an English monk, had 
not taken extracts from every ancient life of 
that saint, written many ages before. 

Usher, continues Tillemont, desirous of 
supporting the historians of his country,* 
among whom we discover many bishops sent 
to Ireland before St. Palladius, adduces, in 
opposition to himself, St. Prosper, who says 
that St. Palladius was the first sent there in 
431 : he thinks to destroy, says he, this un- 
deniable authority, by remarking that the 
word " primus" is not in the Duchesne edi- 
tion. The above criticism is unjust ; Tille- 
mont suppresses the other explanations 
which Usher gives of the word " primus," 
which, according to him, signifies the first of 
the two, namely, Palladius and Patrick whom 
Pope Celestine sent to Ireland, with full 
apostolic power as archbishop or primate 
of the whole island.! Besides, these words, 
" Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordina- 
tus a Papa Ccelestino Palladius Episcopus 
mittitur," used by St. Prosper in his chroni- 
cle on the year 431, and by Bede in the 
thirteenth chapter of the first book of his 
Ecclesiastical History, evidently indicate 
that there were Christians in Ireland, and 
consequently pastors, before the mission 
of St. Palladius. Bollandus himself ac- 
knowledges it, as he says that St. Palladius 
had found in Ireland more Christians than 



* Notes stir S. Patrice. 

t " But although four former bishops be mentioned 
to have been ordained before the pontificate of Ce- 
lestine, for the mission, it might appear that Pope 
Celestine appointed Palladius first bishop, and that 
Patrick had been sent the second, or primate to the 
Episcopal seat. So that, although our island had 
other bishops, still Palladius was the first arch- 
bishop, and Patrick the second." — Usher's Church 
Hist. c. 16, p. 800. 



140 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



he made.* There never was an instance, 
says Colgan,fof the Roman Church specially 
ordaining a bishop for any nation, or send- 
ing a solemn mission to a country in which 
the Christian religion was totally unknown. 

Lastly, it was not affirmed by Usher, nor 
any other historian of the country, that Ire- 
land was converted before the time of St. 
Patrick. A kingdom is not considered to be 
converted till the king and princes, and most 
of the people, have received baptism ; which 
did not take place in Ireland till the time of 
this apostle. This did not prevent the con- 
version of some in different parts of the 
island, by the private missionaries men- 
tioned by Usher. 

As soon as the death of St. Palladius was 
known at Rome, Pope St. Celestine thought 
of providing a successor to him. The lot 
fell to Patrick, who being at that time at 
Rome, was ordained bishop of Ireland by 
the pope, and was sent to this island invested 
with apostolic authority, and loaded with the 
benedictions of the holy father. This pope 
died a short time afterwards, and his suc- 
cessor, St. Sixtus III., confirmed the mission 
of St. Patrick, and associated with him 
other evangelical missionaries, to assist him. 

Before we enter into a detail of the life 
and mission of St. Patrick, we should here 
examine the several histories written on this 
subject. 

The number of histories which have been 
composed on the life of St. Patrick, has, in 
a great measure, tended to darken the know- 
ledge we should have of the truth of wha't 
concerns him. According to Usher, and 
ancient monuments in the libraries of Oxford 
and Cambridge, there were sixty-three, or 
sixty-six.J However, we must confine our- 
selves to the most genuine, and those which 
appear the most authentic, and least liable 
to contradiction ; which are, the Confession 
of Saint Patrick, his letter to Corotic, and 
his life, written by some of his disciples. 

The Confession of St. Patrick was written 



* " Palladius thought it sufficient to have two of 
his brethren, Sylvester and Solonius, to assist the 
few Christians whom he had found, and it is probable 
that he found more than lie had made, on account 
of the short time he remained. After consecrating 
three oratories for their use, he set sail with his 
companions, and being driven by a storm (perhaps 
by the Divine will) around North Britain, he landed 
in the eastern part of the country of the Picts 
which he held, and died in it." — Bollandus in his 
Life of St. Patrick, p. 581. 

t Triad. Thaum. Append. 5, cap. 15, pag. 250. 

t " All the books which have been written on the 
life of St. Patrick are 66 or 63."— Usher, C. Hist. 
c. 17, p. 816. 



by himself, in which he gives an account of 
his life and conversation, principally during 
his youth, and commenced with these words : 
" Ego Patricius peccator." Very few mira- 
cles are recorded in it ; several visions are 
mentioned by the saint himself, and he says 
that God frequently imparted to him, in a 
very extraordinary manner, what he was to 
do.* We may also add, that in those visions 
which St. Patrick mentions having seen, 
there was nothing that was not grave, holy, 
and worthy of God. This volume, says Col- 
gan, is to be found in the library of the mon- 
astery of Saint Vast, in Artois,t and also, ac- 
cording to Ware, in the library of Sarum, 
or Salisbury, in England,! if it is the same 
(which is most probable) that Colgan quotes 
under the title of " Patricius de vita et con- 
versatione sua ;" the beginning, " Ego Pa- 
tricius peccator," &c. &c, is the same in both 
copies. 

The subject of St. Patrick's letter to Co- 
rotic, § was a cruel and barbarous action 
committed by this tyrant, who reigned over 
some canton in Wales. 

This petty prince, having made a descent 
upon Ireland during the festival of Easter, 
ravaged the canton where the saint then was, 
and where he had just administered the holy 
chrism to a great number of converts, that 
were still clothed in the white robes of their 
baptism. Corotic, though a Christian, with- 
out the slightest regard for the sanctity of 
the sacrament, massacred a great number, 
and carried off others, whom he sold to the 
Picts. The atrocity of this action roused 
the zeal of the saint to such a degree, that, 
on the day after the massacre of those inno- 
cent people, he sent a letter to Corotic, by 
a holy priest whom he had brought up from 
his infancy, and by some other ecclesiastics, 
to request of him to restore the Christians 
whom he had carried into captivity, and a 
part, at least, of the booty. However, the 
saint's letter not producing the desired effect 
on the mind of Corotic, and his answer prov- 
ing unsatisfactory, he resolved to write a 
second, in form of a circular, which he pub- 
lished, instead of addressing it to Corotic, 
and it is that which has been preserved until 
our time. In this letter he complains loudly 
of the action of Corotic, and particularly of 
his having sold the Christians to infidels. 
He declared to the church, that this tyrant, 
and the other fratricides who had been ac- 
complices in his crime, should be separated 

* Tillemont, Vie de Saint Patrice, art. 2. 
t Append. 4, part 3, de Script. Act. S. Patr. 
t De Script. Hib. lib. 2, cap. 2. 
§ Tillemont, Vie de Saint Patrice. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



141 



from him and from Jesus Christ, whose 
representative he was ; that none should 
eat with them, nor receive their alms, until 
they should have satisfied God by the tears 
of true repentance, and restored to liberty the 
faithful servants of Jesus Christ. He de- 
clared that whosoever should hold converse 
or communication with them, and flatter 
them in their sins, would be judged and 
condemned by God. The above is the 
excommunication pronounced by St. Patrick 
against Corotic and those who were accom- 
plices in his crime. 

The Confession of St. Patrick, and his 
letter to Corotic, are quoted with praise by 
Usher, Bollandus,Ware, Colgan, and others.* 
Those two productions bear the name of the 
saint, who frequently speaks in them of him- 
self, and appear truly worthy of him. They 
are both in the same style and character. 

The Confession is quoted by all the an- 
cient authors of his life, which proves, at 
least, that it is more ancient than they are ; 
and there seems to exist, throughout, a 
character of truth, which supports it, even 
were it not quoted by any author. Cave 
himself admits that this confession, and the 
letter to Corotic, are ancient writings. t 

The principal authors of the life of St. 
Patrick| are ' Saint Secundinus, or Seagh- 
lin, bishop of Domnach-Sechnaild, now 
Donseachlin, in Meath ; he was a disciple of 
the saint, and his nephew by his sister Da- 
rerca ;§ and composed a hymn in honor of 
his master, which may be seen in Colgan. || 

St. Loman, his disciple, and nephew by 
his sister Tigrid, bishop of Athrum,T[ now 
Trim, in Meath ; St. Mel, bishop of Ardach, 
his disciple and nephew also, brother of St. 
Secundinus ; and a second St. Patrick,** 
to whom the saint gave his own name while 
holding him over the baptismal font ; all 
three wrote the acts of his life. The last, 
after the death of his uncle, retired to the 
abbey of Glastonbury, or Glaston, in Somer- 
setshire in England, where he ended his 
days. 

Saint Benignus, (in the Irish language 
Binen, signifying gentle, )tt who succeeded 
St. Patrick in the see of Ardmach, is reck- 
oned among the authors of his life. Those 
four lives, says Jocelin, were written partly 

* Tillemon. not. sur S. Patrice. t Page 336. 

t Usser. Primord. Eccles. Brit. cap. 17, pages 825 
et 826. 

§ War. de Script. Hib. || Triad Thaum. App. 3. 

If Usser. Primord. c. 17, p. 816, seq. 

** Usser. Ind. Chron. p. 1121. 

tt Colg. Triad. Thaum. App. 4, p. 3, de Script. 
Act S. Patrie. 



in Irish and partly in Latin, by his four 
disciples, St. Benignus, his successor, St. 
Mel, and St. Luman, bishops, and St. Pat- 
rick, his godson.* 

St. Fiech, of the race of the monarch 
Cahire-More, by Diare, surnamed Barrach, 
was a disciple of St. Patrick, and bishop of 
Sletty, formerly Slebte, in the barony of 
Sliev-Margie, territory of Leis, now the 
Queen's county ; he has left a hymn writ- 
ten in thirty-four stanzas, in the Irish lan- 
guage, containing the most remarkable events 
of that apostle's life. This hymn, and the 
Latin translation, are in Colgan, among the 
lives of St. Patrick, and should be rather 
considered a panegyric than a life of this 
saint.f 

St. Kienan, of a noble family in Con- 
naught,:): or rather (says Colgan) of the 
race of the Keniads, descendants of Oilioll- 
Olum, by his son Kiann, and lords of a ter- 
ritory in Meath, called Kiennachta,§ having 
taken orders in the monastery of St. Martin, 
at Tours, || returned to Ireland, and was 
nominated by St. Patrick bishop of Damh- 
liah, now Duleek, in the territory of Bregh, 
in Meath. According to the calendar of 
Cashil, he wrote the life of St. Patrick, 
whose disciple he was. 

St. Evin, or Emmrn,Tf abbot of Ross, 
otherwise Ross-Mac-Treoin, adjoining the 
river Barrow, is thought to be the author of 
the life of St. Patrick, written in Irish and 
Latin, divided into three parts, and called 
by Colgan,** " Vita Tripartita Sancti Pa- 
tricii."ft 

Saint Ultan, bishop of Ard-Brecain, in 
Meath. and St. Tirechan, his successor in 



* " The greatest number of the books or tracts 
(which were 65) treating of the miracles which he 
wrought, were consumed by fire in the reign of 
Gurmondus and Turgesius. Four books, however, 
which treat of his virtues and miracles, written 
partly in Irish and partly in Latin, by St. Benignus 
his successor, St. Mel, bishop, St. Lomanus, arch- 
bishop, and St. Patrick, his godson, who returned 
after the death of his uncle to Britain, where he 
died and was buried in the church of Glasconensis, 
with honor." — Jocelin, in his Life of St. Patrick. 

t Colg. Triad, prima Vita, page 4. 

t Usser. Primord. page 1070. 

§ Idem. Ind. Chron. page 1108. 

|| Colg. Triad. Thaum. Append. 4, part 3, de 
Script. Act. S. Patr. 

II Usser. Primord. cap. 17, et War. de Script. 
Hib. lib. 1, cap. 3. 

** Colg. Triad. Thaum. Append. 4, part 3. 

tt St. Elvinus, influenced like St. Patrick, com- 
piled in one book, written partly in Irish and partly 
in Latin, his history, any portion of which that I 
deemed worthy of posterity, I have carefully select- 
ed and introduced into this work. — Jocelin, c. 186. 



142 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



that see,* wrote on the same subject in the 
seventh century ; the latter left two books, 
which were in the possession of Usher, and 
which he quotes in pages 829, 835, 848, 
853, 887, and 889. 

Usher, Ware, and others, make mention 
of St. Aileran, surnamed the Wise, St. 
Adamnam, abbot of Hy, St. Muccuthen, St. 
Colman, St. Kieran, surnamed the Pious, 
abbot of Belach-Duin, St. Ermead, bishop 
of Clogher, and St. Collait, a priest of 
Druim-Beilgeach, all of whom had written 
on the virtues and miracles of St. Patrick. 

Nennius published in the ninth century a 
history of Great Britain, wherein he quotes 
several facts alluding to the apostle of 
Ireland.! 

Probus, an Irishman, wrote in the same 
century two books on the life of St. Patrick, 
dedicated to Paulinus. Those books are to 
be met with in the third volume of the works 
of Bede, without the name of the author : 
we discover his name, however, in the epi- 
logue of the second book, by the following 
words : " Ecce habes, frater Pauline, a me 
humili Probo, postulatum nostra? fraternita- 
tis indicium." Usher, after Gabriel Pen- 
notus,| and Stanihurst,^ says that the works 
of those two authors, namely Nennius and 
Probus, are filled with absurd accounts, 
and with things that are obviously untrue, 
whether they emanated from themselves or 
have been added to their works by others. 

The life of St. Patrick, written in Latin 
in the twelfth century by Jocelin, a Cambro- 
Britain and monk of Furnes, is, according 
to Usher, the most ample and correct that 
has been published.! This author had fol- 
lowed the other lives of St. Patrick which' 
had been written before his time ; he had at 
least seen some of them, as he quotes the 
four books of the four disciples of that 
saint, namely, of St. Benignus, St. Mel, St. 
Luman, and St. Patrick, with that of St. Evin. 
He composed his history, as he himself as- 
serts, at the solicitation of Thomas or To- 
multach O'Connor, archbishop of Ardmach, 
Malachi, bishop of Down, and John Courcy, 
prince of Ulidia, after those original lives, 
from which he extracted every thing that 
was worthy of being related. Alford com- 
plains,^ says Tillemont, that scarcely any 

* War. de Script. Hib. lib. 1, cap. 3 ; et Colgan, 
Triad. Thaum. Append. 4, part 3. 

t Usser. Primord. cap. 17, p. 819. 

t Pennot. in Clericorura Canonic. Hist. lib. 2, c. 
35 sect. 4. 

<j la Prsfat. ad Vit. S. Patr. 

|| Primord. cap. 57, page 816\ 

IT Alf. 430, sect 2. 



thing has been written on St. Patrick except 
his miracles, the most of which are highly 
improbable, as well as many of those as- 
cribed to the other saints of Ireland. In- 
deed, the history of his life written by 
Jocelin contains several, some of which 
have little appearance of truth ; it was the 
taste of the writers of those ancient times, 
and we should not on that account reject 
the groundwork of his history. 

However, we ought not to doubt of his 
having performed many miracles that are 
true. God had necessarily given him that 
power, to convert an idolatrous nation. The 
difference between the twelfth and present 
centuries is, that in the former and prece- 
ding ones, people were too credulous, and in 
the latter have become quite the contrary ; 
both extremes are equally dangerous, and 
equally to be dreaded, one being the result 
of ignorance, the other of incredulity. 

The succeeding ages produced pane- 
gyrists on the virtues of that apostle.* In 
the thirteenth century, Vincent de Beauvais, 
in his Historical Memoir, notices in a sum- 
mary manner, and in few words, the actions 
of St. Patrick.! 

In the fourteenth century, James de Vo- 
ragine, bishop of Genoa, in his Golden Le- 
gend, and John of Tinemuth, an English- 
man and Benedictine monk, in his book on 
the deeds of the saints of Great Britain and 
Ireland, the manuscript of which is preserved 
in the college of the Benedictines at Cam- 
bridge, speak of the memorable actions of 
that saint, as Stanihurst and William Tir- 
rey, bishop of Cork, have done in the last 
centuries. 

Various opinions are entertained concern- 
ing the country which gave birth to St. Pat- 
rick.:): Matthew of Westminster, known by 
the name of Florilegus, and Baronius, say he 
is a native of Ireland, " natione Hibernensis : " 
Sigebert de Gemblours, the martyrologies 
of Bede, Usuard, Rhabanus, Ado, and the 
Scotch writers, call him a Scot, " xvi. Kal. 
April, in Scotia natale S. Patricii." But it 
is known that in the style of martyrologists, 
the day of a saint's death is considered to be 
that of his birth, and that Ireland alone was 
known by the name of Scotia in the time of 
St. Patrick. Lastly, others assert that he is 
of a different origin. However, according 
to the most general, and at the same time 
most probable opinion, he was a native of 
Great Britain. He was born in a village 
which he himself calls, in his Confession, 

* Colg. Triad. Thaum. Append. 4. 

t Lib. 20, cap. 23, et seq. 

t Usser. Prim. cap. 17, p. 820. 



CHRISTIAN 1RI'.I,AX1>. 



143 



Banaven,* in the territory of Tabernia, "in 
vico Banaven Taberniae," in the northern 
extremity of Britain,! and, according to 
Probus, not far from the western sea, " De 
vico Bannavae, Tibemias regionis, haud pro 
cul a mare occidentali."| Jocelin interprets 
the name of Tabernia by " Tabernaculorum 
campus,"^ the field of the tabernacles or 
tents, the Roman armies having been, ac- 
cording to him, encamped there. He also 
adds, that the dwelling-place of Patrick's 
father was Empthor, on the coast of the 
Irish sea. These topographical descriptions 
have made Usher fix the birthplace of St. 
Patrick at Kirk-Patrick, or Kil-Patrick, so 
called from his name, between Alcuid, now 
Dumbriton, and Glasgow. This district was 
also called at that time Valentia, by Count 
Theodosius, who had retaken it from the 
enemies of the Romans. || 

The error of those who say that St. Pat- 
rick was born in Scotland, arises from their 
not sufficiently discerning the periods of the 
different changes of the frontiers of Britain 
and Scotland, nor observing that this terri- 
tory, which in the time of St. Patrick formed 
part of the Roman province, was long after 
annexed to Scotland. Tf 

The time of the birth and death of this 
saint, and the number of years he lived, are 
not less a subject of dispute than the country 
which gave him birth. William of Malmes- 
bury, Stanihurst, and others, after Probus, 
fix his birth in the year 361 ; Probus says 
that he lived 132 years, and died in 493 ; 
Malmesbury fixes his death in 472, in the 
11 lth year of his age : Henry of Marleburg 
says he was born in 376, Jocelin in 370, and 
Florence of Worcester in 372. The calcu- 
lation of the latter is followed by Usher, 
who says he sees no reason to differ from it : 
" A quibus quare alii discesserint, justam 
adhuc causamnon videmus."** Lastly, the 
most general opinion, which is in accordance 
with Usher,ft is, that St. Patrick lived 120 



* Page 1. 

t War. de Prasul. Hib. Vit. S.Patr. 

t Prob. Vit. Patr. lib. 1, c. 1. 

§ Vit. S. Patr. cap. 1. 

|| " Whereas the native spot of St. Patrick, was 
that part situate between the camp called Dun- 
Britannicum and the city of Glascuensis, called 
from his name Kirkpatrick, or, as at present, Kil- 
patrick. This remote part belonging to the Ro- 
mans in the province of Britain, was called, four 
years before Patrick was born and recovered from 
the enemy, Valentia, by Theodosius." — Usher's 
Church Hist.c. 17, p. 819. 

If Usser. Primord. cap. 17, p. 20. 

** Usser. Primord. page 823. 

tt Usser. Ibid. p. 879, ad. 887. 



years, and that his death happened in493 :* 
if we deduct 120 years, there remain 373, 
which is accounted the year of the birth of 
that saint, St. Patrick was of a respectable 
family, as he himself observes in his epistle 
to Corotic, " ingenuus fui secundum car- 
nem ;"t his father was Calphurnius, a dea- 
con, son of Potit, a priest, who had taken 
orders after the death of their wives :% 
Conchessa, his mother, was sister or rather 
niece of Saint Martin of Tours. § As Saint 
Martin was a native of Sabaria in Pannonia, 
it is probable, says Usher, that his sister was 
from the same country, and had followed him 
into Gaul, where she married Ochmuis, by 
whom she had, among other children, Con- 
chessa; that the latter having been brought 
a captive into Britain, married Calphurnius, 
and became mother of our saint, || Sanannus, 
the deacon, and five daughters,' namely, 
Lupita, Tigris, Liemania, Darerca, and Cin- 
nenum.1I 

The apostle of Ireland was called at his 
baptism, Succath, signifyingwarlike, " fortis 
in bello ;"** it was Pope Celestine that gave 
him the name of Patricius.ff Patrician was 
a title of honor among the ancient Ro- 
mans, and a dignity to which high privileges 
were annexed, according to Dionysius of 
Halicarnassus : ft some of the kings of France 
have not disdained to bear the title of Roman 
Patrician. §§ 

The authors of the life of this saint, say 
that he performed some miracles in his youth. 
Fiech, his contemporary, makes no mention 
of them ; he himself, in his Confession, attri- 
butes his captivity to his ignorance of the 
true God, and disobedience to his laws. He 
was, however, carefully brought up by his 
parents ; the mildness of his disposition and 
purity of his morals, rendered him the admi- 
ration of all who knew him . 

Patrick was in his sixteenth year|| || when 
brought a captive into Ireland and sold like 
a second Joseph. TH The authors of his life 



* Colg. App. 5, ad Vit. S. Patr. c. 67. 

t Confess, page 1. 

t Usser. Primord. cap. 17, page 822. 

§ Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. cap. 1. 

|| Usser. Primord. cap. 17, p. 824. 

If Scholia in primam Vit. S. Patr. apud Colgan, 
note 5. 

** Usser. Primord. c. 17, p. 821. 

tt Ibid, page 841. 

tt Antiq. Rom. lib. 2, cap. 2. 

§§ War. de Prasul. Hib. Vit. S. Patr. 

Illl Confess, page 1. 

If 1T " This illustrious youth was in hfs 16th year 
when taken, with several of his countrymen, by 
pirates, and was carried a prisoner into Ireland. He 
was there sold as a slave to one Milchon, who ruled 



144 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



are not in accordance concerning his cap- 
tivity ; some say that St. Patrick, having 
gone to Armoric Gaul, since called Lower 
Brittany, with his father, mother, brother, 
and five sisters, to visit the parents of his 
mother Conchessa, was taken,* with his two 
sisters, Lupita and Tigrida, by some British 
pirates, who brought them prisoners into 
Ireland;! others, with more appearance of 
truth, say that the Romans having abandoned 
Britain, it became the prey of the Scots, and 
that Patrick was carried a captive to Ire- 
land by robbers from that country. f We 
are induced by all these circumstances to 
fix the captivity of this saint in the reign of 
Niall the Great, surnamed Noygiollach. 
This monarch, as we have observed in the 
first part of this history, having crossed the 
sea with his army to quell some disturbances 
which had arisen in Albania, between the 
Scots and Picts, and after laying Britain 
waste in 388, embarked with his forces for 
Armoric Gaul, from whence he brought con- 
siderable booty, and some prisoners. As 
Patrick was, at the time of his captivity, 
entering upon his sixteenth year, which cor- 
responds with the year 389, having been 
born in 373, this period is in perfect unison 
with the time of the expedition of Niall. I 
do not pretend to decide whether he was 
taken in Britain or in Armoric Gaul ; but it 
is a certain fact that he was carried to Ire- 
land, and sold to Milcho-Mac-Huanan, a 
petty prince of Dalaradie in Ulster, who 
gave him the care of his flocks, in a valley 
at the foot of a mountain, called in the lan- 
guage of the country, Sliev-Mis ; his two 
sisters were sold at the same time, in the 
country then called Conaill-Muirthemne, at 
present the county of Louth. Our saint, 
who was destined by Divine Providence to 
convey the light of the gospel into Ireland, 
which was also called Scotia, was early quali- 
fied for the fatigues of the apostleship, by 
the hardships of captivity ; and allowed by 
God to be a slave in a country which was 
one day to be delivered, through his ministry, 
from the bondage of Satan, by affording him 
an opportunity of learning the language, and 
becoming habituated Jo .the customs of that 
country. In his Confession he gives an 
account of the use he made of his time, 
during his captivity. § " I was always care- 
in that district, the northern part of the island, in 
the same manner as Joseph had been sold into 
Egypt." — Jocelin, c. 13. 

* Vit. Tripart. S. Patr. 1,-c. 16. 

■t TJsser. Primord. c. 17, page 827, et seq. 

1 Baillet, Vie de St. Patrice, au 17 Mars. 

§ Vit. Tripart. S. Patr. apud Colgan. 



ful," he says, " to lead my flocks to pasture, 
and prayed frequently during the day : I 
always became strengthened in the belief, 
love, and fear of God, and prayed at least a 
hundred times a day, and as often during the 
night. When I inhabited the forests and 
mountains, I performed my prayers before 
daylight, and never experienced, either in 
frost, snow, or rain, that negligence which I 
now feel, as I was then fired with the spirit 
of God."* In the beginning of the seventh 
year of his slavery, he was warned in a dream 
to prepare for his return ; he accordingly 
made his escape from the house of his master, 
to whom he had been sold, and reached the 
sea-shore, where there was a vessel ready 
to sail. The captain at first refused to take 
him on board, but, on consideration, he ad- 
mitted him, and after a dangerous voyage of 
three days they landed in Albania, now 
called Scotland. However, his fatigues were 
not yet at an end ; he had to perform a 
journey of twenty-eight days through deserts 
and impassable roads, where he suffered 
severely by fatigue, hunger, and thirst, before 
he arrived in the territory of Tabernia, his 
native country, a. d. 396. The authors of 
his life mention his having fasted during 
twenty days, and his having performed 
several miracles to procure subsistence for 
his fellow-travellers. f It is also said that 
he underwent a second captivity, which 
lasted but for two months.J 

After undergoing many dangers both by 
sea and land, Patrick arrived in his native 
country, where he was tenderly received by 
his parents. Having remained some time 
with them, a man from Ireland appeared to 
him in a dream, carrying a bundle of letters, 
one of which he gave him to read, beginning 
with those words : " Vox Hibernionacum," 
the voice of the Irish. While reading the 
letter, he thought he heard the cries of the 
inhabitants of the neighborhood of Foclut 
forest, in the territory of Tiramalgaid, now 
the barony of Tirawly, in the county of 
Mayo, entreating him with one voice to go 
to them ; by which be was so much affected, 

. * " Every day I fed the flocks, and prayed fre- 
quently during the day ; my love of God increased 
more and more, and my fear and faith in him were 
augmented, so that in one day 1 prayed almost a hun- 
dred times, and as often in the night : while I tarried 
on the mountains and in the woods, I was roused to 
pray both in the snow, frost, and rain ; neither did 
I feel any pain from it nor lassitude, as I think, 
because my soul was then ardent." — Usher, c. 17, 
p. 830. 

t Vit. Tripart. S. Patr. apud Colgan. 

♦ Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. cap. 18 ; et TJsser. Pri- 
mord. cap. 17, p. 832. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



145 



that he was unable to continue reading the 
letter, whereupon he awoke.* 

Struck with this vision, which brought 
back to his remembrance his sojourn in Ire- 
land, Patrick secretly formed the design of 
returning thither, to labor for the conver- 
sion of those islanders . To prepare himself 
to discharge so holy an undertaking, he 
resolved to leave his country, and seek in 
foreign countries the light and knowledge 
required for that apostleship, without being 
influenced by the repeated solicitations which 
his parents used to keep him at home. 

At that time, he was about twenty-three 
years of age, a. d. 396. He went first to the 
monastery of Marmoutiers, which was built 
near Tours, by St. Martin, bishop of that 
city, and uncle to his mother Conchessa ; he 
received from him the clerical tonsure and 
monastic habit. We should not dwell on 
Baillet's calculation, which advances that 
that prelate died a year before the arrival of 
Patrick.! 

Patrick spent some time at Tours, in the 
practice of piety and monastic discipline, and 
St. Martin having died in 397, J or, according 
to Severus Sulpicius, in 402, he set out for 
Rome, where he was admitted among the 
students or regular prebendaries of St. John 
of Lateran, a. d. 403. He was then thirty 
years of age. He applied himself to study, 
and made a considerable progress in the 
knowledge of sacred literature and ecclesi- 
astical discipline. § He afterwards visitedthe 
holy places and servants of God, the monas- 
teries and hermitages of the islands in the 
Mediterranean ; and attached himself par- 
ticularly to the barefooted hermits of the 
order of St. Augustin. The high character 
of St. Germain, who was nominated bishop 
of Auxerre in 418, induced him to go to that 
prelate. It appears that this was his first 
visit, although some among the authors of 
his life affirm that he spent four years with 



* " And there I saw in a vision during the night, 
a man coming from the west ; his name was Vic- 
toricius, and had with him many letters ; he gave 
me one to read, and in the beginning of it was a 
voice from Ireland. I then thought it to be the voice 
of those who inhabited near a wood called Foclut 
adjoining the western sea ; they appeared to cry out 
in one voice, saying, Come to us, O holy youth, and 
walk among us. With this I was feelingly touched, 
and could read no longer: I then awoke." — Con- 
fession of St. Patrick in Usher, p. 9, e. 17, p. 832. 

+ Vit. de S. Patr. au 17 Mars. 

t Usser. Primord. c. 17, p. 844. 

§ " In this place he signifies that he was skilled 
in sacred learning, and endowed with the knowledge 
of ecclesiastical rules and discipline." — Usher, c. 17, 
p. 835. 



St. Germain before he went to Tours : we 
should either suppose that he had been under 
the discipline of St. Germain before he was 
made bishop, which is improbable, or that 
he had not seen St. Martin, who died at least 
sixteen years before the episcopacy of St. 
Germain. 

He lived at Auxerre for many years, under 
the discipline of that illustrious bishop, and 
prepared himself, after the example of such 
a master, for the ministry of the church, 
and the attainment of every virtue of a true 
pastor, a. d. 421. 

The love of perfecting himself in the call- 
ing of a religious life which he had embraced, 
influenced him to retire into the monastery 
of the isle of Lerins : he continued in it for 
nine years, both under the instruction of St. 
Honoratus, who was the founder of it, and 
the abbot St. Maximus, his successor, still 
adhering to the counsels of his dear master, 
St. Germain, to whom he imparted all his 
intentions and desires, a. d. 430. 

After his leaving Lerins, he returned to 
Auxerre, and was then thirty-eight years old. 
When the news of St. Palladius' death had 
reachedthem, St. Germain sent him to Rome, 
with instructions upon the mission to Ireland, 
and gave him letters of introduction to Pope 
St. Celestine, who received him with every 
mark of kindness and respect. Celestine 
himself then consecrated and appointed him 
archbishop of Ireland, and sent him, invested 
with all apostolical authority, to preach the 
gospel to the inhabitants of that island. 
Twenty priests and deacons were likewise 
ordained, who were to accompany St. Patrick 
in his mission, and officiate under his direc- 
tions, " ut sub ipso Domino mimstrarent." 
Among the number, there were some pre- 
bendaries of St. John of Lateran, who were 
eminent for their piety. The new apostle of 
Ireland returned to Auxerre to take leave of 
St. Germain, who gave him many salutary 
admonitions to render the success of so great 
an undertaking possible and easy : he also 
made him presents of chalices, ornaments for 
the priesthood, books, and every thing neces- 
sary for the ecclesiastical worship and min- 
istry.* All things being prepared for his 
voyage, he set out for Ireland at the end of 



* "He hastened now towards Ireland, together 
with twenty men eminent for their wisdom and 
sanctity, appointed by the pontiff himself to assist 
him in the mission. He turned, however, to St. 
Germanus, his guardian and instructor ; from him 
he received chalices anH sacerdotal vestments, a 
quantity of books, and every other thing requisite 
for the ministry of the church." — Jocelin's Life of 
St. Patrick, c.26. 

19 



146 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the year 432, after making some converts in 
the counties of Cambridge and Cornwall, 
western provinces of Great Britain.* 

Before we enter into the particulars of the 
apostleship of St. Patrick, we should observe 
the state of the island at that time. The 
fundamental laws which had been enacted 
many centuries before by wise legislators, 
were enforced under a monarchical govern- 
ment. Laogare, son of Niall, surnamed 
Noygiallach, had been monarch of the whole 
island since the death of Dathy in 428. The 
four provinces had also each their respective 
kings. 

Baillet formed wrong ideas of the history 
of this nation, from the slight knowledge he 
had of it, when he emphatically observes 
that St. Palladius had found all Ireland in 
a state of disturbance,! caused by the emi- 
grations from the country, of those people 
who were then called Scotch or Scots, and 
had gone at that time to the north of Britain. 
This passage in Baillet would seem to imply 
that the whole nation of the Scoto-Milesians 
had left the fertile and rich lands of Ireland, 
to go and settle in the barren mountains of 
Albania. All those emigrations were con- 
fined to the demi-tribe of the Dalriads, who 
inhabited the small territoiy of Route, in 
the north of Ulster, and who, always forming 
one body with those of the same tribe already 
settled in Albania, and considering them- 
selves as the same family, frequently crossed 
over, accompanied by volunteers from the 
other provinces, as they had probably done 
this year, to join the Picts in their incursions 
into Britain. This was the third devastation 
committed by the Scots and Picts in Britain, 
and which Usher, after Gildas and Bede, 
fixes in the eighth year of the reign of Theo- 
dosius the younger, counting from the death 
of Honorius, in 431, the year of the apos- 
tleship of St. Palladius in Ireland.^ 

" That saint," adds our author, " was soon 
obliged to leave Ireland, and follow those 
colonies to New Scotland, where he hoped 
to be more successful." However, those 
people, who were solely intent upon pillage 
and devastation, were but little disposed to 
listen to this evangelical preacher : besides, 
New Scotland lasted but for a short time ; 
the Britons seeing themselves abandoned by 
the Romans, made an effort, and forced those 
robbers to return to Ireland, their country, 
as the venerable Bede, after Gildas, men- 
tions on this occasion, " Revertuntur impu- 
dentes grassatores Hiberni domum." The 

* Usser. Primord. Eccles. Brit. p. 840, et seq. 

tVie de St. Patr. au 17 Mars. 

t Primord. Eccles. Brit. c. 15, p. 606. 



little success which the preaching of St. 
Palladius produced in Ireland, should be 
attributed to the persecution raised against 
him by a prince of Leinster, which ended 
in the banishment of the saint, and to the 
want of a perfect knowledge of the language 
and manners of the country ; the intercourse 
of the Dalriads of Ulster, who formed but 
an inconsiderable body of people, with those 
of Albania, and the different emigrations of 
the former into the latter country, could not 
derange the system of a nation where peace 
prevailed, and where the monarch was in 
perfect harmony with the provincial kings, 
as the latter were with each other. Such 
was the state of Ireland when St. Patrick 
landed on the eastern coast of Leinster, in a 
canton called " Crioch-Cuallan," and which 
Probus calls " Regio Evolenorum ;" Jocelin 
and others, " Inbher-Dae," that is, the port of 
the river Dee, which falls into the sea, and 
is now called Kilmantan by the Irish, and 
Wicklow. by the English. It was in 432, 
and the fourth year of the reign of Laogare, 
monarch of the island, that this apostle 
began his evangelical functions in the same 
province that St. Palladius had failed in the 
precedingyear. He soon had the consolation 
of reaping the fruits of that ardent zeal with 
which he was inspired for the conversion and 
salvation of those islanders, since the time of 
his captivity ; and the joy of seeing, that 
God, supporting his ardor and conducting 
his steps, co-operated in his labors by im- 
parting his grace, and confirmed his doctrine 
by the signs and miracles which followed his 
discourses. The first he baptized was Sinell, 
grandson of Finchad, of the royal race of 
the kings of Leinster * descended in the 
eighth degree from Cormac-Cucorb, king of 
that province.f This new convert advanced 
so much in sanctity, that he was afterwards 
placed in the catalogue of Irish saints. 

Saint Patrick was vainly opposed by Na- 
thi, son of Garchon, a prince of this countiy, 
who had expelled St. Palladius the prece- 
ding year. The apostle having advanced 
towards a castle called Raith-Inbheir, which 
Usher thinks was the same as Old-Court, 
on the sea-shore, near the mouth of the river 
Bray, was attacked by the pagans of that 
district, and obliged to return to sea. He 
set sail, after leaving some of those preach- 
ers who accompanied him, to comfort and 
strengthen the new Christians, and reached 
an island on the coast of the territory of 
Dublin, towards the north, called, after him, 



* Usser. Primord. c. 17, p. 846. 
t Trias Thum. secund. Vit. not. 35. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



147 



Inis-Phadruig, or the island of Patrick, 
where he and his crew rested from their fa- 
tigues. He left Inis-Phadruig, to repair to 
a district in the north of Ireland, called Ul- 
lagh, or Ulidia, and after a few days arrived 
in the bay of Ibher-Slaing, at present the 
bay of Dundrum, in the county of Down. 
Dichu, son of Trichem, of the noble tribe 
of the Dalfiatachs, lord of the territory of 
Decale, now a barony, having been inform- 
ed that pirates had entered his territory, is- 
sued, forth with his armed vassals, to drive 
them back ; but being struck with respect, 
on meeting St. Patrick, who announced to 
him the word of God, he believed, and was 
baptized, with all his family : this was the 
first conversion, under God, that was made 
in Ulster, through the preaching of this 
apostle. In gratitude for so great a benefit, 
the new convert consecrated to God the 
spot on which he had been converted : a 
church was built on it, two miles from the 
city of Down,* which was called Sigibol, 
or Sabhall-Phadruig, signifying the granary 
of Patrick, having been built on the same 
place that the lord of the district had a 
granary to preserve his corn. This church, 
built at the solicitation of Dichu, from north 
to south, according to the plan of the gra- 
nary, was afterwards changed into a monas- 
tery of regular canons. 

Our saint, by particular feelings of grati- 
tude and compassion, added to his charity to- 
wards all men in general, undertook, among 
other conversions, that of his old master, 
Milcho, to whom he had been sold, and 
who had kept him, as his slave, in care of 
his flocks during the six years he had be- 
longed to him.f With this intention he left 
Sabhall in the beginning of the year 433, 
and proceeded to Clanebois, in the territory 
of Dalaradie, where Milcho lived.}; How- 
ever, in this instance it pleased God to 
check the course of that grace which ac- 
companied his words, and leave that man in 
his obduracy,^ who, ashamed of allowing 
himself to be persuaded in his old age to 
abandon the religion of his ancestors, by a 
man who had been his slave, threw himself 
into a fire, which had by some unknown 
accident broken out in his castle, and was 
unfortunately burned to death, with his whole 
family, except Guasact his son, and his two 
daughters, both called Emeria,|| whom God 
in his mercy had chosen and reserved for 

* Usser. Primord. c. 17, p. 846. 

t Idem, page 847. 

t Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. c. 14, 3& 

<j Trias Thaum. 2. Vit. S. Patr. pp. 14, 23. 

|| Vit. Tripart. S. Patr. lib. 1, c. 20, et lib. 2, c. 20. 



baptism, which they afterwards received. 
Guasact became afterwards bishop of Gra- 
nard, in the territory of Teafna, now the 
county of Longford ;* and his two sisters 
took the veil in a monastery which St. 
Patrick had founded at Cluain-Broin, a few 
miles from that city.f St. Patrick was so 
much afflicted by this act of Milcho, that he 
remained several hours without speaking, 
and shed a flood of tears ; he afterwards 
returned to Dichu, in the territory of Le- 
cale, anciently called Magh-Inis, where he 
preached, and converted almost all the in- 
habitants of that district to the faith of Je- 
sus Christ. We may infer from those facts, 
what a progress the divine word made in 
this country through his ministry. The har- 
vest increasing every day, he was obliged to 
multiply his laborers ; and in many places, 
ordained both bishops and priests. 

After providing for the necessities of that 
portion of the rising church, Patrick took his 
leave of Dichu, and embarked on board his 
vessel, to return to Meath.| He landed in 
Colbdi, below Drogheda, where the Boyne 
falls into the sea, and left his little ship in 
care of Luman, his nephew, and a few sail- 
ors, § with orders to wait for him for forty 
days, during which he would preach the gos- 
pel in the interior of the country. || His in- 
tention was to go and celebrate the festival of 
Easter in the plains of Magh-Breagh, where 
the city of Tara, the usual residence of the 
kings, was situated. He wished to be within 
reach of the court at the time of the assem- 
bly, which was to be held that year by the 
monarch, composed of the princes, druids, 
and pagan priests ; well knowing, that what- 
ever impression he might produce at court, 
would necessarily influence the provinces : 
with this view he armed himself with zeal, to 
take advantage of so favorable an opportunity. 

Our saint having met on his way with 
Sesgnen, the lord of a territory in Meath, 
who invited him to partake of his hospital- 
ity, he entered his house announcing the 
word of God, and baptized him, with all his 
family. This lord had a son, to whom the 
holy bishop gave the name of Binen, or Be- 
nignus, at his baptism. This young convert 
became attached to the saint, accompanied 
him everywhere, and made so great a pro- 
gress in piety and virtue, that he considered 
him worthy of being appointed to the see of 
Ardmach, which he surrendered to him. 

* Ibid. lib. 2, cap. 137. 

t Trias Thaum. 2. Tit. lib. 1, c. 29. 

t Usser. Prim. cap. 17, p. 847, et seq. 

§ Vit. Tripart. lib. 2, c. 1, et seq. 

|| Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. cap. 39, et seq 



148 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



After leaving the house of Sesgnen, the 
apostle proceeded towards Tara, and arrived 
the day before Easter at a place called Firta- 
Fir-Feic, now Slaine, on the left bank of the 
river Boyne, where he had a tent erected, 
to prepare for the ceremonies of the follow- 
ing day. 

When the monarch convened an assem- 
bly, or held any festival at Tara, it was cus- 
tomary to make a bonfire on the preceding 
day ; it was prohibited to have one in any 
other place, at the same time, in the territory 
of Breagh. Patrick, who was perhaps igno- 
rant of, or despised so superstitious a prac- 
tice, caused a large fire to be lighted before 
his tent, which was easily seen from Tara. 
The druids, alarmed at this attempt, carried 
their complaints before the monarch, and 
said to him, that, if he had not that fire 
immediately extinguished, he who had kin- 
dled it, and his successors, would hold 
the sovereignty of Ireland for ever ; which 
prophecy has been fulfilled in a spiritual 
light. 

The monarch sent an order to the stranger 
to appear before the assembly the day fol- 
lowing,* in order to account for his conduct, 
and he forbid that any should rise through 
respect for him. Ere, son of Dego, was 
the first who disobeyed the orders of the 
monarch ;t at the approach of the saint, 
that lord rose up, offered him his place, 
and having listened attentively to the word 
of God, embraced Christianity, and was 
afterwards nominated bishop of Slaine by 
that apostle: Patrick, always eager to do 
every thing that could tend to the salvation 
of mankind, presented himself the day fol- 
lowing, with two of his disciples, before the 
assembly, where he preached the faith of 
Jesus Christ, in presence of the monarch 
and all his nobles, with a freedom which 
was truly apostolical. Dubtach, archpoet 
of Laogare, submitted to his preaching, and 
the talents which he had employed before 
his conversion in celebrating the praises of 
the false gods, were afterwards turned to 
glorify God and his saints.]: Fiech, his 
disciple, followed his example, and after- 
wards became bishop of Sletty. 

We may here mention the conversion of 
Fingar, son of Clito,§ whose life, written by 
St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, was 

* Usser. Primord. c. 17, page 849, et seq 

t Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. c. 41. 

t " The hymns which he composed while young, 
in praise of his false gods, he now changed to a 
better purpose, viz., to the praises of God and his 
saints." — Jocelin. 

§ Usser. Prim. c. 17, pages 861, 869. 



preserved through the care of John Picard,* 
a regular canon of St. Victor's in Paris, 
and published in that city in 1624, by 
Thomas Messingham.f Lastly, the queen 
and several nobles of that assembly em- 
braced the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and 
though the monarch opposed it for some 
time, he received baptism in the end.J 

The preaching of this apostle was here 
supported by many miracles, mentioned by 
the authors of his life.fy There never was, 
in reality, a circumstance in which signs 
were more necessary, than in an assembly 
composed of the chiefs and learned men of 
the whole nation. 

St. Patrick having completed his mission 
at the court of Tara, repaired to Tailton, 
where the military games, mentioned in 
the first chapter of the part of this history, 
were celebrated every year. He did not 
keep the talent which his master intrusted 
him with unemployed : he always sought 
large assemblies, in order to turn it to ad- 
vantage. 

The season of those military exercises, 
which was the last fifteen days of July, and 
the first fifteen days of August, being near, 
he repaired to Tailton, || where he preached 
the doctrine of Jesus Christ to Cairbre and 
Conall, brothers of Laogare the monarch, 
with different success : the former continued 
obdurate and unchanged ; the latter, having 
attended to his instructions, was baptized, 
and in gratitude he conferred land on the 
saint, upon which he built a church. He 
spent the rest of that year in the territories 
of Meath and Leinster, where a great num- 
ber were converted, among others the two 
princesses Ethne and Fedeline, daughters 
of Laogare, with the druids Mael and Cap- 

* Florileg. in Pass. S. Guigneri, page 208. 

t " This young prince having been disinherited 
and banished by his father, through his hatred for 
the Christian religion, which he had received from 
St. Patrick, and obliged to leave his native country, 
united himself with several young men of rank, 
who went for his sake into voluntary exile ; having 
set sail, they landed after some time in Brittany, 
where they remained till the death of Clito. Having 
no longer any thing to fear, this prince returned to 
Ireland, where he beheld, with joy, that Christianity 
was established everywhere. The desire of becom- 
ing perfect having induced him to renounce his 
claims, he left his country, accompanied by Piala, 
his sister, and seven hundred men, seven of whom 
were bishops, all converted by St. Patrick. How- 
ever, after landing in Hull, in Cornwall, they were 
massacred by order of Theodoric, king of that coun- 
try, for fear they should preach the gospel to his 
subjects." — Usser. Primord. cap. 17, pages 851, 869. 

t 2 Vit. S. Patr. ultimo. 

§ Trias. Thaum. Passim. 

|| Usser. Primord. cap. 17, page 852, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



149 



lait, to whom their education had been in- 
trusted.* 

St. Luman, whom St. Patrick had left at 
Colbdi, weary of bis master's absence, pro- 
ceeded up the river Boyne as far as Ath- 
Truim, which signifies the ford of Trim, 
where Feidhlim, son of the monarch Lao- 
gare, had a castle. t This prince sent for 
him, and asked why he came into that dis- 
trict : the saint answered, that he had come 
with Patrick to convert the Irish ; then 
availing himself of this opportunity, he an- 
nounced to him the faith of Jesus Christ, 
and baptized him, with the princess, his 
wife, daughter of a British lung, Fortchem, 
his son, and all his family. This pious 
prince, in gratitude for so important a bene- 
fit, dedicated to the church all the lands he 
possessed on that side of the river, together 
with his son Fortchem, and passed with his 
household to the opposite side, where he 
fixed his residence. In concert with St. 
Patrick, the saint had a church built there, 
of which he was the first bishop, and was 
succeeded by Fortchem. 

St. Patrick, calling to mind the vision he 
had in Britain on his return from his cap- 
tivity in Ireland,| considered himself more 
particularly called upon to convert the in- 
habitants of Tir-Amalgaid : moved by this 
impulse, he proceeded to Connaught in the 
beginning of the year 434. On his way 
from Tara, he visited the southern Hy- 
Nialls, that is, the principalities belonging 
to the four princes, children of the monarch 
Niall, surnamed Noygiallach, brothers of 
Laogare, who was at that time monarch, 
and their descendants ; they were called 
southern Hy-Nialls, from their settlement 
in the south of Meath, as the other brothers 
were called the northern Hy-Nialls, where- 
as they inhabited the north of Meath, with 
the principalities of Tyrone, Tirconnel, and 
other territories in Ulster. 

The princes of the southern Hy-Nialls 
were, Laogare, Conall-Crimthine, Fiacha, 
and Maine.§ The holy apostle first addressed 
himself to Fiacha, || prince of a part of West- 
meath, near Mount Usnach, called after him 
Kinel-Fiacha,T signifying the race of Fia- 
cha.** But the prejudice of education, and 

* Vit. 4, Patr. apud Colgan, cap. 55. 

t Colg. Act. Sant. Hib. 17, Feb. 

t Usser. Ind. Chron. ad an. 434. 

§ Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 17, Feb. p. 358. 

|| Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. cap. 100, notes 113, 114, 



Vit. Tripart. lib. 2, c. 17, et seq. notes 50, 51, 

s " With the intention of building a church, 
servant of Christ turns to a very celebrated 



the attachment of this prince to the super- 
stition of his ancestors, made him deaf to 
the word of God.* 

Saint Patrick was more successful with 
Eana : this prince, who was in posses- 
sion of an extensive territory, called after 
him Kinel-Eana, or Kinel-Enda, extending 8 ' 
from Kinaliach to the river Shannon, was 
more docile than his brother. After wit- 
nessing some miracles which the saint 
performed in his presence, he listened to 
the word of God, and received baptism 
with his whole family ; and in acknowledg- 
ment for so great a favor, he presented to 
God and to the church a ninth of his pro- 
perty, together with his son Cormac, who 
was yet a child, and who became bishop 
of Athruim, and afterwards archbishop of 
Ardmach. 

Our saint went from thence to the coun- 
try of Teafana, called by the Latin authors 
Teffia ; this territory comprised part of 
Westmeath, and extended into Analy, now 
the county of Longford ; and was divided 
into northern and southern Teafna. South- 
ern Teafna belonged to Maine ; this prince 
was converted by the preaching of St. 
Patrick, who founded in his district the 
episcopal see of Ardagh, which still exists, 
and the first bishop of it was St. Mel, the 
disciple and nephew of that apostle, by his 
sister Darerca.f He afterwards proceed- 
ed to northern Teafna, sometimes called 
Cairbre-Guara, belonging to the children of 
Carbre, one of the four brothers of the 
northern Hy-Nialls, who had been always 
opposed to the gospel. But those young 
princes, more fortunate than their father, 
received the saint with respect, and granted 
him the territory of Granard, where he 
built a church, the care of which he con- 
fided to Guasact, son of Milcho his old 
master, and consecrated him bishop for that 
purpose. He then visited western Brefny, 
at present the county of Leitrim, where, 
after destroying the impious worship of the 
idol Crom-Cruach, in the plain of Moy- 
Slecht, he founded a church, called in the 
language of the country Domnach-Mor, to 
which he appointed St. Mauran, his kins- 
man, pastor. 

place called Usneace ; there were two brothers 
called Fiachus and Enda, who ruled in that place : 
from the former the neighboring mountain was 
called Kinel-Fiacha ; to this day the posterity of 
Fiachus retain the nobility of their family, but not 
the power. The descendants of this Fiacha are 
the ancient tribes of MacGeoghegans of Kinaliach, 
and the O'Molloys of Fearcall." 

* Vit. 4, Sanctoe Brig, note 1, in lib. 2, page 564. 

t War. de Prasul. Hib. 



150 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



After leaving Brefny, St. Patrick crossed 
the Shannon to enter Connaught.* 

He first applied to Ono, a prince of the 
race of the Hy-Brunes, by Earca-Dearg, 
son of Brien, and lord of a considerable ter- 
ritory in Magherye-Connaught, called Hy- 
On'ach. This prince, struck with the sanc- 
tity and miracles of Patrick, generously gave 
him the land of Imleach, since called Oil- 
finn, or Elphin, where he founded an epis- 
copal see, which is still in being, and nomi- 
nated Asicus, his disciple, first bishop of it. 
He afterwards visited Hua-Nolella, other- 
wise Tir-Oilill, in the county of Sligo, be- 
longing to the descendants of Oilill, whose 
great-grandson, called Maine, he baptized, 
and afterwards nominated him bishop. He 
founded two churches there : the first was 
Sencheall Dumhaighe, where he left several 
of his disciples ; the second, Tamnache, of 
which he made Carell, of the race of the 
kings of Ullagh, bishop. Having completed 
his mission in those districts, the holy apostle 
turned his thoughts towards the Hy-Brunes. 
On arriving in the territory of Moy-Seola, 
now the barony of Clare, in the county of 
Galway, he met with some of the sons of 
Brien, who were all opposed to him except 
Duach, the youngest, from whom are de- 
scended the O'Connors, who was baptized. 
The saint foretold this prince that he and 
his descendants should possess the crown of 
the province, which was afterwards verified.. 
The saint then founded the church of Dorrf- 
nach-Mor, or Domnach-Phadruig, on the 
border of Lake Sealgo, now Lough Hacket. 
He continued his route through Partrie and 
Umaille, in the western part of the province, 
which belonged to Conall-Oirioson, from 
whom the noble family of the O'Mailles, or 
O'Malys, derive their origin, where he 
founded the church of Achad-Fobhuir, the 
first bishop of which was St. Senach. 

At the approach of Lent, St. Patrick 
withdrew to a high mountain, near the 
western coast of that province, formerly 
called Cruachan-Aichle, or Aichuill, now 
Creagh-Phadruig, in the barony of Morisk, 
in the county of Mayo, and there spent the 
Lent in contemplation and prayer. 

The authors of his life say, he spent the 
forty days without taking any food.f Jocelin 
likewise adds,:j: that he collected all the 
serpents and venomous reptiles of the coun- 
try upon this mountain, and cast them into 
the ocean,^ to which he ascribes the ex- 

* Vit. Tripart. lib. 2, cap. 35, et seq. a. d. 434 

+ Vit. 4, c. 59. 

} Jocelin, cap. 171. 

§ Vit. 5, lib. 2, c. 19, 20. 



emption of this island from all venomous 
reptiles.* However, Solinus,who had writ- 
ten some centuries before the arrival of St. 
Patrick in Ireland, makes mention of this 
exemption; and after him Isidore, bishop of 
Seville, in the seventh century, and Bede, in 
the eighth, speak of it without assigning any 
cause. It appears that Jocelin is the first 
who gave this account ; thus it is probable 
that it proceeds from the climate, or the 
nature of the soil, rather than from any su- 
pernatural cause. 

Our saint having ended his retreat upon 
the mountain, came down to the plain to- 
wards the end of Lent, where, after preach- 
ing and converting a considerable number 
of people, he celebrated the Easter in the 
church of Achad-Febhuir, which he had 
founded before Lent in the territory of 
Umaille ; he afterwards visited the country, 
as far as Tir-Amalgaid, where he met with 
the seven sons, or, according to others, the 
twelve sons of Amalgaid, assembled in coun- 
cil with the nobles of the province about 
the succession to their father's crown. 

To Amalgaid, son of Fiachra, belonged 
the territory called after him Tir-Amalgaid, 
that is, the country of Amalgaid ; the sceptre 
was at that time held by the tribe of the Hy- 
Fiachras. His brother Dathy, king of Con- 
naught, having succeeded to the monarchy 
of the whole island on the death of Niall the 
Great, left him the crown of that province. 
The right of succeeding to the crown after 
his death, was the object of this assembly, 
where St. Patrick preached the gospel, and 
converted many. This account is variously 
related :f some authors say that the brothers, 
finding it impossible to agree about the suc- 
cession, had chosen Laogare the monarch, 
and Eogan his brother, as arbitrators of their 
dispute ; that Enda-Crom, the eldest of the 
brothers, being unable to accompany them 
to Tara, had intrusted this commission to 
his son Conall, a young man of great talent, 
but being opposed by the intrigues of his 
uncles, had recourse to the influence of St. 
Patrick, who was then at Tara, to gain ad- 
mittance for him to plead the cause of his 
father. They add, that this prince, being 
indebted to the apostle for his successes at 
the court of Tara, induced him to go with 
him to Connaught, and preach the gospel to 
the inhabitants of this district. The saint 
accepted this proposal the more willingly, 
as he was thereby enabled to execute the 
design he had formed of visiting that people. 

* Vit. Tripart. lib. 2, c. 63. 
t Vit. Trip. cap. 77. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



151 



However this be, the authors of this saint's 
life affirm, that in one day* he converted 
and baptized the seven princes, sons of 
Amalgaid, besides twelve thousand persons,! 
and that those conversions had been sup- 
ported by many miracles, which God wrought 
in favor of that apostle, to confound the 
druids and pagan priests, who were opposed 
to his doctrine. He founded a church for 
the new Christians, of which he nominated 
Mancenus bishop, a very pious man, and 
well versed in the holy scriptures 4 

On leaving Tir-Amalgaid, he proceeded 
towards the north, along the river Moy, 
making converts everywhere as he passed. 
On the left bank of this river, where it dis- 
charges itself into the sea, he built a church 
called Kil-Aladh, at present Killala, an 
episcopal see, the first bishop of which was 
St. Muredach, the disciple of that apostle. § 
It is said there were forty-seven churches 
in that province founded by him, among 
which was Cassioll-Irra, in the county of 
Sligo, the first bishop of which was St. 
Bron.jl 

This apostolical man, after spending seven 
years in visiting the several parts of Con 
naught, and establishing the Christian reli 
gion in the most inaccessible places of the 
province, at length quitted it in 441, to visit 
Ulster, of which he had yet seen but a very 
small portion. 

On leaving Connaught, St. Patrick pro 
ceeded on his way to Sligeach,1I through 
Drumcliabh and Rossclogher, as far as 
Magh-Ean, a large plain, situated in the 
southern part of Tirconnel, between the bay 
of Donnagall and the rivers Earn and Drab- 
hois, the latter of which has its source in 
lake Melve, and discharges itself into the 
bay of Donnagall, near Bundroose : he 
preached the gospel there for some time, and 
founded the church called Disert-Phadruig 

Having crossed the river Earne, between 
Eas-Ruad and the ocean, his preaching was 
everywhere attended with success. The 
country of Tirconnel belonged to ConaL 
Gulban, son of Niall the Great, brother to 
Laogare, the monarch who was then reign 
ing, and chief of the illustrious tribe of the 
O'Donnels. His brother Carbre was lord 
of a district on the banks of the river Earne 
The former had already received baptism 

* Jocelin, Vit. Patr. c. 59. 
t Usser. Primord. Eccl. Brit. cap. 17, page 854 
t Conf. Pat. page 19. 
§ War. de Praesul. Hib. 
|| Trias. Thaum, pag. 270, et seq. 
IT Vit. Trip. lib. 2, c. 108, et not. in Vit 
Tripart. 154. 



from the hands of St. Patrick, but the latter 
had persisted in his obduracy ; so that the 
saint, in his passage through their country, 
had met with a very different reception 
from those two lords. Carbre was strongly 
opposed to his doctrine ; but Conall received 
him with that respect due to the man who 
had drawn him from the darkness of idolatry 
and paganism. During his stay with Conall, 
he resolved to go to Ailech-Neid, a castle 
in the peninsula of Inis-Eoguin, or Inis- 
Owen, and residence of Eoguin, another 
brother of the monarch, and Conall, chief 
of the illustrious tribe of the O'Neills. He 
generally applied to the great, convinced 
that the people commonly follow the exam- 
ple of the prince : with this intention he 
proceeded towards Inis-Eoguin, through the 
extensive plains of Beam-Mor, Tir-Aodhe, 
and Magh-Ithe, a small territory on the 
borders of the river Finn. His time was 
always well employed ; he gave instructions 
in every place, and at all times, even while 
he was travelling. On his way he founded 
a church which he called Domnach-Mor, 
in Magh-Ithe, and then continued his route 
to Inis-Eoguin. 

Prince Eogan being informed of the 
arrival of the apostle in his territories,* 
went to meet him, and received him with all 
possible marks of honor and respect ; and 
having attended with humility to the word 
of God, was converted, with all his house- 
hold and vassals ; the saint left Inis-Owen, 
and crossing the river Febhail or Fewal, at 
present Foyle, between the lake of that 
name and the city of Daire-Calgach, now 
Deny, he preached the gospel in the neigh- 
borhood of the river Fochmuine, at present 
Faughan, in the territory of Oireachty- 
Cahan, for nearly two months, and founded 
some churches there. He again returned to 
the peninsula of Inis-Owen, to complete a 
mission so happily begun : he remained in 
this place for the space of forty days, and 
founded two churches. The first at the re- 
quest of Aidh, son of Coelbad, and grand- 
son of prince Eogan, who made him a present 
of land for that purpose ; this church, the 
first bishop of which was Mac-Carthan, the 
disciple of St. Patrick, was called Domnach- 
Mor-Muige-Tochuir. The second, which 
he called Domnach-Bile, was situated near 
the river Bredach. He afterwards crossed 
the strait through which lake Foyle dis- 
charges itself into the ocean, and coasted 
along this lake, through the territories of 
Dagard, Mag-Dola, and Duncruthen, as far 

* Vit. Trip. lib. 2, cap. 118, et seq. 



152 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



as the small river now called Roewater. 
Several churches were established in this 
district, among others Dun Srutehn, the care 
of which was confided to St. Beoadh or 
Beatus, who was the first bishop of it. The 
apostle passed through the territory of Kien 
nacte, where he made several converts, and 
built many churches. Sedna, one of the 
lords of that country, having presented him- 
self before him, received baptism, with his 
wife, his children, and his vassals.* Sedna 
was son of Trena, and grandson of Tiger- 
nach, of the race of Kiann, son of Oilioll- 
Olum, king of Munster. He had a son, 
called Kienan, whom he placed under the 
discipline of our saint, and was afterwards 
bishop of Damliag, now Duleek, in Meath 
St. Patrick having completed his mission 
in the districts bordering upon lake Foyle. 
crossed the river Bann to Cuilrathen, at 
present Coleraine. He preached the gospel 
for some time in the territory of Lea, on the 
right bank of the river Bann : he then pro- 
ceeded through the country of Dalrieda, 
now Route, in the county of Antrim, to the 
castle of Dun-Sobhairche, in the northern 
part of that country, and on his way founded 
several churches and religious houses, to 
which he appointed bishops and priests ; 
from thence he went to Dalaradie, an exten- 
sive territory, comprising the whole county of 
Down, and the southern part of the county 
Antrim. This country was, at that time, 
divided into twelve parts for the twelve sons 
of Caolbhach, the last monarch of Ireland 
of the race of the Clanna-Rorys. Caolbhach 
was son of Croin-Badhraoi, and grandson of 
Eachach,f from whom this country, which 
recently belonged to the Magennises, de- 
scendants of that prince, afterwards took 
the name of Iobh-Eachach, by corruption, 
Iveach. The chief of those brothers was 
Saran, from whom the Mac-Cartains are 
descended ; but this unhappy prince brought 
on himself the malediction of St. Patrick, 
by his opposition to the gospel.J Conla, 
being more docile than his. brother Saran, 
presented himself respectfully before the 
saint, and conferred on him a handsome 
tract of land, where he built the mon- 
astery of Mag-Commuir, in the diocese of 
Connor, for regular canons. He also 
founded several other churches in that 
country : among others those of Dom- 
nach-Mor, and Rath-Sithe, in the territory 
of Mag-Damorna, where he settled two of 
his disciples ; those of Tulachen and Gluaire 

* Not. 191, in 2 part. Vit. Tripart. 

t Not. 206, ad c. 131, 2 part. Vit Tripart. 

t Keat. Geneal. 



in the territory of Latharae, where the body 
of Mac-Lasse is deposited : Gleanne, In- 
deachta, and Imleach-Cluana, in the terri- 
tory of Semne, which contains the remains 
of St. Coeman ; and Rath-Easpuic-Innic, in 
the territory of Hua-Dereachein, barony of 
Antrim, the first bishop of which was St. 
Winnoc. 

The holy apostle afterwards passed 
through the country of Hy-Tuirtre, on the 
borders of Lough Neagh, which was in the 
possession of two brothers named Carthen : 
he was repulsed by the elder, but the 
younger received him with respect, and 
embraced the Christian religion, with all his 
people. The saint founded some churches 
in this territory, where he left a pastor called 
Connedus, one of his disciples. He next 
preached in the territories of Hymeithe- 
Tire, and Imchlair : in the former, which 
belonged to the descendants of Colla-da- 
Crioch, he founded the bishopric of Teag- 
Talain, which he confided to the care of his 
disciple, Killen. In the second, situated in 
Tyrone, he settled the priest St. Columb, as 
pastor. At some distance from these he 
founded the episcopal see of Clogher,* of 
which he himself was first bishop ;f he after- 
wards resigned this church to Mac-Carthen, 
his disciple, and the companion of his la- 
bors .f 

Our saint being intent on founding a me- 
tropolitan see, which would be head over 
the other churches in Ireland, proceeded 
from Clogher to Druim-Sailech,^ so called 
from the quantity of willow trees which grew 
there ;|| this place was, and is still called 
Ardmach, from its elevated situation, 1 !! or, 
according to others, from Macha, wife of 
Nievy,** who was buried there, as men- 
tioned in the third chapter of the first part 
of this history. Whatever be the derivation 
of this name,tt Daire, surnamed Dearg, 
son of Finchad, grandson of Eogain, son of 
Niellain,J| of the race of Colla-da-Crioch, 
lord of this territory, consecrated that spot 
to God, at the request of St. Patrick,^ who 
laid in it the foundation of a city and church 
in 445. He caused monasteries to be built 
there, and founded schools, which after- 



* Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. cap. 143 

t Usser. Primord. c. 17, p. 856. 

t Vit. Tripart. lib. 2, cap. 123, not. in 2 lib. 

§ War. de Prcesul. Hib. 

|| Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. c. 165. 

IT Usser. Prim. cap. 17, page 857. 

** War. de Prsesul. Hib. 

tt Vit. Trip. lib. 3, c. 68. 

1} Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. c. 161. 

§§ Ogyg. part 2, cap. 76. 



c IIIUSTIAN IRELAND. 



153 



wards became celebrated.* During this in- 
terval, St. Mochte, a Briton by birth, found- 
ed a church in the city of Lugha, or Ludha, 
at present Louth, of which he was bishop. 

The harvest still continued great, and the 
laborers had become few, from the great 
number St. Patrick had placed, during fif- 
teen years, in the different churches he had 
founded in Ulster, Meath, and Connaught. 
The number of foreign missionaries whom 
he had brought with him to Ireland not 
being sufficient, it was necessary to prepare 
some among the natives of the country, 
which was an undertaking difficult to be ac- 
complished. This people had their peculiar 
language and characters, as has been proved 
in the second chapter of the first part of this 
history. Having been always free and inde- 
pendent of the empire of the Romans, they 
were unacquainted with the Roman language 
and its characters ; there were, therefore, but 
two courses to adopt ; either to translate the 
holy books into the language of the country, 
and celebrate the divine mysteries in it, 
which would have been contrary to the cus- 
tom of the church, or to teach the characters 
of the Roman language to those who were 
to instruct others : the holy apostle adopted 
the latter course. We see in his life that 
he gave the alphabet to those whom he in- 
tended for holy orders, which gave rise to 
the error of Bollandus, who denies that the 
Irish people had the use of characters be- 
fore the time of St. Patrick. 

To supply the want of ministers to assist 
him in his mission, our saint, after com- 
pleting his metropolitan city of Ardmach, 
went to Great Britain in 447, which he found 
to be infected with the heresies of the Pe- 
lagians, and Arianism. He opposed those 
errors for some time with success, and 
brought back a considerable number of his 
countrymen to the true faith. He met with 
many learned and pious ecclesiastics in 
that island, who were desirous of assisting 
him in his mission to Ireland, thirty of whom 
he appointed bishops. With this aid he 
embarked for Ireland ; but on his voyage 
stopped at the Isle of Man, where he 
preached the gospel, and left Germain, one 
of his disciples, as bishop. f 

The holy apostle returned to Ardmach in 
the beginning of the year 448, and havin^ 
visited that church, held a synod with 
some bishops, among whom were Auxil and 
Isernin,J regular canons of St. John of 

* Usser. Prim. c. 17, p. 854. 
t Usser. Primord. Eccles. Brit. cap. 15, pages 642 
643. 

t Usser. Primord. c. 17, page 841 



Lateran, who had accompanied him from 
Rome.* The charity of Patrick would not 
allow him to neglect a single province or 
district in Ireland. He had not yet visited 
Minister, depending on the zeal of the holy 
missionaries, Declain, Ailbe, Kieran, and 
others, who labored in that vineyard for some 
years. He had been but in one district 
in Leinster, on his arrival in the island, and 
had made some converts in it ; wherefore, 
having settled the affairs of the church of 
Ardmach,! he proceeded towards Leinster, 
through Meath, where he converted the 
people of Fera-Cuil and Hisegain, and 
founded the church of Bile-Tortan, near 
Ardbrecain,J which he confided to the care 
of Justin, a priest, his disciple, and great- 
grandson of Breasal, lord of the country. 
Having crossed the river of Firiglass, he 
arrived at Bally- Ath-Cliath, "oppidum super 
crates,"^> a city so called from the hurdles 
which were used, either to secure the foun- 
dations of the houses, or to strengthen the 
roads on the marshy banks of the river Liffey , 
which waters it ; this city has been since 
called Dubh-Lin, at present Dublin, from 
the black and muddy bottom of that river. 

The high reputation of sanctity which St. 
Patrick had acquired, added to the number 
of miracles he wrought everywhere, having 
made him known and respected even by the 
pagans, the inhabitants of Dublin went out 
in crowds to meet him. These appearances 
were a happy omen of the faith they were 
about to receive from this saint. He bap- 
tized them all, with Alphin, son of Eochaid, 
who was at that time their king : || the cere- 
mony was performed in a fountain near the 
city, called since that time the fountain of 
St. Patrick, and became an object of devo- 
tion to the faithful for many centuries, till it 
was filled up and enclosed within a private 
dwelling in the beginning of the seven- 
teenth century. The saint had a church 
built near this fountain, which afterwards 
became a cathedral, bearing his name. 

The authors of the life of St. Patrick 
mention some miracles wrought by God to 
confirm his mission, which had hastened the 
conversion of that city. It was, no doubt, 
the admiration which those miracles had 
inspired, that influenced the prince and his 
people to bind themselves and their heirs to 

* The canons of this synod are among the works 
ascribed to St. Patrick, published by Sir James 
Ware. 

t Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. c. 68, 70, 71. 

t Not. 23, 24, 25, ad lib. 3, vit. Trip. 

§ Camb. Brit. edit. Lond. p. 750. 

|| Usser. Primord. cap. 17, pp. 862, 863. 



154 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



pay to that apostle and his successors for 
ever, in the see of Ardmach, three ounces 
of gold yearly. 

Our saint spent the whole of that year 
preaching the faith in Leinster, where he 
founded a great number of churches.* He 
began his mission in that province by the 
conversion of two princes,t sons of Dun- 
lainge, who held the principality of the 
northern part of the province,;]; on the banks 
of the river Liffey, the capital of which 
was Naas. He founded two churches in 
that part of the country ; the first, which he 
intrusted to the care of the bishop Auxil, 
was called Kil-Ausaille, in Latin, " Cella 
Auxilii," by corruption, Kill-Ussi, in the 
plains of the river Liffey, near Kildare. 
The second was called Kill-Cuilinn, the first 
bishop of which was Issernin, and after him 
Mactal. 

St. Patrick afterwards visited the districts 
of Leix, Ossory, and Hy-Kinseallagh,^ as 
far as the southern extremity of the province, 
working miracles, and making converts 
everywhere. Among others, he baptized 
Criomthan, son of Eana-Kinseallagh, of the 
race of Cahire-More, who was at that time 
king of Leinster. This prince was very 
pious, and a liberal benefactor to the church. 
He built seventy churches in Hy-Kinseallagh 
and in the eastern part of the province, which 
he liberally endowed. He granted. the tract 
of land called Slebte, now Sletty, on the 
banks of the river Barrow, to Fiech, at the 
request of St. Patrick. |) Fiech had a church 
built there, of which he was first bishop, 
with the title of arch-prelate of Leinster. 11 
Criomthan was unfortunately killed by Aon- 
gus, or Euchodius, brother of St. Fiech, in 
revenge for having been banished with his 
brothers, by the king, from that province.** 

Having established Christianity in Lein- 
ster on a solid basis,tt St. Patrick proceeded 
to Munster, where there were already some 
Christians, and a few churches founded by 
his precursors. He went directly towards 
Cashel, in the territory of Eoganach, the 
place where king Aongus, son of Nadfraoch, 
at that time resided. This prince being 
informed of the sanctity and virtues of the 
holy apostle, came forth to meet him in the 
plain of Femyn, which is a territory that 



* Vit. Tripart. lib. 3, c. 18. 

t Not. 39, 40, in 2 Vit. 

} Usser. Prim. cap. 17, pp. 826, 827. 

§ Vit. Tripart. lib. 3, cap. 19, et seq. 

|| Usser. Primord. cap. 17, pp. 863, 864. 

IT Vit. Tripart. lib. cap. 24. 

** Not. 47, in eundem lib. 

tt Usser. Prim. c. 17, p. 863. 



surrounds Cashel, since called Gowlin- 
Vale, from a village of that name on the 
river Suire, and by corruption Golden-Vale ; 
he received him with every mark of distinc- 
tion and respect, and brought him to his city 
of Cashel, where he heard the word of 
God, and was converted, together with his 
whole court.* 

A singular fact is related of the Christian 
fortitude and patience of Aongus, during the 
ceremony of his baptism. The holy bishop 
having leaned on his pastoral staff,f which 
was pointed with iron, it pierced the king's 
foot, who suffered the pain without com- 
plaining, till the ceremony was ended. f 
The apostle hearing of the accident, asked 
him why he had not complained ; the king 
answered respectfully, that he thought it 
formed part of the ceremony. This prince 
was pious and firmly attached to the religion 
he had embraced : out of a great number of 
children of both sexes, he devoted one half 
to the service of God, and always supported 
in his palace two bishops, ten priests, and 
seventy-two religious persons, who served 
as his council in religious affairs. 

The four precursors of Saint Patrick, 
namely, Ailbe, Declan, Kieran, and Ibar, 
having come to Cashel to see the saint, and 
to congratulate their king upon his conver- 
sion, assisted at the synod which that apostle 
had convoked. Some difference arose about 
the primacy, which those saints, who like 
Mm had received their mission from the holy 
see, would not acknowledge in St. Patrick. 
However, their charity stifled every senti- 
ment opposed to the cause of Jesus Christ. 
Those saints were confirmed, at that synod, 
in the possession of the churches they had 
founded ; that of Imleach-Jobhuir, otherwise 
Emly, in Tipperary, founded by St. Ailbe, 
was made the metropolitan of the whole prov- 
ince : it was united to Cashel in the sixth 
century. § That of Ardmore, in the territory 
of Desie, in the county of Waterford, was 
adjudged to St. Declan, by whom those peo- 
ple were converted ; this church was after- 
wards annexed to Lismore. St. Kieran was 
confirmed in the see of Saigre, or Seir-Kie- 
ran, in the territory of Ely, which see was 
afterwards transferred to Aghavoe, and from 
thence to Kilkenny. Lastly, Ibar was ap- 
pointed bishop of Beg-Erin, that is, Little 
Ireland, an island on the coast of Wexford. 

Having settled with the other bishops the 
affairs of the church of Cashel, St Patrick 

* Vit Tripart. lib. 3, cap. 29. 

t Idem. cap. 30. 

t Usser. Primord. cap. 17, page 863. 

§ Ibid, page 866. 



I'llIilSTlAN IRELAND. 



155 



took leave of Aongus, and continued his 
mission through Muscraighe-Breogain, Ara- 
eliach, and Lumneach, as far as the river 
Shannon.* 

The inhabitants of Thuomond showed as 
much zeal as those of the other districts, in 
hearing the word of God. Having learned 
that the holy apostle was in their neighbor- 
hood, they crossed the river to hear him 
preach, and were baptized, with Carthan 
Fionn, son of Bloid, their prince. This 
apostle continued to preach on the left bank 
of the river, and visited the country of 
Ciarruidh-Luachra, now Kerry, and all the 
southern part of the province ; and having 
drawn many to the faith of Jesus Christ, and 
founded several churches, where he estab- 
lished pastors, he returned through Desie 
to Cashel, having spent several years in the 
conversion of that province. 

The time of our saint's departure from 
Munster being near, the princes and great 
men of the province assembled, placed them- 
selves under his protection,! and, in gratitude 
for the services he had rendered the pro- 
vince, they undertook to pay an annual tax 
to him and his successors in the see of Ard- 
mach ; which tax, called in the Irish lan- 
guage, Cain-Phadruic, was regularly paid for 
some centuries. The high veneration in 
which he was held in that province, made 
them carefully preserve a stone which he had 
used in celebrating the holy mysteries, or 
some other religious ceremonies : it was 
called Leach-Phadruic, and the succeeding 
kings of Cashel considered it an honor to 
sit on it during their coronation 4 

In the year 455 St. Patrick left Munster, 
to return to the north of the island. In 
passing through Leinster, he preached the 
gospel in the district of Hy-Failge, which 
belonged to the descendants of Rossa-Failge, 
and Daire-Barrach, brothers and sons of the 
monarch Cahire-More. The former, from 
whom are descended the O'Connors-Failge, 
listened to him with respect, and were bap- 
tized, but he was repulsed by the latter. He 
then continued his way towards Ulster, op- 
posing everywhere the darkness of idolatry 
with the light of the gospel. 

Our saint spent six years in visiting the 
churches of Ulster, consoling and confirming 
the new Christians, and converting those 
who had persevered in idolatry ; and the 
better to watch over the churches in general, 
he resigned the see of Ardmach to St. Binen, 
or Benignus, his disciple and successor. 



* Vit. Tripart. lib. 3, cap. 43, 44. 
t Vit. Tripart. lib. 3, o. 29, et 53. 
i Vit. Tripart. lib. 3, page 29. 



The holy apostle having established the 
church of Ireland on a solid basis, and having 
ordained pastors for the several churches, 
set out for Rome, to give an account of his 
labors to the holy and learned Pope Leo, 
surnamed the Great, to consulthim on various 
matters, and to prove the doctrine he had 
taught to his people, by that of the first 
pastors of the church, in the centre of its 
unity, where the common oracle of the 
Christians resided. He obtained this pope's 
approval for his having made the church of 
Ardmach the metropolitan ;* which was 
afterwards supported by the honor of the 
pallium, and the title of apostolical legate in 
Ireland, to him and his successors. 

We cannot but admire the omnipotence of 
God, and power of his grace, in the rapid 
conversion of this idolatrous nation. So 
sudden a change can only be attributed to 
him who has the power of softening the most 
callous hearts ; for it can be said with truth, 
that no other nation in the Christian world 
received with so much joy the knowledge of 
the kingdom of God, and the faith in Jesus 
Christ. Nothing can be found to equal the 
zeal with which the new converts lent their 
aid to St. Patrick, in breaking down their 
idols, demolishing their temples, and building 
churches. We may likewise add, that no 
other nation has preserved its faith with more 
fortitude and courage, during a persecution 
of two centuries. 



CHAPTER X. 

While St. Patrick devoted his time and 
care to establish in Ireland the kingdom of 
Jesus Christ, peace was preserved in its 
temporal kingdom under the government of 
Laogare. Religion and the principles of 
Christianity, by correcting and softening the 
ferocious manners of the inhabitants, con- 
tributed largely to the happiness of the prince 
and the people. The subject learned, that 
as all power emanated from God, his first 
and most important obligation was, loyalty 
to his lawful prince ; and the prince learned 
that he ought to govern his people, not as a 
tyrant, but like a true father. In order to 
preserve this harmony in the government, 
the monarch convened a general assembly 
of the states at Tara,t where Saint Patrick, 
together with other bishops, took their seats 
in place of the druids :| the customs and 

* Jocelin, in Vit. S. Patr. c. 166. 
t Keat. on the reign of Laogare. 
t Walsh, Prospect of Ireland, p. 46. 



156 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



laws of the country were reformed ; every 
thing bordering on pagan superstition was 
abolished, or regulated according to the 
spirit of the gospel. The antiquarians sub- 
mitted to the inspection of the holy apostle, 
the register of Tara, and other monuments 
respecting the history of the nation, and the 
genealogies of the principal families ; which 
he declined, alleging as a reason, the slight 
knowledge he had of the antiquities of the 
nation, and requested them to follow the 
ancient custom in those kinds of inquiries. 
Accordingly, a committee of nine persons 
was appointed, three of whom were kings, 
three bishops, and three antiquarians. Those 
three kings were the monarch, and the kings 
of Ulster and Munster ; the bishops were 
St. Patrick, St. Binen, that apostle's suc- 
cessor in the see of Ardmach, and Cairnach ; 
and the antiquarians were Dubththach, 
Feargus, and Rosa. Having completed the 
inquiry, and cleared the monuments of every 
error, the deputies made their report to the 
assembly, and the monarch ordered that 
those monuments, which had been till then 
preserved in the archives of Tara, should be 
confided to the care of the bishops, who 
made several copies of them, to be deposited 
in the different churches in the kingdom, 
both for the convenience of individuals who 
might wish to consult them, and prevent 
the accidents that might occur either by fire 
or war. In this examination of the manu- 
scripts of the Milesians, the holy apostle 
caused a great number of volumes to be 
burned, which treated of the superstitions of 
the pagan religion, which the Irish had till 
then professed. 

The only war in which Laogare was en- 
gaged during his reign, was against the peo- 
ple of Leinster, about the Boroimhe or tri- 
bute which Tuathal Teachtmar, one of his 
predecessors, had imposed on them in the 
second century. They had often made in- 
effectual struggles to rid themselves of this 
burden, which furnished Criomthan, son of 
Eana-Kinseallagh, who was king of Lein- 
ster at that time, with a pretext to declare 
war against the monarch. Wars were but 
of short continuance in ancient times ; one 
battle often sufficing to terminate the dis- 
pute. Both parties having come to an en- 
gagement at Ath-Dara, in the county of 
Kildare, Criomthan was victorious, and Lao- 
gare taken prisoner : he recovered his liberty 
only on condition of relinquishing his claim 
on that province, a promise which he after- 
wards considered as void, having been ex- 
torted by violence. He was killed some 
time afterwards by a thunderbolt at Greal- 



lach-Dabhuill, near the Liffey, in the county 
of Kildare. a. d. 463.* 

It is morally impossible to discover the 
number of episcopal sees in the church of 
Ireland before the twelfth century. If the 
number equalled that of the bishops whom 
St. Patrick had consecrated, we should reck- 
on 350 according to Jocelin, and according to 
Nennius 365 ; but it is very unlikely that the 
saint had consecrated that number of bishops 
for so many different sees.f Were it not 
that several succeeded each other in the 
same sees, we should admit that almost 
every village had its bishop. However great 
we may suppose the number to have been, 
it was considerably lessened before the 
twelfth century, several sees having been 
united together. 

We have already seen, in the life of St. 
Patrick, that besides the churches founded 
by his four precursors, and erected into bi- 
shoprics at the synod of Cashel, the apos- 
tle, and after him his disciples, had founded 
a great number of churches and monasteries. 

I here give an account only of the cathe- 
dral churches which still exist, though at 
present belonging to a different religion, and 
the religious houses suppressed in the latter 
ages by the supposed reformers ; I shall 
place them under the different reigns, as far 
as I am acquainted with the time of their 
foundation. 

The cathedral churches founded in the 
fifth century, that still exist, and the time 
of the foundation of which corresponds with 
the reigns of Laogare, Oilioll-Molt, and 
Lugha VII., are Ardmach — which, though 
not the most ancient, I mention first on ac- 
count of its pre-eminence — Ossory, Emly, 
Ardach, Elphin, Killala, Clogher, Kildare, 
Down, and Connor. 

Ardmach is the head of the churches in 
Ireland, and is styled the metropolitan .J 
St. Patrick having filled this see for the 
space of ten years, resigned it to Saint Bi- 
nen, (Benignus,) his disciple, son of Sesgnen, 
a rich and powerful man in Meath, who was 
converted, with his family, by St. Patrick, 
whom he hospitably received when this saint 
was going to the court of Laogare. The lat- 
ter resigned it in favor of Iarlath, and died 
three years afterwards at Ardmach. a. d. 



* Vit. S. Patr. cap. 185. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 16. 

t " He built a cathedral church in the same city, 
that it should be the metropolitan and mistress of 
all Ireland." — Jocelin. 

He fortified the metropolitan church of Armagh, 
for the salvation of souls, and to protect the city 
and kingdom. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



157 



465, or, according to others, at Ferlingmor, 
in England,* from whence, it is said, his 
relics were removed in 1091, to the abbey 
of Glastonbury, in the county of Somerset ; 
but the annals of Innis-Faill fix his death at 
Rome, in the year 467. 

Iarlath, or Hierlath, disciple of St. Pat- 
rick,! successor to St. Binen, and third bish- 
op of Ardmach, was son of Trena, or Trien, 
prince of Mudhorn, now the barony of 
Mourne, in the county of Down, of the race 
of the Dalfiatachs.l Although Trena lived 
sufficiently long to have heard the word of 
God from St. Patrick, still he died an ob- 
durate pagan ; his example was not followed 
by his two sons, Iarlath and Sedna, who 
conceived a particular regard for the holy 
apostle, and became zealous imitators of his 
virtues. Iarlath, although younger than 
most of the disciples of this apostle, was 
considered worthy, by his wisdom and piety, 
to be nominated to the principal see in the 
island, after Saint Binen. He died after an 
episcopacy of eighteen years, the eleventh 
of February, 482, though his decease is fixed 
a year sooner in the annals of Ulster, that 
is, in the year 481. " Quies Iarlathi, filii 
Trena, Episcopi Ardmachani :" " The de- 
cease of Iarlath, son of Trena, bishop of 
Ardmach ;" and according to another copy : 
" The decease of Iarlath, son of Trena, 
third bishop of Ardmach :" " Tertia Episcopi 
Ardmachani." 

Iarlath of Ardmach is not the same as 
Iarlath,^ founder and first bishop of Tuaim- 
da-Gualand, now Tuam, in Connaught.|| 
The sees of Dublin and Cashel were not 
founded till some centuries after, and were 
made metropolitan churches, with Tuam, in 
the twelfth century.^" 

After the death of Iarlath of Ardmach, 
St. Patrick appointed Cormac, bishop of 
Trim, to succeed him ; so that this holy 
apostle lived to nominate three bishops, one 
after the other, to the see of Ardmach. 
Cormac, nephew of Laogare the monarch, 
by his brother Eana, to whom belonged, in 
the time of St. Patrick, the territory extend- 
ing from Kinaliagh in West-Meath as far as 
the river Shannon, and who gave his son and 
the ninth part of his property to the holy 
apostle, was instructed by St. Patrick and 
his disciples for some years ; and made a 
considerable progress in virtue, the know- 

* War. de Praesul. Armach. 

t Ibidem. 

t Colgan, Act. SS. Hib. ad 11 Febr. 

§ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 46. 

|| War. de Prsesul. Hib. 

IT Colg. Act. SS. Hib. ad 11 Feb. 



ledge of the holy Scriptures, and theology. 
He was appointed by St. Patrick bishop of 
Athruim, in east Meath, from whence he 
was removed by the same saint to the see 
of Ardmach, vacant by the death of Iarlath. 
He died the seventeenth of February, having 
been at the head of that church for fifteen 
years, and was interred at Trim, where his 
memory is held in high veneration, as well 
as at Ardmach. Dubtach, or Duach, suc- 
ceeded Cormac ; he is called, in the life of 
St. Tigernach, the venerable Duach, and 
celebrated archbishop of the see of St. Pat- 
rick. He died in 513, after an episcopacy 
of sixteen years. 

Ailild, or Ailil, son of Trichen, of the 
royal race of the Dalfiatachs,* princes of 
Eastern Ulster, was archbishop of Ardmach 
during thirteen years ; he died the 13th 
of January, 527. He was succeeded by 
another of the same name and family,! who 
governed that church till his death, which 
happened the 1st of July, 536, and was suc- 
ceeded by Dubtach, or Duach the second, of 
the race of Colla-Huais, who died in 548. 

The episcopal see of Ossory, founded in 
the beginning of the fifth century at Sayghir, J 
in the country of Ely, as has been already 
mentioned, by St. Kieran,^ one of the four 
precursors of St. Patrick in the mission of 
Ireland, is incontestably the most ancient in 
Ireland. St. Cartach the elder, (so called to 
distinguish him from Cartach, first bishop of 
Lismore,) son or grandson of Aongus, king 
of Munster, who had been converted by St. 
Patrick, succeeded St. Kieran in the see of 
Sayghir, having been his disciple, || and sub- 
mitted to a penance of seven years in a for- 
eign country, which that saint had imposed 
on him in expiation of a crime he had com- 
mitted, by endeavoring to seduce a nun. 
On his return to his country, he gave such 
strong proofs of virtue, and the sincerity of 
his conversion, that he became the well- 
beloved of his master, St. Kieran, and was 
considered worthy of succeeding him. He 
died the 6th of March, in the year 540. 

St. Sedna, or Sedonius, succeeded St. 
Cartach. He is expressly called bishop of 
Sayghir, in his life, mentioned in Colgan, on 
the 10th of March.1[ 

Among the number of those prelates are 

* Usser. Primord. p. 874. 

t Usser. Ind. Chron. ad an. 526. 

t War. de Proesul. Ossoriens. 

§ Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 5 Mart, in Vit. Kieran, p. 
438, et seq. 

II Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 6 Mart. Vit. S. Cartach, p. 
473, et seq. 

IT Act. Sanct. Hib. de S. Sedna, page 572. 



158 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



also reckoned St. Killen-Mac-Lubney,* who 
had assisted at the synod held in 695, by 
Flan-Febla, archbishop of Ardmach, the 
acts of which Colgan mentions to have seen ; 
Cormac I., who died in 867, and Cormac 
II., in 997. 

The bishopric of Emly is one of the most 
ancient in the kingdom. This see, situated 
in a delightful and fertile country, was 
founded by St. Ailbe, one of the four pre- 
cursors of St. Patrick, mentioned by Usher. t 
This saint was looked upon as another St. 
Patrick, and a second patron of Munster. 

Various opinions prevail on the time that 
St. Ailbe had preached the gospel in Ire- 
land. Ware, on the authority of Tirechan, 
and the author of that saint's life, seems to 
favor the opinion of those who assert that 
St. Ailbe came after St. Patrick, or at least 
had received the order of priesthood from 
him ; but Usher reckons St. Ailbe among 
the precursors of that apostle. The judicious 
Harris says that he does not mean to com- 
pare the authority of Tirechan with a num- 
ber of ancient writers, who affirm that St. 
Ailbe had preached the gospel, and made 
several converts in Ireland, before the arrival 
of St. Patrick. That great saint died at an 
advanced age, according to Usher and the an- 
nals of Ulster and Innisfail, the 12th Septem- 
ber, in the year 527. The successors of St. 
Ailbe in the bishopric of Emly, and before 
the time of the English, are mentioned by 
Ware in the account of the prelates of that 
see. Emly was finally united to the see of 
Cashel in the sixteenth century. 

The cathedral of Ardagh, in the county 
of Longford, founded by St. Patrick, is also 



of Ardagh. It is said that he wrote a book 
on the virtues and miracles of St. Patrick, 
who was living at that time. 

St. Melucho, brother of St. Mel, succeeded 
him in the see of Ardagh ; the other bishops 
were but little known before the time of the 
English. 

Elphin, or Elfin, formerly called Imleach- 
Ona,* from Ono, grandson of Erca-Dearg, 
brother of Duach-Galach, chief of the Hy- 
Brunes, a fertile territory in Connaught, was 
given to St. Patrick by Ono, to whom it 
belonged. t The saint founded a church 
there, near a little river formed by two 
fountains in the neighborhood, the care of 
which he confided to Asicus, a man of an 
austere and penitent life, who was first bishop 
of it, and who founded a monastery there. 
Like St. Eloy, he wrought in gold, silver, 
and copper, and ornamented his church 
with his workmanship. He died at Rath- 
cunge, in the country of Tirconnel, where 
he was interred. "His festival is held the 
27th of April, but the year of his death is 
unknown. 

The bishopric of Kill-Aladh, now Kil- 
lala, on the left bank of the river Moy, where 
it falls into .the sea, was founded by St. Pat- 
rick before the middle of the fifth century. 
The first bishop of this see was Saint Mure- 
dach, son of Eochaid. His festival is cele- 
brated the twelfth of August ; the year of 
his death is unknown. His successors, be- 
fore the time of the English, are unknown, 
except Kellack, great-grandson of Oilioll- 
Molt, the monarch, who filled that see in 
the sixth century, under the reign of Tuathal- 
Maolsarb. This prelate was assassinated, 



one of the most ancient churches in the ! for which his assassins were afterwards torn 



island ; the first bishop of which was Saint 
Mel, a native of Britain, and son of his sis- 
ter Darerca. Some say that it was St. Mel 
himself who founded it. However this be, 
he was both bishop and abbot of that church, 
it having been customary in this country, in 
the first ages of Christianity, for the same 
person to be invested with the dignities of 
bishop and abbot ; as bishop he governed 
the diocese, ordained priests, placed cu- 
rates, and exercised his other episcopal 
functions, and, as abbot, was at the head of 
the monks. St. Mel, says Jocelin, lived by 
his labor, like St. Paul. He died the 6th 
of February, 488, five years before his uncle, 
St. Patrick, and was interred in his church 



* Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 5. Mart. App. ad Vit. S, 
Kiaran, c. 4, p. 475. 

t Prim. Eccles. cap. 16, p. 781, et seq. cap. 17 : 
p. 866. 



asunder by four horses. O'Majlfogamair is 
also called bishop of Tir-Amalgaid and 
O'Fiachra in the twelfth century. The 
bishopric of Killalaisso called, by the histo- 
rians of the country, from the surrounding 
territories of Tir-Amalgaid, or Tyrawly and 
O'Fiachra Mui. Lastly, Imar O'Ruadan 
is called bishop of O'Fiachra, that is Killala, 
who died in 1177. 

The church of Clogher, in Tir-Eogain, 
was founded by St. Patrick, before that of 
Ardmach.J The first bishop of this church, 
after St. Patrick, was St. Macarthen.^ 
This saint was known by three or four dif- 
ferent names ;|| his first name, which was 
given him by his parents, was Aeb, or Aib ; 

* Vit. Trip, part 2, cap. 37, 38, 39, 40, 41. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 79. 

t Usser.Prim. c. 17, p. 856 

§ War. de Prasul. Hib. 

|| Colgan, Act. Sanct. Hib. page 737 et 740. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



159 



his second name was Fer-Dachrioch, signi- 
fying the man of the two countries, having 
been successively abbot of Darinis, an island 
on the coast of Hy-Kinseallagh, near Wex- 
ford, and afterwards bishop of Clogher ; 
Jocelin calls him Kerten, which is only a 
patronymic name, designating the son by the 
father ; lastly, he was called Macartin, or 
Macaerthen, signifying the son of Caerthen. 
This saint belonged to the noble family of 
the Arads of Dalaradie, and was one of 
the oldest disciples of St. Patrick, and bis 
companion in Ins apostolical labors and 
voyages into foreign countries ; for which 
reason he was called the staff of the old age 
of that holy apostle. St. Macarthen found- 
ed, by order of St. Patrick, a monastery at 
Clogher, after which he died, the 6th of Oc- 
tober, 506, and was interred in the ceme- 
tery of his church. 

Tigernach, or Tieme, called legate of 
Ireland in the registry of Clogher, suc- 
ceeded Macarthen ; he made the church of 
Cluan his cathedral, from whence he was 
called bishop of Cluanois, or Chines. He 
is perhaps the same as Tigernach of Clon- 
macnoisk. He founded an abbey at Clunes, 
in Monaghan, for regular canons, which he 
dedicated to the apostles St. Peter and 
Paul. Usher fixes his death on the fifth of 
April, 550,* others in 549, and the annals 
of the four masters in 548. f 

Oilioll, surnamed Molt, son of Dathy, of 
the race of the Hy-Fiachras of Connaught, 
succeeded Laogare, a. d. 463. This mon- 
arch being intent on renewing the tributes 
which his predecessors had exacted from 
the people of Leinster, gave them battle at 
Tuma-Aichair : the action was bloody, but 
not decisive. The most disastrous war in 
which he was engaged was with Lugha. 
son of Laogare ; this prince, who looked 
upon Oilioll as usurper of the supreme gov- 
ernment of the island,^ made an alliance 
with some other princes of the country, who 
furnished him with troops to support him in 
his right to the monarchy. Those princes 
were Mortough-Mac-Erca, Feargus-Kerbe- 
oil, son of Conall-Crimthine, Fiachra-Lonn, 
son of Laogare, and king of Dalaradie, and 
Criomthan, son of Eana-Kinsealleagh, king 
of Leinster. Lugha, at the head of the 
confederate army, gave battle to the monarch 
at Ocha,§ in Meath, wherein the latter lost 



his life, in consequence of which the crown 
devolved to his rival, a. d. 483.* 

Saint Patrick, whom we had left at Rome, 
having returned to Ireland, felt himself ex- 
hausted by the labors and fatigues he had 
undergone for the sake of Jesus Christ.f 
He had, in the whole, spent sixty years in 
his mission, the first thirty of which were 
occupied in continual labor ; he was obliged, 
however, during the last thirty years, to lead 
a more tranquil life, which he spent, some- 
times at Ardmach, and sometimes in his 
first monastery of Sabhall, where, not con- 
tent with assisting his disciples and other 
ministers with his prayers and advice, he 
watched over the whole administration with 
equal vigilance and solicitude ; he preached 
every day, and held his councils each year. 

St. Patrick having gone with St. Clean 
into the country of Dalrieda to visit the new 
Christians, he met with Feargus, the young- 
est of the twelve sons of Ere, son of Eo- 
cha Munravar, prince of that territory, who 
complained of the injustice of his brothers, 
that wished to deprive him of all share in 
the succession of their father Ere, who had 
lately died.J The holy prelate, § moved 
with compassion for the young prince, and 
knowing the justice of his claims, used his 
influence for him, with his brothers, and 
prevailed on them to restore to him his 
right. Filled with gratitude for so signal a 
service, Feargus offered him the half of his 
inheritance for the use of the church, which 
offer the saint had too much delicacy to ac- 
cept ; he asked him only to confer some 
land on his companion Clean, whereon to 
build a church : in consequence of this the 
prince gave him Airther-Muighe, one of the 
principal towns in the district, and its de- 
pendencies, where St. Olcan or Bolcan built 
the church of Dercon, of which he was the 
first bishop. Prince Feargus afterwards 
became first king of the Albanian Scots, 
according to the prophecy of St. Patrick. 

Notwithstanding the labors of Ms apos- 
tleship, our saint relaxed in none of the 
austerities or spiritual exercises which he 
practised. He always travelled on foot ; 
slept on the bare ground ; recited the Psal- 
ter, besides a number of hymns and prayers 
every day ; at length, rich in virtue, and 
happy to witness the prosperous state in 
which he had placed the kingdom of Jesus 
Christ in Ireland, he went to receive, in 



* Priraord. cap. 17, p. 856. 
t In. Indice, Chron. p. 1140. 
t Trias Thaum Vit. 4. S. Brig. lib. 3, cap. 12, et 
seq. cum. notis. 

<j Trias Thaum. not. 8, in lib. 2. Vit. S. Brigid. 



* Usser. Ind. Chron. p. 1118. 
t Baillet, Vie des Saints, au 17 Mars. 
t Colgan. Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Olcan. 
§ Vit. Tripart. Ub. 2, c. 135. 



160 



HISTOKT OF IRELAND. 



heaven, the reward of his labors, after hav- 
ing, it is said, built three hundred and sixty- 
five churches, consecrated almost as many 
bishops, and ordained nearly three thousand 
priests. The piety of the faithful contrib- 
uted largely to those holy works, by resign- 
ing a tenth part, not only of their lands, 
fruits, and flocks, in order to found churches 
and monasteries, but also a portion of their 
children, both male and female, to make of 
them monks and nuns.* 

The saint died in 493, aged 120 years, 
in the reign of the monarch Lugha VII., 
and the pontificate of Saint Gesalius.f He 
was interred, not in his monastery of Sab- 
hall, where he died, nor in his church of 
Ardmach, where he wished to die, but in 
that of the city of Down, in the diocese of 
which was Sabhall. His body remained in 
it for a long time, known and honored by the 
people on account of the miracles and graces 
granted by God through his intercession. 

In the time of Lugha VII., son of Lao- 
gare, who began his reign after the battle 
of Ocha, a. d. 483, a dreadful war broke 
out between the different provinces of the 
kingdom. | Aongus, son of Nadfraoch, hav- 
ing reigned thirty-six years in Munster, was 
killed, with his queen, Eithne-Vathach, 
daughter of Criomthan, last king of Lein- 
ster, and grand-daughter of Eana-Kinseal- 
lagh, at the battle of Kill-Osnach, in the 
plain of Moy-Fea, near Leighlin in the 
county of Carlow. 

Duach-Galach, son of Brien, and grand- 
son of Eocha-Moy-Veagon, king of Con- 
naught, was killed at the battle of Seaghsa. 
Fraoch, son of Fionchad, king of Leinster, 
lost his life at the battle of Graine. 

The principal belligerents, besides the 
provincial kings, were, Mortough-Mac-Ear- 
ca, who became monarch after Lugha ; 
Oilioll, son of Dunluin, prince of Leinster; 
and Cairbre, son of Niall the Great, with 
his son Eochad. Those wars were fol- 
lowed by an open rupture between the Hy- 
Nialls and the people of Leinster, which 
terminated in the battle of Loch-Moighe, 
in which a great munber of lives were lost. 

All the ancient monuments of the Mile- 
sians mention the last expedition of the 



* " Making monks therefore of all the males, 
and holy nuns of all the females, he built a number 
of monasteries, and assigned for their support a 
tenth part of his lands and flocks." — Henricus An- 
tissidorus, c. 174. 

t Usser. Primord. Eccles. Brit. c. 17, p. 880, 

t Trias Thaum. Vit. 4. S. Brigid. lib. 2, cap. 12. 
et seq. cum notis. 



Dalriads of Ulster to Albania, to have taken 
place in the time of Lugha VII. They 
were headed by the six sons of Ere, name- 
ly, the two Laornes, the two Aonguses, and 
the two Fearguses.* 

Giraldus Cambrensis affirms that this 
expedition was commanded by the six sons 
of Muredus, king of Ulster, under the reign 
of Niall the Great ; however, it is impossi- 
ble that those princes could have been capa- 
ble of leading a colony to Albania in the 
reign of their great-grandfather, their father 
being son of Eogan, and grandson of that 
great monarch. This anachronism arises 
from the inaccuracy of the author, who has 
confounded both time and persons. 

The Scots of Albania, as has been ob- 
served in the first part of this history, whose 
first founder, in the third century, was Cair- 
bre, otherwise Eocha-Riada, whom Bede 
calls Reude, were obliged to quit their set- 
tlements in Cantyre and Argyle, two territo- 
ries in Albania called Dalrieda, from Reuda, 
their first chief, and to return to Ireland in 
the beginning of the reign of Laogare. 
" Revertuntur impudentes grassatores Hi- 
berni domum,"t says Bede. Their chief, at 
that time, was Eocha-Munramar, descended 
in the seventh degree from Cairbre-Riada, 
and in the third from Fergus Ulidian, who 
led part of the tribe that had remained in 
Munster to the north of Ireland, where he 
formed a settlement called Dalrieda, which 
he erected into a kingdom, with the good 
will of the monarch. Those two people, 
namely, the Dalriads of Albania, and those 
of Ulster, considered themselves as kins- 
men ; and, though separated by an arm of 
the sea, formed but one tribe, commanded 
by the same chief. 

Eocha-Munramar having died in Ulster, 
left two sons, Ere and Olcu ; from the latter 
were descended the Dalriads, who remain- 
ed in that province ; and the former, being 
desirous of retrieving the fortunes of those 
of the tribe who had left Albania under the 
command of his father Eocha, led them 
back to their ancient possessions, about the 
year 439. Marianus Scotus fixes the per- 
manent establishment of the Dalriads in 
Albania in the year 445 ; to which the 
venerable Bede alludes when he says of 
them, as well as of the Picts, that they had 
rested there for the first time : " Tunc pri- 
mum et deinceps quieverunt." 

After this expedition, Ere, whom Usher 
calls the father of the kings of Scotland, 



* Usser. Primord. p. 1029. 

t Usser. Prim. cap. 15, p. 608, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



161 



returned to Ulster, with the title of chief of 
the Dalriads ; this he retained till his death, 
which happened in 474. About 29 years 
afterwards, that is, in 503, six of his chil- 
dren, as we have already observed, led, 
under the reign of Lugha, a new colony to 
Albania,* where Feargus the youngest was 
elevated to the dignity of king, and solemnly 
crowned some time afterwards.f 

Although the Christian religion was uni- 
versally established in Ireland in the time 
of Saint Patrick, and both the princes and 
the people worshipped the true God, it 
appears that the monarch had apostatized ; 
as we are informed in history, that his death 
was caused by a thunderbolt at Achacharca, 
in Meath, and his descendants were ex- 
cluded from the throne, as St. Patrick had 
foretold : such were the chastisements for 
his impiety and opposition to the gospel. 

The recollection of a miracle which God 
had wrought through the intercession of St. 
Patrick, to restore this unhappy prince to 
life, was not capable of changing his heart 
St. Patrick and some other bishops being at 
dinner with the queen, mother of Lugha, the 
young prince became so suddenly ill at table 
that they believed him to be dead ; the queen, 
filled with despair on seeing her son in that 
state, implored the intercession of the holy 
apostle with God, for his recovery ; the saint 
ordered the body to be carried into an ad- 
joining hall, where he prayed till the child 
was restored to life. Transported with joy 
and gratitude, the queen ordered that a part 
of what was daily served at her table should 
be given to the poor. As this miracle was 
wrought on St. Michael's day, it gave rise 
to a custom, which has since prevailed, and 
is still practised among old Irish families, 
of killing a sheep on St. Michael's day, the 
greater part of which is given to the poor. 
This offering is called, in the language of 
the country, Cuid-Mihil, signifying the share 
of Michael ; others call it Coiro-Mihil, or 
Michael's sheep : so true is it that those 
ancient customs, which, for want of know- 
ing the cause of them, appear extraordinary, 
and even ridiculous, have been founded on 
some motive of piety. 

In this reign were founded the bishoprics 
of Kildare, Down, and Connor. 

Kildare, one of the most ancient bishoprics 
in Leinster, derives its name from Kill, sig 
nifying cell or church, and Daire, which 
signifies oak, as the first foundation was laid I Bridget, p. 518 



St. Conloeth, Conlaidh, or Conlain, was 
founder and first bishop of this see.* Cogi- 
tosus, in the life of St. Bridget, makes men- 
tion of Conlait, whom he calls archbishop 
and high priest. f He died the third of 
May, in the year 519, and was interred in 
his church of Kildare, near the great altar ; 
his relics were enshrined in the year 800, 
in a shrine of silver gilt, ornamented with 
precious stones. St. Aed, surnamed Dubh, 
that is, the Black, is the first bishop of Kil- 
dare, after St. Conlath, of whom we have 
any knowledge .J According to Colgan, he 
took the monastic habit, after having been 
king of Leinster, and became abbot ; he was 
afterwards made bishop of that see. He is 
in accordance with the annals of the Four 
Masters on this subject. Cogitosus, who 
lived before the year 590, asserts that the 
succession had remained uninterrupted till 
his time.fy Walsh makes mention of Mael- 
coba, bishop of Kildare, under the year 
610 ;|| probably confounding him with ano- 
ther of the same name who was bishop of 
Clogher, having, according to Gratianus 
Lucius, abdicated the throne of Ireland.^! 

The bishoprics of Down and Connor were 
founded towards the end of the fifth cen- 
tury ; the former by St. Cailan, and the 
latter by St. iEngus Macnise. 

The first bishop of Down, in Latin Du- 
num, so called from its being situated on a 
hill, and formerly called Aras-Cealtair, and 
sometimes Dun-da-Leghlas, capital of Dal- 
radia, was Cailan or Coelan, abbot of Nen- 
drum.** Allemand having confounded, in 
his Monastic History of Ireland,!! this ab- 
bey with that of Neddrum, founded in the 
twelfth century, asserts that Usher errs 
against chronology, by saying that Cailan, 
first bishop of Down, in the fifth century, 
was abbot of a monastery, six hundred years 
before its foundation : however, Allemand 
forgets that Usher calls the abbey of St. 
Cailan sometimes Noendrum, and Nen- 
drum, names very different from Neddrum.^ 
The mistake is too obvious to be attributed 
to so great a man. 



* War. de Prcesul. Hib. 
t Note 7, in Prolog, cap. 29, note 14. 
t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Aed. ad 4 Jan. 
§ " How, without intermission, the archbishop of 
e Irish bishops, rules over them by perpetual 
succession and custom." — Colgan's Life of St. 



there by St. Bridget, near a wood of oak. 



* Usser. lnd. Chron. page 1117. 
t Usser. Ind. Chron. page 1122. 



Prosp. page 224. 
IF Cambren. Evers. p. 302. 
** War. de Episc. Dunens. 
-It Page 156. 
8 Usser. Prim, page 954, et 1065. 



1G2 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



St. Feargus succeeded St. Cailan in this 
see ; he was son of iEngus, of royal blood, 
being descended from Caolvach, last monarch 
of the island of the race of Ire. He had been, 
it is said, abbot and founder of the monastery 
of Kill-Bian ; he died the 30th March, 583. 

The succession of prelates of the bishop- 
ric of Down, was interrupted till the twelfth 
century, and the episcopacy of St. Malachi 
O'Morgair, whose life has been written by 
St. Bernard. 

iEngus Macnise, as we have already ob- 
served, was founder and first bishop of Con- 
nor, a city in the county of Antrim. His 
father was called Fobrec, and contrary to 
general custom, he took his surname from 
his mother, and was simply called St. Mac- 
nise. His death is fixed on the 3d Sep- 
tember, 507, or according to others 514. 
His successors are but little known till the 
arrival of the English, or at least till the 
episcopacy of St. Malachi O'Morgair, who 
was appointed to this see in 1124, from 
whence he was removed to Ardmach, which 
he resigned some time after in favor of 
Gelasius,to retire to Down. Those churches 
had each a chapter, consisting of a dean, 
archdeacon, chorister, treasurer, chancellor, 
and of some prebendaries. Those sees were 
reunited in 1442 by Pope Eugene IV., at 
the request of John, then bishop of Connor ; 
in consequence of which there were letters 
patent from King Henry VI., in the year 
1438, wherein this union was approved of. 

Monks were established almost as early 
as the Christian religion in Ireland. The 
monastic state, says Camden, although in 
its beginning, had attained a high degree 
of perfection in that country. The monks 
desired to be in reality what they appeared ; 
their piety was neither affected nor dis- 
guised ; if they erred in any thing, it was 
more through simplicity than obstinacy or 
bad intention.* 

It is not easy to decide to what order 
these monks belonged in the first ages of 
Christianity. That of St. Benedict, and the 
regular canons of St. Augustin, as they are 
at present, were not then known ; it is there- 
fore probable that the monks in Ireland had 
made certain regulations for themselves, or 
that they had brought the rules of St. An- 
thony, St. Pacomius, or St. Basil, from the 
Levant ; or perhaps those of the celebrated 

* " The monks, although recently established, 
and their order new, wished to be in accordance 
with their character. They acted without disguise 
or pretence. They possessed simplicity, but noth- 
ing bordering on obstinacy or malice." — Camden, 
page 730. 



hermits of Mount-Carmel or Thebais ; which 
is not without some appearance of truth. St. 
Ailbe, St. Declan, St. Kieran, and others, 
had really travelled in Italy ; and St. Patrick 
himself, after being a regular canon of St. 
John of Lateran, had visited the islands in 
the Mediterranean, as far as the Archipelago, 
where several of those regulations were' 
established, not only at that time, but long 
before. Those regulations were perhaps 
afterwards blended with those of St. Augus- 
tin, and St. Benedict, which had prevailed 
throughout the west. 

In those early ages, thirteen orders, or 
particular rales, prevailed in Ireland, namely, 
those of St. Ailbe, St. Declan, St. Patrick, 
St. Columb, St. Carthach, St. Molua or 
Lugidus, St. Moctee, St. Finian, St. Colum- 
banus, St. Kieran, St. Brendan, and the 
order instituted by St. Bridget for females. 

All those orders differed not only in their 
dress, tonsure, food, and retirement, but 
likewise in those who had been their found- 
ers, and also the abbeys and monasteries 
connected with them : and as the union of 
all those particular orders with those of St.. 
iVugustin and St. Benedict, is very ancient, 
we cannot exactly determine to what rule in. 
particular each convent formerly belonged. 

The order of St. Columbanus was the-, 
only one among the thirteen which submitted 
to that of St. Benedict ; the others professed 
the order of the regular canons of St. Aur 
gustin, which has been the most considera- 
ble in Ireland, the Benedictines not having 
appeared till the seventh century. 

In the fifth century there were many holy 
abbots in Ireland, who founded abbeys.* 
The most eminent were St. Endee, St. 
Moctee, St. Senan, St. Rioche, St. Canoe, 
and the great St. Bridget, who was abbess 
and the foundress of several monasteries. 

The sixth century was not less fruitful in 
saints who founded monasteries, and some 
of whom introduced particular orders.f The 
most celebrated were, the great St. Columb, 
the two St. Finians, the two St. Brendans, 
the Saints Colman, St. Colmanelle, St. Bro- 
gan, St. Coman, St. Congall, St. Edan, or 
Maidoc, St. Fachnan, St. Carthach, St. Cro- 
nan, St. Laserian, or Molaisse, St. Sinelle, 
and many others. 

We also discover in the seventh century, 
several abbots, celebrated for the sanctity of 
their lives, as St. Dubhan, St, Fechin, St. 
Columbanus, St Munchin, and St. Rodan. 

There were likewise many saints in the 

* Act. Sanct. Hib. note 7, ad Vit. S. Fursei. 
t Usser. Primord. Eecl. Brit. cap. 17, page 909. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



163 



eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, of whom 
we shall have occasion to speak in the 
course of this history. 

This island was called, by way of pre- 
eminence, from the number of saints it had 
produced, the island of saints, " Insula Sanc- 
torum." The number indeed was so great, 
that Colgan observed, not without reason, 
in the preface to his life of the Irish saints, 
that what is at present said of them is 
scarcely credible.* 

Besides, Ireland can, in comparison with 
the rest of Europe,! boast of having been 
at that time a seminary of sanctity, whither 
the' Christians of other nations came in 
crowds, to learn the practice of Christian 
virtue,| ant ^ from whence a considerable 
number of saints went forth daily and dis- 
persed themselves throughout the different 
parts of Europe,^ where they founded fa- 
mous abbeys, the glorious monuments of 
which are still to be seen,|| so that Ireland 
might be called in that golden age, " In 
aureis illis seminatae Fidei primordiis," the 
Thebaid of the west.lf It even appears, 
says Allemand, that at that time it was suf- 
ficient to be an Irishman, or to have been in 
Ireland, to be considered holy, and become 
the immediate founder of some abbey.** 
While the rest of Europe was a prey to the 
most dreadful catastrophes, and astonishing 
revolutions, Divine Providence bestowed 
upon this peaceful island graces and bless- 
ings, which strangers went thither to be 
partakers of. 

There were a great number of monas- 
teries founded on the first establishment of 



* " The foreign reader will wonder, perhaps, 
(who is not well conversant in our history,) that 
so great a number of saints are represented to go 
forth from one island, and that so many apostles 
of nations could go from one nation, who were of 
the same name, and cotemporaries, and frequently 
from the same convent, and from the same master, 
and to gain a place among the saints." — Preface 
of the Acts of Ireland. 

t Bede, Hist Eccles. passim ; et Cambd. Brit, 
page 730. 

} Usser. Prim. Eccles. cap. 16, 17. 

§ War. de Prasul. Hib. 

|| Colgan, Act. Sanct. Hib. et in Triad. Thaum. 

H Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande. 

** Allemand is mistaken in saying that the ter- 
ritory of Elia-Carolina was so called from Charles 
V., husband of Mary, queen of England and Ire- 
land. First, it was not Charles V., but his son 
Philip, that had been married to Mary. Second : , 
this territory was called, in the Scotic language, 
Ele-Hy-Carrouil, from the O'CarroIs, to whom it 
formerly belonged, long before the invasion of the 
English ; and Latin authors have called it Elia- 
Carolina. See Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, 
page 24. 



Christianity in Ireland, some of which have 
been mentioned in the life of St. Patrick ; 
several of these monasteries were, at the 
same time, bishoprics and abbeys, and the 
dignities of bishop and abbot were frequent- 
ly united in the same person ; which, ac- 
cording to Pere Mabillon, was practised in 
several cathedrals in Europe, in which there 
were friars ; there was a bishop and abbot 
at the same time, and sometimes the bishop 
was abbot. Some of these monasteries 
were also changed into cathedrals, and 
others into parish churches. 

The first monasteries deserving of our 
consideration in the fifth century, are those 
founded by the four precursors of Saint 
Patrick, namely, the monastery of Saighir-' 
Kieran, in the territory of Ely, founded by 
St. Kieran ; this saint was not only the first 
of the Irish apostles, but was also called, by 
way of distinction, the first-born of the 
saints of this island : " Primogenitus sanc- 
torum Hiberniae." It is said that this saint 
established a bishopric there in 402, the 
see of which was afterwards transferred to 
Aghavoe, and from thence to Kilkenny. 
Some authors affirm that St. Kieran had 
lived three centuries : although Colgan 
proves the possibility of it, still he does not 
appear to attach credit to it himself; he 
says that this error arises from this saint 
having been born towards the end of the 
fourth century, having lived the whole of 
the fifth, and died in the beginning of the 
sixth, which has made some authors say 
that he lived three hundred years. 

The monasteries of Emly, in the county 
of Tipperary, and Ardmore in the territory 
of Desie, in the county of Waterford, which 
were afterwards made bishoprics, were 
founded by St. Ailbe and St. Declan. 

Beg-Erin, or little Ireland, an island on 
the coast of Kinseallagh, now Wexford, was 
celebrated for an abbey which St. Ibar, or 
Ibhuir, had founded there, and the schools 
he had established in it,* where he was abbot 
and professor of all the sciences ;f he was 
not only a saint, but so learned that some 
authors call him the doctor of Beg-Erin : 
" Doctor Begerensis ;" and his abbey was 
not less celebrated for the college or uni- 
versity he had established there, which pro- 
duced so many learned men, than- for the 
great number of saints who had left it. 

Sgibol or Sabhall-Phadruig, that is, the 
granary of Patrick, was a celebrated abbey 

* Usser. Prim. Eccles. Brit. Ind. Chron. ad an. 
420, et pages 714, 1061, 1063. 

f AUem. Hist. Monast. d'Ireland, pages 16, 54. 



164 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



founded by St. Patrick, the apostle of Ire- 
land, towards the middle of the fifth cen- 
tury, in the peninsula of Lecale, in the 
county of Down. The land was given him 
by Dichu, lord of that district, whom he had 
converted some time before. This house 
was afterwards occupied by regular canons 
of the order of St. Augustin. 

At Trim, in East Meath, there was a 
monastery and bishopric founded, and dedi- 
cated to the blessed Virgin, by St. Loman, 
in the time of St. Patrick. This monas- 
tery was long afterwards converted into an 
abbey of regular canons of St. Augustin, 
by the Danes, 

At Damliagh, now Duleek, in the same 
county, there was a house of regular canons 
of St. Augustin, founded by a bishop of 
Damliagh, who is thought to be St. Kianan, 
first bishop of it in the fifth century. 

St. Patrick founded also a great number 
of monasteries in this island, besides those 
that had the title of bishopric. 

The most considerable are, the monastery 
of Slane, in East Meath ; the abbey of 
Druim-Lias, in the territory of Calrigia, 
county of Sligo ; the monastery of Rath- 
Muighe, in the territory of Dalrieda, county 
of Antrim ; the monastery of Coleraine, in 
the territory of Arachty-Cahan, county of 
Derry ; the monastery of Druim-Inis Gluin, 
in the diocese of Ardmach ; the abbey of 
.St. Peter and Paul at Ardmach ; the mon- 
astery of Kil-Auxille, or Kil-Ussail, in the 
plain of Kildare, founded by St. Auxille, 
and the monastery of Mungarret, in the 
county of Limerick.* 

There were also many other monasteries 
founded in the same century, by different 
persons. 

The priory of the blessed Virgin at Louth, 
founded by St. Moctee ; the abbey of Nen- 
drum in Dalaradie, now Down, by St. 
Cailan ; the priory of Lough-Derg, or Lough- 
Gerg, in Tirconnel, (where the celebrated 
purgatory of St. Patrick is situated,) by St 
Daboec, or, as some say, by St. Patrick ;f 
the abbey of our Lady, of Clogher, in the 
territory of Tyrone, by St. Macarthen, bishop 
of Clogher ; the monastery of Cluain-Daimh, 
in the plain of Kildare, by St. Sinchelle, or 
St. Ailbhe ; the monastery of Ahad-Abla, 
in the territory of Kinseallagh, county of 
Wexford, founded by St. Finian ;J the pri- 
ory of Inis-More, in lake Gauna, in the ter- 
ritory of Conmacne-Analy, at present Long- 

* Act. Sanct. Vit. St. Auxil. ad 19 Mart, 
t Act. Sanot. Hib. not. 22, Vit. S. Canoe, ad 11 
Febr. 
t Act. Sanot. Vit. S. Finian. ad 23 Febr. 



ford, by St. Columb ; the abbey of Inis-Bo- 
Fin, in Lake Ree, in the same country, by 
St. Rioche ; the abbey of Inis-Cloghran, in 
the same lake and country, by St. Dermod ; 
the priory of Iniscath, an island in the river 
Shannon, in the county of Limerick, by St. 
Senan ; the priory of Inis-Lua, an island in 
the river Shannon, in the territory of Thuo- 
mond, by St. Senan ;* the monastery of 
Aran, or Arn-Na-Naemh, signifying the 
island of saints, was founded in 480 for 
regular canons, by St. Endee, who was first 
abbot of it.f This island, which is situated 
on the confines of the provinces of Munster 
and Connaught, was given to St. Endee by 
Aongus, son of Nadfraoch, king of Munster ; 
the monastery of Cluain-Fois in the county 
of Galway, founded by St. Iarlath, who 
founded another at Tuaim-da-Gauland, in 
the same country, of which he was after- 
wards bishop ; the abbey of Kil-Chonail, in 
the same country, founded by St. Conal ; 
the priory of Inchmore, in lake Ree, in the 
county of Roscommon, founded by St. Li- 
berius ; | the priory of Gallen, or Galin, on 
the banks of the river Brosnagh, in the ter- 
ritory of Dealbhna-Mac-Coghlan, founded 
in 491 for regular canons, by St. Canoe, or 
Mochonoc, son of Bracan, of the royal race 
of Leinster, and Dina, daughter of a Saxon 
prince. § 

The number of monasteries for females 
in Ireland is so inferior to that of the con- 
vents for men, that it is likely the acts of 
some of their foundations have been lost, 
or they have not been transmitted to tjs, 
through the inaccuracy of historians ; par- 
ticularly as the devout sex has always dis- 
covered as much zeal and fervor for a 
religious life as the men. 

The first nunnery that we discover in 
Ireland in the fifth century, is that of Kill- 
Liadan, founded by St. Kieran for his mo- 
ther Liadan, near his monastery of Saire, 
in the territory of Ely. 

St. Patrick founded some ; among others, 
those of Cluain-Bronach and Druimcheo, 
in the country of Analy, (Longford.) At 
Ardmach he founded the monasteries called 
Temple-Bride, and Temple-Na-Fearta, that 
is, the Temple of Miracles, of which his 
sister Lupita was first abbess ; he also 
founded the monastery of Kilaracht, in the 
territory of Roscommon, for his sister Ath- 
racta ; and lastly, the monastery of Cluain- 
Dubhain, in the country of Tyrone. 

* War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 
t Allera. Hist. Monast. d'Irlande. 
t Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 11 Febr. 
§ War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



165 



The abbey of Lin, near Carrick-Fergus, 
in the territory of Dalrieda, (county of 
Antrim,) was founded by Darerca, sister of 
St. Patrick, of which she was the first abbess. 
The monasteries of Ross-Oirthir in the 
county of Fermanagh, and Ross-Benchuir in 
Thuomond, were founded, the one by St. 
Fanchea, sister of St. Endee, and the latter 
by St. Conchea. 

Lastly, St. Bridget founded at Kildare, 
in 480, the celebrated abbey of which she 
was abbess. This holy virgin was born in 
a village called Fochart, in the territory of 
Conal-Murthumne, now the county of Louth, 
towards the middle of the fifth century ;* her 
father was Dubthach, a powerful lord in 
Leinster, of the race of Eocha-Fionn, bro- 
ther of the monarch Conn-Keadcaha, whose 
tribe settled in this province. t 

Although Bridget was the fruit of a crim- 
inal intercourse of Dubthach with Brot- 
seach, God, who can draw the most heroic 
virtues from crime itself, compensated for 
the sinfulness of her birth, by such abundant 
graces, that she became a vessel of election, 
and a rare model of perfection. 

Having received the veil, with several of 
her companions, from the hands of Machi- 
lenus, a bishop and disciple of St. Patrick, 
St. Bridget retired into a territory in Lein- 
ster, where, in a forest of oak, she founded 
a monastery, which was head of its order, 
and where she established particular rules. 
This place has been since called Kil-Dare, 
" Cella roborum," signifying the church in 
the oaks. It was there that this holy virgin 
displayed all those virtues that she possessed 
in so eminent a degree, of which the love of 
God and our neighbor formed the basis of 
every other. This divine love with which 
her heart was inflamed, was represented by 
a natural fire, which she caused to be kept 
up for the relief of the poor ; it was after- 
wards called inextinguishable, from its hav- 
ing lasted for many ages ; and though from 
its beginning a large quantity of wood and 
other combustible materials.had been used to 
feed it, it is extraordinary that the ashes 
never increased.^ This miracle is elegantly 

* TJsser. Primord. Eccles. c. 15, pp. 627, 705, et 706. 

+ Trias. Thaum. Vit. S. Brigid. ad 1 Febr. 

t " Kildare, a city of Leinster, the glorious 
Bridget hath rendered illustrious by her many mira- 
cles, which are worthy of being recorded ; and 
among the first is Bridget's fire. This, they say, was 
inextinguishable, not because it could not be extin- 
guished, but the nuns and holy women anxiously 
supplied the material for the fire, so that during so 
many years, the fire continued without becoming ex- 
tinct ; and notwithstanding the heaps of wood con- 
sumed for so long a period, the ashes had never 



expressed by Edme O'Dwyer, bishop of 
Limerick.* She died, and was interred in 
her abbey of Kildare, from whence her body 
was transferred, some time afterwards, to 
Down, in Ulster, where it was deposited 
with the bodies of St. Patrick and St. Columb- 
Kill.f 

The eminent charity, and the great num- 
ber of miracles which God had wrought 
through her intercession, caused her to be 
placed, immediately after her death, among 
the most illustrious saints. Parents were 
emulous to give her name to their female 
children. The church erected altars, and 
dedicated temples to her, which honors were 
surpassed by those which she received from 
posterity. Ireland considered her as her 
patroness ; and her reputation soon spread 
itself beyond the narrow limits of that island. 
All Europe participated in this devotion. 
Her name is invoked at Seville, Lisbon, 
Placentia, Tours, Besancon ; at Namur, in 
the abbey of Fulda, in which are some of 
her relics ; at Cologne, where one of the 
principal churches in the city is dedicated to 
her ;| and lastly, in London, where there is 
still a church that bears her name. 

This devotion was strengthened by an 
office of nine lessons, in honor of this saint, 
which is to be met with in several Breviaries 
in Europe ; in an ancient Roman one printed 
at Venice, in 1522; in that of Gien, (in 
Breviario Giennensi,) in Italy ; in that of 
the regular canons of Lateran ; in an ancient 
Breviary of Quimper in Armorica ; in a 
church bearing her name at Cologne, of 
which she is patroness ; and finally, in a 
chapel dedicated to her in the territory of 
Fosse, diocess of Maestricht. We find an 
office to St. Bridget in the Breviaries and 
Missals of Maestricht, Mayence, Treves, 
Wirtsburg, Constance, Strasburg, and other 
towns of Germany. 

been increased." — Giraldus Camlrensis, Topog. c. 
24. 

* " The hearth burns with Bridget's incessant 
fire, but the ashes is not increased thereby. What 
means that burning pile ? Is it the emblem of an 
ardent soul ? Is living love marked by the living 
flame ? If this flame, while Bridget feeds her fires, 
continue without becoming extinct, it will not die." 

t In Burgo Duno, tumulo tumulanturin uno 
Brigida, Patricius, atque Columba pius. 

" In Down, Bridget, Patrick, and St. Columb- 
Kill, are buried in one tomb." 

t •' The fifth is the parish church, dedicated to the 
holy Virgin Bridget. This parish being joined to 
that of St. Martin the elder, on one side it is joined 
to Lank-Gasin-street ; it was erected in honor of 
the aforesaid Bridget who was a Scot, and a holy 
virgin. Her festival is on the first of February." — 
Erhardus Winheim. 



166 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Mortough, otherwise Murchertach Mac- 
Earcha, succeeded Lugha VII :* his father 
was Muiredach, son of Eogan, and grand- 
son of the monarch Niall the Great.f He 
was called Mac-Earca,^ that is, son of Earca, 
from the name of his mother, who was daugh- 
ter of Loarne, the eldest of the six brothers 
who had led the colony to Albania. § In the 
reign of this monarch, Oilioll, son of Mor- 
tough, reigned in Leinster, and Cormac, 
descended in the eighth degree from Oilioll- 
Olum, by Eogan-More, in Munster. 

This prince was not less remarkable for 
his Christian piety, than for his valor as a 
warrior.|| He afforded particular protection 
to religion, as well as his wife, Sabina, who 
died with a high reputation for sanctity. 

In the beginning of Christianity there 
were several bishoprics in Meath, namely, 
those of Cluan-Araird, or Clonard, Dam- 
Hag, or Duleek, Ceannanus, now Kells, 
Trim, Ardbreccan, Donseaghlin, Slane, 
Foure, and others. All those sees, except 
Duleek and Kells, were united towards the 
beginning of the twelfth century, to form 
the see of Clonard : Duleek and Kells after- 
wards shared the same fate. 

St. Finian, or Finan, sometimes also called 
Finbar,H son of Fintan, a subtle philoso- 
pher, and profound theologian, was first 
bishop of Clonard ; he was of the noble race 
of the Clanna-Rorys, and his piety added 
new lustre to his birth. Having been bap- 
tized by St. Abhan, he was placed under the 
guidance of St. Fortkern, bishop of Trim, 
where he remained till the age of thirty years, 
continually profiting by the instructions of 
this holy bishop. He afterwards went into 
Britain, and became attached to St. David, 
bishop of Menevia, in Wales, by whom he 
was particularly beloved for his piety and 
learning ;** he remained thirty years in Brit- 
ain, where he founded three churches. ft 

Having returned to his own country, and 
being consecrated bishop in 520, he estab- 

* Keat. History of Ireland. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 93. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 4; et Usser. passim ; 
et Bruodin, Propug. lib. 5, cap. 13. 

§ Colg. Vit. S. Brigid. Praf. ad lectorem. 

|| " A man renowned in war, he routed the enemy 
in 17 battles, notwithstanding which he practised 
piety, and adorned by holy works the Christian faith 
which he had received." — Grat. Luc. c. 9. 

IT Colg. Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 23 Febr. 

** Usser. Primord. cap. 17, page 912. 

tt " Finianus having left Ireland, his country, 
went to Britain, to David, with whom, the writer of 
his life says, that he had found two other holy men, 
Gildas and Cathmalius ; that he spent 30 years in it, 
and had founded three churches." — Usher, C. Hist, 
ad ann. 491. 



lished his see at Clonard, on the river Boyne, 
in Meath, where he founded a school, or uni- 
versity, celebrated for the great concourse of 
students, amounting sometimes to three thou- 
sand, among whom were a great number of 
subjects celebrated for their sanctity and 
learning. Of this number the two St. Kier- 
ans, the two Brendans, the two Columbs, 
namely, Columb-Kill, and Columb, son of 
Crimthan, Laserian, son of Nathfrach, Cain- 
ec, Moveus, and Ruadan ; and as this school 
was called " a wonderful sanctuary of wis- 
dom," by the author of his life, " totius sa- 
pientiae admirabile sacrarium," so this saint 
was called Finian the Wise. 

It appears from the registry of the church 
of Meath, quoted by Usher, that the terri- 
tory of Clonard was given to St. Finian and 
his successors, by St. Kieran the younger, 
to whom it belonged.* 

Usher discovers some difficulty respecting 
St. Kiaran-Saighir, who is said to have as- 
sisted at the school of St. Finian ; according 
to his calculation he was born in 352.f We 
should then suppose that he lived to the age 
of 168 years : this would not have been im- 
possible, as many instances of the same oc- 
curred in after ages. Whatever might have 
been the time of his birth, Ware fixes his 
death in 549, and Usher himself in 552 4 
Besides, according to the author of St. Kier- 
an's life, he was humble, and fond of hearing 
the holy Scriptures expounded ; so that nei- 
ther his old age, nor his great learning, not 
even the episcopal dignity, made him asham- 
ed of being called a pupil of St. Finian. § 

According to some, St. Finian died the 
12th of December, 552, and according to 
others, in 563, and was interred in his church 
of Clonard. The annals of the four masters 
fix his death in 548. Usher, who calls him 
the first of the saints of the second order in 



* " St. Kieran gave to his teacher, St. Finian, 
and to his successors, the lordship of Clonard, and 
small farms annexed to it." — Usher, C. Hist. c. 17, 
p. 909. 

t Primord. Eccles. cap. 16, page 788. . 

t De Episc. Ossor. et Ind. Chron. page 1140, ad 
ann. 552. 

§ " St. Kiaranus was very humble in all things ; 
he loved to hear and learn the divine Scripture, till 
he became enfeebled by old age. It is said of bim, 
that he went, with other saints of his time, to the 
holy and wise Finianus, abbot of the monastery of 
Clonard, and in his old age read the divine writings 
in his holy school. After this the holy Kieranus 
is called, as well as other saints in Ireland, the dis- 
ciple of Saint Finianus. Though he himself was 
old, wise, and a learned bishop, still he took pleasure 
to learn at the feet of another, for the sake of hu- 
mility and his love of wisdom." — Usher, C. Hist. 
c. 17, p. 909. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



167 



Ireland, says that he died in 552 ; but he 
apparently forgets what he says in another 
place, of the penance which St. Finian had 
imposed on St. Columb-Kill, for having been 
accessary to the battle of Cuildreimne, which 
took place between Dermod the monarch, 
and the tribes of the Conalls, on the con- 
fines of Ulster and Connaught, in 561.* 

The church of Duleek was founded in 
the time of St. Patrick, by St. Kenan, or 
Cianan, who was first bishop of it.f He 
was of the royal race of the kings of Mun- 
ster, having been descended in the sixth de- 
gree from Kiann, son of Oilioll-Olum. He 
was baptized by St. Patrick, who had adopt- 
ed him for his son, and having instructed 
him in divine literature, and in virtue, he 
became a man of rare sanctity. The au- 
thor of this saint's life, quoted by Usher, 
gives a different account of him ;| he says 
he was a pupil of the monk Nathan, and 
adds, that in his youth he had been one of 
the five hostages the princes of the country 
had sent to the monarch Laogare : and that 
having been delivered from tyranny through 
the intercession of St. Kieran, he went to 
France, where he remained for some time in 
the abbey of St. Martin of Tours, and had 
himself instructed in the monastic discipline. 
On his return to his country, he converted 
several to the Christian religion in Con- 
naught and Leinster, and founded a church 
in the latter province, in a place called after 
him Coll-Cianan, which signifies the wood 
of Kenan. He afterwards visited the coun- 
try of Tyrone, which belonged to Eogan, 
uncle of his mother Ethne ; in this territory 
he broke an idol, and in the place where the 
altar stood, which was dedicated to it, he 
founded a church, to which he appointed 
his well-beloved disciple, Congall. It is 
mentioned in a manuscript in the library of 
Cambridge, which contains the office of this 
saint, that he had built a stone church at 
Damleagh, which signifies, in the Scotic 
language, a house of stone. Our saint died 
the 24th of November, 488 or 489, the day 
on which his festival is celebrated at Du- 
leek. 

It is not exactly known at what time 
Ceannanus, or Kells, was made a bishop- 
ric, nor who was first bishop of it ; it 
was probably after the building of a cele 
brated abbey which St. Columb-Kill had 

* Usser. Primord. Eccles. c. 15, page 694, et 
cap. 17, pages 902—904, 1035, 1026. 

t Trias Thaum. Vit. Tripart. S. Patr. page 146, 
cap. 126, note 191. 

1 Primord. Eccles. p. 1070, Idem Ind. Chron. ad 
arm. 450. 



founded in 550, on the ground which Der- 
mod, son of Kerveoil, and monarch of the 
island, had given him for that purpose. 
The city of Kells was formerly considered 
one of the first in the kingdom,* and cele- 
brated both for the abbey of Saint Columb- 
Kill, and for having been the birthplace of 
St. Cuthbert, bishop of Landisfarne, in Eng- 
land, as appears by his life, which is pre- 
served in the Cottonian library at Oxford.f 
The abbey of Foure, founded by St. Fechin 
in the seventh century, was afterwards made 
a cathedral church.J The first bishop was 
St. Suarlech, who died the 24th of March, 
745. We discover but one successor to this 
prelate, who was Aidgene, who died the 
first of May, 766. It is likely that this 
church remained without a bishop, with the 
title of abbey as before. 

The churches of Trim and Donseaghlin, 
were founded by the nephews of St. Patrick; 
the former by St. Luman, the latter by St. 
Secundin, or Sechnall ; those of Slane and 
Ardbraccan, by St. Ere and St. Ultan, the 
former of whom died in 513, and the latter 
in 657. As these saints had founded those 
churches, they were also their first bishops. 
All those sees were afterwards united, and 
have formed for a long time but one bishop- 
ric, which is that of Meath, first suffragan 
of Ardmach. 

Ross, formerly Ross-Ailithsi, on the sea- 
shore,§ in the territory of Carbury, in 
the county of Cork, was celebrated in the 
sixth century for the monastery which St. 
Fachnan,|| a wise and moral man, " Vir 
sapiens et probus," had founded there, and 
the famous school he established.*^ In the 
Scotic language, Ross signifies a verdant 
plain, and Ailithri a pilgrimage ; from 
whence is derived the name of this place, 
which was formerly much frequented by pil- 
grims. There is some doubt respecting the 
time of the foundation of the cathedral of 



* Usser. Primord. Eccles. cap. 17, page 945. 
1 1 War. de Script. Hib. c. 3, Act. SS. Hib. Vit. 
S. Cuthbert, ad 20 Mar. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Fech. ad 20 Jan. 

§ War. de Episc. Rossens. 

|| Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Mochoem, ad 13 Mar. 
et note 7, et 8. 

IT " There was another excellent establishment 
for literature at Ross, in Carbry, which was an- 
ciently called Ross-Ailithri,and was founded in the 
6th century by Saint Fachnanus, of whom the 
biographer of St. Mocoemogus thus speaks : ' Saint 
Fachnanus lived in the southern part of Ireland, 
near the sea, in his own monastery, which had been 
founded by him ; a city sprang up there, in which 
scholastic studies flourished — it was called Ross. 
Ailithri.' " — Ware's Antiquities, c. 15. 



168 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



this bishopric, and the name of the first 
bishop ; it is, however, likely that it was 
founded by St. Fachnan, as he is called 
bishop in an ancient martyrology on the 
14th of August, the day on which his 
memory is honored at Ross-Ailithri, and at 
Dar-Inis, where he had been abbot ; but the 
year of his death is not known. 

The episcopal see of Ardfert is situated in 
the county of Kerry : formerly called Ciar- 
ruid :* this was the native country of St. 
Brendan, abbot of Clonfert, to whom the 
church of Ardfert is dedicated. St. Bren- 
dan made his first studies in his own country 
under the bishop Ert ; he afterwards went, 
with the consent of his parents and master, 
to Connaught, where he applied himself 
closely to the study of theology, under St. 
Jarleth, bishop of Tuam. 

It is not sufficiently ascertained that Ert 
was bishop of that see ; still, his sojourn in 
the country is a strong ground for supposing 
it, particularly as no opinion is opposed to 
it. According to the historians and public 
registries of the country, the bishops of that 
see were sometimes called bishops of Kerry, 
and sometimes of Iarmuin, which signifies 
western Munster. Ardfert means a marvel- 
lous elevation, or the height of miracles. 
That place is at present called Ardart. 

The bishopric of Tuam, anciently called 
Tuam-Da-Gualand, in Connaught, had for 
its founder and first bishop, in the begin- 
ning of the sixth century, St. Jarlath, son 
of Loga, a descendant of Conmacne, son of 
Feargus-Roigh, of the race of the Clanna- 
Rorys, and of Maude, queen of Connaught, 
some time before the Christian era.f He 
was a native of the territory anciently called 
Conmacne of Kinel Dubhain, and after 
wards Conmacne of Dunmor, where Tuam 
is situated, in the county of Galway, the 
country of his ancestors.^ He was disciple 
of St. Binen, who succeeded St. Patrick in 
the see of Ardmach, from whom he received 
holy orders about the end of the fifth cen- 
tury. Jarlath was a man of such profound 
learning, and his piety at the same time so 
great, that it is difficult to determine in 
which of them he excelled. 

Having left his master St. Binen, he with- 
drew to Cluanfois, near Tuam, in the terri- 
tory of Conmacne of Kinel Dubhain, his na 
tive country, where he founded a monastery 
and established a school, which became cel- 

* War. de Episc. Ardfertens. 

t War. de Prasul. Tuamens. ; Usser. Prim. Ec- 
cles. c. 16, p. 914; Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Jarlath, 
ad 11 Feb. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 46. 



ebrated for the great number who received 
their education in it ; among others, St. 
Brendan, founder and first abbot of the 
abbey of Clonfert, and St. Colman, founder 
and first bishop of Cloyne. He also founded 
the cathedral of Tuam, which was after- 
wards dedicated to his memory, and called 
in the language of the country, Tempull- 
Jarlath, which signifies the temple of Iar- 
lath. After governing the church of Tuam 
for a long time, this saint ended his days, 
at an advanced age, the 26th of December, 
or, as some assert, the 11th of February; 
the year of his death is not so well known ; 
according to Colgan, it took place about 
the year 540. His relics were enshrined 
long after his death, in a silver shrine, and 
deposited in a church in Tuam. The sees 
of Mayo, or Magio, and Enaghdune, were 
united to Tuam in the latter ages. 

The bishopric of Achonry, otherwise 
Achad, or Achad-Conair,* in the territory of 
Luigny, now the barony of Leny, in the 
county Sligo in Connaught, was founded 
about the year 530, by St. Finian, bishop 
of Clonard.f The lord of the district, one 
of the ancestors of the noble family of the 
O'Haras, having granted him a suitable 
portion of land, he built a cathedral church 
upon it, which he soon afterwards resigned 
to his disciple Nathy, a man commendable 
for his sanctity .J St. Nathy was also called 
Comragh or Cruimthir. The author of the 
life of St. Finian gives him only the title of 
priest ; but he who wrote the life of St. 
Fechin, calls him prelate of Achad-Conair. fy 
His festival is celebrated the 9th of August, 
and the cathedral church acknowledges him 
as its patron. 

St. Moinenn, or Moenenn, is looked upon 
as the founder and first bishop of Clonfert, 
situated in Connaught, at some distance from 
the river Shannon. || According to Colgan, 
St. Brendan was the founder of this bishop- 
ric, which he afterwards resigned to St. 
Moinenn, who was bishop after him.^f 

However this be, it is always admitted 
that Brendan, son of Finloga, who was 
pupil, in his youth, of bishop Ert, in the 
county of Kerry, of which he was a native, 
and contemporary and fellow-student of St. 



* War. de Prresul. Achadens. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Fechin, ed. 20 Jan. 
not. 7. 

t Act. Sane. Hib. Vit. S. Finian, ad 23 Feb. c. 
26, not. 29. 

$ Act. Sanct. Hib. 2, Vit. S. Fechin, ad 20 Jan. 
cap. 7. 

|| War. de Prasul. Clonfertens. 

If Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Moen. ad 1 Mart. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



169 



Brendan of Birr, was founder of an abbey 
at Clonfert, near the river Shannon, in 558, 
of which he was abbot. It is also well 
known that he died the 16th of May, 577, 
at Enaghdune, aged 93 years, and that his 
body was removed from thence and interred 
in his abbey of Clonfert.* His life, which 
was written in verse, is preserved in the 
Cottonian library at Westminster. 

The annals of the country make mention 
of St. Moenenn, bishop of Cluain-Ferta, and 
fix his death on the 1 st of March, 570, during 
the lifetime of St. Brendan, who died, accord- 
ing to the same annals, in 576 or 577. f The 
real name of our saint was Nennius, or Nen- 
nio, but he was commonly called Mo-Nenn. 
The monosyllable Mo, signifies My ; and it 
was often added by the ancient Irish, from 
regard or respect, " observantiae causa," to 
the names of the saints whom they held in 
greatest veneration. 

The following monasteries were founded 
during the reign of Mortough Mac-Earca. 

The abbey of Lismore, or Kilmore, county 
of Ardmach, was founded by St. Moctec. It 
is said that he established a particular order 
in it. | 

The abbey of Kilcomain in the territory 
of Hy-Failge, in the county of Kildare 
which is now but a parish called Gesille, 
was founded by St. Colman, son of Brecan, 
a prince of the royal race of Ireland, and of 
Dina, daughter of a Saxon prince. Colgan 
observes that there were two churches of this 
name which were not convents ; one in the 
islands of Arran, diocese of Tuam, and the 
other in ancient Dalrieda in Ulster. § 

The monastery of Eadardruim, in the 
territory of Tuath-Ainlighe, in the diocese 
of Elphin, county of Roscommon, was 
founded by St. Diradius, son of Bracan, 
brother of St. Coeman, and of several other 
saintsof both sexes, one of whom was mother 
of St. David, bishop of Meneviain Wales. |[ 
The abbey of Chine, otherwise Cluan- 
Eois, or Clonish, in the territory of Mon- 
aghan, was founded and dedicated to the 
apostles St. Peter and Paid, by St. Tigernac, 
a bishop. TT 

The priory of Ross-Ailithri, or Ross- 
Cairbre, situated in a territory of that name 



* Usser. Prim. Eccles. Brit. cap. 17, p. 955, et 
Idem, Ind. Chron. ad an. 577. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Moinenn. ad Mart, 
not. 1. 

t Act. Sanct. Vit. S. Moct. ad 24 Mart. 

§ Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Canoe, ad 11 Feb. 

|| Ibidem, et Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande. 

IT Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Moinen. ad 1 Mart, 
et Usser. Prim. cap. 17, p. 856. 



in the county of Cork, was founded for 
regular canons by St. Fachnan, who was 
first abbot of it.* That place was celebrated 
for learning, as we have already observed : 
" Magno florebat honore, ob antiquam ibi 
Musarum sedem." 

The abbey of Inis-Muighe-Samh, in an 
island in lake Erne, in the county of Fer- 
managh, was founded by St. Nennidius.t 

The abbeys of Ross-Tuirck, and Cluain- 
Imurchir, in the territory of Ossory, were 
founded by St. Brecan, or Brocan.J 

St. Abban, son of Cormac, king of Lein- 
ster, founded during this reign the ab- 
beys of Druim-Chaoin, Camross, Maghere- 
Muidhe, Fion-Magh, Disert-Cheanan, &c, 
in the county of Wexford ; the abbey of 
Kil-Abbain, in Meath ; Kil-Abbain, in Clen- 
malire ; the abbeys of Cluain-Ard, Cluin- 
Find-Glaise, and Killachuid-Conch, in the 
territory of Cork. 

The monastery of Kil-Na-Marbhan, which 
signifies the church of the Dead, in the ter- 
ritory of Nandesi, and county of Waterford :§ 
the monastery of Cluain-Combruin, in the 
territory of Mac-Femhin, county of Tip- 
perary. 

Lastly, this saint founded two monasteries 
for females ; namely, that of Kil-Aillbe, in 
Meath, and Burneach, in the territory of 
Muscraige, or Muskeri-Mitine, in the diocese 
of Cork, of which St. Gobnata was first 
abbess. || 

The abbey of Cluain-Eraraid, now Clo- 
nard, on the left bank of the river Boyne, in 
Meath, was founded by St. Finian. This 
abbey was rich, and celebrated for the school 
or university which this saint, who is called 
the master of most of the Irish saints, (the 
most considerable of whom have been his 
disciples,) had established there. 

The monasteries of Kilboedan, afterwards 
Kiloscoba, was founded by St. Boedan, son 
of Eugene, and descended in the fifth degree 
from Oilioll-Flan-Beg, great-grandson of 
Oilioll-Olum, king of Munster:"IT he was 
sixth son of Eugene ; he and his five brothers, 
namely, Becan, Culan, Emin, or Evin, Der- 
mod, Corbmac, and Boedan, were all re- 
markable for their contempt of worldly 
greatness, and the number of monasteries 
they had founded in the different provinces 
of Ireland. 



* War. de Antiq. cap. 26. 
t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Nennid. ad 18 Jan. 
t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Abban. ad 16 Mart, 
not. 40. 

i) Allemand, Hist. Monast. p. 56. 

|| Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Gobn. ad 11 Feb. 

IT Act. Sanct. Vit. Boedan. ad 23 Mart. 



170 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Tuathal II., surnamed Maolgarbh, great- 
grandson of Niall the Great, by Cairbre, 
succeeded Mortough, a. d. 533. 

Although the greater part of this monarch's 
reign was peaceful, the people of Leinster 
made war against prince Earca, son of 
Oilioll-Molt, and chief of the tribe of the 
Firearcas, who lost his life at the famous 
battle of Tortan* The battle of Sligo was 
fought, some time afterwards, between the 
two princes Feargus and Domhnall, sons 
of Mortough Mac-Earca, and Eogan Beal, 
king of Connaught, who was unhappily slain 
in it. 

After a reign of eleven years, Tuathal was 
killed by Maolmor, foster-brother of Dermod, 
for whom this regicide wished to open the 
way to the throne; he did not, however 
triumph in his crime, having been pierced by 
the blows of the king's attendants.! 

The founding of the following abbeys can 
be traced to the reign of Tuathal II. 

The abbey of All Saints, in an island in 
lake Ree, territory of Longford, founded by 
St. Kieran the Younger. J Colgan observes 
that this abbey was called " Monasterium 
Inisense, or Insulense ;" and that there was 
a regular canon of this house, called Augustin 
Magraidin, who was a celebrated writer of 
the lives of the Irish saints, and that he had 
composed a chronicle of Ireland, down to 
1405, when he died. 

The abbey of Angine, which is another 
island in the same lake, called holy or sacred 
from the great number of monks who inhab- 
ited those islands, was founded by the same 
St. Kieran. 

Allemand here reproaches Usher with an 
anachronism, who says that this abbey was 
founded by St. Kieran in the middle of the 
sixth century, that is, in 554, and agrees in 
another place that St. Kieran was born in 
the island of Clare, at the entrance of the 
bay of Baltimore, in 352 ; therefore, con- 
tinues he, if St. Kieran had built an abbey, 
it would follow that this saint lived nearly 
two centuries, &c. 

However, this pretended anachronism is 
founded only on an error of fact on the part 
of this critic, who makes no distinction, as 
Usher does, between St. Kieran, surnamed 
Saighir, born towards the end of the fourth 
century, and St. Kieran the younger, sur- 
named I their, who was born in the beginning 
of the sixth, and who was founder of the 
above-mentioned abbey. 

* Usser. Passim. 

t Triad. Thaum. lib. 2, et Vit. S. Patr. c. 27. 
28, et Grat. Luc. c. 9. 

t War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 26, and Allemand, Hist 
Monast. d'Irlande, p. 48. 



The abbey of Cluain-Inis, in lake Erne, 
in the county of Fermanagh, was founded 
by St. Sinelle, who flourished in 540.* 

The abbey of Ireland's Eye, an island 
north of the bay of Dublin, was founded 
about this time by St. Nessan, who spent his 
life there in fasting and prayer.f 



CHAPTER XI. 



Dermod succeeded to the monarchy after 
the death of Tuathal, a. d. 544 : " Totius 
Scotia? reguator Deo autore ordinatus est."}: 
This prince was descended from Niall the 
Great, by Conall Crimthine and Feargus 
Kerveoil. He began his reign by pious do- 
nations ; he founded the church of Cluan- 
Mac-Noisk, gave St. Kieran the younger 
some land near Mount-Usnach in West 
Meath, and to St. Columb, the territory of 
Keannanus, in East Meath. He frequently 
assembled the states at Tara, where he made 
very useful laws for the state, which he 
caused to be executed with great rigor, as 
he condemned his own son Breasal to death 
for having violated them. 

In the reign of this monarch, Oilioll, son 
of Mortough, reigned in Leinster, and Cor- 
mac, descended in the eighth degree from 
Oilioll-Olum, by Eogan-More, in Munster.fy 

The quarrel between the two princes 
Feargus and Domhnall, children of Mur- 
tough Mac-Earca, and the princes of Con- 
naught, still continued, and was not ended 
till after a second action, called the battle of 
Cuill-Connaire, in which Oilioll was killed, 
with his brother Aodh-Fortamhail. 

A love of justice engaged this monarch in 
a war with Guaire, king of the Hy-Fiachras 
of Connaught, about some act of injustice 
of which that prince had been guilty towards 
him. The monarch having marched with 
his army towards the river Shannon, Guaire 
assembled his troops, with some allies of the 
province of Munster, to meet them. The 
two armies having encamped on both banks 
of the river, disputed its passage ; the 
monarch's army, however, being superior in 
numbers and strength, put the provincial 
troops to flight, and made a dreadful slaugh- 
ter of them. After this defeat Guaire, having 
made submission to the monarch, was re- 
stored to favor, and thus the war ended. 

* Allem. Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, p. 106. 

t Idem, page 8. 

t Cambr. Evers. cap. 9. 

§ Colgan, Vit. S. Brigid. Prafat. ad lect. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



171 



Dermod was not so fortunate in the oth- 
er wars in which he was engaged ;* the 
battle of Cuildreimne, which he fought with 
the two princes Feargus and Dorahnall,was 
fatal to him : he lost the flower of his army, 
and was obliged to save his life by flight. f 
The cause of this battle was the death of 
a nobleman who had been killed at Tara, 
during the assembly, by Conman-Mac- 
Hugue : the murderer, dreading the indig- 
nation of Dermod, sought safety with the 
princes Feargus and Domhnall, who were 
at that time powerful in Ulster, and receiv- 
ed him under their protection ; he found the 
same protection from Columb-Kill, who was 
then celebrated for his sanctity and illustri- 
ous birth. The monarch, always active in 
the distribution of justice, caused the cul- 
prit to be arrested, and condemned him to 
death, which gave rise to the war between 
him and those princes 4 After this war, the 
monarch perished unfortunately at Rathbeg, 
in a house which had taken fire ; it is as- 
serted by some that he was killed by Hugue 
Dubh, son of Suibhne, prince of Dalaradie. 
It is affirmed by Gratianus Lucius, after 
O'Duvegan, that he was the greatest, hand- 
somest, most powerful, and skilful legislator 
of all the Christian kings of Ireland. § 

St. Kieran, or Cieran, the pupil of St. 
Finian in the schools of Clonard, and sur- 
named the Younger to distinguish him from 
St. Kieran Saighir, who was called the an- 
cient, with respect to time and the length of 
his life, founded the abbey of Cluan-Mac- 
Noisk in 548, in a territory on the banks of 
the river Shannon, formerly called Tipraic, 
or Druim-Tipraid, which Dermod the mon- 
arch had granted him for that purpose. He 
was of the race of the Arads, and son of 
Boenand, who was called the Carpenter,! 
having exercised that trade, rather through 
taste than to earn a livelihood : he was 
known by the name of Kieran-Mac-Itheir, 
signifying son of the artisan. This saint 
died in the flower of his age in the reputa- 
tion of sanctity, having governed his abbey 
for one year, and lived thirty-three. 

The church of this abbey was afterwards 
made a cathedral, but the exact time is un- 
known. If it be true, as some believe, that 
St. Kieran was a bishop, there is no doubt 
respecting the origin of this see. Besides 

* Keating on the reign of this monarch. 

t Grat. Luc. c. 9, and Walsh, Prosp. d'Irl. 
sect. 3. 

t Caput 9. 

§ War. de Prsesul. Olonmacnois, and Usser. 
Prim. cap. 17, pp. 909, 956. 

|| Idem, Ind. Chron. pp. 1126, 1140. 



the cathedral, the kings and princes caused 
nine other churches to be built afterwards 
to serve as sepulchres : O'Meolaghlin, king 
of Meath, O'Connor Don, king of Con- 
naught, O'Kelly, Macarty-More, Mac-Der- 
mot, and others, had each their churches in 
it. All those, together with the cathedral, 
covered a space only of about seven acres. 

This cathedral was formerly very rich, 
and was celebrated likewise for its burial- 
place ; also for the tombs of the nobility 
and bishops, and a number of monuments 
and inscriptions on marble in the Scotic 
and Hebrew languages. 

In the Synod held by cardinal Paparo, 
lagate in 1152, this see was placed among 
the number of the suffragans of Tuam ; 
but after many disputations between the 
archbishops of Armagh and Tuam about this 
see, the court of Rome adjudged it to the pro- 
vince of Ardmach : it was at length united 
to the see of Meath, in the sixth century. 

The number of churches founded during 
this reign, denotes both the piety of the 
faithful and the liberality of the prince. 

St. Columb, surnamed Kill, signifying 
Church, founded more than a hundred 
churches and religious houses.* This saint 
was of the royal race, having been de- 
scended in the fourth degree from the mon- 
arch Niall the Great, by his son Conall 
Gulban, prince of Tirconnel, and chief of 
the noble tribe of the O'Donnels.f The 
noble birth of this saint received additional 
lustre from the austerity of his life, his hu- 
mility, and the great number of temples 
which his piety induced him to raise in 
honor of God ;| but that which heightened 
his glory was the title of apostle of the 
Picts, which the conversion of that barba- 
rous nation had gained him.§ Having been 
obliged to leave his country to perform the 
penance which Saint Finian of Clonard, 
his old superior, and St. Molaisse, prior of 
Dam-Inis,[| had imposed on him for hav- 
ing been accessary to the battle of Cuil- 
dreimne,"[f in which many lives were lost, 
he went with twelve disciples to Britain, 
where he preached the gospel with great 
success to the northern Picts,** who were 
separated from those of the south by steep 
and frightful mountains. ft 

* Trias Thaum. Vit. S. Columb. 
t Usser. Primord. Eccl. Brit. cap. 15, page 639. 
t Usser. Ind. Chron. ad an. 563. 
§ Usser. Prim. Eccles. Brit. cap. 15, page 687, 
et seq. 

|| Act. Sanct. page 406. 

IT Usser. Prim. c. 17, p. 903, 904. 

** Trias Thaum. Vit. 5, S. Columb, lib. 2, c. 5. 

Tt " In the year of our Lord 565, a presbyter and 



172 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



This people, filled with gratitude for the 
graces which God had bestowed upon them 
through the ministry of St. Columb, gave 
him the island of Hy to build a monastery 
for himself and his fellow-laborers in that 
mission.* This island, which is one of the 
Hebrides, situated on the western coast of 
Scotland, is known to geographers under 
the name of Hy, Iona, and Y Columb-Kill. 

This saint founded a celebrated abbey in 
Hy, governed by a rector or abbot, who 
should be a priest having jurisdiction over 
the whole province, and, by an unusual or- 
der, says Bede, over the bishops them- 
selves. He was succeeded in it by men 
who were remarkable for their chastity, 
divine love, and the regularity of their con- 
duct, f 

Before St. Columb left Ireland, he found- 
ed several monasteries, the principal of 
which was the monastery of the Blessed 
Virgin, at Durrough, or Deannagh, in Latin, 
" campus roboris," in Clenmalire. Ware 
affirms that they preserved in this monas- 
tery a version of the four gospels by St. 
Jerome, the cover of which was ornament- 
ed with large silver plates, and that the 
Latin inscription was written by St. Columb 
himself; but Usher maintains that this ver- 
sion was by St. Columb, and that it was 
preserved in the abbey which this saint 
had founded at Keannanus, now Kells, in 
Meath, to which the priory of Drumlahan, 
in the county of Cavan, belonged. 

St. Columb also founded a celebrated 
abbey at Daire Calgac, at present Derry, 
in the county of that name 4 This place 
was sometimes called Daire-Maig, from the 
word Daire, which, in the Scotic language, 
signifies oak, of which there was a consid- 
erable quantity in that district. Bede calls 
it the noble monastery. The monasteries 
of Dearmach and Hy, he adds, were nurse 

abbot, remarkable for his life and habit as a monk, 
whose name was Columbanus, came from Ireland 
to preach the word of God to the northern provinces 
of the Picts, who are separated from the southern 
by mountains, the tops of which are lofty and ter- 
rific."— Bede, b. 3, c. 4. 

* " From whom he received the aforesaid island 
for the purpose of raising a monastery in it. It is 
not large, and according to the English, but 5 miles 
in extent." — Bede. 

t " The island was always accustomed to be un. 
der the guidance of an abbot, and an elder, to whose 
rule the entire province and the bishops, a thing so 
unusual, should be subject. This we have as cer 
tain, concerning him, that he left his successors re- 
markable for their chastity, divine love, and the 
regularity of their institutions." — Bede. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26, and Allem. Hist. 
d'Irlande, p. 95. 



rics from whence a great number of mon- 
asteries, founded by his disciples, both in 
Britain and Ireland, were peopled ; but the 
monastery of Hy, in which his remains are 
deposited, holds the first rank.* 

St. Columb also founded the priory 
of Inchmacnerin, formerly called Easmac- 
Neire, in an island in lake Alyne, through 
which the Shannon passes near its source, 
some miles from the abbey of Boyle.f 
Ware says, that this monastery was situ- 
ated in an island called Loughke, in the 
county of Sligo, and that Alyne is in the 
territory of Leitrim. Lastly, he founded 
the abbey of Swords, four miles from Dub- 
lin, called " Monasterium Surdense," over 
which he appointed St. Finian, surnamed 
Sobhar, or the Leprous, to preside. This 
saint, worn out with the fatigues of the 
apostleship, and a life of mortification, end- 
ed his days in his abbey of Hy, in 597, 
aged 77 years. 

The celebrated abbey of St. Peter and 
Paul was founded in a valley called Glen- 
da-Loch, in the territory of Kilmentain, now 
the county of Wicklow, by St. Keivin, or 
Coemgene.J 

The abbey of Cluain-Damh, which signi- 
fies a meadow for oxen, on the banks of the 
river Liffey, in the plain of Kildare, was 
founded by St. Senchella, or Sinell.§ There 
are several abbeys in Ireland called Cluain, 
which signifies valley or retired place ; as 
those situated in the woods were called Daire, 
that is, oak. The priory of Holy Cross of 
Killeighe, in the King's county, was found- 
ed for regular canons by the same saint. || 

The priory of Dam-Inis, or Devenish, 
which signifies the island of the ox, in 
lake Erne, in the county of Fermanagh, was 
founded by St. Laserian, or Moelasse, who 
was not the same as St. Laserian of Lagh- 
lin.Tf It is said that he established a partic- 
ular order : but his successors followed that 
of the regular canons of St. Augustin.** 



* " But before he would come to Britain, he made 
a noble monastery in Ireland : it was called, from 
the quantity of oak contained in it, Dearmach, 
which, in the Irish language, signifies the field of 
oaks. From this, several monasteries were founded 
by his disciples both in Ireland and Britain. In all 
which that insulated monastery in which his body 
reposes, holds the chief rank." — Bede. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26, and Allemand, 
Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, p. 86. 

J Usser. Primord. Eccles. Brit. cap. 17, p. 956. 

§ Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Senchel. ad 26 Mart. 

II Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 29. 

1 Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Aid. ad 28 Feb. cap. 
37, and Usser. Primord. Eccles. cap. 17, p. 962. 

** War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



173 



The abbey of Druim-Mac-Ubla, on the 
frontiers of Leinster and Ulster, was found- 
ed by St. Sidonius.* 

The abbeyof Kil-Managh-Drochid, " Cel- 
la Monachorum," in the county of Kilkenny, 
was founded by St. Natalis.f There was 
another of the same name founded by St. 
Fechin, in the county of Sligo. 

The abbey of Movilla, or Maigevile, in 
the district of the Dalfiatachs, county of 
Down, was founded for canons of the order 
of St. Augustin, by St. Finian, of the royal 
race of the Dalfiatachs of Ulster.^ This 
saint, who was known by the names of Fin- 
nian, Fridian, Frigian, Frigidion, and Find- 
barry, was head and founder of one of the 
most ancient congregations of regular canons 
of St. Augustin, called the congregation of 
St. Frigidian, whose principal house was 
St. Frigidian of Lucca, in Italy, of which 
place this saint was bishop. § It was he 
who reformed the congregation of the reg- 
ular canons of St. John of Lateran, and 
founded also the abbey of Maghile in Derry, 
of which we shall have occasion hereafter 
to speak. 

The monastery of Birr, in the territory 
of Ely, King's county, was founded by St. 
Brendan the elder, son of Luaigne.|| 

The abbeys of Dromore and Machavie 
Lyn, in the territory of Dalaradie, were 
founded by St. Column, of the noble family 
of the Hy-Guala or Gaille-Fine, in Ulster ; 
the former was afterwards made a bishopric 
and the latter a parish church. 

The abbey of Dairmore, which signifies 
a large forest, in the territory of Ferkeal in 
Westmeath, was founded by St. Colman.TI 
This place is probably the same as Land- 
Elo, or Linall, mentioned by Usher. 

The abbey of Muckmore, in the county 
of Antrim, was founded and dedicated to 
the blessed Virgin, by Saint Colman-Elo.** 

The abbey of Roscommon was founded 
by St. Coman, disciple of St. Finian of 
Clonard.tt 

The monastery of Ard-Finan, in the 
county of Tipperary, was founded by St. 
Finian, surnamed Lobhar, that is, the Lep- 

* Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 8. 

t Act. Sanct. Vit. S. Senam, ad 8 Mart, et Vit. 
S. Natalis, 17 Jan. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Brigid. ad 18 Mart, et 
War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 

§ Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, p. 191, and 
Trias. Thaum. note in 1 Vit. S. Columba). 

|| Usser. Prim. Ind. Chron. page 1145. 

IT Usser. Prknord. c. 17, p. 960. 

** War. de Antiq. Hibern. c. 26. 

tt Act. Sanct. Hib. page 405, and War. de An- 
tiq. Hib. cap. 26. 



rous, from a disorder to which he was sub- 
ject.* He was of the noble race of Kiann, 
son of Oilioll-Olum, king of Munster, and 
disciple of St. Columb-Kill, who appointed 
him to the abbey of Swords, near Dublin. f 

The abbey of Kil-Modain, in the county 
of Longford, was founded by St. Modan, 
bishop of Carnfurbhuide in Connaught4 

The abbey of Beanchuir, otherwise Ban- 
chor, or Bangor,^ formerly called the valley 
of Angels, situated on the southern shore of 
Garrick-Feargus bay, in a territory called 
Ardes, was founded according to Ware in 
555, and four years later according to Usher, 
for regular canons, by St. Congal, who was 
first abbot of it, and who lived to see more 
than four thousand monks of his order. || 
This abbey was the principal one of the 
order, and one of the most celebrated in Ire- 
land, and perhaps of the western church, to 
which St. Bernard bears a glorious testi- 
mony in the life of St. Malachi.H " There 
was, (says he,) under the first St. Congall, 
a very noble monastery, inhabited by sev- 
eral thousand monks, and head of several 
other abbeys ; a place truly sanctified, and 
so fruitful in saints, yielding abundantly to 
God, that St. Luanus, or Evanus, son of 
that holy congregation, had, himself alone, 
founded one hundred monasteries."** In 
another place, still speaking of this abbey, 
he adds : " Its disciples not only filled Ire- 
land and Scotia, but swarms of its saints 
spread themselves through foreign countries, 
among the number of whom was St. Colum- 
banus, who went to France, where he 
founded the monastery of Luxen.ff 

St. Finian had also founded the priory of 
Inis-Fallen, or Inis-Fathlen, in an island 



* Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Finan, ad 16 Mart. 

t Allemand, Hist. Monast d'Irlande, page 65. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Modan, ad 4 Febr. 

§ Usser. Prim. cap. 6, p. 132, et c. 13, pp. 441, 
911, 917, 919, 956, 958, Ind. Chron. ad an. 559. 

|| Act. Sanct. Hib. pp. 192, 233, 234, 352, 354, 
405, 413, 791. 

IT War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 26, and Allem. Hist. 
Monast. p. 89. 

** " There stood a most noble monastery, under 
the first father Congellus, inhabited by many thou- 
sand monks, and the head of many monasteries. 
The place was truly sanctified, abounding in saints, 
abundantly fruitful to God ; so that one of the sons 
of this holy congregation, Luanus, or Evanus, was 
said to be the founder of an hundred monas- 
teries." 

tt " Its disciples not only filled Ireland and 
Scotia, but swarms poured like a torrent into for. 
eign countries, and from among them St. Colum- 
banus hath visited our shores of Gaul, where he 
founded the monastery of Luxen." — St. Bernard, 
in his Life of Malachy. 



174 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



in Lake Lene, in the territory of Desmond, 
for regular canons.* 

The abbey of Congbail at Gleann-Suilige 
in the district of Tirconnel, was founded by 
St. Fiacre, disciple of St. Finian of Clo- 
nard.f 

Botchonais, an ancient monastery of reg- 
ular canons, situated in the diocese of Derry, 
was founded by St. Congal. 

The monastery of Clonfert, on the banks 
of the river Shannon, in the county Galway, 
called " de portu puro," was founded about 
the year 558, by St. Brendan, son of Find- 
loge, who was the first abbot of it ;J he es- 
tablished a particular order, in which there 
were three thousand monks, both in this 
house, which was apparently the principal 
one of the order, and in the others which 
he had founded. Those monks were a bur- 
den to none, as they subsisted themselves 
by their labor. This same saint likewise 
founded the monastery of Inis-Mac-Hua- 
cuinn, in an island in lake Oirbsen.fy 

The monastery of Inis-Kealtre, an island 
in lake Derg, in the river Shannon, was 
founded towards the middle of the sixth 
century, by St. Camin, of the race of Eana- 
Kinseallagh, king of Leinster, and brother 
by his mother, of Guaire, king of Con- 
naught. || Colgan says that St. Camin flour- 
ished in 640 : he also affirms that he was 
brother of Guaire ; but as the historians of 
the country say that Guaire was contempo- 
rary of Dermod the monarch, who reigned 
about the middle of the sixth century, we 
should, of course, fix the foundation of that 
monastery in the reign of this monarch. 

The abbey of Clonenagh, or Cluain-Ed- 
nach, in the district of Hy-Regan, founded 
by St. Fintan, was afterwards made a parish 
church ;H this saint also founded, in the 
same country, the abbey of Achad-Ardglais, 
otherwise called Achad-Finglass. 

St. Fola was abbot of the abbey of Ard- 
brecain ; he is probably the same that Col- 
gan calls bishop of Ardbrecain, who, ac- 
cording to him, died in 593. He likewise 
mentions another St. Fola, who died in 793 

The abbey of Macbile, in the peninsula 
called Inis-Eoguin, or Inis-Owen, was found- 
ed by St. Frigidian, who had founded ano 



* Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Finan, ad 16 Mart, 
and War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 

t Allem. Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 58, and 
Act. Sanct. page 406. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26, and Allem. Hist. 
Monast. d'Irlande, p. 69. 

§ Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Moen, ad 26 Feb. 

|| Ibid. Vit. S. Camin. ad 24 Mart. 

IT Act. Sane. Vit. S. Fintan. Abbat. ad 17 Feb, 



ther of the same name, of which we have 
already spoken. 

The priory of Lurchoe, or Lothra, a small 
town near Lough Derg, in the river Shan- 
non, and county of Tipperary, was founded 
by St. Ruadan, who was the first abbot of 
it, and had one hundred and fifty monks 
under him.* This house was called from 
his name, Ruadan-Lothra : he died there 
in 584.f 

A monastery for females, called Kill- 
Chere, Kill-Creidhe, or Kilchree, in the 
territory of Muscraige, and county of Cork, 
was founded by St. Cera, descended from 
Conare II., monarch of Ireland in the second 
century.J 

The monastery of Kill-Rignaigh, in Clen- 
malire, was founded by St. Regnacia, sister 
to St. Finian of Clonard.fy 

Feargus III., and Domhnall I., powerful 
princes in Ulster, and, as we have observed, 
descended from Niall the Great, succeeded 
Dermod,|| a. d. 565. These princes were 
warlike, as appears by the wars they had to 
maintain against the princes of Connaught, 
and the monarch himself, over whom they 
were always victorious. After their acces- 
sion to the throne, they were engaged in a 
war with the people of Leinster, which ter- 
minated in the famous battle of Gabhra-Liff e, 
in the territory of Kilmantain, now Wick- 
low, in which the provincialists lost a great 
number of men, and were defeated. Those 
two princes died a short time afterwards, 
having reigned about one year. If 

Eocha XIII. , son of Domhnall I., suc- 
ceeded his father and uncle, a. d. 566 ; he 
made his uncle Baodan partner in the 
government. These princes, after a reign 
together of nearly three years, were killed 
at the battle of Glingevin, by Cronan, son 
of Tigernach, prince of Kiennachte. 

In the time of this monarch, the monastery 
of Enach-Dune, in the territory of Hua- 
Bruin, county of Galway, was founded and 
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin by St. 
Brendan of Clonfert, for his sister Brige, 
who was the first abbess of it.** 

Ainmire, descended in the fourth degree 
from Niall the Great, was chosen monarch, 
a. d. 568. He was strongly attached to re- 
ligion, and very strict in causing its rites and 



* Act. SS. Vit. S. Finian, ad 23 Feb. c. 24, et 
War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. 

t Allem. Monast. Hist. d'Irlande, p. 68. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Cerse, ad 5 Jan. 

§ Ibid. Vit. S. Finian, ad 23 Feb. 

|| Keat. History of Ireland, lib. 1. 

IT Grat. Luc. cap. 9. 

** Usser. Primord. p. 955. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



175 



discipline to be observed. After a reign of 
three years, he was killed by Feargus-Mac- 
Neill, at Corrig-Leime-an-Eich ; his death 
was revenged the year following by his son 
Aodh. 

In this reign the abbey of Seamboth, in 
Hy-Kinseallagh, was founded by St. Col- 
man O'Fiachra. 

St. Comgan, of the noble race of the Dal- 
caiss, was abbot of Glean-Ussen ; it is not 
certain that he was founder of this abbey.* 
Allemand says that Dermitus was abbot of 
it, and afterwards St. Comgan. 

The priory of the Blessed Virgin, at 
Drumlahan, in Brefny, at present the coun- 
ty of Cavan, was founded for regular canons 
of St. Augustin, by St. Edan, or Maidoc, 
who was afterwards archbishop of Ferns.f 

The abbey of Roscrea, in the territory 
of Ele, county of Tipperary, was founded 
by St. Cronan.J 

The monastery of Cluain-Credhail, near 
mount Luachra, in Meath, was founded for 
females by St. Ita, of the race of Fiacha- 
Suidhe, brother of Con, surnamed Keadca- 
ha, whose tribe had settled in the territory 
of Deasie.§ 

Baodan, son of Nineadha, and cousin- 
german to the last of that name, succeeded 
to the throne a. d. 571 ; his reign was short, 
having died after one year, of a violent death. 

Hugue II., otherwise Aodh, son of Ain- 
mire, succeeded Baodan, a. d. 572. This 
prince was a liberal benefactor to the church; 
he granted to Columb-Kill the territory of 
Doire, now Derry, to build a monastery, 
which he generously endowed for the sup- 
port of the monks. 

The reiterated complaints which were 
urged against the poets, or fileas, the great 
number of whom had become a burden to 
the people, obliged this monarch to convene 
a general assembly of the states at Drom- 
keat, in the territory of Doire, a. d. 516, to 
endeavor to remedy an evil which affected 
the state in general and every individual in 
particular. In this there were no allusions 
made to those bards, or fileas, who were 
employed by the state to preserve its annals, 
to whom great privileges were granted, and 
whose writings were submitted to investi- 
gation : it was intended only to suppress a 
number of idle men, who, strolling through 
the country, and exacting contributions from 

* Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Itse, ad 15 Jan. not. 
12, p. 418, et ibid. Vit. S. Comgan. ad 27 Feb. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26, et Allemand, 
Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, p. 109. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Cron. 

6 Ibid. Vit. Its, ad 15 Jan. 



all who had the weakness to dread their 
satirical attacks, assumed to themselves the 
title of bards. Another object of the as- 
sembly was, to consider the measures neces- 
sary to be adopted in order to make the 
Dalraids of Albania pay that homage and 
tribute, called Eiric, which were due to the 
crown of Ireland ; it was intended, also, that 
they would propose that Scanlan-More, son of 
Kean-Faoladh, prince of Ossory, should be 
deposed for having failed in payment of the 
tribute due by his principality to the mon- 
arch, and to place his son Jollan in his stead. 
The assembly was grand and numerously 
attended : among the princes present were 
Criomthan-Cear, king of Leinster, and 
Finghin, or Florence, son of Hugue Dubh, 
and grandson of Criomthan, king of Mini- 
ster, besides many other princes from the 
different provinces. Columb-Kill, abbot of 
Hy, attended by several bishops and other 
ecclesiastics, repaired thither with Aidan, 
who was at that time king of the Dalraids 
of Albania.* The first subject of delibera- 
tion was, the necessity of banishing the 
bards, the number of whom had become 
burdensome to the state ; but St. Columb 
and St. Colman, who took an active part in 
the deliberations of the assembly, proposed 
that it would be more prudent to reduce 
them to a limited number, than to deprive 
the state of so many subjects, some of 
whom might become useful : which wise 
counsel was adopted by the assembly, and 
regulations were made to confine them to 
the exercise of their profession. 

The claims of Aidan upon the Dalraids of 
Ulster, formed the subject of another matter 
of debate. It has been already observed 
that the Dalraids of Albania and those of 
Ulster, having been descended from Cairbre- 
Rieda, considered themselves as one family 
and one tribe, governed by the same chief, 
at the pleasure of the monarch of Ireland. 
An intercourse of friendship subsisted be- 
tween them that was founded on the ties of 
consanguinity, which in appearance ceased 
when Albania was made a kingdom. It 
was with the view of renewing this right 
over the Dalraids of Ulster, that Aidan, as 
chief of both people, presented himself be- 
fore the assembly of Dromkeath, as well as 
to dispel a storm which threatened him, on 
the part of the monarch, who intended send- 
ing troops to Albania to oblige him to pay 
the contributions which he required. After 
much debate, it was determined that the 
Dalraids of Ulster, being subjects of the 

* Trias. Thaum. Vit. 5, S. Columb. lib. 3. 



176 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



monarch, should pay to him, and to no other, 
the taxes and imposts due by subjects to 
their natural prince ; but as those two people 
(namely, those of Albania and Ulster) were 
connected by blood, they should also con- 
tribute to the penalties which were imposed 
for murder ; which, according to the laws 
established among them, condemned the 
family of the person who would kill or mu- 
tilate any person, except in self-defence, 
" cum moderamine inculpatae tutelae," to pay 
to the injured party a sum of money propor- 
tionate to the offence. 

With respect to the monarch's claim on 
Albania, St. Columb influenced him to aban- 
don it, and the two princes separated in 
peace ; he was, however, inexorable about 
Scanlan-More, whom he detained in a dun 
geon, notwithstanding the solicitations of the 
saint, who left him with displeasure, and 
obtained by prayer the liberty of that prince 
in a miraculous manner. Thus ended this 
celebrated assembly of Dromkeat, after hav- 
ing lasted for fourteen months. 

In the time of Brandubh, king of Leinster, 
of the race of Cahire-More, by Feidhlim, 
son of Eana-Kinseallagh, from whom the 
noble tribes of the O'Murphys and the 
O'Dowlings are descended, the monarch 
endeavored to exact the boirive, or tribute, 
which had been imposed upon that province. 
He marched with his army towards Wex- 
ford, and coming up with the provincialists 
at Beallachduin, or Duinbolg, he gave them 
battle, in which he lost his life, the ninths 
of January, a. d. 599, aged sixty-six yea;ra, 
having reigned twenty-seven. He was suc- 
ceeded by Hugue III., surnamed Slaine. 

Many abbeys were founded during this 
reign. That of Teagh-Mun, in the terri- 
tory of Loughgarme, at present Wexford, 
was founded by St. Munnu.* 

The monastery of Leighlin was founded 
by St. Gobban, although some authors say- 
that St. Lasrean was its founder ; he was 
indeed the first bishop of it ; and his life 
even proves that St. Gobban was abbot of 
it, before he settled there.f It is true, that 
in the time of St. Lasrean, this monastery 
acquired so great celebrity that he was said 
to have founded it : the celebrated assembly 
of the clergy which was held there in 620, 
c6ncerning the observance of the Easter, 
contributed largely to the renown of that 
monastery. 

The abbey of Cluainferta-Molua was 

* Act. Sanct page 272, cap. 32. 
t Ibid. Vit. S. Gobban, ad 62 Mart, and Alle- 
mand, Monast. Hist. d'Irl. p. 20. 



founded by St. Lugidus, or St. Molua, who 
is said by St. Bernard, in the life of St. 
Malachi, to have been founder of a hundred 
abbeys, as well as St. Columb-Kill.* There 
was another abbey of this name founded by 
St. Brendan in the same city ; the latter was 
on the right bank of the river Shannon, in 
Connaught, and the former on the left bank, 
in Leinster. 

The abbey of Liath, or Liath-More, or 
Liathan-Ele, and the monastery of Inis- 
Lannaught, in the county of Tipperary, 
were founded by St. Pulcherius, or Mocho- 
mocus.f 

The abbey of Annatrim, or Enachtruim, 
at the foot of the mountain, called in the 
Scotic language Slieve-Bladhma, in the 
district of fly-Regan, was founded by St. 
Coeman, and afterwards converted into a 
parish church.}; 

The monastery of Achad-Ur, in the ter- 
ritory of Ossory, was founded by St. Lac- 
tin.^ 

The monastery of Rath-Aodha, or Rath- 
Edha, now the parish of Rahugh, in the 
territory of Kinel-Fiacha, in West Meath, 
was founded by St. Aodh, or Aidus, of the 
race of Fiacha, son of the monarch Niall 
the Great, on a piece of ground, which, 
with a castle, was given him by the lord of 
the place, ]| of the same race of Fiacha, and 
one of the ancestors of the tribe of the 
Mo/lmoys and the Mac-Eochagains.1T 
yThe abbey of Rathene,** in the territory 
■of Fearcal, which belonged to the tribe of 
the O'Molloys, of the race of Fiacha, son 
of Niall the Great, was founded by St. Car- 
thagh, descended, by his father Findall, 
from Kiar, son of Feargus, from whom the 
noble tribe of the O'Connors Kerry derive 
their origin. His mother, whose name was/ 
Meadh, was descended from the lords.^of 
Corcoduibhne, in the county of Kerry. This 
abbey, situated in the neighborhood of the 
monastery of Land-Elo, founded by St. Col- 
man, and eight miles from the abbey of 



Usser. Prim. Eceles. Brit. Ind. Chron. page 1 155, 
Allem. Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 30. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 12 Mart, page 855. 

t Ibid. Vit. S. Gild. Badon, ad 29 Jan. note 13, 
page 192. 

§ Ibid. Vit. S. Laetin, ad 19, et Mart. Vit. Mo- 
boem. ad 13 Mart, note 13. 

|| Vit. S. Aid. ad 28 Feb. cap. 39, note 3, et seq. 
and Allem. Hist Mon. page 39. 

" From this Fiachus, son of Neill, that part of 
Meath which is called Kinel-Fiacha, received its 
name ; from his seed two noble families, called 
O'Molloys and M'Geoghegans, were descended." — 
Usher, Church Hist. c. 17, p. 910. 

** Allem. Hist. Monast. p. 43, 



rHIMSTIAN IRELAND. 



177 



Dearmach, founded by St. Columb-Kill, was 
celebrated for its sanctity, and the number 
of its monks, amounting sometimes to nine 
hundred. But as virtue frequently becomes 
the object of envy, our saint was forced to 
leave Rathene, where he had lived for forty 
years, and retire to Lismore, where he 
founded a cathedral, of which he was the 
first bishop. Colgan says that he took with 
him more than eight hundred monks, who 
lived similarly to those of La Trappe, living 
upon herbs and vegetables, which they cul- 
tivated with their own hands. After the 
death of their holy founder, most of them 
dispersed throughout Ireland, England, and 
Scotland, where they founded several reli- 
gious houses under the order of St.Carthach, 
which afterwards submitted to that of the 
regular canons of St. Augustin. 

Cambos, a monastery founded on the left 
bank of the river Bann, at its outlet from 
Lough Neagh, by St. Congal, was after- 
wards converted into a parish church.* 

The abbey of Cluain-Fiachal, five miles 
from Ardmach, was founded by St. Lugadius, 
of the race of Niall the Great.f 

The monastery of Rathmat, near lake 
Orbsen in the county of Galway, founded 
by St. Fursee of Peronne, of the race of 
Lugha-Laige, brother of Oilioll-Olum, king 
of Munster, was changed into a parish church 
under the name of KilfursaJ; 

The monastery of KflPCuanna, in the 
district of Tir-Bruin,.mthe diocese of Tuam, 
was founded by St. Cuanna, brother by his 
mother of St. ^Carthagh of Rathene, and 
son of Midarn, of the royal race of Niall the 
Great, by his son Eana.§ 

The monastery of Rachlin, an island on 
the northftj^ide of Dalriada, in the county 
of Antrim, was founded by Lugaid-Laithir, 
a disciple of St. Columb-Kill. || 

The abbey of Cnodain, near Eas-Ruaidh, 
on the banks of the river Erne, in the terri- 
tory of Tirconnel, was founded by St. Conan, 
who .was afterwards bishop.T 

The abbey of Disert-Nairbre, in the ter- 
ritory of Desie, and district of Portlargi, at 
present Waterford, was founded by St. 
Maidoc of Ferns.** 

The abbey of Dar-Inis in the same coun- 



* Ibid. p. 93. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. pp. 193, 606, et id. in Vit. S. 
Lugad. ad 2 Mart. 

1 Ibid. Vit. S. Fuersi ad 16 Jan. et 26 Mart, 
page 749. 

§ Ibid. Vit. S. Cuan. ad 4 Feb. 

|| Usser. Prim. p. 958, et Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 193. 

IT Act. Sanct. Vit. S. Conan, ad 8 Mart. 

** Ibid. Vit. S. Maidoc, ad 31 Jan. c. 22, not 23. 



try, was founded in an island of that name, 
by St. Molanfide.* 

The abbey of Cluain-Choirphte, county of 
Roscommon, was founded by St. Berach, 
disciple of St. Coemgene of Glen-Daloch.f 

The monastery of Cluain-Claidheach, in 
the territory of Hua-Conaill, county of Lom- 
neach, (Limerick,) was founded by St. 
Maidoc, archbishop of Ferns .J 

The abbey of Druim-Thuoma, now the 
parish of Drumhone, in the territory of Tir- 
connel, diocese of Raphoe, was founded by 
St. Erman, of the race of Niall the Great, 
by his son, Conall-Gulban.^ 

The abbey of Rosglas, formerly Ross- 
Mic-Treoin, near the river Barrow, in Hy- 
Kinseallagh, was founded by St. Evin, one 
of the six sons of Eugene, of the race of 
Oilioll-Olum, king of Munster. || 

The abbey of Inbher-Dagan, on the coast 
of Wexford, was founded by St. Dagan.lf 

The abbey of Fedh-Duin, in the county 
of Tipperary, was founded, according to 
Colgan, by St. Maidoc, or Momoedoc, of the 
royal race of Leinster, and son of the queen, 
St. Radagunda.** 

The abbey of Teagh-Moiling, otherwise 
St. Mullens, territory of Carlow, was founded 
by St. Moling, who was abbot of it. 

The abbey of Disert-Moholmoc in East 
Meath, was founded by St. Colman. 

The monastery of Mothil, county of Wa- 
terford, w.as .founded by St. Brogan, who was 
first abbo't of it ; he was SJpjeeded by St. 
Coan, or Coanus.ft 

The monastery of Enach-Midhbreuin, 
county of Tipperary, was founde'fMiy Mac- 
Briccius. 

The bishopric of Dromore in Daterad 
at present the county of Down, was fou: 
by St. Colman, of the race of the A 
first abbot of Muckmore, in the count 1 
Antrim, and afterwards first bishop of Dro- 
more.JJ He is called Colmanel by Jocelin 
in the life of St. Patrick, in which he men- 
tions a prophecy of that apostle respecting 
him.§§ He is also called Mocholmoc, by the 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26, and Allemand, 
Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, p. 83. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. Berach, ad 15 Feb. 

1 Ibid. Vit Sanct. Maid, ad 31 Jan. 

§ Ibid. Vit. S. Ernan. ad 1 Jan. 

|| Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 215, not. 1, and Allemand, 
page 15. 

IT Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Dagan, ad 12 Mart. 
not. 14. 

** Allemand, Histoire Monast. d'Irlande, p. 19. 

tt War. dbAntiq. Hib. cap. 26. 

tt War. defepisc. Dromor. and Usser. Primord. p. 
1065. ^ 

§§ Caput 96. 



178 



HISTORY OF JUKI, AND. 



scholiast of the jEngusian martyrology.* 
Colman lived in the sixth century ; he died 
the sixth of June, but the year is not known ; 
some say it was in 610, others in 600.f 
The successors of St. Colman, before the 
arrival of the English, are not known, except 
Malbrigid Mac-Cathasaige, who died in 972, 
and Rigan, who is said to have died in 1 1 01 4 
It is probable that this see remained without 
a bishop for some centuries, and that during 
that time it was governed by the metro- 
politan. § 

Saint Colman, son of Lenin, disciple of 
St. Finbarr, bishop of Cork, a learned and 
pious man, was founder and first bishop of 
the church of Cloyne towards the end of 
the sixth century or in the beginning of the 
seventh; he, died the fourth of November, 
604. Cloyne, situated in the county of 
Cork, was formerly called Cluain-Vanian, 
or Cluain-Vama, which signifies a cell or 
place of retreat. 

The church of Ferns acknowledges St. 
Edan, otherwise called Moedoc.asits patron 
and first founder;! he was son of Sedna, 
descended in the eighth degree from Colla- 
Huais, monarch of the island about the be- 
ginning of the fourth century .11 His mother 
Ethne was descended from Amalgaid, king 
of Connaught in the time of St. Patrick. 
He was born at Inis-Breagmuin, in Brefny, 
now the county of Cavan ; in his youth he 
formed a strict friendship with St. Laserian, 
abbot of Daminis, or Devenish, in lake Erne . 
According to some authors, he was, before 
his voyage to Britain, one of the hostages 
whom the princes of Brefny had given to 
Ainmire, monarch of Ireland, which is at 
variance with chronology ; St. David, with 
cwhom our saint had spent some time,** died 
in 544, and the monarch Ainmire began only 
to reign, according to Colgan, in 566, or 
according to others in 568 ; so that we should 
refer the captivity of this saint to the reign 
of Tuathal II., surnamedMaolbarg, who was 
cotemporary of Saint David, and died the 
same year as he. However this be, it is 
admitted by all that Saint Edan went to 
Britain, where he spent some time to perfect 
himself with St. David ; after which he re- 
turned to his own country and was Irindly 
received by Brandubh, king of Leinster, who 



* Not. 106. 

t Usser. Primord. Eecles. p. 1126. 
I War. de Script. Hib. et Annal. 4, Magistr. de 
an. 979. 
§ Colg. Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 387. 
|| War. de Episc. Fernens. 
1 Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Maid, ad 31 Jan. 
** Colgan, not. 7, in Vit. S. Edan, p. 216. 



gave him the city of Ferns, to found a bish- 
opric in it. 

After the foundation of the church of 
Ferns, Brandubh, king of the province, con- 
vened a synod, at which it was decreed that 
the metropolitan dignity of Leinster should 
be always continued to the see of St.Moedoc, 
in consequence of which that saint was 
declared archbishop of Leinster.* 

In the early ages of Christianity, the title 
of archbishop in Ireland, except that of 
Ardmach, was not attached to any particu- 
lar see ; this title belonged sometimes to one 
city, sometimes to another, according to the 
merit of the bishop, and his reputation for 
sanctity ; it was thus that St. Fiech, bishop 
of Sletty, was called archbishop of Leinster 
by St. Patrick ; which dignity was success- 
ively conferred on Kildare and Ferns. In 
like manner, Saint Ailbe, bishop of Emly, 
was called archbishop of Munster ; and the 
bishops of Tuam were called, in the annals 
of the country, archbishops of Connaught, 
long before the distribution of the palliums 
by cardinal Paparo. 

The see of Ferns was filled for fifty years 
by St. Edan, or Maidoc, who, having founded 
several other churches, and wrought many 
miracles, was transferred to a happier life, 
the 31st of January, 632, the day on which 
his festival is celebrated, and was buried in 
his church of Ferns. 

The bishopric of Kil-Mac-Duach, in Con- 
naught,! was founded by St. Colman, son of 
Duach, of the noble race of the Hy-Fiachras, 
who was descended, in the eighth degree, 
from the monarch Eocha-Moy-Veagon, by 
his son Fiachra.J The surname of Mac- 
Duach was given him as a distinction from 
several of his cotemporaries, who, like him, 
bore the name of Colman. As he was 
attached to a pious and secluded life, he 
spent seven years with one companion alone, 
in solitude, from whence he was taken and 
invested with the episcopal dignity. He then 
chose a suitable place to build a cathedral 
church upon it, which was called, after him, 
Kil-Mac-Duach, that is, the church of the 
son of Duach. Being nearly related to 
Guaire, who was at that time king of Con- 
naught, his church was considerably enriched 
by the bounty of that prince. Our saint 
lived towards the end of the sixth century, 
or the beginning of the seventh; we can 
therefore nearly determine the time of the 
foundation of his church. The year of his 

* Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Maidoc, ad 31 Jan. 
p. 211, not. 29. 

t War. de Prffisul. Duacens. 

t Act. Sanct. Vit. S. Colm. ad 3 Feb. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



179 



death is not known ; but his festival is held 
the third of February. His successors for 
many ages are unknown. We discover in 
the beginning of the ninth century St. In- 
drect, bishop of Kil-Mac-Duach, and Rug- 
nad O'Ruadan, who died in 1178.* 

The bishopric of Fenabore, in the lan- 
guage of the country, Kil-Fenoragh,t situ- 
ated in the territory of Corcumroe, in Thuo- 
mond, now the county of Clare, was the 
smallest and poorest of the Irish bishoprics ; 
it contained but thirteen parishes : neither 
the time of its foundation nor the name of 
its first founder is known, unless we ascribe 
it to St. Fachnan, patron of that cathedral. 
In the distribution of bishoprics by cardinal 
Paparo, this see was placed among the num- 
ber of the suffragans of Cashil ; but since 
Charles II. it has been annexed to the arch- 
bishopric of Tuam. 

Hugue Slaine, son of Dermod the mon- 
arch, made his kinsman, Colman Rimidh, 
son of Baodan, and grandson of Murtough- 
Mac-Earca, partner in the government, a. d. 
599. Those princes having governed the 
island in peace during six years, were killed 
at a battle near Lochseimdighe-. 

The abbey of Fathen, situated near the 
borders of Inis-Owen, in that part of the 
diocese of Derry which extends into the 
territory of Donnegall, was founded, during 
the above reign, by St. Murus, or Muranus, 
in the Scotic language Mura, of the race of 
Niall the Great, and particular patron of the 
tribe of the O'Neills 4 

This monastery was held in high venera- 
tion, not only on account of the memory of 
St. Muran, its patron, but also for the valu- 
able monuments of antiquity which were 
preserved in it for many centuries : among 
others, there was a small volume written in 
Scotic verse by St. Mura, and a large book 
of chronology, filled with many historical 
passages concerning the nation in general ; 
this work was much esteemed, and is fre- 
quently quoted by the antiquarians of the 
country ; there still remain some fragments 
of it, says Colgan, which have escaped the 
fury of the reformers of latter ages. 

The monastery of Cluain-Dachrann, in 
the territory of Fearkeal, was founded by 
St. Cronan, or Mochua, son of Mellan, and 
disciple of St. Cartagh of Rathene.§ 

The monastery of Cluan-Fode, in the ter- 

* Act. Sanct Hib. Vit. S. Indrect, ad 5 Febr. 
not. 3. 

t War. de Episc. Fenabor. 

t Act Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Muri, ad 12 Mart 
Allemand, Hist Monast. d'Irlande, page 97. 

§ Act. Sanct Hib. Vit. S. Cron. ad 11 Feb. 



itory of Fertullach in Meath, was founded 
by St. Libren, son of Aidius, prince of 
Orgiell, of the race of Colla-da-Crioch.* 

Hugue IV., surnamed Variodnach, son 
of Domhnall, and grandson of Murtough- 
Mac-Earca, succeeded Hugue Slaine, a. d. 
605. This prince was renowned for his 
justice, and deemed very brave, notwith- 
standing his delicate state of health. His 
reign was disturbed by the war in which he 
was engaged against prince Aongus, son of 
Colman, who was totally defeated with his 
army, at the battle of Odbha, in which 
Connall Laogbreag, son of Hugue Slaine, 
lost his life. This monarch died at Tara, 
after a reign of seven years. 

Limerick, called Lumneach in the Scotic 
language, acknowledges as its first bishop, 
St. Munchin, son of Sedna, who founded a 
church there, to which he gave his own 
name ; it was formerly a cathedral, but af- 
terwards made a parish church. f The time 
that this saint lived has been made the sub- 
jectof much disputation among authors : some 
say that he lived in the time of St. Patrick, 
and was the same as Mancenus, whom that 
apostle placed in the district of Tirawly ; 
others assert that he was the same as Man- 
chenus, who died in 651 ; that bishopric, 
however, was restored by the Danes, and 
the cathedral rebuilt in the twelfth century, 
by Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick. 

The priory of Moethel, now Mohill, in 
the district of Conmacne of Muinter-Eolas, 
the ancient patrimony of the Mac-Granvills, 
was founded in this reign by St. Manchene.J 
This saint also founded the abbey of Mene- 
drochaid, in the territory of Loise, at pre- 
sent the Queen's county. fy 

Maolchaba, son of Hugue II., and grand- 
son of Ainmire the monarch, ascended the 
throne a. d. 612 ; he reigned but three 
years, having been killed by his successor 
at the battle of Cath-Taod. 

It is affirmed by some writers, that this 
monarch, having abdicated the throne, be- 
came a monk, and died bishop of Clogher.|| 

St. Laserian (not St. Laserian, abbot of 
Daminis in Lake Erne) was first bishop of 
Leighlin, commonly called Old Laughlin, a 
town situated in the territory of Carlow, at 
a short distance from the river Barrow. 

St. Laserian was sometimes called Mo- 
laisre :°i[ he was son of Cairel and Blitha, 

* Ibid. Vit. S. Libran, ad 11 Mart, 
t War. de Episc. Limmericens. 
t Act Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Manch. ad 14 Feb. 
Usser. Primord. cap. 17, page 969. 
§ War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 
|| Grat Luc. c. 9. 
IT War. de Episc. Leighlin. 



180 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



and brought up in his youth by the abbot St 
Murin, to whom his mother, Blitha, daughter 
of a king of the Picts, had intrusted him 
He went to Rome, where he remained four- 
teen years, during which time he attended 
particularly to the expounding of the holy 
Scriptures by St. Gregory, pope, from whom 
he received the order of priesthood, and 
returned to his own country. He visited 
Gobban, abbot of Leighlin, some time after- 
wards, who voluntarily resigned to him his 
monastery, and sought an establishment in 
another place for himself and his monks. 

The monastery of Leighlin became cele- 
brated under St. Laserian ; there were 
monks in it to the number of 1500.* The 
celebration of Easter was, at that time, the 
subject of frequent debates ; a synod was 
convened on the banks of the Barrow, be- 
tween Laughlin and Sliev-Margey, to take 
it into consideration. This matter was de- 
bated between St. Laserian and Munnu, 
abbot of an abbey called Teach-Munnu, 
which he had founded in the territory of 
Kinseallagh. As each was inflexible in his 
own opinion, the synod terminated without 
deciding upon any thing ; wherefore St. 
Laserian returned to Rome, where he was 
honorably received by Pope Honorius I., 
who consecrated him bishop and sent him 
back to Ireland in the capacity of legate, 
with instructions for the faithful respecting 
the Easter.f He succeeded so well in this 
mission, that he brought back the southern 
Scots to the observance of the true Easter.J 
He died the 18th of April, 638, and was 
interred in the church of Leighlin, which 
he had founded. 

The bishopric of Cork was founded by St. 
Barr, or Finbar, called Lochan at his bap- 
tism ; he was from the province of Con- 
naught.^ This saint founded a cathedral 
church in the seventh century ; and after 
being bishop of it for seventeen years, ac- 
cording to some but seven, he died at Cloyne, 
fifteen miles from his cathedral, on the 25th 
of September ; the year, however, is un- 
known.! His body was brought to Cork 
and honorably interred in his church, where 

* Usser. Prim. Eccles. Brit. cap. 17, page 926. 

t " Pope Honorius sent letters to the nation of 
the Scots, whom, in their observance of the Easter, 
he had found to be in error." — Bede's C. Hist. 
b. 2, c. 19. 

t " Moreover, the Scots who inhabited the south 
of Ireland, had, long before this, paid attention to 
the pope's mandate, for their observance of the 
Easter." — Bede. 

§ Usser. Ind. Chron. note ad an. 630. War. de 
Epist. Corcagiens. 

|| War. de Antiq. c. 29. 



his relics were afterwards deposited, in a 
silver shrine.* In his time there was a 
celebrated school at Cork, which produced 
a great number of saints and learned men. 
According to Dempster, he was the author 
of the epistle on the ceremonies of baptism, 
which is generally ascribed to Alcuin. 

Suibhne, surnamed Mean, son of Fiachra, 
and great-grandson of Murtough-Mac-Earca, 
succeeded Maolchaba, a. d. 615. He reign- 
ed thirteen years, and was killed by Congal, 
son of Scanlan, king of Ulster, at the battle 
of Traigbhrene, leaving the sceptre to 
Domhnall, brother of the monarch Maol- 
chaba. 

Domhnall II., brother of Maolchaba, and 
son of Hugue II., of the race of Niall the 
Great, by Conall Gulban, ascended the 
throne, a. d. 628. This monarch was both 
a good Christian and a wise king ; he gov- 
erned his subjects with much prudence, 
and gained several victories over his ene- 
mies. His humility was so great, that when 
he asked St. Fechin for the penance, and 
remission of a crime he had committed, he 
prostrated himself upon the earth, and al- 
lowed the saint to walk on him. The crime 
was, the revision which that monarch wished 
to make of the boundaries and dynasties 
belonging to the southern Hy-Nialls, and in 
consequence of which he made war against 
them. 

Meath, which had been the domain of 
the monarchs of Ireland from the reign of 
Tuathal-Teachtmar in the second century, 
was divided into territories and dynasties in 
the reign of Niall, surnamed Noygiollach, 
at the end of the fourth century, and divided 
between his eight sons ;f whose descend- 
ants, called the Hy-Nialls, were formed into 
two tribes, namely, the northern and south- 
ern Hy-Nialls, from the situation of their 
respective territories. 

The northern Hy-Nialls, namely, the four 
sons of Niall, called Eogan, Conall-Gulban, 
Eana, and Carbre, with their followers, in- 
vaded Ulster, where they seized upon the 
vast districts of Tir-Eogan, Tirconnel, Tir- 
Eana, Carbre-Gaura, and the environs of 
Lough Erne. 

It appears that those princes had pre- 
served their possessions in Meath for some 
time : we discover that in the time of St. 
Patrick, Carbre was in possession of Tail- 
ton and the parts adjoining ; that some lands 
in West-Meath and in Connaught, belonged 



* Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 14 Mart. 
t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Fechini, ad 20 Jan. c. 
24, cum notis. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



181 



to Eana ; the same may be supposed of the 
other two.* Their great possessions, how- 
ever, in Ulster, made them afterwards 
abandon those in Meath, which were not 
so considerable, and which became, by de- 
grees, blended with the possessions of the 
southern Hy-Nialls. 

As the monarchs were sometimes chosen 
from one of those tribes, and sometimes from 
another, the recovery of those ancient pos- 
sessions, by placing the northern Hy-Nialls 
nearer to the court of Tara, where the elec- 
tions took place, would have enabled them 
to secure the votes in the elections for a 
monarch. Those were the political motives 
which influenced Domhnall, and the secret 
cause' which induced him to march an army 
into Meath, in order to oblige the southern 
Hy-Nialls to accede to his wishes. Alarmed 
at this step of the monarch, the southern 
Hy-Nialls assembled their vassals, made 
them take up arms, and prepared to defend 
themselves ; but on seeing that they were 
inferior in numbers to the royal army, they 
implored the mediation of St. Fechin, abbot 
of the abbey of Fouar, in Westmeath, of 
which he was the founder. This saint was 
of noble descent, but was still more cele- 
brated for his virtues, and high reputation 
of sanctity. Having complied with their 
request, he went to meet the monarch, who 
was advancing with rapid strides at the head 
of his army, and reproached him with his 
rashness and injustice, in endeavoring to 
disturb a possession of two hundred years. 
The monarch was at first deaf to his remon- 
strances ; but the saint having recourse to 
prayer, God displayed such prodigies as 
moved the monarch, whose conscience was 
timid, and already under the influence of 
religion ; thus, seeing hereby that the ele- 
ments appeared to vindicate the will of 
Heaven, he relinquished his enterprise, made 
peace with the southern Hy-Nialls, and 
humbly submitted to the penance which the 
saint imposed on him. He spent the re- 
mainder of his days in the practice of pen- 
ance and virtue ; among other good works, 
he endowed the monastery of Cong, which 
St. Fechin had founded, and which Grati- 
anus Lucius calls " Ccenobium Congense." 

This pious monarch died in the odor of 
sanctity, at Artfothad, since called Rath- 
Domhnall, in the district of Tyrconnel, after 
a reign of fourteen years, and an illness 
which confined him, for the space of eighteen 
months, to his bed, in which state the sacra- 

* Jocelin, Vit. S. Patr. c. S3, et'Vit. Trip. lib. 9, 
cap. 4. 



ment was administered to him every Sun- 
day, a.d. 642.* 

The bishopric of Lismore was founded 
about the beginning of the seventh century, 
by St. Carthagh, who was also called Mach- 
uda.f This saint was descended from 
Fergus, of the race of Ire, father of Kiar, 
from whom the county of Kerry derived its 
name. 

Carthagh having left his native country 
in his youth, founded a monastery at Rath- 
ene, in Westmeath : he was first abbot of it, 
and it is said that he was at the head of a 
great number of monks there for forty years, 
who at one time amounted to 867.J He 
established a particular and very rigid order 
for this house ; the monks lived by their 
labor, and on the vegetables which they cul- 
tivated with their own hands, like those of 
La Trappe. This order was afterwards 
blended with that of the regular canons of 
St. Augustin. 

The high reputation for austerity and 
sanctity of the monks of Rathene, drew 
upon them the envy and displeasure of those 
of another monastery in the neighborhood, 
and obliged them to leave their establish- 
ment. Carthagh led them to the district of 
Desie, near Portlargi, (Waterford,) where 
he was received with respect by the prince 
of the territory, who assigned him a place 
called Dunsginne, and since Lismore. Hav- 
ing settled his monks there, he founded a 
cathedral, of which he was first bishop, and 
a celebrated school, which was much fre- 
quented, not only by the natives, but like- 
wise by a number of foreigners, who applied 
themselves in it to the study of true philo- 
sophy.^ 

The historians of the country affirm, that 
St. Cataldus, afterwards bishop of Tarentum, 
had been for some time over the schools at 
Lismore ; Bartholomew Moron says the same 
thing in his life : St. Cataldus must there- 
fore have lived in the seventh century, after 
St. Carthagh, who had founded the schools, 
rather than in the second, as Moron ad- 



* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 4, Grat. Luc. c. 9. 

t War. de Episc. Lismor. 

t Usser. Prim. c. 17, p. 910. Act. Sanct. Hib. 
10 Feb. in not. ad Vit. S. Cron. 

§ " Lismore is a holy city, into the half of which, 
there being an asylum, no woman dare enter : it 
was filled with cells and holy monasteries, and a 
number of holy men are always in it. The religious 
flow to it from every part of Ireland, England, and 
Britain, anxious to emigrate to Christ ; and the city 
itself is situate on the southern bank of the river 
formerly called Nem, lately called Aben-Mor, i. e. 
a great river in the district of Nandesus." — Alle- 
mand's Monastic History of Ireland. 



182 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



vances ; no Christian schools having been 
as yet, either at Lismore, or in any other 
part of Ireland. The great number of Chris- 
tians who (he says) had been in this coun- 
try in the time of St. Cataldus, proves that 
he was mistaken respecting the age in 
which that saint lived. 

Killaloe, situated in the county of Clare, 
on the right bank, and west of the river 
Shannon, near the famous cataract above 
Limerick, which interrupts the navigation of 
the river, derives its name from St. Molua, 
who had founded a church there in the be- 
ginning of the sixth century, of which he 
was abbot.* In the annals of Innisfail, and 
in most of the histories of the country, this 
place is called Kill-da-Lua, which signifies 
the church of Lua, which was the real name 
of that saint. St. Flannan, son of king 
Theodoric, and disciple of St. Molua, was 
consecrated first bishop of this see about 
the year 639, at Rome, by Pope John IV. 
During his episcopacy, Theodoric endowed 
this church liberally^ and was interred in it 
by his son, the bishop having died at an 
advanced age. 

The monastery of Achad-Garvan, now 
Dungarvan, in the territory of Desie, was 
founded by St. Garban, or Garvan, son of 
Finbarr, and disciple of the great St. Barr, 
bishop of Cork.f 

The monastery of Teach-Molaige, or 
Tulach-Mhin, in the territory of Fera- 
Muighe, in the county of Cork, was founded 
by St. Molagga.J 

The abbey of Tirdaglass, diocese of Kil- 
laloe, on the river Shannon, was founded 
by St. Colman-Stellan.^ 

In this reign we may place the founda- 
tion of two monasteries for females by Saint 
Darerca, surnamed Maenen, of the race of 
the Clanna-Rorys, the first of which was 
that of Fochard, in the territory of Conall- 
Murthemne, in the county of Louth, in me 
mory of St. Bridget, who was born in that 
place : there have been canonesses to the 
number of one hundred and fifty in that 
house. || The second was that of Kilsleve, 
or Kilslebe, in the territory of Ardmach, 
founded by the same saint, whom Colgan 
takes care not to confound with the abbess 
of Lin, who was sister of St. Patrick, and 
also called Darerca. 

St. Aedan, or Aidus, surnamed Dubh, 
that is, the Black, king of Leinster, having 

* War. de Episc. Laonens. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Garvan, ad 26 Mart 

t Act. Hib. Vit. S. Molag. ad 20 Jan. 

$ Ibid. pp. 12 et 14, 142 et 247. 

II Usser. Prim. Eccles. Ind. Chron. ad an. 630. 



abdicated the throne, became a monk, and 
founded a monastery for regular canons at 
Kildare, of which he was abbot, and after- 
wards bishop.* 

St. Fechin, an abbot and anchorite, was 
celebrated for the retired life he led, and the 
great number of religious houses which he 
founded in this and the two following reigns. 
His father was Coelcharn, of the race of 
Eocha-Fion-Fuothairt, brother of Conn- 
Keadcaha ; and his mother Lassar was de- 
scended from the kings of Munster.f 

This saint founded the monasteries of 
Easdara, Bile-Fechin, Kill-Na-Manach, and 
Druim-Ratha, for regular canons, in the 
diocese of Achonry, where he was born ; the 
abbey of Kill-Na-Garban, in the territory of 
Coistolo ; the abbey of Cong, between the 
lakes Mask and Corrib, on the frontiers of 
the counties of Galway and Mayo. 

This house was built and endowed by 
Domhnall II., who became monarch of the 
island four years afterwards. Cong was a 
celebrated place, for having been the resi- 
dence of the kings of Connaught, and a 
number of fine churches, as may be discov- 
ered by the extensive ruins which remain. 

The monasteries of Inaidh and Ard-Oilen, 
two islands in the river Shannon. He also 
founded the monastery of Tibraid, in the ter- 
ritory of Maine, that is, in southern Teafha, 
which comprised a part of Westmeath and 
Analy, now the county of Longford, and that 
of Tulach-Fobhair, near Naas, in the county 
of Kildare. 

Lastly, St. Fechin founded the monastery 
of Foure, in the territory of Dealna-Mor, in 
a pleasant valley called Fobhair, or Fovar, 
in which there were 300 monks under the 
rigid order of that saint. Mortification was 
practised in it to a high degree. Cambrensis 
says that women were not allowed to enter 
the convent, nor even the mill belonging to 

Saint Fechin died in 664, of a plague, 
called in the Scotic language, " Buidhe- 
Chonnaill," which had carried off a great 
number, both of the clergy and the people, 
without sparing even the crowned heads. 
Blathmac and Dermod II., who governed the 
island together, Cais, or Caius Gan-Mathuir, 



* Trias. Thaum. App. 5, ad Vit. S. Brigid. p. 629. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Fechin, App. c. 2. 

t " In Meath, at Fovar, there is a mill which holy 
Fechinus excavated with his own hands, out of the 
side of a rock. Neither into this, nor into the 
church of the saint, entered a woman ; the mill 
was held in equal veneration by the natives, as one 
of the churches of the saint."- — Allemand's Manas- 
tic History of Ireland, page 41. 



cmilS'l'lAN IRELAND. 



183 



king of Minister, and several other princes, 
fell victims to this contagion, which is men- 
tioned hy Bede, in accordance with the his- 
torians of the country.* 

Conall, surnamed Claon, son of Maolcha- 
ba, of the race of Niall the Great, by Conall 
Gulban, succeeded Domhnall, a. d. 642. 
This prince, according to the general cus- 
tom of the time, shared the government with 
his brother Kellach. They reigned in peace, 
but ended their lives differently ; the former 
having been killed in a combat against Der- 
mod, and the latter died a natural death at 
Brugh, on the river Boyne. 

St. Sacer, otherwise Mosacer and Mo- 
sacra, of the race of the Clanna-Rorys, 
founded in the reign of these princes the 
monastery of Teach-Sacra, near Taulaght, 
within three miles of Dublin. t 

The monastery of Glasmore, in the terri- 
tory of Desies, was founded about the same 
time by St. Cronan, known by the name of 
St. Mochua, disciple of Saint Carthagh, for 
regular canons of St. Augustin. St. Cronan 
was killed in his abbey of Glasmore, with 
all his monks, by Danish or Norwegian pi- 
rates, who made a descent on the country 
in the seventh century. | 

We may also place about this time the 
foundation of a monastery in the territory 
of Hy-Cairbre, county of Lomneach, (Lime- 
rick,) called Kil-Mochelloe, or Kilmallock, 
from the name of St. Machelloc, of the race 
of Conare, monarch of the island, by whom 
it was founded. § 

Blathmac and Dermod, surnamed Ruaidh- 
naigh, brothers, and children of Hugue III., 
ascended the throne, a. d. 854 ; and after a 
reign of ten years, were carried off, with a 
considerable number of their subjects, by a 
plague which ravaged the whole island, 
a. d. 665.|| 

The abbey of Cluain-Dolchain, in the 
county of Dublin, near the frontiers of Meath, 
was founded in this reign by St. Machua.H 

* " In the 664th year of our redemption, on the 
3d day of May, about the tenth hour, in which year 
there was a sudden pestilence, whereby the south- 
ern parts of Britain were depopulated, and also ex- 
tended into the province of Northumberland. This 
plague spread itself still more widely, and destroyed 
in its ravages great numbers of people." — Bede's 
Church History, c. 27, b. 3. 

t Act. Sanet. Hib. Vit. S. Sac. ad 3 Mart. Al- 
lemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 8. 

t Act. Sanet. Vit. S. Cronan, ad 10 Feb. Allem. 
Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 52. 

§ Ibid. Vit. S. Mochelloc, ad 26 Mart. Allem. 
page 60. 

|| Bed. lib. 3, c. 26, et Act. Sanet. Hib. p. 603. 

IT Act Sanet. Hib. Vit. S. Ferfugill. ad 10 Mart. 
Allemand, Hist. Monast. page 8. 



The monastery of Inis-Bo-Fin, a mari- 
time island on the western coast of Con- 
naught, was founded in 664 by St. Colman, 
bishop of Lindisfarn, in England.* 

The abbey of Mayo was first founded by 
St. Colman, for regular canons of St. Augus- 
tin, and afterwards finished by his disciple 
St. Gerald, abbot of Winton in England, 
who accompanied that bishop to Ireland, 
whom Ragallach, king of Connaught, sup- 
plied with funds for this purpose.! The 
same St. Gerald founded the abbey of Ely- 
theria, or Templegerard, in the county of 
Mayo, for regular canons.^ 

Lastly, St. Gerald founded a monastery 
at Mayo for nuns, of which his sister, St. 
Segresia, was abbess. 

Seachnusach, son of Blathmac, succeed- 
ed his father and his uncle, and was killed, 
after a reign of six years, by Dubh Duin, of 
Kenel-Cairbre, a. d. 671. 

Kionn-Faola, brother of Seachnusach, 
succeeded him on the throne, a.d. 671 ; he 
reigned but four years, having been killed 
at the famous battle of Kealtrach, in the 
territory of Thuomond, a.d. 675. 

Fionachta, surnamed Fleadhach, which 
signifies hospitable, son of Dunchada, and 
grandson of Hugue III., surnamed Slaine, 
succeeded Kionn-Faola. § This pious prince 
being desirous of renouncing the world, and 
of devoting himself to the service of God, 
retired into a monastery about the twelfth 
year of his reign ; the affairs of state, how- 
ever, joined to the solicitations of the great 
men, induced him to leave the convent be- 
fore the end of his novitiate, and resume 
the reins of government. 

This monarch gave battle to the people 
of Leinster, at Lochgabhair in Meath, near 
Kells, in which several of the provincial 
troops lost their lives ; he then, at the re- 
quest of St. Moling, suppressed the tribute 
called " Boiroimhe-Laighean," which the 
monarch Tuathal-Teacht-Mar, one of his 
ancestors, had imposed on that province in 
the second century, and which had caused 
so much blood to flow.|| 

It was in the reign of this monarch that 
the English, by order of Ecgfrid, king of 
the Northumbrians, made a descent upon 
Ireland. In the year of the Incarnation of 
our Lord 684, (says Bede,) Ecgfrid, king of 

* Bede, Hist. Eccles. lib. 4, c. 4. 

t Act. Sanet. Hib. Vit. Gerald, ad 13 Mart. 
War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. 

t Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 78, et 
seq. 

§ Grat. Luc. cap. 8. Keating's Hist, of Ireland. 

jl War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 4. 



184 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the Northumbrians, having sent General 
Berte with an army to Ireland, plundered 
that unoffending people, (who had been 
always friendly and well-disposed towards 
the English,) without sparing either churches 
or monasteries ; however, the Irish used all 
their efforts, and repelled force by force.* 
Thus, this attack of the Saxons was attend- 
ed by no other result than the pillaging of 
some villages on the coasts of the island. 

In the reign of this monarch, Cumasgach, 
king of the Picts, invaded this island with 
all his forces ; but he was killed by the 
islanders at the battle of Rathmore, in Meath, 
in the barony of Lune, and his army cut to 
pieces. 

After a reign of twenty years, Fionnachta 
lost his life, together with his crown, at the 
battle of Greallach-Dolling, a. d. 695, and is 
placed in the martyrology, on the 14th of 
November, the day on which he is honored 
as a saint. 

In the reign of this pious monarch, some 
religious houses were founded ; namely, 
the abbey of Lusk, in the county of Dublin, 
by St. Colga.f 

The abbey of Achadh-Dubtuigh, in the 
district of Ly, on the banks of the river 
Bann, in the county of Antrim, was found- 
ed by Saint Guaire, or Goar, of the race of 
Colla-Huais.J 

The abbey of Both-Chonais, in the dis- 
trict of Inis-Owen, county of Donegal, was 
founded by St. Congellus, of the race of 
Eogan, son of Niall the Great, from whom 
the illustrious tribe of the O'Neills are de- 
scended. This saint is not the same as he 
who had founded the abbey of Beanchuir, 
in the county of Down.§ 

The priory of Inchenemeo, (an island of 
Lough-Derg, in the river Shannon,) which 
signifies the island of the living, called the 
priory of St. Hilary, was founded by Saint 
Donan. This house, which consisted of 
regular canons, was removed to Corball, or 
Kilbara, a small place on the borders of that 
lake.ll 

The priory of Thome was founded in the 

* " In the year of our Lord 684, Egfridus, king 
of the Northumbrians, sent, under the command of 
Eertus, an army to devastate the country, and 
destroy an unoffending people, who had been most 
friendly to the English ; neither churches nor mon- 
asteries were spared : they were repulsed by the 
natives." — Bede. 

t Act. Sanet. Hib. Vit. S. Colg. ad 20 Feb. 

t Ibid, in Vit. S. Maidoe. ad 30 Jan. Append, c. 
2, page 223. 

§ Allemand, Hist. Monast. page 94. Act. Sanct. 
Hib. Vit. S. Christie, ad 3 Mart. 

|| Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 67. 



same century, by the same St. Donan ; this 
priory belonged to the house of Corball, 
which we have just mentioned. 

Loingseach, son of Aongus, grandson of 
Domhnall II., and great-grandson of Hugue 
II., surnamed Slaine, of the race of Here- 
mon, succeeded Fionnachta-Fleadhach. 

In the reign of that monarch the Britons 
and Saxons made an attempt upon Ireland ; 
they laid waste the plain of Muirtheimne, at 
present the county of Louth ; but they were 
repulsed by Loingseach, and forced to aban- 
don their enterprise. They were afterwards 
totally defeated by the Ulster troops at 
Moigh-Cuillin, or Ire-Conaght, in the county 
of Galway. 

There was in this reign a dreadful mur- 
rain among the cattle, followed by a famine, 
that lasted for three years. After a reign 
of nine years, this monarch was killed, with 
his three sons, Ardgall, Consac, and Flan, 
at the battle of Cormin, by Kellach, son of 
Ragallach, king of Connaught, a. d. 704. 

Congall, surnamed Kionmaghair, son of 
Feargus-Fanuid, and descendant of Niall 
the Great, by Conall-Gulban, ascended the 
throne. He took delight to put away every 
year the hostages which the provinces were 
accustomed to give the monarchs, in order 
to reclaim them by arms. He was always 
at war with the people of Leinster to avenge 
the death of Hugh II., (son of Ainmire, his 
great-grandfather,) who had been killed by 
them at the battle of Beallach-Dunbolg. 
This unhappy prince became at length a 
persecutor of the church and clergy ; but 
the divine vengeance arrested his career by 
a sudden death, a. d. 711. 

Feargall, son of Maolduin, and great- 
grandson of Hugh IV., surnamed Vairionach, 
succeeded Congall. The inhabitants of 
Britain, who frequently made their attacks 
on Ireland for the sake of plunder, arrived, 
during the reign of this monarch, in Ulster, 
where, after a bloody engagement fought at 
Cloch-Mionuire, they were entirely routed 
by the Dalriads and other tribes of Ulster. 

Although Fionachta forgave the people of 
Leinster the tribute which they were obliged 
to pay to the monarch, it appears that some 
of his successors still laid claim to it. Fear- 
gall, being irritated with the Leinster men, 
whether from their refusal to pay the tribute, 
or from some other motives of dissatisfaction, 
entered their country with an army of 2 1 ,000 
men. Mourough-Mac-Broin, king of the 
province, at the head of but 9,000, met the 
monarch at Almhuine, at present Allen, in 
the county of Kildare. The disproportion 
of the two armies would seem, at first view, 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



185 



to decide in favor of the monarch ; but a 
panic spreading on a sudden through his 
soldiers, lost to him the victory and his life, 
besides one hundred and sixty lords, of his 
attendants. The historians of the country 
make the loss, on both sides, amount to 
7,000 men, a. d. 722. 

Fogartach, son of Niall, and grandson of 
Kearnagh, of the race of Niall the Great, by 
Conall- Cream thine, Dermod, and Hugh III., 
surnamed Slaine, obtained the supreme gov- 
ernment of the island ; but he saw, almost 
at the same time, the beginning and end of 
his reign, as, about the close of the year, 
he was killed at the battle of Delgan, or 
Kindelgin, a. d. 724. 

Kionath, son of Jargallach, and descend- 
ed from Niall the Great, by Conall-Cream- 
thine, Dermod, and Hugh-Slaine, was suc- 
cessor to Fogartach. 

This monarch fought a battle with prince 
Flahertach at Dromorcain, where his army 
was entirely defeated, and himself found 
among the slain.* 

He was succeeded by Flahertach, a. d. 
727 : this prince was son of Loinseach the 
monarch, of the royal race of Niall the 
Great, by Conall Gulban. In the reign of 
this monarch, Hugue, surnamed Ollan, at the 
head of his vassals declared war against 
the Clanna-Nialls of Ulster, which was 
ended by the battle of Fotharta, in the ter- 
ritory of Muirthiemne, (Louth,) in which 
Hugue Roin, king of that province, lost his 
life. The cause of this war was the sacri- 
lege committed by Hugh Roin in several 
churches in the diocese of Ardmach, which 
he had pillaged, and the complaints advanced 
against him by Congus, then archbishop and 
confessor of Hugue Ollan, in a poem which 
he had composed on that subject. f 

Flahertach, regardless of the royal dig- 
nity and splendors of the world, withdrew, 
after a reign of seven years, to Ardmach, 
a. d. 734, where he embraced the monastic 
state, and spent the last thirty years of his 
life in the practice of austerities. { This 
circumstance occurred while Congus was 
archbishop of that see. 

Flahertach was the last monarch of Ire- 
land of the race of Conall-Gulban, son 
of Niall the Great ; the O'Domhnaills, or 
O'Donnels, the eldest branch of that illus 
trious tribe, have always supported the 
splendor of hereditary princes of Tyrcon 
nel. The present chief of that very an 
cient and noble family is O'Donnel, son of 

* Trias Thaum. 7, Vit. S. Part. cap. 7, p. 130. 
t War. de Archiepisc. Armach. 
4 Trias Thaum. page 294. 



Hugue, a general officer in the service of 
her majesty, the empress queen, well known 
for his military exploits, not only in the last 
war against the Turks, but also in the pres- 
ent war with Prussia. 

Hugue V., surnamed Ollan, son of Fear- 
gall the monarch, of the race of Niall by 
Eogan, took possession of the throne which 
had become vacant by the abdication of Fla- 
hertach. This prince was learned, and a 
severe revenger of any injuries committed 
against the Church. He held an assembly 
at Tirda-Glass, in the district of Ormond, 
at which Cahall, son of Fionguine, king of 
Munster, and several other princes, were 
assembled respecting the payment of St. 
Patrick's tribute throughout the whole isl- 
and. In the reign of this monarch a disas- 
trous war broke out between the provinces 
of Munster and Leinster ; the two armies 
having engaged at Beallach-Feile, in the 
King's county, the success was for a long 
time doubtful ; but at length victory declared 
in favor of Cathal, king of Munster, and 
Keallach, prince of Ossory, was found 
among the slain. The battle of Athsea- 
nuigh, which was fought some time after- 
wards between the people of Leinster and 
the monarch, was more fatal to the Provin- 
cialists, having lost the greater part of their 
nobility, with Hugue, son of Colman their 
king, and about 9000 of their best troops. 

Cahall, son of Fionguine, king of Mun- 
ster, and Hugue Balve, king of Connaught, 
contemporaries of this monarch, both died 
in his reign. He himself ended his days, 
some time afterwards, at the battle of Kean- 
nanus, in Meath, which his successor had 
gained over him. 

Domhnall III., son of Mourrough, de- 
scended in the eleventh degree from Niall 
the Great, by Conall Crimthine and Der- 
mod the monarch, ascended the throne, a. 
d. 743 ; his reign was long and peaceful. 
In his time the Picts made incursions into 
Leinster ; they were, however, totally de- 
feated by the Leinster troops at Rath-Bea- 
thach, in the district of Ossory, where Ca- 
hasach, their king, was slain. 

Domhnall being a prince endowed with 
the love of religion, was induced, through 
piety, to make a pilgrimage to the island 
of Hy-Columb-Kill, where he died in peace, 
after a reign of 20 years, a. d. 763. 

We may place in this reign the founda- 
tion of two religious houses, one for men 
and the other for females : namely, the ab- 
bey of Taulacht, three miles from Dublin, 
which Colgan calls " Monasterium Tamlac- 



186 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



tense," founded by Saint Moelruan ;* and 
a monastery for females at Doire-Mell, in 
eastern Brefny, now Cavan, founded by St. 
Tigernach for his mother Saint Mell.f 

Niall, surnamed Frassach, son of Fear- 
gall, and brother of Hugue V., succeeded 
Domhnall a. d. 763. 

The peace which the kingdom enjoyed 
during his reign was embittered by a gen- 
eral famine and frequent earthquakes, which 
spread desolation throughout the land. 

This prince, who ardently desired to lead 
a more perfect life than what is generally 
spent upon a throne, abdicated it, after a 
reign of seven years, and withdrew to the 
island of Hy, where he passed the last eight 
years of his life in the practices of penance, 
a. d. 770. 

Donchada, son of Domhnall III., govern- 
ed the island after Niall ; and after a reign 
of twenty-seven years, spent in peace and 
the practice of good works, he died a natu- 
ral death, a. d. 797. 

We may here introduce the foundation 
of the priory of Damliag, or Duleek, in the 
territory of Bregh in Meath, dedicated to 
the blessed Virgin, of which St. Cathmas 
was abbot in this reign. 

The abbey of Clontuoskirt was founded 
about this time for regular canons of St. 
Augustin, by St. Boadan, who was first ab- 
bot of it.} 



CHAPTER XII. 

As we have now come to the period of 
the invasion of Ireland by the Danes, we 
must interrupt the history of the succession 
of her kings to verify the real state of reli- 
gion among the Irish at that time ; it will 
be found in the following chapter, together 
with the wars of those barbarians. 

The church of Ireland was already well 
founded, from the time of the apostleship 
of St. Patrick, and the Christian religion 
well established in this country. There 
were bishops and pastors everywhere ; 
every canton had its church, and every 
church its pastor. It is probable that a 
diocese was not then considerable ; where 
as, in the time of St. Patrick, there were 
more than three hundred bishops in this 
island, where at present there are not forty. 

* Act. Sanct. Vit. S. jEnguss. ad 11 Mart, 
t Act. Sanct. Vit. S. Mell, ad 31 Mart. 
t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 2G. Allein. Hist 
Monast. d'Irlande, page 77. 



Without speaking of the three first ages 
of Christianity — a period in which we find, 
in other parts of Europe, Scoto-Milesians 
who were eminent for the sanctity of their 
lives both as bishops and monks ; who had 
been fortunate enough to leave their own 
country, which was still in a state of idol- 
atry ; unacquainted also with Christianity, 
except what they learned from the accounts 
of travellers — the fourth century gave birth 
to the four great precursors of St. Patrick, 
namely, St. Ailbe, St. Declan, St. Ibar, and 
St. Kieran. These holy men, who converted 
several districts in the island, founded some 
considerable abbeys, of which they them- 
selves were abbots, and afterwards bishops. 

Usher, according to an ancient authen- 
tic manuscript, discriminates three different 
classes of saints in Ireland, which corre- 
spond with the fifth and sixth centuries.* 

The first class, called very holy, existed 
in the time of St. Patrick, who, after Jesus 
Christ, was head of them ; this class, com- 
posed of three hundred and fifty celebrated 
bishops, was filled with the holy spirit, and 
were all the founders of churches ; they had 
the same mass, the same liturgy, and the 
same tonsure from one ear to the other. 
They celebrated Easter on the fourteenth of 
the moon, after the vernal equinox. What- 
ever was excommunicated by one church, 
was the same by all : neither did they 
shun the assistance nor the conversation of 
women, because, being founded by Jesus 
Christ, as upon a firm rock, they never 
dreaded the breath of temptation. In fine, 
this class, which consisted of subjects from 
different nations, but principally Scoto-Mile- 
sians, lasted during the reigns of four mon- 
archs successively, beginning with Laogare. 

The second class consisted of priests to 
the number of three hundred, among whom 
there were some few bishops. They ac- 
knowledged but one head, namely, Jesus 
Christ ; they had different liturgies and dif- 
ferent masses ; they celebrated the Easter 
on the fourteenth of the moon, as those of 
the first class ; they had likewise the same 
tonsure from ear to ear ; but they never 
spoke to women. This class continued also 
for four reigns, beginning with Tuathal. 

The principal saints of this class were 
the two Finians, the two Brendans, Jarlath 
of Tuam, Congall, Coemgin, Kieran, Co- 
lumb, Cannech, Lasren, Eugene Mac-Lais- 
re, Luge Cormac, Colman, Nessan, Lasrea, 
Barrinde, Coeman, Conan, Ende, Aide,.Ber- 
chan, and many others. 

* Usser. Priraord. Eccles. Brit. oap. 17, p. 913. 



CHRISTIAN 1KF.LAN1I. 



187 



The third and last class comprised several 
holy priests, to the number of one hundred, 
among whom there were some bishops : 
they inhabited the woods and desert places, 
drinking nothing but water, and lived upon 
herbs, which they cultivated themselves, in 
nearly the same manner as the monks of La 
Trappe. They possessed no property ; fol- 
lowed different rules and different liturgies ; 
had different tonsures — some were shaved, 
and others wore their hair ; they also dif- 
fered in the celebration of the Easter, some 
observing it on the fourteenth day of the 
moon, others the thirteenth, and some on 
the sixteenth. This class likewise lasted 
during four reigns, till the time of Hugue 
III., surnamed Slaine, in the beginning of 
the seventh century. 

The principal bishops of this class were 
Petran, TJltan, Colman, Edan, Loman, Se- 
nach, and others ; the priests were Fechin, 
Foilan, Coman, Colman, Ernan, Cronan, 
and many others. 

The sanctity of those three classes is char- 
acterized in the monument quoted by Usher. 
The first class, he says, was very holy, the 
second less so, and the third still less than 
the second.* However, those who composed 
the last class, though inferior to the others 
in perfection, would be looked upon in the 
present age as inimitable models of mortifi- 
cation and sanctity. 

Usher quotes a second manuscript which 
he had seen, that mentioned those three 
classes or orders of saints in Ireland ; the 
first order, according to this manuscript, was 
as brilliant as the meridian sun in all its 
force ; the second pale like the moon, and 
the third shone like Aurora.! 

Although it may be supposed that those 
three different classes of saints should belong 
to the two centuries which followed the 
preaching of St. Patrick, still, if we compare 
them with the vision of that apostle, quoted 
by Jocelin, we may apply them allegorically 
to the different states of religion in Ireland, 
from the preaching of the gospel till the 
twelfth century, and the arrival of the Eng- 
lish in this island.J 

St. Patrick, says Jocelin, filled with ap- 
prehensions for the church he had founded 
offered up a fervent prayer to God, to know 
what its destiny would be in future ages. 

* " The first order was most holy, the second order 
more holy, and the third holy ; the first was ardent 
as the sun, the second as the moon, and the third as 
a star." 

t " The first, like the sun, was warmed by the 
fervor of its brightness ; the second, pale as the 
moon ; the third shone as Aurora." — Usher. 

X Vit. S. Fart. cap. 175. 



The Lord having heard his prayer, first 
presented to his view an island as if all on 
fire, and covered with a flame which raised 
itself to the skies ; he afterwards beheld only 
the tops of the mountains burning. Those 
first visions may be applied to the four first 
ages of Christianity in that island, when 
religion was still in all its splendor. But 
the eclipse occasioned by the incursions of 
the barbarians of the north in the ninth and 
tenth centuries, is strongly represented by 
the darkness which, according to the vision, 
had succeeded to the light, and by the thinly- 
scattered sparks which the saint beheld in 
the valleys, and the still lighted coals which 
lay concealed beneath the ashes. The light 
which the apostle saw coming from the 
north, and which, after dispelling the dark- 
ness, lighted the whole island, implies the 
re-establishment of religion after the expul- 
sion of the Danes ; which that author as- 
cribes to the zeal of the learned Celse, 
otherwise Celestine, Ceallach, or, in the 
language of the country, Kellach, who was 
archbishop of Armagh in the beginning of 
the twelfth centuiy, and of his successor, St. 
Malachi.* Jocelin here mentions, that the 
English claim the merit of having revived 
religion in that island ; but the decision of it 
he leaves to the judgments of God ; the 
vanity of their claim on that head we shall 
discover in the subsequent part of this his- 
tory. 

The difference which prevailed in the 
liturgy and tonsure, caused no schism in the 
church of Ireland. 

The first and most ancient liturgy of this 
new church took its origin from St. Mark ;t 
it was introduced into Provence, Languedoc, 
and some other provinces, by St. Cassian 
and St. Honoratius ; St. Germain and St. 
Loup established it in Gaul ; and St. Patrick 
brought it into Ireland, where it has been 
scrupulously observed by his disciples. 

This liturgy afterwards underwent some 
changes, both in this and other private 
churches, in which we discover different 
rituals and ceremonies. There were many 
other rites in this as well as in the Greek or 
Eastern church, and that of the Romans ; all 
these different liturgies continued in use for 
a considerable time, even till the end of the 
eleventh century, when Gilbert, bishop of 
Limerick, and apostolical legate, wrote a 
treatise on the manner of celebrating the 
mass and the divine service according to 



* War. de Archiepisc. Armach. 
t Usser. Primord. Eccles. cap. 17, page 916, 
et seq. 



188 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the Roman ritual, disapproving of every 
other.* 

With respect to the tonsure, it is affirmed 
that it had been instituted by St. Patrick in 
order to distinguish ecclesiastics from people 
of the world, by bearing an image and like- 
ness of the crown of thorns of our Saviour, 
or perhaps to afford them thereby the oppor- 
tunity of practising humility, and rendering 
them contemptible in the eyes of the Romans, 
who considered those crowns as marks of 
bondage and slavery, because slaves were 
sold by having a crown on their heads, 
" sub corona vendere solebant," to indicate 
that the prince authorized the sale. 

The tonsure of St. Peter and the western 
church, consisted in shaving the top of the 
head, as the bishops, priests, and Mandians 
do at present ; while the tonsure of the 
eastern church, which was that of St. Paul 
and St. James, adopted by the Benedictines, 
Celestines, and Bernardines, consisted in 
shaving the whole head, leaving only a small 
circle all around. 

Small tonsures were condemned by the 
council of Toledo as an abuse introduced 
into Spain by the heretics.! The Irish 
monks applied all those different tonsures, 
which are still in use among the monks and 
friars in Europe. There were also some 
who let their hair grow like the Nazarenes 
and modern Greek priests. 

The difference which prevailed among 
the Scoto-Milesians respecting the cele- 
bration of the Easter, was of much greater 
importance than that of the liturgy and the 
tonsure. The question concerning the Eas- 
ter, which was the subject of much debate 
in the time of popes St. Anicetus and St. 
Polycarp, and afterwards under pope St. 
Victor, was one of the reasons for convening 
the council of Nice, as the churches of Syria 
and Mesapotamia still followed the custom 
of the Jews in celebrating the Easter on the 
fourteenth of the moon, without considering 
whether it was Sunday or not ; the other 
churches, particularly that of the west, cele- 
brated Easter on Sunday. This affair having 

* " At the request and desire of many among 
you, O most illustrious brethren, I have endeavored 
to write a canonical rnle for the hours and perform- 
ing the office of the entire ecclesiastical system ; de- 
sirous to obey not an arbitrary but a most pious in- 
junction on your part, in order that the different and 
schismatical communities with whom almost the 
whole of Ireland abounds, may submit to the Roman 
Catholic discipline. What indeed can be named more 
indecorous or schismatical, than that the most learn- 
ed of an order should become the idiot and layman 
of another church." — Syllogisms, No. 30, p. 54. 

t Concil. Toletan. 4, can. 40. 



been duly weighed and examined into, the 
fathers of the council agreed to observe the 
Easter on the same day, and ordained that 
it should be fixed upon the Sunday imme- 
diately after the fourteenth of the moon, 
which was nearest after the vernal equinox, 
as it is indubitable that our Lord arose from 
the dead on the Sunday nearest to the pass- 
over of the Jews. 

The more easily to discover the first day 
of the moon, and consequently the fourteenth, 
the council ordained that the cycle of nine- 
teen years should be made use of, as at the 
expiration of that time the new moons 
return on nearly the same days of the solar 
year. Notwithstanding this decision of the 
council, there still remained some Quarto- 
Decimans firmly attached to the celebration 
of Easter on the fourteenth ; among others, 
the schismatic Audians in Mesapotamia. 

In the west there were only the Scoto- 
Milesians, Picts, and a few Britons, who 
continued in error respecting the Easter, 
which they celebrated from the fourteenth to 
the twentieth of the moon. Their error was 
not concerning the day, but the week, as 
they always celebrated their Easter on a 
Sunday :* in this they were not Quarto- 
Decimans, although the Romans have been 
pleased, says Usher, to suspect them of it, 
upon false representations.! 

The. letters of Laurence, archbishop of 
Canterbury, Pope Honorius, and John IV., 
one of his successors, quoted by the vener- 
able Bede, prove the obstinacy of the Scoto- 
Milesians in that custom. 

Laurence having succeeded St. Augustin, 
the apostle of England, his zeal was not 
confined to the English alone, whose chief 
pastor he was ; he knew that the ancient 
inhabitants of Britain, and the Scots of Ire- 
land, were in error respecting the Easter, 
which they celebrated from the fourteenth 
to the twentieth of the moon ; he wrote to 
them, in conjunction with the other bishops, 
a pastoral letter, exhorting them to preserve 
peace and unity of discipline with the uni- 
versal church of Jesus Christ.J 

* "Translated from line 13 to 17." — Bede's 
Church Hist. b. 3, c. 4. 

t " And still the Romans were pleased to call 
this not only a heresy, but even a new one from the 
old. According to Bede, they suspected (regard 
being had to the old Quartodecimans whose opinion 
being renewed by the Scots) that they had been 
deceived by the reports of some." — Usher's Church 
Hist. c. 17, p. 940. 

t " He applied his care not only to the new 
church among the English, but he likewise dis- 
played a pastoral solicitude both for the old inhab- 
itants of Britain, and to the Scots who inhabit 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



189 



Pope Honorius exhorts them to follow 
the decisions and the decrees of the councils 
respecting Easter : he says that a small 
number of the faithful, in the most remote 
part of the earth, should not think them- 
selves more wise than all the churches of the 
world.* John IV., successor to Severinus, 
supported by the apostolical authority with 
which he was invested, addressed to them a 
letter full of erudition, concerning the sub- 
ject of the Easter ; he strongly proves in it 
that, in conformity with the council of Nice, 
the Easter should be celebrated from the 
fifteenth to the twenty-first of the moon ; he 
also upbraids them that the Pelagian heresy 
was springing up anew among them, and 
exhorts them to be guarded against its poi- 
sonous effects.! 

It appears, however, that this error was 
new among the Irish, and that there were 
but some individuals among them that con- 
formed to it ;| among that number are reek- 



Ireland, neighboring on Britain. If he knew that 
among the Scots in their own country, or the Brit, 
ons in Britain itself, there were some who lived a 
less ecclesiastical life, particularly in their celebra- 
tion of the Easter, when they practised its observ- 
ance from the 14th of the moon to the 20th, as the 
Sunday of the resurrection of the Lord, he wrote, 
together with the other bishops, an epistolary ex- 
hortation to them, wherein he advises them to keep 
peace and unity in that Catholic Church which is 
spread over the world. The following is the be- 
ginning of his epistle : — ' The bishops Laurence, 
Mellitus, and Justus, servants of the servants of 
God, to their dearest brethren, the lords bishops and 
abbots throughout all Scotia.' " — Bede's Church 
History, b. 2, c. 4. 

* " The same bishop Honorius sent letters to the 
nation of the Scots, whom he found in error in their 
observance of the holy festival of Easter, exhorting 
them not to consider the paucity of their numbers, 
settled in a remote corner of the world, more wise 
than the ancient or modern churches of Christ 
which were spread over the world, and to celebrate 
no other Easter than that approved of and practised 
according to the synods of the popes." — Bede's 
Church History, b. 2, c. 19. 

t " The same John who succeeded Severinus, 
after being elected to the popedom, (in order to cor- 
rect the same error,) sent letters full of authority and 
erudition, plainly pointing out that the Sunday of 
Easter should be from the 15th to the 21st of the 
moon, according to the council of Nice. Likewise 
that the heresy of Pelagius, which he understood 
had been revived among them, should be guarded 
against and rejected. Of that epistle the following 
is the beginning :— ' To the dearest and most holy 
Thomianus, Columbanus, and the other doctors as 
well as abbots of the Scots, Hilarius, arch-presby 
ter, holding the place of the holy apostolical see, 
John Diaconus, and in the name of God being 
elected, &c.' " — Bede's Church History, b. 2, c. 
19. 

t " In the beginning of this epistle, it is' clearly 
pointed out, that, in very latter times, this heresy 



oned some of their greatest saints, viz., St. 
Columbanus, St.. Columbus, St. Aidan, St. 
Finian, St. Colman, the monks of the abbey 
of Hy, and many others among the northern 
Scots ; those of the south had already sub- 
mitted to the authority of the sovereign 
pontiff.* 

This species of schism did not break the 
link of charity between the saints and the 
other churches . Their conscience made them 
follow, in part, the example of St. John, who 
observed the law of Moses, without consid- 
ering that, in the time of this apostle, the 
church still adhered in many things to the 
Jewish law, the apostles not being able to re- 
ject at once all the observances of a law which 
God himself had given. The different cy- 
cles that were in use at different periods, 
might otherwise have caused a change in the 
observance of the Easter, particularly in a 
distant church, and not having the opportu- 
nity to consider the customs of the mother 
church. Even at Rome the cycle of eighty- 
four years was a long time in use ; the Scots 
had adopted it, with this difference, that they 
counted from the fourteenth to the twentieth 
of the moon, instead of which, the Romans 
calculated from the sixteenth to the twenty- 
second, whereby the one exceeded, perhaps, 
the bounds that were prescribed by the coun- 
cil of Nice, as well as that the other had taken 
precedence in it. 

The custom of the Alexandrine cycle of 
nineteen years, as explained by Denis le 
Petit, (according to which they made their 
calculations from the fifteenth to the twenty- 
first of the moon,) being still new among the 
Romans, might not be known to the Scoto- 
Milesians, and therefore their opposition to 
it could not affect their sanctity .f They 
performed miracles ; they drew a great num- 
ber of souls to God, whom they loved with- 
out affectation, and with simplicity, accom- 
panied'with goodness of intention ; and their 
hearts were so inflamed with the grace of 
charity, that they were worthy of being in- 
structed upon that point of discipline.^ 



sprang up among them, and some of the whole na- 
tion had been implicated in that heresy." — Bede's 
Church History, b. 2, c. 19. 

* " Moreover that the nation of the Scots, who 
inhabited the south of Ireland, had long since heark- 
ened to the admonitions of the pope in their observ- 
ance of celebrating Easter." — Bede, b. 3, c. 3. 

t " Neither do I think that this observance of 
Easter could cause any obstruction to them, as long 
as none had come who could point out what decrees 
of a more perfect institution they might follow." — 
Bede's Church History, b. 3, c. 25. 

t " But as they had not laid aside their fervor in 
charity, they have merited that the knowledge of 



190 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Adamnan, a priest from Ireland, and priest 
and abbot of the abbey of Hy, was one of 
those whom God inspired to bring back his 
countrymen, the Scots, to the canonical ob- 
servance of the Easter.* Having been sent 
by his country, says Bede, to Alfred, king 
of the Saxons, in Northumberland, he stop- 
ped for some time in the province, and had 
himself instructed in a matter which, at that 
time, had caused so much uneasiness.f The 
learned of the country whom he met with, 
advised him not to join in obstinacy with a 
few people in a distant corner of the earth, 
against the universal custom of the church, 
either in the observance of the Easter, 
or in any other matter which had been set- 
tled. 

Adamnan being convinced from authority, 
(as he was wise and very learned in the holy- 
Scriptures,) returned to his own monastery 
of Hy, with an intention of reclaiming the 
monks from their error ; but meeting with 
some difficulty in the undertaking, he passed 
over to Ireland, where he was more success- 
ful. The northern Scots he reclaimed almost 
entirely, and brought back to the true ob- 
servance of the Easter those religious houses 
which were not dependent on that of Hy 
He then returned to his island, where he 
died soon afterwards, with deep regret for 
the continued obduracy of his monks. 

The priest Ecgbert succeeded better : 
after having spent some time in Ireland, in 
the study of the holy Scriptures, he went to 
the isle of Hy,J where he was honorably 
received, and having made known there how 
the Easter should be observed, had the con 
solation of seeing the monks relinquish their 
unbending obduracy, and whose zeal might. 
in the words of the apostle, be termed di- 
vine. Thus matters were, says Bede, dis 
posed of by Providence, that the very Sax 
ons who had been indebted to the Scots for 
their knowledge of the true religion, found 
an opportunity of contributing in their turn 
a something to the happiness of their bene 
factors. 

It is almost beyond conception how dis- 
tinguished this nation had become both in 
religion and knowledge of the sciences, in 
those ages which immediately followed the 
apostleship of St. Patrick. § If this portion 

this should be made known." — Bede's Church His- 
tory, b. 3, c. 25. 

* Hist. Eccles. lib. 3, cap. 16. 

t Usser. Primord. cap. 15, page 700, et cap. 16, 
pp. 729, 730 ; Idem, Ind. Chron. ad ami. 703. 

X Bed. Hist. Eccles. lib. 5, c. 23. Usser. Prim, 
c. 15, pp. 701, 702, et Ind. Chron. ad an. 716. 

§ " Ireland at that time was pre-eminent above 



of the history of Ireland rested exclusively 
upon the writers alone of the country itself, 
there would be cause sufficient to reject it, 
as of doubtful authority ; but the united 
testimony of a crowd of foreign authors, 
ancient as well as modern, from the time of 
the venerable Bede down to the present age, 
furnishes proofs that raise it beyond all 
doubt. 

Besides the number of monasteries that 
had been founded in Ireland, and which were 
peopled with saints and learned monks not 
inferior to the fathers of the deserts for the 
austerity of their lives and total abandon- 
ment of the world,* this country supplied 
all Europe, during these ages, with swarms 
of zealous missionaries, who announced the 
name of Jesus Christ among some nations, 
and among others caused it to revive : such 
have been St. Fridolin, St. Cataldus, Celius- 
Sedulius, St. Columb-Kill, St. Columbanus, 
St. Gal, St. Fiacre, St. Fursey, St. Arbogast, 
St. Maildulphus, St. Aidan, St. Colman, St. 
Ultan, St. Foilan, St. Kilian, St. Virgil, and 
others. Camden says, on this head, that 
Christianity made so rapid a progress under 
the disciples of St. Patrick, the country was 
called, in succeeding ages, the island of 
saints. - )" 

By following the chronology of Usher and 
Ware, we may refer the apostleship of St. 
Cataldus, at Tarentum, in Pouille, and the 
history of the great Sedulius, to the fifth 
century. 



every kingdom of Europe, for her pursuits in reli- 
gion and learning." — Usher's Church History, c. 17, 
p. 899. 

* " So great was their contempt at that time for 
riches and the things of the world, that they never 
sought them, but even rejected them when offered, 
even though their inheritance. Columbanus him. 
self, as the abbot Walafridus writes, replied to Sige- 
bertus, king of the Franks, who made him large 
promises not to leave his kingdom, (the same thing 
as is mentioned by Eusebius concerning Thaddeus,) 
viz., that those who had given -up their own posses- 
sions for the name of Christ, should not embrace 
riches which belonged to others." — Camd. p. 730. 

t " The disciples of Patrick made so great a pro- 
gress in Christianity, that, in the following age, Ire- 
land was called the island of saints ; and none could 
be more holy and learned than the Irish monks, 
both in their own country and Britain, who sent 
swarms of most holy men into all Europe. To 
them, Luxovium, in Burgundy, Bohiense, in Italy, 
Hornipolis, in Franconia, S. Gallus, in Helvetia, 
Malmesburia, in Lindefarn, and many other mon- 
asteries in Britain owe their origin. The following 
saints were from Ireland : — Celius Sedulius, pres- 
byter, Columba, Columbanus, Colmanus, Aidanus, 
Gallus, Kilianus, Maidulphus, Brendanus, and many 
others, who were renowned for their sanctity and 
learning." — Camd. page 730. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



191 



The history of the life of St. Cataldus 
was written in prose, accordingto the ancient 
records of the church of Tarentum, by Bar- 
tholomew Moron, a native of that city ; and 
in verse by his brother, Bonaventura, under 
the title of " Cataldiados libri sex," address- 
ed to his fellow-citizens, the beginning of 
which is herein quoted ;* both these works 
were printed at Rome in 1604. 

The birth, life, and country of St. Cataldus 
are detailed in the above-mentioned history. 
He was born in Ireland ; his parents were 
Euche and Achlene ; he made his studies at 
Lismore in Munster, where he was the de- 
light of the Gauls, English, Scots, Theu- 
tones, and other strangers who resorted 
thither to hear him.t Having performed 
the functions of bishop of Ratheny, or Rach- 
uen, in the same province, for some years, 
he undertook a voyage to Jerusalem, to visit 
the holy sepulchre, and returning through 
Italy, he re-established the true religion 
among the Tarentines, who had already 
abandoned it and returned to the impious 
worship of idols 4 

This history is in perfect accordance with 
the legend of this saint,§ and the office which 
is sung in honor of him in the church of 
Tarentum, \\ in which it is affirmed, that 
when Drogon, archbishop of that city, had 
caused the tomb in which the body of the 
saint reposed, to be opened, a gold cross was 



* " The icy Ierne bewails that so great an orna- 
ment of the west, second to none in piety, and cele. 
brated in the ancient laws of Phalantus, should be 
sent to foreign nations : O muse, relate, and permit 
me to take from his paternal roof, a youth so 
flourishing, who beheld the borders of Judfea, and 
visited the monument of the holy sepulchre 
where the admonitions and commands of God, and 
his care for a falling people, bring, as their father, 
during every age to come." — Usher's Church His- 
tory, c. 16, p. 751. 

t " A youth, endowed with a liberal discipline 
soon attained to that excellence in instructions, that 
the Gauls, English, Teutones, Scotch, and other 
neighboring people who came to Lismore, flocked 
to hear him." — Usher. 

"Cataldus, bishop, from some part of Ireland, 
was son of Euchus and Athena." 

t " In the 160th year of our Lord, the Taren- 
tines, returning to their worship of idols, as a dog 
to the vomit, (Anicetus Syrus being pope,) the holy 
Cataldus, born in Ireland, brought them back to the 
ancient faith." — Joannes Juvenis in Usher. 

§ " The holy Cataldus was from a part of Ire- 
land which glories in her saints, as she glories in 
the Lord ; she rejoices in her saints, in Catandus, a 
town of Eumenia. Cataldus was the son of Euchus 
and Athena. "—Usher. 

|| " Rejoice, O happy Ireland, for being the coun- 
try of so fair an offspring; but thou, Tarentum, 
rejoice still more, which enclosest (within a tomb) 
so great a treasure." — Usher. 



found in it, with this inscription, " Cataldus 
Rachav," engraved on it, and that it was 
tied to the statue of silver, which the inhab- 
itants of Tarentum had erected in honor of 
him. 

A singular prophecy is ascribed to St. Cat- 
aldus, respecting the destruction of the king- 
dom of Naples.* Usher and Waref mention 
it in the following manner, after Alexander 
ab Alexandre, who lived in 1500 : — " It is 
true that in the reign of Ferdinand I ., king of 
Naples, when the kingdom and city were 
enjoying the sweets of peace, Cataldus, a 
religious man, who was bishop of Tarentum 
a thousand years before, where he is still 
honored as the patron saint, having ap- 
peared during the night to a virtuous eccle- 
siastic who had lately received holy orders, 
commanded him to have a book sought for, 
(this was filled with divine mysteries, and 
written during his life, and was concealed 
in a certain place,) and to present it to the 
king ; but the ecclesiastic paying no regard 
to this vision, which was frequently repeated, 
Cataldus again appeared in his pontifical 
robes, with the mitre on his head, in the 
morning, while he was alone in the church, 
and ordered him, under pain of punishment, 
to seek for the book of which he had already 
spoken to him, and to present it to the king ; 
whereupon the ecclesiastic assembled the 
people the next day, and went in procession 
to the place pointed out, where he found the 
book enclosed in plates of lead, and fastened 
with iron clasps. This book contained a 
prophecy on the destruction of the kingdom 
of Naples, and the calamities and unfor- 
tunate period which we have unhappily lived 
to witness. "J 



* Genialium dierum, lib. 3, c. 15, apud Usser. 
Prim. c. 16, p. 758. 

t War. de Script. Hib. Col. Act. Sanct. Hib. 
p. 550. 

X " While the kingdom of Naples was most 
flourishing under Ferdinand the First, king of Ara- 
gon, it appears that Cataldus, a holy man who had 
been a thousand years before archbishop of Taren- 
tum, and whom the Tarentines worship as their 
patron saint, appeared, in the dead of night, to a 
certain minister who had been initiated and brought 
up in the sacred mysteries of religion, and com- 
manded him to dig up and bring to the king a small 
book which had been written by him while living, 
and was secreted in a private place : that divine 
mysteries were contained in it. Little attention 
was paid at first to this vision, which appearing 
again more frequently in his sleep, and again while 
the minister was alone in the temple, very early in 
the morning, Cataldus himself, robed in the ponti- 
ficals which he wore when living, and covered with 
a fillet, appeared and commanded him, as soon as 
possible on the next morning, to dig up the little 



192 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



This prophecy was discovered in 1492, 
and Ferdinand, after reading it, cast it into 
the fire. 

Ferdinand, struck with terror on the ap- 
proach of the French army, died suddenly. 
He was succeeded by his son Alphonso, 
who was no sooner in possession of the 
crown, than Charles VIII., at the head of a 
formidable army, laid waste his country, 
forced him to fly, and to pass the remainder 
of his days in exile ; after this, Charles 
made a victorious and triumphal entry into 
Naples with his imperial ensigns. 

Moron fixes the arrival of St. Cataldus at 
Tarentum in the year 170: however, if we 
observe all that is related of him during his 
stay in Ireland, the great number of Chris- 
tians that were in his time in the island, and 
in the schools of Lismore, which were not 
known in the history of the country before 
the time of St. Patrick, we should place 
this event some centuries later ; it is men- 
tioned by Usher and Ware to have taken 
place in the fifth century, according to An- 
thony Caraccioli, who had promised, in his 
edition of the " Italian Chronologists," pub- 
lished at Rome in 1626, to write a treatise 
exclusively on that subject. 

It is likely that the zeal of St. Cataldus 
was not confined to the city of Tarentum 
alone, as he had been honored, according 
to Volaterranus, at Geneva, on lake Leman, 
as bishop and professor ; he must therefore 
have passed through that city, and made 
some stay in it on his voyage to the holy 
land.* 

Dempster, who always endeavors to 
enrich his calendar at the expense of his 
neighbors, says that St. Cataldus was a 
native of Knapdale, and had been brought 
up in the monastery of St. Philan ; that he 
was thought by some to have been an Irish- 
man, because he was born in the mountains 
of Scotland, which were sometimes called 



book which he had already told him of, which had 
been written and secreted by himself in a certain 
place, and to bring the same to the king without 
delay, threatening him with heavy punishment if it 
were not done. The day following, this minister, 
accompanied in solemn procession by the people, 
proceeded to the place where the little book lay 
concealed for so long a time, and found it sealed 
with tablets of lead, and locked with clasps. It 
foretold to the king that the destruction of the 
kingdom would happen ; that the times were preg- 
nant with sorrow, misery, and distress, which 
things soon after this came to pass. We have wit- 
nessed that to be largely rewarded, which furnished 
an experiment to men." 

* Kaphoel Mafrcus Volateranus, Comment. Ur- 
ban, lib. 3, 27, apud War. de Scriptor. Hib. 



Hibernia ; but that it appears by a manu- 
script in the Ambrosian library, and the 
letters of Father Leslie, a capuchin, that he 
was born in the isle of H) r . 

This claim of Dempster, says Usher, is 
imaginary, ridiculous, and contradictory.* 
If this saint was bom in the mountains of 
Scotland, as he first says, how could he have 
been brought up in the supposed monastery 
of St. Philan, who lived some centuries after 
him ? 

Usher proves the absurdity of Dempster's 
system, by the ancient and modern offices of 
the saint, which mentioned his having been 
born in a town in the province of Minister, 
in Ireland, called Catande, at a short dis- 
tance from Lismore, another town in that 
province, according to Bartholomew Moron. 
He adds also, that neither the mountains of 
Scotland, nor the isle of Hy, were ever 
called Hfbernia.t 

Abercromby, in order to maintain the 
system of Dempster, pretends that the Scots 
of Albania had been sometimes called Hi- 
berni ; the derivation of which he thinks to 
have discovered in the name of a territory 
in Albania, which was formerly called Ierne, 
at present Strathern. 

To make this conjecture appear probable, 
he should have proved that Strathern formed 
part of Dalrieda, the ancient patrimony of 
the Scots, as a people are not generally 
named after a country which does not belong 
to them. But the different situation, of those 
two cantons, one of which (Dalrieda) is on 
the western coasts of Albania, and the other 
towards the eastern shores of the same coun- 
try, which the Picts were in possession of till 
the ninth century, is opposed to the above 
conjecture, otherwise, what analogy is there 
between Hibernia and Strathern ? The one 
derives its name from Hibernia, aname which 
the Latins had always given to Ireland, and 
which has its root, as well as Juverna, Ierna, 
(the Ierne of the Greeks,) in the word Erin, 
a name always peculiar to that country. J 
The etymology of Strathern is naturally dis- 
coverable in the word straithc, which signifies 
valley, and Erin, the name of a river that 



* Qua; partim commentitia sunt, partim ridicula 
et secum invieem pugnantia. Usser. Prim. Eccles. 
cap. 16, page 753. 

t " To say nothing of the mountains of Scotia, 
who ever heard that Ireland was called the isle of 
Jonas ?" — Usher. 

t " Hibernia, Juverna, &c, have sprung from 
Ierna ; but that Ierna, the same as Iris, Juerdhon, 
and Ireland, and Erin from the inhabitants." — 
Camd. p. 726. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



193 



waters it, and flows from thence with the 
Tay, and falls into the German ocean.* 

Eumenius and Marcellinus use indiscrim- 
inately, in the fourth century, the terms 
Irish and Scots to designate the same peo- 
ple, but they say that they came from Ire- 
land, " Scotorum a Circio:" they mention 
that they had been till then a wandering 
people, without any fixed dwelling in Brit- 
ain, " cum antea per incerta vagantes."f 

Moron makes mention of St. Donatus, a 
bishop in Italy, who was brother of St. Ca- 
taldus, with whom he had led, for some 
time, a solitary life. J 

Ireland gave birth to Sedulius, so cele- 
brated for his writings, which have gained 
him the attention of a great number of au- 
thors, both ancient and modem. Some 
writers — among others, Sigebert, a monk 
of the abbey of Gemblours in Brabant, in 
his treatise on Illustrious Men — place him 
in the fourth century, under Constans and 
Constantius : " Claruit tempore Constantis 
et Constantii, filiorum primi Constantini Im- 
peratoris." Trithemius, with perhaps more 
reason, says he lived in the fifth century, 
under Theodosius the younger ; Usher and 
Ware, for other motives, place him about 
the end of the same century, and distinguish 
him from another Sedulius from Ireland, 
whom they suppose to have been the author 
of the Annotations on the Epistles of St. 
Paul. 

At whatever time Sedulius may have lived, 
we have the following history of his life by 
Trithemius : " Sedulius a priest, a Scot by 
birth, and from his most tender youth the 
disciple of Hildebert, archbishop of the 
Scots, was very learned in sacred and pro- 
fane literature, and had a particular taste for 
prose and poetry. The desire of becoming 
perfect in his studies induced him to leave 
his country ; he went to France, and from 
thence to Italy, Asia, Achaia, from whence 
he set out for Rome, where he shone by his 
astonishing erudition. He wrote several 
works in prose and verse, of which I have 
only been able to discover the following. 
There were other works of his, the know- 



* " It is called Straith Ern, which, in the ancient 
language of the Britons, signifies the valley of 
Ern." — Ca7iiden, p. 765. 

t Camd. Brit. Edit. Lond. Tit. Scot. p. 90. 

t " Others think that Cataldus, before he would 
come to Tarentum in Japygia, travelled with Do- 
natus, whom they make the first bishop of Lupa, 
and brother of St. Cataldus. At the same time, 
he led a most solitary life, near a little town which 
afterwards derived its name from St. Cataldus." — 
Bartholomy Moron in Usher, p. 760. 



ledge of which has not reached me. He 
was at length, says Sigebert, ordained 
bishop, but he does not say of what see. He 
flourished under Theodosius, in the year of 
our Lord 430."* 

If we can attach belief to the chronicle 
attributed to Dexter, under the year 428, 
Sedulius had been bishop of Oreta, in Spain,f 
and although Damian a. Goez and Sebastian 
Munster, in the description of Spain, reckon 
Sedulius among the number of Spanish 
poets, Francis Bivarius says he was born in 
Ireland.:}: The testimony of Sedulius him- 
self, who says he was a Scot, " Sedulius 
Scotigena," in the beginning of his epistles, 
leaves no doubt on this subject ; and the 
title of his annotations on the epistles of 
Saint Paul, published according to a very 
ancient copy in the abbey of Fulde, by John 
Sichard, in which he is called a Scot from 
Ireland, " Sedulii Scoti Hiberniensis in om- 
nes Epistolas Pauli collectaneum," naturally 



* " Sedulius, presbyter, a native of Scotia, was 
disciple, from his earliest youth, of Heidebertus, 
archbishop of the Scots ; he was conversant in 
divine learning, and very skilled in profane litera- 
ture ; he excelled in poetry and prose, and leaving 
Scotia (Ireland) for the sake of informing himself, 
he came to France ; after this he traversed Italy, 
Asia, Achaia, from whence he proceeded to Rome, 
where he became illustrious for his erudition. He 
wrote several small works both in prose and verse, 
from among which I have discovered the following : 
to a work eminently written to the abbot of Mace- 
donia, comprising a series of the gospel, he gave the 
title of 'paschal poem and paschal feasts, in 4 
books ;' ' 14 books in prose on the epistles of Paul ;' 
' apostolical words ;' ' one book on the miracles of 
Christ ;' ' From the East, 1 book to Theodosius 
emperor, while conductor of the famed Romulus :' 
' book 1 , on the larger volume of Priscianus ;' ' book 
1, on the second edition of Donatus ;' ' book 1, ex- 
hortation to the faithful ;' ' let us sing, O compan- 
ions, to the Lord;' 'book 1, on many epistles to 
various people ;' ' Sedulius an Irishman ;' ' two 
books on the miracles of Christ, written in prose.' 
Besides these, there were some other works which 
have not come to be known. He was at length, as 
Sigebertus writes, made bishop, but of what city or 
place, it is not mentioned. He flourished under 
Theodosius, anno 438." — Trithemius in Usher, c. 
16, p. 769. 

t " Isaac, a monk of Palestine, succeeded Fceta- 
dius, archbishop of Toul ; he kept him there and 
his friend Sedulius, also Bishop Orelanus, for tlig 
sake of preaching ; the latter was eminent as a 
preacher, and composed many books." — Usher, p. 
770. 

t " After this we have Sedulius Oretanus, who 
was bishop in Spain, but he does not say that he 
had been born in Ireland, as many think. Isicius 
himself, who was bishop of Toul, had been a monk 
of Palestine, and there was also a monk Palestinus. 
But whether there were two Seduliuses who were 
renowned for poetry, or but one, we shall not con- 
tend it in this place." — Usher. 



194 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



indicates his country, which was Ireland ; 
notwithstanding the surprise of Dempster 
that the theologians of Cologne should have 
added the word Hibemensis to Scotus, in 
the last edition of the library of the holy 
fathers,* the same title is at the head of the 
Basle edition of this author's works, and 
also of that which is in the library of an- 
cient writers, edited in Paris. 

The works of Sedulius were highly es- 
teemed by the ancients ; to which a coun- 
cil, composed of seventy bishops, assembled 
at Rome during the pontificate of Gelasius, 
bears a favorable testimony. We think 
highly, said the fathers of the council, of 
the paschal work written in heroic verse 
by the venerable Sedulius. f 

Hildephonsus, archbishop of Toledo, says 
of our author that he was an evangelical 
poet, an eloquent orator, and a Catholic 
writer : " Bonus file Sedulius poeta evange- 
licus, orator facundus, Scriptor Catholicus." 

Lastly, the church inserted, " A solis 
ortus cardine,"and " Hostis Herodes impie," 
(taken from the writings of Sedulius,) in the 
breviary of hymns ; the first at the nativity 
of our Saviour, and the last at the Epiphany, 
with the " Salve, sancta parens, enixa puer- 
pera Regem," which is used as an Introit 
at the masses of the blessed Virgin. 

St. Fridolinus, son of an Irish king, 
having embraced a monastic life, left his 
country and travelled through several parts 
of Germany and France, about the end of 
the fifth century, and in the time of Clovis, 
first Christian king of the Franks ; on which 
account he was called " Fridolinus the trav- 
eller," by Judocus, Coccius, Possevin, and 
others .J After preaching the gospel in dif- 
ferent parts of Gaul, he withdrew for some 
time to the monastery of St. Hilary, at 
Poitiers, of which he was created superior. 
Having been encouraged by the monarch, 
he caused this monastery to be rebuilt, 
whither he removed the body of St. Hilary. 

He afterwards founded several religious 
houses in Thuringia, Alsace, Strasbourg, 
and on the frontiers of Switzerland ; Col- 
gan reckons eight, six of which were dedi- 



* " That Dempster may not feel surprise how 
theologians of the colonies have been placed in the 
last edition of the library of the Holy Fathers, and 
that the adjective Hiberniensis was added to Sco- 
tus."— Usher, c. 16, p. 771. 

t " A paschal work of the venerable Sedulius, 
written in heroic verse, is entitled to our praise." — ■ 
Usher, c. 16, p. 777. 

X Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Fridolin, ad 6 Mart. 
War. de Script. Hib. lib. 1, cap. 1. Serm. S. Petr. 
Damian, de tranilat. S. Hilar. 



cated to St. Hilary, for whom this saint had 
a particular devotion. Lastly, he founded, 
a monastery for females in an island in the 
Rhine, called Seeking, or Secane, where he 
was interred in 514. According to Baleus, 
he wrote some works of piety which have 
been lost. 

Dempster ascribes other works to him ; 
but as he is the only one who mentions 
them, his testimony must appear doubtful. 

Modern Scotch writers place St. Frido- 
linus in their calendar. Some foreigners, 
and among others, Arnold Wion, Menard„ 
and Wilson, have not doubted their integrity, 
but antiquity proves the contrary. Besides 
the Irish authors who claim him, but whose 
veracity might be disputed, Baltherus, a 
monk and canon of Seeking, and the most 
ancient author of the life of St. Fridolinus, 
calls him a native of Ireland.* Gaspard 
Bruschius affirms that he was son of an 
Irish king.f Canisius affirms that ancient 
historians agree that Fridolinus was of royal 
blood in Scotia, which is called Ireland. \ 
St. Fridolinus, says Guilliman, an Irishman 
by birth, of noble descent, and a monk by 
profession, having come- to Switzerland, 
preached the gospel there and in the neigh- 
boring countries. § Fridolinus, the traveller, 
says Possevin, a son of the king of the Irish 
Scots, wrote, it is said, some pious exhorta- 
tions.! Gesnerus, Baleus, Hanmerus, and 
others, whose integrity cannot be questioned, 
say the same thing. To have a more copious 
detail of the life of St. Fridolinus, we must 
have recourse to the chronology of the Ger- 
manic monasteries, by Gaspard Bruschius, 
and an anonymous author published in 1606, 

* " It is not doubted that St. Fridolinus was born 
in a distant part of Scotia ; the inhabitants of Hi- 
bernia (Ireland) are called Scotigenae." — Life of 
St. Fridolinus, c. 1. 

t " The convent of Seeking was commenced by 
St. Fridolinus, who was son of a king of the Scots ; 
he was eminent for his studies in philosophy.". — ■ 
Bruschius on German Monasteries. 

t " Old historians are agreed in this, that Frido- 
linus was of royal descent — that he was born in 
lower Scotia, which is called Ireland." — Peter Ca- 
nisius, Life of St. Fridolinus. 

§ " Before these three, under Clovis, first Chris- 
tian king of the Franks, Fridolinus, an Irishman 
by birth, and of royal lineage, spent a long time in 
Switzerland, and planted in it the name and faith 
of Christ, where he likewise performed many mira- 
cles. He converted the country of Claronensis, 
and the neighboring parts, some of which he 
strengthened in their faith." — Guillimanus on 
Swiss Affairs. 

|| " Fridolinus, the traveller, was son of a king 
of the Irish Scots : he is said to have written some 
pious exhortations ; he lived anno 595." — Possc- 
vinus. 



CIIIIISTIAN IRELAND. 



195 



among the Germanic writers, by Melchoir 
Goldastus. 

St. Columb, surnamed Kill, of whom I 
have already spoken, after having converted 
the northern JPicts, founded the abbey of 
Hy, or Jona, on the coasts of Great Britain,* 
celebrated both for the multitude of saints 
who received their education there, and for 
having been the burial-place of the kings of 
Scotland, who had chosen it through re- 
spect ; and the great number of monuments 
of antiquity, written in the Scotic or Irish 
language, which were preserved there. 

St. Columb composed several works in 
prose and verse ; among others, a rule for 
monks, which still exists, commonly called 
the rule of Columb-Kill ;t the life of St. 
Patrick ; and a hymn in praise of St. Kie- 
ran, abbot of Clomnacnoisk. 

He also composed three hymns, the first 
of which begins thus : 

" Altus Prosator, vetustus dierum et ingenitus." 

This hymn was presented to Pope St. 
Gregoiy, who thought it very fine, except 
that the author had spoken with too much 
reserve of the blessed Trinity ; which gave 
rise to the following hymn, in which he is 
more explicit on that subject, and begins 
with — 

" In te Christe, credentium." 

St. Columb composed a third hymn, be- 
ginning with the words — 

" Noli, Pater, indulgere." 

There are also several works of piety and 
prophecies under the name of this saint, of 
which Colgan gives an account in his life. 

St. Columb died in his abbey of Hy, the 
9th of June, 597, where he was interred, 
leaving as his successor in that house, Bai- 
then, who lived but two years. According 
to the Irish tradition, the relics of St. Co- 
lumb were removed in the beginning of the 
ninth century to the monastery of Down, 
in Ireland, and deposited with those of St. 
Patrick and St. Bridget.^ 

St. Columbanus, a native of the province 
of Leinster, applied himself in his youth to 
the study of grammar and the liberal arts, 
in which he made considerable progress ; 
he afterwards attached himself to Senell, a 

* Bede, Hist. Eccles. lib. 3, cap. 44. 

t Trias. Thaum. Vit. S. Columb. Append. 3, part 
2 et3. 

t Jonas Abbas. Vit. S. Columban. apud Mes- 
singh. War. de Script. Hib. cap. 3. Act. Sanct. 
Hib. Vit. S. Deicol. ad 18 Jan. 



venerable man, and ably conversant in the 
holy Scriptures. 

Columbanus made such a rapid progress 
under this skilful master, that, though very 
young, he wrote an elegant explanation on 
the book of Psalms, and many other instruc- 
tive works ; he afterwards placed himself 
under the guidance of St. Congall, in the 
abbey of Beanchuir, or Bangor, from whence 
he departed, with twelve disciples, among 
the number of whom was St. Gall, to go to 
Britain, and from thence to Burgundy, where 
he arrived in the reign of Sigebert, then king 
of Austrasia and Burgundy, who received 
him with much honor and respect. The 
prince, perceiving his inclination for a re- 
tired life, gave him the choice of a suitable 
place in his states, and begged of him ear- 
nestly to select in his kingdom, instead of 
seeking an asylum in the neighboring 
countries.* This saint, filled with gratitude, 
withdrew with his companions into the des- 
erts of Vosge, and stopped in a place called 
Anagrates, where there was one old ruined 
castle, in which he remained for some time ; 
but his reputation for sanctity having at- 
tracted a number of persons who were de- 
sirous of living under his discipline, he was 
obliged to seek a more commodious habita- 
tion. Luxeu, in the same desert, at the foot 
of the mountains of Vosge, appearing to him 
a suitable place, he founded a celebrated 
monastery, where he established his order, 
and the perpetual psalmody, by different 
choirs, who relieved each other day and 
night. He was the first who established 
the monastic order among the French. f 
The order of St. Columbanus was then con- 
sidered as the model of a retired life, and 
Luxeu as the centre of perfection. The 
number of persons, of every rank and con- 
dition, who wished to submit to the law of 
St. Columbanus, was so great, that, in order 
to lighten the burden on the house of Luxeu, 
he was obliged to found another at Fontaine, 
in the same country. 

Columbanus had been, for nearly twenty 
years, at the head of the monastery of Luxeu, 
when he was expelled through the influ- 
ence of Brunehaut. This ambitious queen 
shared the government of Burgundy with. 
her grandson Thierry II., who was king. 
Fearing that the marriage of this prince 
would dimmish her authority, she endeav- 
ored to dissuade him from it by procuring 
him illicit pleasures ; which excited the 
zeal of St. Columbanus, who reproached him 

* Camd. Brit, page 730. 

t Jonas, Vit. S. Columb. cap. 9, et Breviar. Pa- 
risiens, ad 21 Nov. 



196 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



severely for the shameful life he led. The 
prince, who had a high opinion of the sanc- 
tity of St. Columbanus, heard him patiently, 
but the intrigues of Brunehaut, who had 
prejudiced all the nobles of the kingdom 
against him, forced him to yield to the storm, 
by leaving his monastery at Luxeu. 

Notwithstanding this disgrace, our saint 
was favorably received by Clothaire II., 
king of Suissoins, to whom he foretold that 
in three years the French monarchy would 
be united in his person, which prophecy was 
afterwards accomplished ; Theodebert II. 
having been defeated by his brother Thierry, 
and taken at Cologne, where he was assas- 
sinated by order of Brunehaut.* Thierry 
died of a dysentery, when going to make 
war against Clothaire, and Brunehaut was 
put to death by order of the latter. 

St. Columbanus having preached the word 
of God in several provinces in France, and 
confirmed his doctrine by miracles too nu- 
merous to be introduced here, went to Italy, 
where, with the approbation of Aigilulph, 
king of the Lombards, he founded the abbey 
of Bobbio, in Milan, over which he pre- 
sided but one year, having died there on 
the 21st of November, 615, and was suc- 
ceeded by a native of Burgundy, called At- 
tala. 

The Augustine monks affirm that St. Co- 
lumbanus was of their order ; but Keyner 
says that he was a Benedictine.f It is, 
however, certain, that this saint had estab- 
lished a particular order, and introduced it 
into France ;| his disciples afterwards con- 
formed to the rule of St. Benedict, which 
had been established some years before at 
Glan-Feuille, by St. Maur, still preserving 
the statutes of their father Columbanus. 

St. Columbanus wrote many works in 
Latin, which are quoted by Ware and oth- 
ers : namely, a book of commentaries on the 
Psalter ; a work against the Arians, which 
Jonas calls, " a work of flowery erudition ;" 
" Contra quos etiam libellum florentis sci- 
ential edidit ;"§ thirteen homilies published 



* Abre'ge' Chron. de l'Histoire de France. 

t Crusenius. Monast. Augustin. part 2, c. 11, 
Apostolat. Benedict, in Anglia, page 156. 

t " The monks being therefore settled in these 
parts, he mixed in his turn among them, and filled 
with the holy spirit, he composed the regulations 
which they should keep." — Abbot Jona's Life of 
St. Columb. c. 9. 

§ " This father of wonderful sanctity, labored 
among the most zealous : he shone gloriously among 
worldlings by his miracles, and taught by the holy 
spirit ; he established monastic regulations, and was 
the first who delivered them to the Gauls." — Ode- 
ricus Vitale's Church Hist. b. 8. 



by Messingham, according to an ancient 
manuscript in the abbey of Bobbio ; epistles 
to different persons, some of which were 
published by Goldastus ; " Carmen Monas- 
tichon," or a monastic poem, copied from 
an ancient manuscript of Freisingen, in Ba- 
varia, by Henry Canisius ; the monastic rule 
which this saint had introduced into France, 
published by Messingham, after the original 
manuscript in the abbey of Bobbio ; a book 
of the daily penance of the monks ; a manu- 
script in the abbey of St. Gall in Switzer- 
land ; an epigram on the form and manner 
to be observed in the prescribing of penance 
on the seven deadly sins, and on the vanity 
and misery of human life, written in verse. 
Lastly, he wrote two epistles to Pope Boni- 
face, which are still in being, and his apol- 
ogy respecting the celebration of the Easter, 
when he was summoned to attend the synod 
of Macon. 

St. Gall, who was born of noble parents 
in Ireland, was placed at an early age, ac- 
cording to his life, written by Wallafridus 
Strabo, an author of the ninth century, un- 
der the guidance of St. Columbanus, with 
whom he made considerable progress in the 
study of the Holy Scriptures, the liberal 
arts, grammar, and poetry, and in the prac- 
tice of regular discipline ; having received 
the order of priesthood in obedience to his 
master's wishes, he was his constant com- 
panion in his travels through Britain, France, 
and Germany, when he was expelled from 
his monastery of Luxeu by the intrigues of 
Queen Brunehaut.* Having arrived in Ger- 
many, and being desirous of settling in a 
place called Tucconia, near Lake Turicin, 
or Tigurin, now called the lake of Zurich, 
in Switzerland, St. Gall, moved with zeal, 
set fire to a temple in which the pagans 
were sacrificing to demons, and caused their 
offerings to be thrown into the neighboring 
lake. The pagans, exasperated at the con- 
duct of the saint, resolved to put him to 
death, but he had the good fortune to es- 
cape from their hands, with St. Columbanus, 
and to reach the castle of Arbona, or Arbon, 
situated on a river of that name which falls 
into the lake of Constance, where they were 
hospitably detained for seven days by the 
priest Willimar. During this interval, they 
sought a suitable place for a retreat ; Wil- 
limar informed them of an old building, 
called Brigantium, in Rhastia, at present 



* Wallafrid. Strabo, Ab. Augiens, Vit. S. Coll, 
apud Messingh. Martyrol. Notkeri. Balbut. ibid. 
Petr. de Nata lib. de Gest. Sanct. lib. 9, cap. 72, 
et War. de Script. Hib. cap. 3. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



197 



Bregent, in the country of the Grisons ; he 
furnished them with a boat, and every thing 
necessary for their voyage, and a deacon to 
escort them. Having found in that place an 
ancient oratory dedicated to St. Aurelia, 
but apparently converted into a pagan tem- 
ple, they broke in it three bronze idols, 
which formed the object of the worship of 
the people who frequented it, and to which 
they sacrificed, as the tutelary gods of the 
country. Those saints, having repaired this 
church, which had been profaned by the pa- 
gans, dedicated it anew to its former patron. 
St. Gall preached the gospel to the inhab- 
itants of the canton, several of whom he 
converted ; but the pagan party being too 
strong, he was obliged to abandon his un- 
dertaking. 

The two saints then resolved to go to- 
gether to Italy ; but St. Gall having been 
prevented by a fever, they separated. St. 
Columbanus set out for Italy, and St. Gall 
returned to the priest Willimar, with whom 
he remained till he was perfectly recovered. 
The desire of leading a retired life, induced 
him to return to the desert ; he chose a 
habitation on the banks of a small river, 
called Steinaha, now Stinace, near lake Con- 
stance, where he built a cell. 

The bishopric of Constance being vacant, 
prince Gunzo wrote to our hermit, to beg of 
him to assist at a synod which was to be 
held for the election of a successor in that 
see. The saint repaired thither, attended 
by a deacon called John, who had been his 
disciple for three years, and another named 
Magnoald. 

The great reputation for science and vir- 
tue which St. Gall had acquired, gained him 
the suffrages of the whole assembly, to fill 
the see of Constance ; but his great humility 
not allowing him to accept of that dignity, 
he proposed in his stead his deacon John, 
who was received by the meeting, and con- 
secrated bishop of Constance. St. Gall 
having spent seven days with the new pre- 
late, returned to his cell, where he caused a 
monastery to be built for himself and twelve 
of his disciples, who were desirous of em- 
bracing the monastic state with him. 

Eustachius, who succeeded St. Gall in 
the monastery of Luxeu, having died, the 
monks deputed six of their fraternity, all 
Irish, to St. Gall, to influence him to under- 
take the government of their house, with 
the title of abbot ; but the saint declined this 
honor likewise. He afterwards died at 
priest Willimar's on the 16th of October, 
635, aged 95 years ; others say that he 
died in 625. 



The cell of St. Gall became afterwards 
a celebrated abbey, from the renown of its 
patron and the liberality of Sigebert II., 
king of Austrasia, and some neighboring 
princes. A large and populous town, which 
still bears the name of St. Gall, was built 
in the same place. 

The abbot of St. Gall is prince of the 
empire ; he sits, with right of suffrage, in the 
general diet : his jurisdiction is very exten- 
sive, and his annual revenue estimated at 
100,000 ducats : he has a mint, and when 
the Helvetic diet has need for his aid, can 
raise an army of 12,000 men. 

The life of St. Gall has been written in 
verse by Notquer le Begue, part of which 
was published by Henry Canisius. Demp- 
ster, as was usual with him, numbers this 
saint among the Scots of Albania, but his 
assertionis opposed by Wallafridus, Strabo,* 
Notquer le Begue,t Petrus de Natalibus,| 
Vollateran and others, who maintain that he 
was an Irishman. We have some of St. Gall's 
works, viz., a sermon which he preached in 
the church of St. Stephen of Constance, at 
the ceremony of the consecration of St. 
John, bishop of that city — some epistles 
published by Henry Canisius — a discourse 
upon the church government, which he pro- 
nounced in presence of the bishop of Con- 
stance, the original manuscript of which is 
preserved, according to Possevinus, in the 
library of St. Gall ; his Psalter, of which 
Joachim Vadiamus speaks, in his treatise 
of colleges and monasteries in Germany, 
and which he mentions to have been trans- 
lated into German by Notquer le Begue. 

Bollandus published, with notes, the life 
of St. Deicol, written, as he calculates, more 
than eight hundred years ago, according to 
memoirs in the monastery of Lure.§ This 
saint was a native of Ireland, II and called in 



* " While this illustrious Saint Columbanus was 
engaged in Ireland, the noble parents of the sanc- 
tified Gallus offering their son in his early youth to 
God, with gifts placed him under his instruction." 
— Wallafrid. in his Life of St. Gallus. 

t " On the same day, the anniversary of the 
death of the most holy Gallus, confessor, who was 
an Irishman, is celebrated among the Germans. 
Under an instinct of divine love, travelling with his 
master and abbot Columbanus through Gaul, he en- 
tered Germany.'' — Martyrology of Notker Balbut. 

t " Gallus descended from illustrious parentage, 
in Ireland, and being placed under the instructions 
and guidance of St. Columbanus, was advanced from 
being a monk, to the order of priesthood." — Petrus 
de Natalibus, St. G. 

§ Ad. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Deicol, ad 18 Jan. 

|| " Among these things, it is to be remarked 
that St. Deicolas was an Irishman, for he himself 
said to the pope that he was from that country, 



198 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the Irish or Scotic language, Dichuill, in 
Latin Dichullus and Deicola ; he was half- 
brother of St. Gall, and, like him, a disciple 
of St. Columbanus. The infirmity of his 
healthnot allowing him to accompany Father 
Columbanus into Italy, he obtained permis- 
sion from him to remain in Burgundy, where 
he founded, at a few leagues from Luxeu, 
the celebrated monastery of Lure, in Latin 
Lutra, or " Lutrense monasterium," the care 
of which he confided to St. Columbanus, his 
spiritual son and disciple, and caused an 
oratory to be built for himself near the con- 
vent ; where, after spending the remainder 
of his life in meditation and penitential prac- 
tices, he died at an advanced age, and was in- 
terred on the 15th of the calends of February, 
the day on which his memory is honored.* 

Canisius quotes the life of St. Magnoald, 
or Magne, written by his cotemporary Theo- 
dore, a monk of St. Campden.f This saint, 
who had accompanied St. Gall to Ireland, of 
which he was a native,}: shared with him the 
labors of the apostleship ; after the death of 
St. Gall he founded two cells in Germany ; 
one at Campden, or Campidana, the govern- 
ment of which he confided to his colleague, 
Theodore ; and the other at Fuessen, in 
Latin " ad Fauces," at the foot of the Alps. 
Those cells having been richly endowed by 
King Pepin, became afterwards celebrated 
abbeys. This saint having been at the head 
of the latter for twenty-six years, died in 
the odor of sanctity, on the eighth of the 
ides of September, aged seventy-three years. 

Among the disciples of Saint Columbanus, 
maybe reckoned Jonas, abbot of Luxeu be- 
fore the middle of the seventh century. Ac- 
cording to Trithemius, Coccius-Sabellicus, 
Arnold Wion, Molanus, and others, who, in 
the old style call him Scot, " de veteri Sco- 



i. e. from the Scots who inhabited Ireland." — Hugo 
Menardus. 

* " On the same day, the remains of St. Deicolas 
were deposited in the monastery of Lutra ; of which 
he was first abbot, having been a disciple of St. 
Columbanus : he was renowned for his many virtues, 
and the splendor of his miracles ; he gave up to the 
care of St. Columbanus, his solicitude for that 
place ordained, according to the will of God, for 
the sake of religion. He withdrew to a more se- 
cluded retreat, in order to devote himself to the con- 
templation of heavenly avocations, that he might 
breathe forth his soul to God with attention, and 
with prayer pass unto him : after his happy death, 
his splendid miracles attested his admission to 
Christ." — Laussoius, the Gallican Miirtyrology. 

t Messing. Florileg. Insul. Sanct. Vit. S. Magni. 

t "When St. Columbanus, together with St. 
Gallus, was passing from Ireland, a certain brother 
named Magnoaldus, descended from the aforesaid 
country, Hibernia, (Ireland.)" — Life of St. Magnus. 



tia," that is, Irish, whichhe himself indicates 
in his preface to the life of St. Columbanus.* 

Jonas wrote, in Latin, the life of St. Co- 
lumbanus, to which he had been an eye- 
witness : he also wrote the lives of Attala 
and Eustachius, both disciples and suc- 
cessors of St. Columbanus ; the former at 
Bobbio, the latter at Luxeu. ■ To him are 
also attributed some hymns, and the lives of 
Bertulph, successor to Attala in the monas- 
tery of Bobbio, and of Burgandeford ; of 
these lives Bede is not the author, though 
published among his works. Lastly, Jonas 
wrote the life of John, founder and first 
abbot of a monastery in the diocese of 
Langres, at the solicitation of Hunn, who 
was abbot of it. This life was published 
in Paris in 1637, by Pierre Eouere 

Fiacre, born of noble parents in Ireland, 
being desirous of devoting himself to God 
in solitude, left his country, and went to 
France accompanied by some disciples : he 
addressed himself to Faron, bishop of Meaux, 
who received him with kindness, f This holy 
prelate, observing that he was possessed of 
much mildness and simplicity, asked him 
his country, the intention of his voyage, and 
his name.J Fiacre answered that Ireland, 
the island of the Scots, was his country, and 
that of his ancestors ; that, wishing to lead 
a secluded life, he had left his country and 
his friends, to seek a place suitable for that 
purpose; and that his name was Fiacre. 
The good bishop seeing the holy disposition 
of Fiacre, gave him the forest of firodole, 
which belonged to him, with permission to 
settle there. Fiacre having thanked his 
benefactor, caused a part of the wood to be 
cleared, and founded a monastery, dedicated 
to the blessed Virgin, where he led the life 
of a hermit. § This saint was so celebrated 



* Idem. Vit. S. Columhan. War. de Script. Hib. 3. 

t Messing. Florilg. Insul. Sanct. Vit. S. Fiacrii. 
War. de Script. Hib. c. 3. 

t Act. Sanct. Vit. S. Connan. ad 13 Jan. not. 10. 

§ " St. Fiaerius, confessor, was born of very 
noble parents in Ireland, and of a sanctified char- 
acter through life. At the time that St. Faro was 
archbishop of Meldi, St. Fiaerius and his compan- 
ions sought his friendship, which the pious Faro 
freely gave. Viewing the simplicity of his coun- 
tenance, he said, I pray, my dearest friend, that 
you tell me your origin, your country, and the ob- 
ject of your journey, and name. The holy Fiaerius 
replied, O most reverend father, I am from the 
country of the Scots, and my ancestors the same." 
— Capgraoius in his Legends. 

*' Fiaerius was born of noble parents in Ireland, 
which is called Scotia by the ancients ; from a de- 
sire to lead a secluded life, he came to St. Faro, to 
Meldi, together witli some companions." — Breviary 
of Paris in Messingham. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



199 



for the austerity of Ms life, and the many- 
miracles which God wrought through his 
intercession, both before and after his death, 
some of which are mentioned by Capgra- 
vius and Surius, that he became an object 
of veneration to the faithful, and an office of 
nine lessons in honor of him was inserted 
in most of the breviaries throughout France ; 
it contains a hymn, the beginning of which 
is subjoined, as underneath.* 

Hector Boetius and others affirm, that. 
St. Fiacre was son of Eugene IV., king of 
Scotland : this opinion was adopted by some 
foreigners without examining into it. Ac- 
cording to Dempster, our saint wrote to his 
sister Syra a treatise on the excellence of 
a monastic life, the original manuscript of 
which is preserved, it is said, at Meaux, 
and a book of meditations. 

Aidan, a monk of the abbey of Hy, was 
the apostle of the kingdom of Northumber- 
land in England.! King Oswald, who had 
embraced Christianity during his retreat 
among the Scots, being re-established on 
the throne, and desirous of having his sub- 
jects instructed in the religion that he pro- 
fessed, sent for St. Aidan, from the abbey 
of Hy, and was consecrated bishop for this 
mission. The saint preached the gospel 
everywhere with success, and as he was not 
well acquainted with the Saxon language, it 
was edifying to behold the prince, who was 
master of the Scotic, acting as interpreter 
between this missionary and the people. 

St. Aidan first founded an episcopal see, 
of which he was first bishop, in an island 
on the eastern coast, called Lindisfarn, 
which that pious prince granted him for 
the purpose ; he also founded several other 
churches and monasteries in different pla- 
ces, where he caused the people to be in- 
structed in the Christian religion and eccle- 
siastical discipline. The life of Aidan, says 
Bede, was widely different from that negli- 
gence and inactivity which prevail at pres- 
ent. All who attended him, both monks and 
laity, were obliged to occupy themselves 
either in reading the Holy Scriptures, or 
learning psalms ; such was his daily em- 
ployment, and that of the brothers who ac- 

" The holy Fiacrius, from a part of Ireland ; af- 
ter leaving his country, he came to Faro, bishop of 
Meaux, seeking his protection: he was illustrious 
for his innumerable virtues." 

* " Ireland is dignified by the lustre of a new 
lamp : that island glitters, to the Meldi, by the pres- 
ence of so great a light. The former sent Fiacrius ; 
Meaux received the ray which was sent. The joy 
of both is in common ; the latter possesses a father, 
the former a son." — Bede's History of the Church. 

t Bede, Hist. Eccles. lib. 3, c. 3, et seq. 



companied him, in all the places where they 
went. He was never influenced, through 
fear, to spare the rich, but frequently rebuked 
them for their faults ; and the money which 
he received from them was applied, in re- 
lieving the poor, and in the ransom of slaves. 
He kept his passions in subjection, and en- 
tirely free from avarice, pride, or self-love : 
in fine, his life was an example of charity, 
chastity, humility, and every virtue. This 
celebrated doctor, having filled the see of 
Lindisfarn for nearly seventeen years, and 
having converted the Northumbrians to the 
faith of Jesus Christ, died on the 31st of 
August, 651 ; he was interred at first in the 
cemetery of the church at Lindisfarn, and 
when the church was rebuilt some time af- 
terwards, his relics were deposited on the 
right of the altar. No doubt can be enter- 
tained respecting the country of Aidan ; Col- 
gan, after the Martyrologies of Dunagall, 
Taulaght, and Cashel, and the annals of 
Roscrea, says that he was a native of Ire- 
land.* This opinion is supported by the 
authority of Edwald Mahew, an English- 
man, who published the life of St. Aidan 
on the 31st of August ; and by the author 
of the life of St. Oswald, on the fifth of the 
same month, in which, when speaking of 
St. Aidan, he says he was undoubtedly an 
Irishman, as in that age none but the Irish 
were called Scots. Besides, St. Aidan was 
a monk of the abbey of Hy, the members 
of which were Scots from Ireland, whereas 
the Picts had given that island to St. Co- 
lumb-Kill, and to the Scotic monks who had 
preached the faith of Jesus Christ among 
them.f From that abbey, therefore, were 
the twelve disciples who had accompanied 
this apostle to Britain, as is remarked in his 
life, besides some others who had after- 
wards followed him from Ireland 4 

St. Finian, a native of Ireland and a monk 
of the abbey of Hy, succeeded St. Aidan 
in the episcopal see of Lindisfarn, and in the 
mission of the kingdom of Northumberland. 
He caused to be built in the Isle of Lindis- 
farn, says Bede, a church suitable for an 
episcopal see, not of stone but of oak, after 
the manner of the Scots ;fy he labored per- 
severingly for the conversion of souls ; he 
baptized Penda, king of the interior provin- 
ces, and Sigebert, king of the East- Angles, 

* Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 677, not. 7. 

t " Which island was a gift of the Picts, who 
inhabited those parts of Britain, to the monks of 
Ireland, who preached to them the faith of Christ." 
—Bede's Church History, b. 3, c. 3. 

X Trias Thaum. Vit. 5, S. Columb. lib. 2. 

§ Bede, Ecclesiast. lib. 3, cap. 25. 



'2(10 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



with the lords of their retinue, and sent 
priests to instruct and baptize their sub- 
jects.* He consecrated Cedda, who had la- 
bored much in converting this people, bishop 
of the kingdom of the East-Angles. This 
holy prelate died at Lindisfarn, having been 
■at the head of that church for ten years. 

St. Colman, a native also of Ireland, suc- 
ceeded St. Finian in the bishopric of Lin- 
disfarn. Those three prelates were cele- 
brated for the sanctity and purity of their 
morals, their zeal for the propagation of the 
faith, and the exercise of every virtue ; it 
can be affirmed that the Saxons of the north- 
ern provinces were indebted to them for the 
knowledge of the true God ; though they 
were in error respecting the celebration of 
the Easter, which was a matter of discipline. 
It appears that there was a degree of harsh- 
ness with which bishop Colman was treated 
by Wilfrid, at the conference of Strenaes- 
halch ; he was obliged to leave Britain, and 
withdraw to the isle of Inis-Bo-Fin, on the 
western coast of Ireland, where he founded 
a monastery. f 

St. Fursey was descended from noble pa- 
rents in Ireland, his father was Fintan, son 
of Finloge, prince of southern Munster, and 
brother of St. Brendan of Clonfert ; his 
mother, Gelgesia, was daughter of JEd, or 
Hugue, surnamed Fin, that is, white, prince 
of the Hy-Brunes in Connaught, from whom 
the noble tribes of the O'Rourkes and the 
O'Reillys are descended.;}: Fursey was bap- 
tized and brought up in a religious life, by his 
uncle Brendan. § Having attained the age of 
maturity, he founded, with the consent of his 
uncle, a monastery in an island called Rath- 
mat, near lake Orbsen, in the county of Gal- 
way, which Colgan thinks is the present par- 
ish church of Kill-Fursa, in the diocese of 
Tuam.|| 

St. Fursey having labored in the conver- 
sion of souls in Ireland for the space of 
twelve years, went, about the year 637, with 
some disciples, to England, where he was 
kindly received by Sigebert, king of the east 
Saxons :H this saint, having rescued some of 
the Picts and Saxons, who had escaped the 
zeal of the preceding missionaries, from the 
superstitions of idolatry, and brought them 
to the worship of the true God, founded the 

* Bede, Ibid. cap. 22. 

t Bede, Hist. Eecles. lib. 3, cap. 25. 

t Messing. Floril. usul. Januar. Vit. S. Furs. 
Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Furs, ad 19 Januar. Ibid, 
ad 9 Febr. War. de Script, cap. 3. 

§ Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Furs. lib. 1, note 7. 

|| Ibid, page 89, note 14. 

IT Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. 3, cap. 19. 



abbey of Cnobersburgh, now Burgh-Castle, 
in the county of Suffolk, on some land which 
the king had given him ; he afterwards indu- 
ced this pious prince to abdicate the throne, 
and become a monk. This monastery was 
afterwards considerably enlarged by the lib- 
erality of Anna, who succeeded Sigebert, and 
some lords of the kingdom. The desire of 
leading a retired life made our saint relinquish 
the government of his monastery, which he 
confided to his brother Foilan, and to the 
priests Gobban and Dicull ; he then with- 
drew to a place of solitude with his brother 
Ultan, where he spent a year in prayer and 
continence, living only on the fruits of the 
earth produced by his labor. 

The troubles caused by the incursions of 
the Normans into England, and the dangers 
that threatened the monasteries, induced St. 
Fursey to go to France, where he was pre- 
sented to Clovis II. by Erchinoald, or Her- 
cenald, mayor of the palace. The king being 
informed by Erchinoald of the saint's inten- 
tion, and wishing to encourage him to remain 
in his kingdom, gave him choice of a suit- 
able place for building a monastery. St. 
Fursey availed himself of this offer, and 
settled at Latiniacum, (Lagny,) on the river 
Marne, six leagues from Paris ; where he 
caused three chapels to be built, the first of 
which he dedicated to our Saviour, the 
second to St. Peter, and the third was called, 
when he died, after his own name, through 
the devotion of the faithful. Being after- 
wards joined by several monks, his disciples, 
who had followed him from Ireland, among 
others, iEmilianus, Euloquius, Mombulus, 
&c, and seconded by the liberality of the 
king and lords of the country, he founded a 
monastery which he himself governed. 

His zeal was not confined to the interior 
of his convent ; he labored with success in 
the conversion of souls at Brie and in its 
neighborhood, and his preaching was al- 
ways accompanied by miracles. 

St. Fursey was not forgetful of his 
brothers, nor the monastery he had founded 
in the country of the east Saxons : having 
formed the design of visiting them, he ap- 
pointed his disciple Emilianus to govern the 
monastery of Lagny in his stead, and set out 
for England ; but falling sick at Mezieres, 
he died the 16th of January, 648 : his body 
was removed to Peronne by order of Her- 
convald, and placed in a gallery till the 
dedication of the church, which took place 
twenty-six days after. On the day of the 
ceremony, the body of the saint was placed 
in the choir, and found to be as whole and 
untainted as the day on which he died. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



201 



Four years afterwards a chapel was built, 
to the east of the altar, in which the saint's 
body was deposited, and where it might be 
seen in the time of Bede, without stain or 
corruption. The festival of St. Fursey is 
kept to the 16th of January at Peronne, 
where he is honored as the patron saint. 
Dempster says that he composed a book on 
the monastic life, and a prophecy in the 
Scotic language. Colgan published, after 
Arnold Wion, some hymns which were 
written in his praise. 

James Desmay, of the faculty in Paris, 
doctor in theology, and canon of the colle- 
giate church of St. Fursey, wrote an ample 
history of the life of that saint in French ; it 
was translated into Latin by the Rev. father 
Eugene O'Gallagher, a monk of the order of 
Louvain. This author supposes that St. 
Fursey had gone to Rome, from whence he 
returned through Austria, Flanders, Bra- 
bant, Liege, and Namur, before he founded 
the monastery of Lagny. He also men- 
tions, after Bede and other ancient monu- 
ments, the visions of that saint, and mira- 
cles which he wrought. 

Saint Arbogast, a native of Ireland, came, 
says Gaspard Bruschius, as a stranger and 
hermit to Alsace, where he built an oratory 
in nearly the same place where the present 
city of Hagueneau is built, and devoted 
himself to the service of God in fasting and 
prayer.* His charity made him sometimes 
leave his retreat, to instruct the people in 
the knowledge and fear of God, and to in- 
voke the Father, and his divine Son Jesus 
Christ, to draw them from their idolatrous 
worship and superstition.f His conduct 
having attracted the notice of king Dago- 
bert, this prince appointed him to succeed 
St. Amand in the see of Strasburg, in 646. 
Having filled that bishopric for twelve years, 
he died 658. He was interred, as he had 
requested, in the place of public execution 
called Mount Michel, being desirous of 
imitating Jesus Christ, who suffered without 
the walls of Jerusalem, in the place where 
criminals suffered ; a monastery was founded 
long afterwards, where his tomb stood, and 
dedicated to his name, near which was built 
the great church of that city. It is said that 
he composed a book of homilies and learned 
commentaries on the epistles of St. Paul.}: 

Maildulphus, an Irish monk, and very 

* Act. Sanct. Hib. pages 36, 37, 117. _ War. de 
Script. Hib. cap. 3, et Brusch. de Epis. Germ, 
page 55. 

t Henric. Pantalcon. prosopog. viror. illustr. Ger- 
manic, et Sebast Muns. Cosmograph. 

X Baleus, et Flaming. Collect. Sacr. page 183. 



learned man, went to England in 676 ; he 
founded a monastery and established a school 
at Ingleborne in Wiltshire ; this place was 
called after him, Maildulfesburgh, (Maildul- 
fiurbs,) at present Malmsbury.* This school 
was celebrated for the great number of stu- 
dents, eminent for their learning and piety, 
who had received their education there, 
among others, St. Aldelm, who succeeded 
him, and was the first Saxon that wrote 
in the Latin tongue, either in prose or 
verse. f 

This monastery became a celebrated ab- 
bey, through the liberality of king Athelstan, 
and other benefactors. St. Maildulphus 
wrote on the observance of the Easter, on 
the tonsure, on celibacy, and on rules for the 
arts and natural philosophy : he composed 
hymns, dialogues, epistles, and several other 
works which have been lost. This holy 
man died at an advanced age, in his convent 
of Malmsbury, where he was interred. 

St. Cuthbert, son of an Irish prince, was 
born at Kenanuse, otherwise Kells, in Meath, 
or, according to others, at Kilmacudrick, 
within four miles from Dublin.^ Sabina, 
his mother, having undertaken, according to 
the taste of the times, a pilgrimage to Rome, 
left him in the abbey of Mailross, where he 
became a monk and afterwards prior ;§ he 
acquitted himself honorably in the dis- 
charge of his duties in this abbey, and was 
summoned to Lindisfarn by Eata, bishop of 
that see ; from thence he went to an island 
called Fame, some leagues in the sea, where 
he lived as a hermit till he was appointed 
bishop of Lindisfarn ; with reluctance he 
accepted that dignity, but was constrained to 
yield to the solicitations of king Egfrid, and 



* Guilliem. Malmesb. de Gest. Reg. Angl. lib. 1, 
cap. 2, et War. de Script. Hib. cap. 3. 

t " Nor was it known by any other name, for a 
long time, than Ingelborn, till Maildulphus, a certain 
Hibernian Scot, a man of the soundest erudition and 
a peculiar sanctity of life, being taken by the deli- 
ciousness of the grove. After this, opening a 
school, and devoting himself with his congregation 
to a monastic life, he built a monastery in it : from 
hence it began to be called by Maildulphus, instead of 
Ingleborne, the town of Maildulphesburg ; by Bede, 
the city of Maildulphus, and afterwards contracted 
into Malmsbury. By some historians, from pres- 
ents which were formerly made to this place, it is 
called Meldunum, Malduburg, and Maldunsburg. 
Among the disciples of Maildulphus, Aldelmus, who 
had been appointed his successor, was particularly 
noted ; for he was the first of the English people 
who wrote in Latin, and was the first who taught 
the English to compose Latin verse." — Camden, p. 
176. 

t Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. 4, cap. 27, 28. 

§ War. de Script. Hib. cap. 3. 

26 



202 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



some bishops whom he had assembled in 
synod for that purpose. 

He was consecrated bishop in presence 
of the king, at York, on Easter-day, 684, by 
the archbishop Theodore ; after continuing 
for two years in that diocese, he returned to 
his monastery in the isle of Fame, where he 
died on the 20th March, 686. According 
to Baleus, he wrote a treatise on the ordi- 
nances of his church, and another entitled 
" Precepts for the Monastic Life." Tin- 
mouth and Capgrave, who published his life, 
mention the monastic rules which he had 
given to his monks, and which Dempster 
calls " Exhortationes ad fratres." 

Saint Gertrude having become, on the 
death of her mother Itte, abbess of Nivelle, 
in Brabant, sent to Rome for relics of the 
holy martyrs, and for books of piety ;* she 
also sent to Ireland for learned men to ex- 
pound the holy Scriptures, and instruct the 
nuns in them, and to preach the word of 
God in the country around. Among this 
number were two brothers of St. Fursey, 
Foilan and Ultan, commonly called St. 
Foignan and St. Outain. St. Gertrude af- 
terwards conferred on St. Outain the lands 
of Fosse, in the diocese of Maestricht, be- 
tween the Meuse and the Sambre, to build 
a monastery and an hospital.! 

St. Kilian, a native of Ireland,! called the 
apostle of Franconia, left his country with 



* Baillet, Lives of the Saints, 17th March. 

t " Rome at that time took care to have the rel- 
ics of the saints and holy books brought to her ; she 
sent to Ireland for learned men to expound to her- 
self and to her people the canticles of the holy law, 
which the Irish had almost by heart. The monas- 
tery of Vossuensis was built on the banks of the 
Sambre for receiving the saints Fullanus and TJlta- 
nus, brothers of St. Furseus." — Breviary of Paris. 

X " From a district of Austria, and a castle called 
Wirtzburg near the river Meuse, the birthplace of 
the martyr Chilianus and two of his companions, 
who after coming from the island of Scotia, (Ire- 
land,) preached the gospel of Christ in the above 
places." — Martyrology of Rhabanvs. 

" The holy Kilianus, born in the island of Hiber- 
nia, (Ireland,) is considered as a renowned bishop of 
Wirtzburg." — Marianus Scotus. 

" Saint Kilianus, an Irish monk, preached in 
these times the evangelical doctrine to the eastern 
Francs, and is called their apostle." — Chronicles 
of Cardinal Bellarmini. 

" In a district of Austria, where stood a castle 
of New France, nay a city as in the Teutonic dia- 
lect, Wirtzburg, situate near the river Meuse, sig- 
nifies the martyrdom of St. Kilianus, the first bishop 
of that city, and that of his two disciples, Colona- 
tus a presbyter, and Totnanus a deacon, took place. 
They came from Ireland, the island of the Scots, 
and after receiving the authority of the apostolical 
see, they preached the name of Christ to that city 
and district." — Martyrology of Notker. 



two companions called Colonat and Totnan, 
the one a priest and the other a deacon : 
being desirous to visit the church of Rome, 
he took his route through Flanders and 
Germany ; on his arrival in Rome, having 
been presented to Pope Conon, the holy 
father found him to be possessed of so much 
wisdom, and so perfect in his knowledge 
of the holy Scriptures, that he ordained and 
appointed him to preach the gospel to the 
infidels of Franconia, where, having con- 
verted duke Gosbert, and a great number of 
his subjects, he fixed his see at Wirtzburg, 
of which he was the first bishop, and was 
afterwards honored as a martyr.* 

Gosbert, while he was a pagan, married 
Gielana, his brother's wife ; but being con- 
verted to Christianity, St. Kilian, like ano- 
ther John the Baptist, reproached him, with 
truly apostolical freedom, for this incestuous 
marriage, and advised him to separate from 
her : Gielana, exasperated at the holy pre- 
late's reproof, caused him and his com- 
panions to be assassinated on the 8th of 
July, 689, the day on which they are hon- 
ored by the church as martyrs. 

The removal of these holy bodies by St. 
Burchard, bishop of that see, gave rise to 
the Hexastich, as subjoined ;f it was writ- 
ten in the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, by Doctor Engilhard Funkius. Some 
works are attributed to St. Kilian, namely, 
a treatise against Arianism, and one against 
extraneous worship. 

Sedulius, surnamed the younger, to dis- 
tinguish him from the Great Sedulius, of 
whom we have spoken in the fifth century, 
assisted at a council held at Rome, against 
illicit marriages, the fifth of April, 721, under 
the pontificate of Gregory II 4 He left to 
posterity compilations on the Gospel of St. 
Matthew, which are still to be seen in manu- 
script in some of the libraries in Paris. It 
is said that he wrote the commentaries on 
the large volume of Priscianus ; on the sec- 
ond edition of Donatus, and on the art of Eu- 
tychius ; he is thought to be the author of a 
work that was written in Gothic characters, 

* Usser. Prim. c. 16, p. 732, Messingh. Florileg. 
insul. Sanct. Vit. S. Kilian, War. de Script. Hib. c. 
3, et Fleur. Hist. Eccles. lib. 40. 

t " These are the masters of Herbipolis, who 
have taught thee how to worship the true God ; 
the wicked Gielana ordered them at length to be 
put to death, and concealed beneath this place 
their martyred bones, which Burkardus now places 
beneath this monument, lest they should lie in a 
filthy spot, without praise and the rites of burial." 
— Ware on Irish Writers. 

t War. de Script. Hib. c. 4, et Severinus Binius, 
Concil. torn. 5. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



203 



on parchment, found in a monastery in Gal- 
licia, and lias given rise to the opinion of his 
having been bishop of Oreto in Spain ; it 
was entitled " Concordantia Hispanias atque 
Hibernian a Sedulio Scoto, genere Hiberni- 
ensi et Episcopo Oretensi." 

Albuin, an Irish monk, filled with zeal for 
the propagation of the faith, left his country, 
says Trithcmius, and went, in 742, to Thu- 
ringia, a part of Upper Saxony, where, by 
the mildness of his preaching, he converted 
a great number of Gentiles to the faith of 
Jesus Christ ; after which the pope nomi- 
nated him bishop of Fritzlar, or rather of 
Buraburgh ; Arnold Wion gives him the 
title of the apostle of the Thuringians. Ac- 
cording to Serarius,this bishopric was united 
to Paderborn, in 794.* 

Saint Virgilius, sometimes called Soliva- 
gus, from his love of solitude, was born of 
an ancient and noble family in Ireland,! 
where he distinguished himself by his learn- 
ing. Having gone to France, King Pepin 
was highly taken with him, on accoimt of 
his mildness and profound erudition.^ This 
prince having detained him two years, 
recommended him to Otilo, duke of Bava- 
ria, and had him appointed to the bishopric 
of Juvave, since called Salsburg, in 772. fy 
Pepin caused to be convened the council of 
Dingolvingue, at which six bishops assisted, 
the most celebrated of whom was St. Vir- 
gilius of Salsburg. [[ Virgilius remained for 
two years, without being ordained bishop ; 
the duties, however, of the see, he got 
Dobha, a bishop who went with him from 
Ireland, to perform. He rebuilt the monas- 
tery of St. Peter of Salsburg, in a magnifi- 
cent manner, of which he was abbot before 
he was consecrated bishop. 

Chetimar, duke of the Carinthians, be- 
sought St. Virgilius to visit his people and 
confirm them in the faith ; but being unable 
to go, he sent the bishop of Modestus, with 
four priests, some deacons, and clerks, con- 
ferring on him the power of consecrating 
churches, and to ordain. He went thither 
himself afterwards, where he consecrated 
several churches, ordained clerks, and pro- 

* Act. Sanct. Vit. S. Albruin. ad 15 Mart. War. 
dc Script. Hib. c. 3, Lig. Vit. lib. 2, e. 42, Rer. 
Moguntin. lib. 3, et Trith. de Vir. illus. Ord. Bene- 
dict, lib. 4, c. 190, lib. 3, c. 367. 

t " Saint Virgil was descended from a noble 
family in Ireland. He was a man of extraordinary 
piety and learning." — Gasp. Brus. on German Mon- 
asteries. 

t Messingh. Florileg. insul. Sanct. Vit. S. Virgil, 
et Act. Sanct. Hib. pp. 760, 764, 769. 

§ War. de Script. Hib. c. 4. 

|| Fleuri, Hist. Eccles. lib. 44. 



ceeded as far as the boundaries of the Huns, 
where the Drave falls into the Danube. 
While Virgilius was bishop of Salsburg, a 
dispute arose between him and Boniface, 
archbishop of Mayence, concerning baptism. 
Boniface asserted that the baptism adminis- 
tered by a priest of the country, who, through 
ignorance of the Latin tongue, had corrupted 
the form by saying, " In nomine Patriot et 
Filia et Spiritu Sancta," was invalid, and 
should be renewed. Virgilius, on the con- 
trary, maintained, that this change in the 
form of the baptism being merely accidental, 
could not affect the validity of the sacra- 
ment. The debate became warm on both 
sides, and the matter was referred to the 
pope : on this occasion, Virgilius, bishop of 
Salsburg, and Sidonius, archbishop of Ba- 
varia, wrote a letter to Pope Zachary, who 
decided in their favor, against Boniface, 
whom he accused of being in error. 

Virgilius was not so favorably treated on 
another occasion ; he was summoned to the 
court of Rome, concerning a treatise on the 
Antipodes, wherein he did not agree with the 
opinion of the ancients, who thought that 
the earth had a fiat surface, that there were 
no antipodes, and that the sky met the earth 
at the horizon. This saint, who excelled 
in every kind of learning, was a subtle phi- 
losopher, and an able mathematician ; he 
was of the opinion of Ptolemy, who was 
the first to reduce geography to a system ; 
he maintained that the earth was spherical, 
a great part of which was therefore un- 
known ; that every nation had its anti- 
podes, and inhabitants diametrically oppo- 
site ; which opinion being unknown to the 
ancients, and apparently opposed to some 
passages in the Holy Scriptures, and fathers 
of the church, Virgilius was represented by 
Boniface as having broached an erroneous 
doctrine, and declared heretical by Pope 
Zachary, as it appears by his epistle to 
Boniface. If, says he, Virgilius maintains 
that there is another world, and other men 
under the earth, another sun, and another 
moon, he must be suspended in council from 
the church, and from the priesthood.* 

By this decision of the pope, it would ap- 
pear that the matter had been badly repre- 
sented to him, whereas he did not compre- 
hend the opinion of Virgilius respecting the 
antipodes ; it appears, also, that the above 
sentence was never put into execution against 
him. The dispute between Virgilius and 
Boniface is well described by Canisius, 
Aventinus, and Velser, historians of Bavaria. 

* Usser. Epis. Hiber. Syllog. Epist. 16, 17. 



204 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Melchoir Goldastus, in his notes on the 
life of St. Columbanus, quotes a glossary, 
which is attributed to Virgilius. This saint 
died the 27th November, 785 ; he was 
looked upon as a man of piety, and very 
learned in philosophy and the mathematics ; 
he was canonized by Pope Gregory IX., in 
1233. 

St. Donatus left Ireland with his com- 
panion Andrew ; and after travelling through 
France and Italy, settled in Etruria, now 
Tuscany, where he led the life of a hermit 
for some time, after which he was nominated 
bishop of Fiesole.* He remained for a con- 
siderable time at the head of that church, 
and became celebrated for the brilliancy of 
his virtues. It is affirmed that the Domini- 
cans at Rome have his life in manuscript : 
he wrote his travels, the office of his church, 
and commentaries on the Holy Scriptures ; 
he gave also a description of Ireland in hex- 
ameter and pentameter verse, some frag- 
ments of which are quoted by Colgan.f This 
saint flourished in 840, and his festival is 
celebrated on the 22d of October. Demp- 
ster ascribes to Andrew, the companion of St. 
Donatus, and archdeacon of Fiesole, some 
tracts, viz., on the usefulness of penance, the 
good of giving alms ; to the brothers who 
had received the habit from him, the acts of 
his master Donatus, and a work on morality. 
Philip, a Florentine, and ambassador of Pope 
Boniface IX., published the lives of Andrew 
and his sister Bridget in 1390, according to 
a manuscript in an abbey in Florence, where- 
in, among other tilings, he says : " Andrew, 
a holy man, from the island of Ireland, more 
generally called Scotia," &c. 

About this time, says Ware, lived St. 
Findan, whose life was published in 795 by 
Melchoir Goldastus.J When Ireland began 
to be infested with the Danes, St. Findan, 
son of a prince of Leinster, was made pris- 
oner by those barbarians ; but having es- 
caped in a miraculous manner, he went to 
Rome, from whence he travelled to Germany, 
where he remained for twenty-seven years ; 
he was first a hermit, and afterwards abbot 
of the monastery of Richnaw, which he had 
founded on a peninsula in the Rhine, where 
he died in 827. 

St. Buo, a native of Ireland, and Ernul- 
phus, from the same country, went to Ice- 
land, where they preached the gospel with 
success ; they burned the temples in which 
the pagans offered up human sacrifices, and 

* War. de Script. Hib. c. 6. 
t Dempst. Hist. Eceles. Scot. lib. 4, n. 366. 
Trias Thaum. pp. 255, 582. Ibid. lib. 1, n. 31. 
t Script. Rer. Alleman. torn. p. 318. 



founded a church dedicated to St. Columb, 
in the city of Esinberg. They are looked 
upon as the apostles of Iceland. 

Dempster says that St. Buo wrote a book 
of homilies to the Icelanders ;* very dis- 
honorably, however, he calls him a Scot 
from Albania, although his account is taken 
from Arngrim Jonas, an historiographer of 
the Icelanders, who expressly calls Ernul- 
phus an Irish Christian, " Irlandum homi- 
nem Christianum ;" and Buo, a young man 
from the same country, " ejusdem provinciae 
juvenem." The memory of St. Buo is cele- 
brated on the 5th February, but the year of 
his death is not known. 

The public schools, namely, Ardmach, 
Lismore, Ros Ailithir, otherwise Ros Car- 
bery, Clonard, &c, and the learned profes- 
sors who presided over them, attracted many 
students from the neighboring nations. 

The almost universal inundation of Eu- 
rope, in those ages, by the barbarians, who 
were opposed to all civilization and litera- 
ture, caused them in a great degree to con- 
centrate themselves in Ireland, which was 
then the only asylum that remained for them ; 
besides this, it was a nation very well dis- 
posed to cultivate them ; as it has been seen 
that the Greeks, after the taking of Constan- 
tinople by the Turks, carried with them into 
Italy, and the neighboring countries of Eu- 
rope, philosophy, the sciences, and fine arts, 
from Greece. 

The venerable Bede mentions a great 
number of English, both nobles and others, 
who came to Ireland in the time of the holy 
bishops Finanus and Colmanus, to be in- 
structed in divine learning, and perfect them- 
selves in the practice of a monastic life. He 
then adds that the Scots provided them gra- 
tuitously with every thing that they needed, 
even with books for study. f " Our Anglo- 
Saxons," says Camden, "went in those times 
to Ireland, as if to a fair, to purchase know- 
ledge ; and we often find, in our authors, 
that if a person were absent, it was generally 
said of him, by way of a proverb, that he 
was sent to Ireland to receive his education. 



* Hist. Eceles. Scot. lib. 2, n. 168. 

t " This country pressed upon Ireland likewise 
with the like carnage. There were in it (at that 
time) many nobles and gentry from among the 
English, who, in the time of bishops Finanus and 
Colmanus, having withdrawn themselves thither, 
for either the sake of divine study or to lead more 
chaste lives, some gave themselves up to a monas- 
tic life, and others attended in the monasteries to 
hear the professors. All of them the Scots most 
freely admitted, and supplied them gratis with daily 
sustenance, with books, and masters." — Bede's 
Church Hist. b. 3, c. 27. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



205 



It even appears," continues he, " that our 
ancestors, the ancient Anglo-Saxons, had 
learned the use of characters in Ireland."* 

Edilvinus, after having studied there, was 
bishop of the province of Lindisse, where he 
governed his church as a true pastor ; Alfred, 
king of the Northumbrians, went also to 
Ireland to perfect himself in the study of 
philosophy and the sciences : " In Hibernia 
magno otio litteris imbutus, omni philosophia 
composuerat animum."t Young Willibrordus, 
struck with the great reputation for learning 
which the Irish possessed, and influenced by 
the example of St. Egbert, a bishop, and the 
venerable Wicbert, a priest, who had aban- 
doned all to devote themselves to study and 
contemplation in Ireland, left his monastery, 
with the consent of his abbot, to go thither 
and prepare himself for the mission which 
God intended him for ;| and after spending 
twelve years in Ireland, was appointed arch- 
bishop of Utrecht, and converted the Bata- 
vians, the Frieslanders, and the people of 
Antwerp, to the faith of Jesus Christ. § 



* " Our Anglo-Saxons, at that time, flocked to 
Ireland as if to purchase goods. Hence it is fre- 
quently read in our historians on holy men, ' he has 
been sent to Ireland to school.' In the life of Sul- 
genus, who flourished 600 years before, it is read : — 

" ' Moved by the example of our fathers for a love 
of reading, he went to the Irish, renowned for their 
philosophy.' 

" From the Irish our ancient English ancestors 
appear to have received their method of forming 
letters, and obviously made use of the same charac- 
ters which the Irish now make use of." — Camd. Brit. 
Edit. p. 730. 

t " Who himself went, the age following, for the 
sake of reading, and, being well instructed, re. 
turned to his country, and being appointed bishop for 
the province of Lindisse, he ruled his church for a 
long time most nobly." — Bede's Church History, 
p. 3, c. 27. 

X Gudl. Malmes. lib. 1, de gest. Regum. Anglor. 
Fleury, Hist. Eccles. 1, 40. 

§ " Because he heard that scholastic erudition 
flourished in Ireland ; he was roused by his inter- 
course with some holy men, and by report, particu- 
larly by Egbertus, a most holy father and bishop, 
(he had the surname of saint,) likewise by Wicber- 
tus, a holy man and a priest of God ; both of them 
from their love of heaven abandoned their home, 
their country and relations, and withdrew to Ireland, 
that they might inhale in retirement the love of 
God, and the sweetest fruits of contemplation from 
above. The holy youth, desirous to rival their re- 
ligious avocations, with the consent of his abbot 
and brethren, he speedily proceeds to Ireland, uni- 
ting himself in friendship with the above fathers ; in 
order that, like the prudent bee, he might gather 
honey from flowers of piety, and in the hive of his 
breast construct the combs of virtue. There, during 
twelve years, he was taught among the most pious 
and religious masters, that he would become a 
preacher to many people." — Alcuin in his Life of 
Willibrordus. 



Timuthensis and Leland make mention of 
St. Petrocus, who, after renouncing the 
crown of his father, who was king of Cum- 
berland when he died, and leading a monastic 
life for some years, together with sixty per- 
sons with whom he had united himself, went 
to Ireland, where he devoted twenty years 
to the study of literature and the holy Scrip- 
tures.* 

Mark, a native of Britain, was brought 
up in Ireland, and after exercising the epis- 
copal functions with sanctity, he was induced 
to go to France, by the liberality of Charles 
the Bald, and withdrew into the monastery 
of the Saints Medard and Sebastian, where 
he lived as a hermit and a wise philosopher. f 

Two Englishpriests, who were both called 
Evaldus, having studied in Ireland, went to 
preach the gospel to the Saxons in Germany 4 

The Saxons were not the only people who 
came to seek after the sciences in Ireland. fy 
Bede affirms that Agilbert, a native of 
France, having studied the Scriptures for a 
long time in it, was, on his return to his own 
country, nominated bishop of Paris, where 
he died at a very advanced age.[| 

" There came a certain man from the western 
boundaries of the world, powerful in virtue, filled 
with divine love, acute, vigilant, and fervent — he 
came to thee, O happy France, in the time of king 
Pepin : fruitful Britain was his mother, but learned 
Ireland nurtured him in sacred study ; his name was 
Willibrordus." — Usher's Syllogisms. 

* " The blessed Petrocus was from the county of 
Cumberland. Being the son of a king, and his father 
having died, the chief men among his subjects, sec- 
onded by the people, endeavored to prevail on him 
to succeed the father as heir to the crown. He, how. 
ever, slighted the pomp of royalty, and taking with 
him sixty companions, entered a monastery, where 
he took the habit of their order. In some years 
after this, proceeding to Ireland, he spent twenty 
years in the study of the Scriptures and sacred disci- 
pline. 

" Burning with an unusual love for study, he 
consulted the most learned masters, nor did he de- 
sist until he passed 20 complete years in reading 
good authors. A treasure was found at length by 
so assiduous a regard for study, which, lest it should 
lie hidden, the finder transferred this Irish treasure 
to Cumberland, that he might exhibit it to the view 
of all."— Usher, c. 14, p. 563. 

t " Marcus, a native of Britain, was educated in 
Ireland, and having passed a long time in the dis- 
charge of his episcopal functions, undertook to travel. 
Having gone to France, and influenced by the liber- 
ality of the most pious king Charles, he entered the 
monastery of Saints Medard and Sebastian, where 
he led the life of an hermit. In our time he was a 
philosopher of peculiar sanctity." — Antisidorensis 
in Usher's Syllogis7ns. 

t Fleury, Hist. Eccles. Iiv. 41. 

§ Ibid. Iiv. 39. 

|| " A certain bishop named Agilbertus came into 
the province from Ireland. He was a native of 
France, but for the sake of studying the Scriptures 



206 



HTSTORY OF IRELAND. 



Usher speaks of several illustrious persons 
who had spent part of their time in Ireland 
to perfect themselves both in piety and learn- 
ing : among this number were St. Sampson, 
archbishop of York, and afterwards bishop 
of Dol, in Brittany ; St. Magloire, his suc- 
cessor in that see, and St. Maclou, bishop 
of Aleth, at present St. Malo. 

He likewise mentions Petramis, a noble 
Briton, of Armorica, who had left his country 
to go and spend the remainder of his life in 
Ireland, in the practices of temperance and 
every virtue, and whose son Paternus after- 
wards followed him : " Hiberniam petiit ibi- 
que magna vitae abstinentia et virtutibus Deo 
placuit." It is well known that Dagobert, son 
of Sigebert III., and grandson of Dagobert 
I., king of Austrasia, was sent into Ireland 
by Grimoald, mayor of the palace, where he 
remained for twenty years.* 

The zeal of the Scoto-Milesians for the 
instruction of their brethren was not con- 
fined to the limits of their own island ; they 
sent learned men into foreign countries to 
found universities and schools for science 
and literature. 

Besides the Irish Scots who instructed 
the Saxon youth in England in the time of 
king Oswald,! Fleury mentions the abbot of 
St. Dunstan, who was brought up in the 
monastery of Glastonbury in the ninth cen- 
tury, by Irishmen who were employed in 
instructing the youth of that house.:): 

"In those early ages," says Camden, when 
speaking of the monastery of Glastonbury, 
" the Irish were eminent for their sanctity in 
serving God ; they were supported at the 
king's expense, for instructing the youth in 
piety and the liberal arts. They embraced 
a retired life, in order to devote their time 
more calmly to the study of sacred litera- 
ture, and learn to bear the cross by leading 
a life of austerity. At length Dunstan, a 
man of cultivated mind, and whose sanctity 
and doctrine had gained him the esteem of 
princes, introduced Benedictine monks into 
that monastery, of which he was first abbot."^ 



he passed a considerable time in Ireland, from which 
country Agilbertus returned to Gaul : he was then 
appointed bishop of Paris, where he lived to a very 
advanced age and died." — Bede's Church History, 
b. 3, c. 7. 

* Fleury, Hist. Eccles. 

t Imbuebantur praeceptoribus Scotis parvuli An- 
glorum unit cum majoribus, studiis et observatione 
disciplinae regularis. Bed. Hist. Eccles. Anglor. lib. 
3, c. 3, et alibi. 

t Fleury, Hist. Eccles. Usser. Primord. cap. 6, 
page 110. 

§ Translated in same page, from line 14 to line 
25, included. 



I have already spoken, after the same au- 
thor, of Maildulphus, an Irish monk ;* he 
was a learned man, and founded a monastery 
and a school at Ingleborn, in Wiltshire, in 
England, which became celebrated for the 
number of persons who received their edu- 
cation in it, and were distinguished for their 
piety and learning. 

Clement, otherwise called Claude Clem- 
ent, and John Scot, known by the name of 
Albinus, were both natives of Ireland ; they 
left their country on account of the tumults 
of war, and went to France, where their 
learning and other good qualities soon gained 
them the esteem of Charlemagne, the Solo- 
mon of those ages of ignorance. t About 
the year 792, this monarch having founded 
two universities, or schools, (academy, uni- 
versity, and school, among the ancients, sig- 
nified the same thing,) one at Paris and the 
other at Pavia, confided the care of them to 
those two learned men4 He settled Clem- 
ent at Paris, and sent Albinus to Pavia. 
Polidore Virgil speaks of them in the fol- 
lowing words : — Alcuin, a native of England, 
being in France, began to teach the sciences 
at Paris. By his advice Charles was the 
first who founded a school in that city, and 
another at Ticinum, now Pavia, in Italy. It 
was, continued he, in the year 792, that two 
monks from Ireland, or rather from Scotia, 
came to France, where they publicly cried, 
" Wisdom to sell," and as a remuneration 
for their learning, asked only food and cloth- 
ing ; one of them, called Clement, was kept 
at Paris by Charles, where the young men 
of the city, of every rank and station, were 
placed under bis discipline ; and the other 
was sent into Italy, where he taught at Tici- 
num. 

Polidore here supposes that Alcuin was 
in France before the arrival of the monks 
from Ireland, and that he had begun to teach 
the sciences at Paris ; this is a point of 
criticism which merits attention. 

It is true that, according to Fleury, Alcuin 
passed through Pavia, where meeting with 
king Charles, in 780, he was invited by him 
to go to France ; where, according to our 
author, he set out for England about the year 
790. He fixes his return afterwards to 
France, in the year 792, which was the 
time of the arrival of the Irish monks, ac- 
cording to Polidore. 

There are several grave authors, however, 
who assert that the schools at Paris were 
founded by Clement before the arrival of 

* Camd. Brit. Edit. Lond. p. 176. 

t War. de Script. Hib. cap. 6, et Ibid. cap. 15. 

t Hist. Anglic, lib. 5, page 264. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



207 



Alcuin in France : among whom are Notker 
le Begue, the Chronicle of Aries, quoted by 
Vincent de Beauvais, Paulus Emilius, Anto- 
ninus, Lupoldus, and others, that are cited 
by Colgan.* Alcuin himself, in the first 
book of his treatise against Elipandus, ad- 
dresses him in these words : " Before I 
came into France, by order of King Charles, 
your error was examined at Ratisbon, the 
king himself presiding at the assembly, and 
Felix present, where it was condemned by 
the authority of the bishops." 

According to French annals which were 
written by an anonymous author, quoted and 
followed by Baronius, the synod of Ratisbon 
was held in 792. 

" The year following, 792," says Fleury, 
" King Charles caused Felix of Urgel to 
be brought to Reginum, or Ratisbon, in Ba- 
varia, where he had spent the winter, and 
assembled a council there, in which Felix 
was heard, and being convicted of error, 
was sent to Rome to Pope Adrian."f 

It is obvious, therefore, from the words 
of Alcuin himself, addressed to Elipandus, 
and from the authority of Fleury, that this 
learned man did not go to France till after 
the council of Ratisbon, and the year 792, 
and consequently after the establishment of 
the schools at Paris, the same year, by Cle- 
ment ; unless we were to suppose with 
Fleury, that he had already been there, and 
that it is to his return only to that country 
allusion is here made. 

Notker is opposed to this explanation : he 
says that Albinus, an Englishman, (the same 
undoubtedly as Alcuin, whereas he had 
taken the Latin name of Flaccus Albinus, 
and was well known under the name, not the 
same as Albinus of Pavia,) being informed 
of the encouragement which Charles had 
given to learned men, (speaking of Clement 
and Albinus,) went tooffer him his services.}: 
The matter appears, notwithstanding, beyond 
dispute, that Alcuinneither taught nor found- 
ed schools at Paris : Andre Duchene, who 
published his works, proves it by incontesta- 
ble arguments ; he observes, no mention is 
made in any of his works of his having been 
at Paris, muchlessofhavingfounded schools 
in it ; while he is very precise in his account 
of all the places he had lived or taught in. 
He speaks, in his tenth epistle, of the latitude 
of Belgium, where he had lived, " in Bel- 
gica latitudine :" in the prologue to the life 
of St. Riquier, he mentions the monastery 

* Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Clem, ad 20 Mart, 
t Hist. Eccles. lib. 44. Calmet, Abrege' Chronol 
a l'an 972. 

t Fleury, Hist. Eccles. liv. 44. 



of Centule, where he had been. He says, in 
his 55th epistle, that he had spent some 
time at St. Amand ; and in several others 
he speaks of Tours, where he lived and had 
taught for a long time. He does not even 
mention Paris in any of his writings, except 
once in his homily on the nativity of St. 
Willebrordus, without giving cause to sup- 
pose, in any shape, that he either lived or 
had taught there. However, the establishing 
a celebrated school in a capital city is not of 
such a nature that it would be passed over 
in silence by him, whose glory was interest- 
ed in it. 

It is remarkable, indeed, that Fleury, who 
expatiates largely upon the merit and virtues 
of Alcuin, makes no mention of his having 
founded any establishment in Paris ; he says 
that he instructed Charlemagne in rhetoric, 
logic, and particularly in astronomy ; that 
he had instructed the princesses Gisele and 
Rictrude, daughters to Charles ; Angilbert, 
afterwards abbot of Centule ; Riculfe, arch- 
bishop of Mayence, and some others :* which 
he calls the school of the palace, which was 
fixed at Aix-la-Chapelle, and was, he says, 
governed after Alcuin by a Scot, or rather 
an Irishman. In a word, it appears that 
from the arrival of Alcuin in France, he had 
been always attached to the court, until he 
was appointed to different abbeys ; among 
others, to that of St. Martin of Tours, 
whither he withdrew and continued till his 
death, which happened in 804. 

Some authors, such as Possevinus, Robert 
Gaguin, &c, give Clement a share in the 
glory of having founded the university of 
Paris, by giving him for colleagues in that 
undertaking, not only his fellow-citizen John 
Scot, the same as Albinus of Pavia ; but 
also Alcuin, and Raban, afterwards arch- 
bishop of Mayence. Others say, with Wion 
and Vincent de Beauvais, that these four doc- 
tors had been disciples of the venerable Bede. 

We have already observed that John Scot, 
otherwise Albinus, was sent to Pavia by 
Charlemagne at the time that he settled 
Clement in Paris, and when Alcuin pre- 
sided over the schools of the palace, and 
afterwards over those of Tours, till his 
death, without any mention of his having 
taught at Paris. With respect to Raban, 
he was not more than born at the time of the 
foundation of the schools at Paris, in 792. 

Raban, according to Nicholas Serarius, 
was nominated abbot of Fulde in 825, at the 
age of thirty years.f We should, therefore, 

* Hist. Eccles. lib. 45. 

t Lib. 4, de reb. Moguntin. in 6, ejusdem sedis 
Archiepiscop. 



208 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



place his birth in 795, which was subsequent 
to the foundation of the Paris schools ; and 
wera we even to suppose that he was ten 
years older at the time of his appointment to 
be abbot of Fulde, it would not be correct 
he was too young to be a scholar in 792, or 
the founder of schools. 

The opinion that these four masters were 
disciples of Bede, has not been supported 
the contrary appears more like truth. Al 
though Alcuin, in speaking of the venerable. 
Bede, sometimes calls him, through respect, 
" Bede the master," and sometimes " the 
noble and celebrated master of his time," he 
never says that he had been his ; on the 
contrary, he speaks of himself to have been, 
from his earliest youth, the pupil of Egbert, 
bishop of York, as appears from his letter 
to Eanbald, who succeeded Egbert in that 
see. All that I have said respecting the 
time when Raban lived, is sufficient to 
prove that he was not the disciple of Bede 
who died in 735.* That opinion is not 
maintained by any ancient monument ; as to 
Claude Clement and John Scot, the authors 
who speak of them say that they came from 
Ireland ; it is well understood that the Irish 
did not go, in those ages, to seek the sciences 
among the English ; it was the very con- 
trary, " Anglo-Saxones nostri ilia state, in 
Hiberniam tanquam ad bonarum litterarum 
mercaturam confluxerunt."t 

The difficulty lies in determining which 
was the country of Clement and Albinus : 
modern Scotch authors place them among 
the number of their countrymen, as well as 
all who distinguished themselves by their vir- 
tue and learning in foreign countries under 
the name of Scots ; which Buchanan sings 
in some fair lines, that prove that this poet 
possessed more talent than honor, and which 
are, says Usher, more applicable to Ireland 
than Scotland, as Notker le Begue, a monk 
of St. Gall, who wrote the life of Charle- 
magne about 70 years after his death, as- 
serts with confidence that these doctors were 
from Ireland.^ 



* Calmet, Abre'ge' Chronol. a 1'an 735. 

t Camd. Brit. edit. Lond. p. 730. 

t " What an able poet has written of his own 
country, can be more fitly applied to our Scotia : 

" ' While rude Mars was disturbing Latium and 
the world, this was the only country which hospi- 
tably received the muses that were expelled. From 
her Charles transferred the wisdom of Greece and 
of Latium to the Celts, and from her he obtained 
the doctors and instructors of the uninstructed 
youth.' 

" Notkerus Balbulus, a monk of St. Gall, who 
wrote the history and life of Charles the Great, 
70 years after his death, clearly proves that the above 



The testimony of the monk of St. Gall 
should undoubtedly have weight on this 
subject, with every man of discernment. He 
lived in the ninth century, a period not dis- 
tant from that of which he wrote the history, 
and was a very learned man, having pre- 
sided over the schools of St. Gall after Mar- 
cellus. He wrote the life of Charlemagne, 
which enabled him to know what had oc- 
curred during his reign; his works were 
published by Canisius, in 1601, from an an- 
cient manuscript. Among other things he 
mentions the following : — • 

"When Charles began to reign alone in 
the west, and that literature had been for- 
gotten almost everywhere, it happened that 
two Scots from Ireland, who were exceed- 
ingly learned, called Clement and Albinus, 
came with some British merchants to the 
coast of France, and having no other com- 
modity to dispose of, they,in order to satisfy 
the people that surrounded them, cried, 
1 Science to sell ;' their hearers, thinking 
them to be mad, communicated the news to 
Charles. This great prince, who was de- 
sirous that learning might be revived in his 
empire, made them be brought to court, and 
after questioning them, he was filled with 
joy, and made them remain with him ; but 
being obliged some time afterwards to go 
to war, he established Clement in France, 
and gave orders to have him provided with 
every necessary for his support, and with a 
suitable dwelling for himself and the pupils 
whom he placed under his discipline. Al- 
binus was sent into Italy, and the monastery 
of St. Augustin, near the city of Ticinum, 
granted to him, where all who were desirous 
to receive instructions might resort to him." 

He adds also, that another Albinus, an 
Englishman by birth, being informed of the 
reception which those learned men met with 
from the monarch, came to offer him his 
services ;* it would appear that he was the 

doctors had been brought from Ireland." — Usher, in 
an old epistle upon Ireland. 

* " When Charles began to reign alone in the west, 
and that learning had almost everywhere become 
extinct, it happened that two Scots from Ireland ar- 
rived on the shores of Gaul, with some British mer- 
chants ; these two men were incomparably skilled 
in sacred and profane learning. While they dis- 
played nothing for sale, they cried out to those 
who came to purchase, ' If any one be desirous of 
wisdom, let him come to receive it.' They were 
invited to the presence of Charles, who questioned 
them, and was overjoyed after they were examined : 
he kept them for some time with him. Charles, 
soon after this, being obliged to go to war, ordered 
the one named Clement to reside in Gaul. He re- 
commended to them some very noble youths, some 
of the middle classes, and several of the lowest 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



209 



same as Alcuin, but, according to Notker, 
different from Albinus of Pavia. Vincent 
de Beauvais and some others, quoted by 
Usher, give the same account as the chron- 
icles of Aries, which were written in or 
about the tenth century.* 

The writers of every age and country 
have adopted the opinion of Notker, and the 
chronicles of Aries, respecting the country 
of Clement and Albinus, and the foundation 
of the schools at Paris by the former ;t they 
are, Vincent de Beauvais, a Frenchman, who 
flourished in the thirteenth century ; Lupol- 
dus Bebenburgius, a German, in the four- 
teenth ; St. Antonius and Antonius Sabelli- 
cus, Italians ; Joannes Rossus, an English- 
man, and Gaguimis, a Fleming, in the fif- 
teenth ; Huldericus Mutius, a German ; 
Polidore Virgil, an Italian ; Wion, a Flem- 
ing ; and Cassoneus, a Burgundian, have 
adopted the same opinion in the sixteenth 
century, as well as Joannes Magnus, and 
Claudius Roberti, a Frenchman, in the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth. In fine, we 
may add the authority of Trithemius, in his 
treatise on ecclesiastical authors, and the 
illustrious men of the order of St. Benedict, 
and that of Possevinus, in his sacred com- 
pendium. 

The reputation of Claude Clement drew 
disciples to him from all parts .J Among 
others, he had Brunon, Einardus, Modestus, 
and Candidus, monks of the abbey of Fulde, 
whom Ratger, their abbot, had sent thither 
to be perfected in the sciences, and who af- 
terwards became celebrated for their learn- 
ing and writings. § 



ranks ; it was also ordered by the king, that every 
thing necessary for their support should be supplied 
to them, and convenient houses for their accommo- 
dation were provided. The other, named Albinus, 
was sent to Italy, where the monastery of St. Au- 
gustin, near the city of Ticinum, was given him, 
that all who wished to be instructed might come to 
learn. It was heard how graciously Charles, the 
most religious of kings, received Albinus, who was 
an Englishman, &c." — Speculum Historia, b. 23, 
c. 173. 

* " In these happy days, when the liberal sci- 
ences nourished in Ireland above every other 
country, two Scots came from Hibernia, with Brit- 
ish merchants, to Gaul : one of them, named Cle- 
ment, was appointed to settle at Paris." — Usher's 
Syllogisms. 

t Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Clement, ad 20 Mart. 
p. 701. 

t Browerius de Reb. Fuldens, lib. 1, c. 14. 

§ " Rabanus and Halton of Turin, were sent to 
Albinus, master, to learn from him the liberal arts. 
Brunon and Eindardus, a most skilful instructor in 
various arts, were sent to Clement, a Scot, to study 
grammar." — Browerius's Notes on Rabanus, page 
118. 



Our Clement should not be mistaken for 
Clement, a Scotchman, who was opposed 
to St. Boniface of Mayence, and was con- 
demned, first in 744, with Adalbert, a native 
of Gaul, his accomplice, at the council of 
Soissons, and afterwards at the council of 
Rome, held in 745, by Pope Zachary ; 
neither does it appear that he was the same 
as Clement, bishop of Auxerre, although it 
has been advanced by some authors.* 

Clement wrote some rules on grammar, 
which were quoted by Melchior Goldastus. 
He is thought to be the same as Clement, 
author of the life of Charlemagne, mentioned 
by Wolfgangus Lazius, in his commentaries 
on the Roman republic. 

If Claude Clement be the same as Claude, 
a pious and learned man mentioned by 
Trithemius, who flourished in the time of 
Louis le Debonnaire, that is, in 815, but 
whom that author erroneously calls a dis- 
ciple of Bede, who died some years before; 
other works are attributed to him, namely, 
commentaries on St. Matthew, on the Epis- 
tles of St. Paul, the Pentateuch, the books 
of Joshua, of the Judges, Ruth, the Psalms, 
historical memoirs, a summary of homilies, 
and on the accordance of the Evange- 
lists.! 

Lupoldus Behenburgius, who flourished 
in 1340, makes mention of Clement. J The 
French, says he, may be compared to the 
Romans and Athenians, on account of the 
works of Clement, an Irishman. 

It is remarkable how Henry of Auxerre 
speaks of this nation, when writing to Charles 
the Bald : " What shall I say (he says) of 
Ireland, which, notwithstanding the dangers 
of the sea, sends crowds of philosophers to 
our shores, the most learned of whom con- 
demn themselves to a voluntary exile, to 
devote themselves to the service of the 
wise Solomon."^ 

Charles the Bald, emperor and king of 
France, is praised, says Fleury, for having 
by his authority and munificence revived 
literature, which had been begun by his 
grandfather Charlemagne, attracting the 

* Fleury, Hist. Eccles. lib. 42, Usser. Syllog. 
Epist. Hib. Epist. 15, Usser. Praef. Epist. Syllog. 

t De Vit. Must. Ordin. Bened. lib. 2, c. 28, 
Bellarmin. de Script. Eccles. et Possevinus in 
apparatu. 

t Let. de zelo vet. Princip. German. 

§" What shall I say of Hibernia, (Ireland,) which, 
despising the dangers of the sea, emigrates with 
crowds of philosophers to our shores ? Whosoever 
among them is the more skilled, he enjoins exile on 
himself, to familiarize, in his vows, himself with 
Solomon, the wisest of men." — Henricus in Cam- 
den, p. 730. 



210 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



learned from all quarters, among others 
from Ireland, and supporting a school in 
his palace.* 

Moengal, also called Marcellus, was fellow- 
citizen of St. Columbanus and St. Gall, and 
like them, a 'native of Ireland.! He came 
from Rome, says Eckerhard, to the abbey of 
St. Gall, with his uncle, the bishop Mark, to 
visit their countryman Grimoald, who was 
elected abbot of that monastery about the 
year 840. " He remained there at the 
solicitation of Notker le Begue, and other 
monks of the house, having sent his other 
companions back to Ireland. "J The same 
author, in the life of Notker le Begue, 
says that Marcellus was intrusted with 
the government of the schools of the clois- 
ters. 

Gaspard Bruschius extols those schools 
highly, while under his direction. § " Under 
the abbot Grimoald," says he, " a number of 
excellent books have been written, at a con- 
siderable expense, and at that time the abbey 
of St. Gall was a celebrated school, in which 
the children of princes and nobles were in- 
structed in wisdom, and rendered capable 
of conducting public affairs." To Moengal 
the merit of those schools should be attrib- 
uted, who presided over them, under Grim- 
oald the abbot. He died in that monastery, 
the 30th September, but the year, is not 
known. He was succeeded by his disciple, 
Notker le Begue, sometimes called the monk 
of St. Gall. According to Judocus Metzler, 
he wrote upon the gospel a homily, which 
still exists.|| 

John Scot, surnamed Erigena, that is, a 
native of Erin, or Eire, which was in the 
language of the country the true name of 
Ireland, was, says Malmsbury, a man of a 
strong and eloquent mind ; from his earliest 
years, he applied himself in his own country 
to study, and went afterwards to France, 
where he was presented to Charles the 
Bald.Tf Being very learned in the peripa- 
tetic philosophy, the Greek language, and 
other branches of literature, he soon caught 
the esteem of that prince, who was the pa- 
tron of the learned. 

At that time the question respecting grace 
and predestination was a subject of much 
debate, and the ablest pens were employed 
in clearing up the difficulty ; Erigena was 

* Hist. Eecles. lib. 25. 
t Fleury, Hist. Eecles. lib. 54. 
t De Casib. Monast. S. Galli. p. 36. 
§ De Monast. German, sub Grimoaldo. 
|| De Viris Illust. Monast. S. Galli. 
IT War. de Script. Hib. c. 6. De Gest. Reg. 
Ang. lib. 2, cap. 4, et Vide Porr. Rog. Hoved. 



consulted by Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, 
and Pardulus, bishop of Laon ; at the soli- 
citation of these prelates, he wrote a treatise 
against the doctrine of two predestinations.* 
This treatise was opposed by Prudentius, 
bishop of Troyes, who maintained in the 
preface to his book that Erigena had fol- 
lowed Pelagius, Celestius, and Julian, con- 
cerning grace ; that he had impugned the 
justice of God by denying original sin, and 
that he broached a dangerous doctrine. 
These imputations, however, seem to have 
been caused by forced results, which Pru- 
dentius had deduced from the work of Eri- 
gena, as he admitted of original sin, and the 
necessity of grace.f Our author was sus- 
pected of having been in error concerning 
the real presence, in a work which he wrote 
in two parts, on that subject. 

Erigena translated after this, from Greek 
into Latin, works which were generally at- 
tributed to St. Denis, the Areopagite, which 
he dedicated to Charles the Bald. As this 
work was filled with metaphysical and ob- 
scure questions on the divine nature and 
attributes, Pope Nicholas I. wrote a letter 
to Charles,J in which he observed that 
" John, one of the nation of the Scots, had 
translated into Latin the works of Denis the 
Areopagite, concerning the names of God, 
and the celestial hierarchy, which book 
should have been sent to him for his ap- 
proval, particularly as John, though in other 
respects a man of profound learning, was 
suspected of an error of faith ; he conse- 
quently begged of him to send the book and 
its author to Rome, or to expel him from 
the Paris university." The king being de- 
sirous to keep in with the pope, without 
giving umbrage to John Erigena, advised 
him to return to his own country, in order 
to avoid the storm. In obedience to the 
king's desire, John returned to Ireland, 
where he died in 874.§ 

In accordance with the English authors, 
Ware changes the circumstances and time 
of the death of Erigena, which he fixes ten 
years later. He came, he says, to England 
in 884, at the solicitation of king Alfred, 
who employed him some time afterwards in 
re-establishing the schools at Oxford. He 
adds, that Isaac Wake informs us that the 
statutes of Alfred and Erigena, a Gothic 
work, were preserved there in his time, as 
monuments of antiquity. Lastly, after Cam- 



* Fleury, Hist. Eecles. lib. 48. 
t Dupin, Hist. Eecles. cent. 9, page 82. 
t Spotiswood, Hist. Eecles. lib. 2, page 26. 
§ Dupin, cent. 9, page 83. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



211 



den and Harpsfield, he quotes on that sub- 
ject the annals of the new monastery at 
Winchester, in the following terms :* " In 
the year of our redemption 886, the second 
year after the arrival of St. Grimboald in 
England, the university was begun at Ox- 
ford : the first lecturers in theology were, 
the abbot of St. Neoth, a learned man, and 
St. Grimboald, an able interpreter of the 
holy Scriptures. Asser, a monk, was pro- 
fessor of humanity ; John, a monk of the 
church of St. David, instructed in logic, 
music, and arithmetic ; John Erigena, a 
monk and companion of St. Grimboald, a 
man of penetrating mind, and ably conver- 
sant in all the sciences, was the first who 
gave instructions there in geometry and as- 
tronomy, in presence of the glorious and in- 
vincible king Alfred, whose memory will be 
always dear, both to the clergy and laity of 
his kingdom. This wise king gave orders 
that the children of all the nobles, or those 
of their servants who possessed a taste for 
study, should be sent thither to be instructed 
in literature." 

Erigena, whom some confound with John 
of Mailross, the disciple of Bede, others with 
John of St. David, withdrew, after three 
years, to the abbey of Malmesbury, to avoid 
a disagreement which arose between Grim- 
boald and the old scholars of Oxford, where, 
it is said, he died of the wounds he received 
from his scholars, and where he is considered 
as a martyr ; he was interred ori the left, 
near the altar, where the subjoined inscrip- 
tion is to be seen upon his tomb.f His 
festival is celebrated on the 10th of Novem- 
ber, according to the Roman martyrology, 
published at Antwerp in 1586, by order of 
Pope Gregory XIII. As there were at that 
time several learned men in England of the 
name of John, the English writers may have 
confounded John Erigena, with John abbot 
of Etheling, who, it is said, was assassinated 
at the instigation of his monks ; particularly 
as Malmesbury, who mentions this fact, 
appears to have given it from hearsay, " ut 
fertur ;" and moreover, as neither Beren- 
garius nor his disciples, who have so highly 
extolled Erigena, who seems to have favored 
their error respecting the real presence, 
speak of him as a martyr. It appears, 



* Britan. p. 267, Hist. Eccles. Anglor. seoul. 9, 
cap. 5. 
t " Within this torah John Erigena lies, 

Who, while living was wonderfully endowed 

with knowledge, 
By martyrdom he at length ascends to Christ, 
With whom he has merited to reign for ever, 
together with the saints." 



however, that Erigena was one of the most 
learned men of his time, and the most per- 
fect master of the Greek, Chaldaic, and 
Arabic languages. 

John Erigena composed several works ; 
besides his treatises on predestination and 
the eucharist, and his translation of the works 
of Denis the Areopagite, of which I have 
already spoken, Baleus affirms that he trans- 
lated the ethics of Aristotle on the secret 
of secrets, or the government of princes, 
into three different languages, namely, the 
Chaldaic, Arabic, and Latin ; according to 
the same author, he wrote a treatise on the 
immaculate mysteries of faith, against the 
barbarians ; a work which was paraphrased 
for the instruction of youth ; some dogmas 
on philosophy ; also poems, epistles, and 
homilies.* He is thought to have been the 
author of extracts on the difference and con- 
nection of the Greek and Latin syntax, found 
among the writings of Macrobius, to which 
the following note is subjoined : " Here 
ends the garland which John had gathered 
in the books of Ambrosius, Macrobius, and 
Theodosius, which elucidate more fully the 
rules on Greek verbs." It is said, that in 
the library of M. de Thou, there were two 
books on the division of nature, which were 
attributed to John Scot Erigena. Ranulphus 
Higden, a monk of the order of Citeaux, 
mentions them in his Polychronicon ;t it is 
probable that Honorius Augustodunensis 
alludes to this work, when he says that John 
Scot, or Chrysostom, a man who was ex- 
tremely learned in the holy Scriptures, wrote 
in a style of elegance, a work on the nature 
of all things, " de natura omnium rerum."^ 

Dupin says he was author of two books 
on predestination, five on nature, or the 
division of nature, and a book of visions. § 
Those books on nature were printed at Ox- 
ford in 1681 ; but his book of visions is still 
in manuscript. He adds that Erigena had 
translated some commentaries of Maximus 
on the books of Denis the Areopagite ; that 
his translation of the commentaries of Max- 
imus on St. Gregory of Nazianzen had been 
printed at Oxford in 1681 ; that Trithemius 
mentions a commentary on the gospel of St. 
Matthew, and a book of offices composed by 
John Scot. Dupin also adds that Erigena 
had some knowledge of the sciences, and 
was an able logician and mathematician ; 
but that he was of an arrogant disposition, 
a weak reasoner, and poor theologian ; how- 

* Usser. Epist. Hib. recensio, page 135. 

t De Luminat. Eccles. lib. 3. 

t Lib. 5, cap. 32. 

§ Hist. Eccles. ant. 9, page 95. 



212 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



ever, this opinion should be considered as 
the effect of prejudice and of party spirit, as 
Malmesbury, Hoveden, and others, represent 
him to have been possessed of great pene- 
tration, and universal knowledge in learning ; 
and that Anastasius the librarian, his con- 
temporary, in his letter, 23d March, 875, to 
Charles the Bald, says, " that he was a man 
eminent for his sanctity, and that he ascribes 
to the special influence of the spirit of God, 
his translation of the works of St. Denis, 
finding it extraordinary that such a work 
could have been written by a barbarian (this 
epithet is unfit) of Scotia, situated at the 
extremity of the earth, without the special 
aid of the spirit of God." Dempster, says 
Ware, vainly endeavors to change the coun- 
try of John Erigena, because his contempo- 
raries called him Scotus ; which, however, 
was the general name of the Irish in that 
century : Erigena signifies, indeed, a native 
of Erin, which is the real name of Ireland ; 
as Angligena signifies an Englishman, and 
Francigena a Frenchman. 

When we consider the advantages which 
the Scoto-Milesians enjoyed with respect to 
religion and the sciences in the first ages of 
Christianity, could we suppose them not to 
have possessed, likewise, cultivated minds 
and polished manners 1 The sciences which 
enlighten and ornament the understanding, 
flourished among them more than in any 
other nation. That Christian morality which 
regulates the motions of the heart, formed 
men among them who were celebrated for 
the sanctity of their morals. Notwithstand- 
ing these advantages, an astonishing mixture 
of vice and virtue was discoverable among 
them, and, as a certain author remarks, 
" they were ardent in every thing, whether 
good or evil : ' In omnes affectus vehemen- 
tissimi.' " While one part of that people 
devoted themselves to God, by renouncing 
all intercourse with the world, and thereby 
served as a model to the neighboring na- 
tions ; the spirit of discord was still kept 
up, either by the tyranny of their princes, 
the ambition of their nobles, or the frequent 
revolts of their subjects. Instead of pre- 
serving their conquests abroad, and enforc- 
ing the tribute which their pagan ancestors 
had imposed on the Picts, the inhabitants 
of the Orkneys, Hebrides, and the Isle of 
Man, they were always in arms, one against 
the other ; and the gospel which they had 
just received with so much respect, was not 
able to remove that spirit of discord which 
was the cause of such disorders. 

It appears that war was the chief occupa- 
tion of the Irish, whose genius made them 



consider that passion, which in truth savors 
of ferocity, as a virtue, and as true heroism. 

Every man in particular has some ruling 
propensity, and it is almost the same with 
nations. 

The passions have different shades and 
different degrees of enormity among different 
people. 

Like other nations which were their con- 
temporaries, the Scoto-Milesians possessed 
a mixture of virtue and vice ; they were 
superstitiously attached to their religion, 
noble in their sentiments, humane, hospita- 
ble, and sincere friends, but implacable ene- 
mies. They considered it a dishonor to 
seek redress for an insult by resorting to 
justice ; and a spirit of revenge, common to 
both prince and people, was the cause of 
their frequent wars. 

Their kings, unattended by guards, com- 
manded their armies in person, always 
marching at the head of their troops. The 
manner of fighting at that time was very 
different from what it is at present, and their 
battles much more bloody, from which it 
cannot be a matter of surprise that so many 
lives were lost in war. 

It might appear that this martial spirit, 
and their frequent wars, must have injured 
agriculture, trade, and literature ; but as 
their campaigns were of short duration, and 
that a war was frequently terminated by a 
single battle, they had sufficient time for 
cultivating their lands and feeding their 
flocks ; two things which essentially formed 
the sources of wealth, and maintained, both 
in their food and raiment, that noble sim- 
plicity which prevailed universally among 
them. Luxury, which commonly implies 
abundance among a certain number, and in- 
digence among others, was unknown to the 
Irish, who were accustomed, for many ages, 
to live on the productions of the earth. 
Each tribe possessed their hereditary right 
of territory, and the chief distributed among 
the different branches of his tribe, fiefs and 
lands, from whence they easily derived their 
subsistence. They were unacquainted with 
that pomp and false splendor which fre- 
quently place people of the lowest rank 
above men of honor : virtue, birth, and a 
diversity of colors in their dress, were the 
distinguishing marks of rank among them ; 
the great did not despise the little, and the 
latter joyfully acknowledged their depend- 
ence. 

Avarice was not known among a people 
who amassed nothing ; whatsoever they 
themselves had no need of, was appropriated 
to the wants of hospitality, and their houses 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



213 



were always open to the strangers ; a taste 
for history, poetry, and music, procured him 
at all times an easy access, and no inquiries 
were made after the name, or whence he 
came. 

In ancient times the intercourse with 
foreigners was inconsiderable, when com- 
pared to what it has been for some centuries 
back. It is certain that the Phoenicians car- 
ried on a trade with Ireland, where their 
principal objects were the mines and metals 
with which this island abounded ; and with 
Britain, where they obtained tin from Corn- 
wall.* In after ages the Milesians traded 
with the Gauls, Britons, and people of the 
north ; to which Tacitus alludes, when he 
says that the harbors in Ireland were more 
commodious, and better known to merchants 
than those of Britain. f 

Leisure was not less requisite for the cul- 
tivation of the sciences, than for agriculture 
and commerce ; however, it has been proved, 
that in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth 
centuries, literature had been more flourish- 
ing in this island, notwithstanding the tumults 
of war, than in the neighboring countries. 

This nation having been always free, and 
never subjected to a foreign yoke, were uni- 
form in their manners and customs ; so that 
a description of them, during one century, 
can be applied to every other. It is not 
believed, says Camden, that that nation ever 
submitted to the dominion of the Romans, 
which, he adds, would have been an advan- 
tage to its inhabitants, whereas they would 
have been thereby the sooner despoiled of 
their barbarity. 

It is true, according to the general opinion, 
that the Romans had polished every nation 
which they conquered. If the merit of a 
polished people rests upon a knowledge of 
building with stone and cement, instead of 
with wood ; if it be derived from a number 
of arts, which generally tend to support 
luxury, false splendor, and to corrupt the 
morals ; in fine, if true glory consists in an 
immoderate ambition, and a desire of subdu- 
ing and enslaving every other nation at the 
expense of the blood of many millions of men, 
and a wish to deprive them of that liberty 
so natural to all men, and to call those gene- 
rous people barbarians who had the forti- 
tude to spurn their chains, and despise their 
foreign customs, the Romans would undoubt- 
edly deserve that eulogium ; but if that glory 
were the reward of simplicity and innocence 
of manners, of noble actions, uprightness, 

* Bochart Geograph. Sec. lib. 1, cap. 39. 

t Vit. Agricolae, p. 499, apud. Grat. Luc. cap. 12. 



and benevolence, of what service would those 
brilliant arts, which form the delight of our 
frivolous times, have been to a nation whose 
government was founded on the laws of na- 
ture, and the virtues which arise from it ? 
Several nations, no doubt, needed such mas- 
ters ; but the Scoto-Milesians, who were a 
lettered people before the Romans were in 
being, might easily dispense with them in 
the acquirement of the sciences. 

The account which Camden, after Cam- 
brensis, gives at the end of his Britannia, of 
the manners and customs of the ancient Irish, 
is so trifling and incorrect, that it does not 
merit to be either quoted or refuted. 

Christianity produced no change in the 
fundamental constitution of the state. Men 
learned thereby to command and obey, by 
the purest principles of equity and justice, 
of which God was the source and object, as 
he was to be also their reward. 

Although the clergy, as being the substi- 
tutes of the druids, enjoyed a share in the 
legislative authority, still, as they followed 
no other rules than those of the gospel, and 
as their lives, which were exemplary, af- 
forded ample security for their conduct, 
there was nothing to be feared from their 
abuse of power. 

On the other hand, the laity claimed no 
share in that power which the clergy held 
from God alone ; so that there was no con- 
flict between them for the spiritual and tem- 
poral authority, which were altogether inde- 
pendent of each other ; and this harmony 
contributed much to the happiness of the 
state in general. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Hugh VI., surnamed Oirnigh, son of 
Niall-Freasach, ascended the throne of Ire- 
land on the death of Donchada, a. d., 797. 
He governed the island, as monarch, for 
about twenty-two years. 

The reign of this prince is remarkable 
for the invasion of the country by the bar- 
barians of the north, who had been, hither- 
to, unknown to the Irish. 

This may be considered as the period of 
the decline of religion in Ireland, and the 
termination of the brightest days of the Irish 
church : for the incursions of the barbarians 
were at the commencement marked by blood 
and slaughter ; burning of towns, churches, 
and monasteries ; putting the clergy and the 
faithful to death, or carrying them away as 



214 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



slaves ; and spreading terror and devasta- 
tion everywhere. But God had not cast off 
his people, or forgotten his promises, and 
the Irish have always preserved their reli- 
gion, although with less of splendor than 
before. 

Before we enter into a detail of the wars 
of the Normans, it is necessary to examine 
the origin of that nation, which was so for- 
midable to a great part of Europe in the 
ninth century. 

Scandinavia, situated in the north of Eu- 
rope, comprised Norway, Sweden, and all 
the country to the west of the gulf of Bothnia. 
According to the historians of that country, 
it was peopled a short time after the deluge, 
by two Asiatic colonies, namely, the Goths 
and Swedes, who each founded an extensive 
kingdom. Most of the barbarians who 
ravaged Europe during the decline of the 
Roman empire, were colonies from these 
two nations, who were sometimes at peace, 
and sometimes at war with each other. In 
course of time, the territory of the Goths 
being overburdened with inhabitants, was 
obliged to send colonies to the islands of the 
Baltic sea, and to the surrounding countries, 
extending as far as the CimbrianChersonesus, 
since called Jutland. These colonies although 
dispersed, always acknowledged the Gothic 
kings as their sovereigns ; but at length, 
having chosen Dan, son of Humel, for their 
monarch, they separated from the Goths, 
and assumed the appellation of Dani or 
Danes, from which is derived the name of 
Denmark. The Norwegians were also a 
colony of the Goths, from whom they, as well 
as the Danes, were descended. These two 
nations afterwards became powerful, and 
capable of making war, even against those 
from whom they sprang. The situation of 
their country, intersected by arms of the sea 
and the great quantity of materials it sup- 
plied for the construction of vessels^ having 
inspired them with a taste for navigation, 
they were enabled to make incursions, the 
effects of which were but too severely felt in 
France, England, and Ireland. As the popu 
lation increased rapidly in those cold cli 
mates, Denmark and Norway were frequent 
ly obliged to send out colonies, in order to 
relieve the parent countries ; while a hope 
of booty induced the colonists readily to 
leave, under the pretext of seeking new habi 
tations. Olaus Wormius affirms, that piracy 
was formerly tolerated, and even considered 
honorable among the Danes, and that the 
most celebrated and strongest wrestlers were 
employed in the exercise of it by the kings 



and their children.* The success of the 
first adventurers induced others to follow in 
quest of fortune. They formed companies, 
and equipped vessels, like the corsairs of 
Barbary, or privateers in time of war. As 
they shared the booty with their kings, the 
latter provided them with general officers, or 
commanded in person, when there was any 
considerable prize to be taken. Instead of 
regular troops, they formed free and inde- 
pendent companies, whose aim was pillage, 
rather than conquest, and who, succeeding 
each other, left to the nations they invaded 
no time for repose. Such was the enemy 
that ravaged the coasts of Europe in the 
ninth century, and checked the progress of 
Charlemagne in the conquest of the Saxons. 
In France they were called Normans, which 
signifies, north-men ; in England, Ostmans, 
that is, men from the east, the people of 
Livonia, Estonia, and Courland, having been 
sharers in their incursions. The Irish included 
all those nations tinder the names of Danes 
and Norwegians, calling them in their own 
language, " Lochlannuigs," which signifies 
powerful on sea. They also distinguished 
them by the titles of " Dubh-Lochlannuigs," 
and " Fionn-Lochlannuigs," that is, black 
and white Lochlannuigs, the former being 
the Danes, and the latter the Norwegians. 
I shall henceforward call them sometimes 
Danes, sometimes Norwegians, and fre- 
quently Normans, in conformity with the 
language in which I am writing. 

According to the Irish annals, the Nor- 
mans first appeared in this island in 795. 
They laid waste the coasts of Albania and 
Ireland, and pillaged the isle of Recrain, 
now Rachlin, in the north of the county of 
Antrim.f About this time St. Findan, son 
of a prince of Leinster, was carried away 
captive by these barbarians ; but according 
to his life, written by an anonymous author, 
his companion, and published by Melcbior 
Goldastus, he made his escape in a miracu- 
lous manner.^ Dicuil, a contemporary Irish 
author, mentions these first depredations 
of the Normans, in his work on the bound- 
aries of the nations of the earth. § In 798, 
three years after, these pirates returned, and 



* " Piracy was considered among the Danes 
honorable and lawful, and frequently the kings 
themselves and their children, had the most cele- 
brated and bravest wrestlers employed in it."— 
Ware's Antiquities, c. 24. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 24. Grat. Luc. c. 9. 
Bruod. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, cap. 14. 

t Porter, Compend. Annal. Eccles. Reg. Hibern. 
sect. 4, c. 1, et Usser. Primord. Eccles. p. 1038. 

§ Tom. 1, rerum Aleman. p. 318. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



215 



committed depredations in the north of Ire- 
land, and in the Hebrides. 

The barbarians, who at first had only 
plunder in view, being pleased with the 
country, formed the design of conquering 
it ;** for which purpose a fleet of fifty ves- 
sels landed a body of troops in the western 
part of Munster, who commenced pillaging 
and laying waste the whole province. Airtre, 
who was at the time king of Munster, assem- 
bled his troops and gave them battle ; the 
action was bloody, and the Normans, having 
been defeated, made a precipitate retreat to 
their vessels during the night, leaving four 
hundred and sixteen men dead on the field 
of battle. About the same time they pil- 
laged the abbey of Hy-Columb-Kill, and 
massacred the monks, with Blaithmac, son 
of an Irish king, whose life has been writ- 
ten in verse by Wallafrid Strabo. Kellach, 
then abbot of Hy, found means to escape 
this massacre. He took refuge in Ireland, 
where he spent seven years in the abbey 
of St. Columb, at Kells, in Meath, and then 
returned to his abbey of Hy, where he died 
shortly afterwards. 

In the year 812, the Normans made a sec- 
ond descent on Ireland, in which they were 
not more successful than in the first. Hav- 
ing landed on the coast of Munster, they 
practised every species of cruelty on the in- 
habitants, sparing neither age nor sex, nor 
even the churches or monasteries. They 
however shared the same fate as before, hav- 
ing been repulsed with considerable loss by 
Feidlime, king of that province. At the 
same period, a fleet of Normans landed on 
the eastern coast of the island. They spread 
terror in all directions, pillaged the celebrated 
abbey of Banchor, and killed the bishop, 
with nine hundred monks. Another body 
landed at Jobh-Kinseallagh, (Wexford,) laid 
waste the whole country, burned the church- 
es, and plundered the monasteries, as far as 
the territory of Ossory, where the inhabit- 
ants coming to an engagement with them, 
killed seven hundred and seven on the spot, 
and obliged the others to abandon their 
booty. They were not, however, disheart- 
ened by this defeat ; their loss being retrieved 
by new reinforcements, they soon after ar- 
rived in Limerick, and burned the terri- 
tories of Corcabaisquin, Tradruighe, and 
Iobh-Conuill-Gabhra ; but being vigorously 
attacked by the inhabitants of Iobh-Conuill, 
at Seannuid, they were completely defeated, 
and obliged to give up their booty. 

Rhegino, in his chronicle for the year 812 

* Keat. Hist, of Ireland, part 2. 



mentions these first victories which the Irish 
gained over the Normans. " A Norman fleet," 
says he, " having landed in Ireland, came 
to an engagement with the Scots, in which 
several lives were lost, and the rest put to 

lit-."* Hermannus Contractus speaks in 
nearly the same terms. t It, may here be 
observed, that in the ninth century the Irish 
were known to foreigners by the name of 
Scots. About the year 818, Turgesius, 
king, or son of the king of Norway, landed 
with a formidable fleet in the north of Ire- 
land. He had the reputation of being a 
great warrior, but was cruel and vindictive. 
On the news of his arrival, all, the Normans 
who had been dispersed in small bodies 
throughout the kingdom, united under his 
standard, and appointed him their general. 
This tyrant, seeing himself commander-in- 
chief of all the Normans in Ireland, 'began 
by issuing his commands in every quarter ; 
sending his. officers to harass and pillage the 
inhabitants, with orders to spare neither age 
nor sex. There were, at the time,, no strong- 
holds or fortified towns in Ireland ; but the 
Norman general, knowing the necessity of 
having places of retreat, into which he might 
withdraw in case of need, and secure his 
booty, remedied this want by stationing his 
fleet, which. consisted of several small vessels 
with sails and oars, in the different lakes of 
the country. One part he stationed in Lough 
Neagh, another in. Lough Rea, in the river 
Shannon, and the rest he sent to Lughmaigh. 
These were the garrisons from which the 
barbarians issued to commit their depreda- 
tions in the country, and the fortresses which 
served them as a retreat when they were 
repulsed by the inhabitants. The orders, of 
the tyrant were but too faithfully executed 
by those inhuman monsters ; heaps of slain 
were to be seen on every side, and churches 
and monasteries pillaged and burned. The 
church of Armagh was plundered, three times 
in one month, the abbot made prisoner, and 
the university, which till that time had been 
so celebrated, and in which there were 
sometimes 7,000 students, was completely 
destroyed, and the scholars assassinated or 
put to flight, together with their teachers. 

Hugh, the monarch, appeared quite in- 
sensible to the misfortunes of his subjects. 
Instead of avenging his country's wrongs, 
and defending her against the common 

* " A fleet of Norwegians having attacked the 
island of Hibernia, they came to an engagement, 
in which many of them were killed, and the rest 
put to flight." 

t " A Danish fleet having attacked Ireland, was 
defeated by the Scots." 



216 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



enemy, having conceived some displeasure 
towards the people of Leinster, he entered 
that province at the head of an army, and 
committed dreadful devastations there. 

The natural phenomena which were this 
year observed, and the convulsion of the 
elements, seemed to forebode something fatal 
to the nation. About the end of the month 
of March, the thunder and lightning were so 
violent and frequent, that no less than one 
thousand and ten persons of both sexes 
perished in one district between Corcabas- 
kin, in the county of Clare, and the sea-shore. 
At the same time there happened an extra- 
ordinary swell of the ocean, which inundated 
a part of the country that has never since 
been reclaimed, the current of the waters 
being so strong that an island called Inis- 
Fidhe was rent into three parts, thereby- 
indicating a submarine earthquake. 

In this reign may be fixed the foundation 
of the priory of Disert-Kellach, or Kells, in 
Meath, by St. Kellach, an anchorite, prob- 
ably the same as Cellach, abbot of Hy, who 
took refuge in Ireland to avoid the fury of 
the Normans. 

After a reign filled with troubles, Hugh 
the monarch died at Athda-Ferta in the ter- 
ritory of Tirconnel ; but according to some, 
he was killed at the battle of Cathdroma.* 

Conquovar, or Connor, son of the king 
Donchadha, succeeded Hugh in the govern- 
ment of the island, a. d. 819. The Normans, 
who now began to settle in the country, 
being joined by new reinforcements every 
year, pillaged and burned all that they found 
in their path. The monasteries of Inis- 
Damhly, Cork, Banchor, and Dundaleath- 
glass, where there was a celebrated academy, 
fell sacrifices to their fury. The monastery 
of Moigh-Bille was still more unfortunate ; 
having been set on fire, the monks, unable to 
save themselves, all perished in the flames. 

The new monarch, feeling more deeply 
than his predecessor the misfortunes of his 
people, and exasperated by the cruelties 
which the barbarians continually exercised 
assembled his forces, gave them battle in 
the plain of Tailton, and gained a complete 
victory over them. This advantage, how- 
ever, availed him but little, as the reinforce- 
ments which the barbarians were constantly 
receiving from their own country, enabled 
them to keep the field and continue hostili- 
ties. The inhabitants of Leinster came to 
an engagement with them some time after 
wards at Druim-Conla ; the victory remained 
for some time doubtful, but the provincialists 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 4. 



having lost their general, Conning, the chief 
of the tribe of Fortuaths, and a celebrated 
warrior, the barbarians were victorious ; af- 
ter which they began their plunder anew. 
Conquovar, finding himself unable to relieve 
his country, or defend it against the barba- 
rians, died, it is said, of grief. 

Niall, sumamed Caille, son of Hugh IV., 
succeeded Conquovar, a. d. 833. This 
monarch's reign was not more tranquil than 
that of his predecessor. In 835 a consider- 
able fleet arrived from Norway under the 
command of Turgesius, and laid waste nearly 
the whole province of Connaught, with part 
of Meath and Leinster. Some time after- 
wards the pirates subdued the greater part 
of Ulster, demolished the churches, and 
practised every species of cruelty upon the 
Christians. Their chief seized on Ard- 
magh, and expelled Faranan, the archbishop, 
with the monks and students. They sub- 
sequently burned the monasteries of Inis- 
Kealtrach, Cluain-Mac-Noisk, Cluain-Fer- 
ta-Luachra, Tirdaglass, and Lake Eirne. 

The year 840 was remarkable for the 
destruction of the Picts. After a long war, 
the Scots defeated them in two successive 
battles under Kenneth II., and left little 
more than the name of that unhappy people, 
who had played an important part in Brit- 
ain for several centuries. The kingdom of 
Scotland, which before consisted of Dalrieda, 
that is, of the territories of Cantyre, Knap- 
dale, Lome, Argyle, and Brun-Albuin, with 
the neighboring isles, was then established 
on the ruins of the Picts, in its present state, 
and that ingenious and warlike people began 
to be known to the neighboring nations.* 

About this time, Feidhlime, son of Criom- 
than, king of Munster, and likewise arch- 
bishop of Cashel, whom Cambrensis improp- 
erly styles king of Ireland, having received 
some annoyance from the inhabitants of 
Leath-Con, laid their country waste from 
Birr to Tara, where he met with some re- 
sistance, and lost prince Jonractach, son of 
Maolduin, the most distinguished of his fol- 
lowers, in battle. f Feidhlime died a short 
time afterwards, and was succeeded in the 
government of Munster by Olchobhair, ab- 
bot of Imly, an ambitious man, who had 
sufficient influence to procure his election 
as king of Cashel. 

Colgan, following the annals of the four 
masters, fixes in the year 838 the arrival of 
two considerable fleets of sixty vessels each, 
with Norman troops, one of which entered 

* Usser. Primord. Eceles. cap. 15, page 612. 
t War. Antiq. Hibern. cap. 4. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



217 



Drogheda, by the river Boyne, and the other 
Dublin, by the Liffey ; with which reinforce- 
ment the Normans began to settle in the 
country. They constructed fortresses in every 
part of the island, which were commonly 
called Danes Rathes, signifying the forts 
of the Danes, but which the Irish desig- 
nated Mothes. These fortresses, the re- 
mains of which are still to be seen all over 
Ireland, were constructed of earth in a round 
form, raised to the height of about twenty 
feet, flat, and a little hollow on the top, and 
were sometimes thirty, sometimes forty 
fathoms in diameter. When the barbarians 
were pursued by their enemies, these served 
them as intrenchments and places of retreat ; 
and as they were built on eminences, in view 
of each other, their occupiers enjoyed the ad- 
vantage of being able to convey the intelli- 
gence of any disastrous occurrence from one 
extremity of the island to the other, by burn- 
ing straw on the top of them. 

In the meanwhile, Niall the monarch, 
having quelled a revolt of the inhabitants of 
Fearkeal and Deabhna-Eathra, gave battle 
to the Normans, near Doire, in Ulster, and 
gained a complete victory over them. He 
afterwards defeated them in the territory of 
Tirconnel ; which victory, however, he sur- 
vived but a short time. Being desirous of 
crossing the river Callain, in the county of 
Kilkenny, and perceiving the waters to be 
much swollen, he desired one of his attend- 
ants to try the depth of the ford ; but the 
violence of the current having thrown him 
from his horse, and the king seeing no one 
disposed to give him assistance, he advanced 
towards the bank of the river, where the 
earth giving way under his horse's feet, he 
fell into the water, and was drowned along 
with his guide.* It was from the name of 
this river that he was called Niall-Caille. 

After the death of Niall-Caille, the throne 
of Ireland remained vacant for some time, 
and the sceptre was torn from the hands of 
its ancient people. Usurpation and tyranny 
having conquered, and Turgesius being de- 
clared king of Ireland by his adherents, he 
immediately sent emissaries to convey the 
intelligence to Norway, and to solicit the 
succor necessary to support him in his new 
dignity, against a people so jealous of their 
liberty. 

The Irish, exasperated at the idea of the 
slavery with which they were threatened, 
and calling to mind the courage and heroism 
of their ancestors, and the liberty they had 
enjoyed for so many ages, resolved to make 

* Gratianus Lucius, cap. 9. 



a last effort to shake off the yoke of tyranny. 
Every prince and lord had orders to fight the 
Danes in their respective districts, and the 
attack was to be general throughout the 
kingdom. The execution was speedy and 
attended with success. 

The Danes were first defeated at Ard- 
breacan, in Meath, by an army composed 
of the principal nobility of the tribe of Dail- 
gais. The united forces of Olchobhair, son 
of Kionnfaoth, and king of Cashel, and Lor- 
cain, son of Keallach, king of Leinster, gave 
battle to the Normans at Scia-Naght. They 
fought for some time with much obstinacy ; 
but the barbarians, having lost Count To- 
mair, their chief and presumptive heir to 
the crown of Denmark, with 1200 men, who 
were killed on the spot, were forced to aban- 
don the field of battle to the conquerors. 
They were again defeated near Cashel, 
with the loss of five hundred men, by the 
same king of Cashel, and the inhabitants of 
Eoganacht ; and in another action with the 
inhabitants of Hy-Finginte, in the territory 
of Lonmeach, they lost three hundred and 
sixty men. 

The inhabitants of Tirconnel having 
taken up arms to recover their liberty, at- 
tacked the barbarians at Eastuadh, and 
killed a considerable number. They lost, 
besides, two hundred men in an action against 
the inhabitants of Kianachta. Tigernach, 
prince of Loch-Gabhair, in Meath, killed 
two hundred and forty of them at Druim- 
da-Chonn ; and his example was followed 
by the inhabitants of Kinal-Fiacha, and Fear- 
keal, in Westmeath. 

Maolseachlin, or Malachi, son of Maol- 
bruana, brother of Conquovar the monarch, 
and prince of East Meath, known by the 
title of king of that province, was among the 
first to signalize himself against the enemies 
of his country. He gave them battle twice ; 
first at Foure, where he killed seven hun- 
dred of their men ; and the second time at 
Casan-Linge, in Leinster, where the bar- 
barians were completely routed ; their loss 
amounting to 1700 men slain, with Saxolb, 
their general.* This victory induced Tur- 
gesius to court the friendship of that prince ; 
but fortune soon changed the aspect of 
affairs, and rendered these brilliant advan- 
tages abortive.! On one hand, the length 
of the war had already exhausted the re- 
sources of the Irish ; and on the other, Scan- 
dinavia, called by an ancient writer, " Officina 
gentium," an inexhaustible storehouse of 

* Keating's History of Ireland, part 2. 
t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 24, et Grat. Luc. 
cap. 9. 



218 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



men, was continually sending succor to the 
usurpers.* In this critical juncture a con- 
siderable reinforcement arrived, which re- 
vived the fallen courage of the barbarians, 
and forced the Irish to submit and acknow- 
ledge themselves a conquered nation. The 
barbarians resumed their cruelties ; made 
themselves masters of Dublin,and established 
a colony in the territory of Fingal, in the 
neighborhood of that city. 

Turgesius, seeing no one able to dispute 
the supreme power with him, began to 
change the form of government. He ap- 
pointed a Norman king to each province ; 
placed a captain in each territory, an abbot 
in each church or monastery, a sergeant in 
each village, and obliged every house to 
lodge a soldier. The will of those tyrants, 
supported by military execution, took the 
place of laws, so that no man was any 
longer master in his own house. 

The tyrant now imposed a tax of an ounce 
of gold on the chief of every family. Those 
who did not pay, were subject to the penalty 
of having their noses cut off, from which the 
tax, in the language of the country, was 
called " Airgiodsrone,"that is, nose-money. 
As the barbarians were equally hostile to 
literature and religion, they destroyed the 
churches, monasteries, academies, and other 
places intended for divine worship and 
study ; they expelled the ministers and pro- 
fessors, burned their books and profaned 
the holy vessels ; they forbade the instruc- 
tion of youth in any science, even read- 
ing or writing, or any military exercise, lest 
they might one day make use of them to re- 
cover their liberty ; and lastly, they pro- 
hibited the people, on pain of being com- 
mitted to prison, to assemble under any pre- 
text whatsoever. Such was the state of Ire- 
land during the sway of these tyrants. The 
Irish having lost all hopes of regaining their 
liberty, were in consternation and despair. 
No alliance or marriage took place — every 
one passed his time in the strictest retirement ; 
the secular and regular clergy, in order to 
shelter themselves from the fury of the Nor- 
mans, lay concealed in the woods,where they 
celebrated the divine mysteries, and spent 
their days in prayer and fasting ; while the 
faithful sought them in secret to receive con- 
solation from them, and join in their prayers 
for the delivery of the people . They were at 
length heard ; and the persecution, which had 
lasted about twelve years, was terminated by 



* Bruod. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, c. 14, et 
Porter, Corapeud. Annal. Eccles. Reg. Hibern. 
cap. 1, sect. 4. 



an event as sudden as it was singular, and one 
for which no parallel is to be found in history. 
Turgesius had a castle built for himself in 
the vicinity of Malachi, prince of Meath ; 
and went frequently to visit his neighbor. 
Malachi was a man of considerable talents, 
an able politician, and brave warrior, and 
possessed all the qualities requisite to govern 
a kingdom. He one day asked the tyrant 
what he should do to get rid of a certain 
kind of very destructive birds that had lately 
arrived in the country ? The tyrant, not 
mistrusting the statement, answered that 
their nests should be destroyed.* Malachi, 
who by the birds meant the Normans, readily 
felt the force of this answer, and occupied 
himself solely with devising means to act 
upon it ; an opportunity for which was soon 
afforded him by the tyrant. Some days 
afterwards, he being on a visit with the prince 
of Meath, saw his daughter Melcha, who 
was young and formed to please, particularly 
in the eyes of a man of so depraved a char- 
acter. His passion for her became violent, 
and, wishing to make her his concubine, he 
demanded her of her father. Nothing was 
farther from Malachi's thoughts than the 
idea of dishonoring his daughter ; it was, 
however, a delicate affair, and stratagem 
was necessary, in the absence of strength, to 
extricate himself from the dilemma. Having 
weighed every circumstance, he on one 
side saw the danger of refusing the bar- 
barian, who was absolute master in the 
country, and whose conduct was ruled solely 
by passion : on the other, should his project 
succeed, he conceived a faint hope of de- 
livering his country from slavery. Having 
formed his plan, he turned his thoughts 
towards carrying it into effect. He told the 
tyrant that his proposal was hard ; but, that 
as he could refuse him nothing, he would 
send him his daughter on an appointed day, 
together with fifteen young ladies of her own 
age, to keep her company and render her 
those services her rank required; at the 
same time, requesting that the whole affair 



* " The king of Meath asked Turgesius, by what 
method some very destructive birds which had 
lately arrived in the country could be removed. 
The answer was, that their nests (if they had built 
in the country) should be everywhere destroyed, 
(alluding to the castle of Turgesius.) In about 30 
years after his death, a general insurrection of the 
Irish broke out, and the interpretation of the 
birds' nests was carried into effect. The pomp of 
the Norwegians and the tyranny of Turgesius con- 
tinued in Ireland, till at length the nation being 
roused, they recovered their former freedom and 
their government." — Giraldus Cambrensis Topo. 
graphy. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



219 



might be kept secret, so as to screen his 
daughter's honor. 

In the mean time, Malachi had the whole 
country searched for fifteen young men with- 
out beards, of acknowledged honor and 
bravery, whom he caused to be dressed in 
female attire, with each a poniard concealed 
under his robe, and gave them the instruc- 
tions necessary to execute his project, which 
would put an end to tyranny. He also in- 
spired them with sentiments of religion and 
patriotism, and commanded them to defend 
the honor of the princess at the peril of 
their lives, and to have the doors opened for 
him, in order that he might come to their 
succor with a body of troops whom he 
should hold in readiness at a short distance ; 
and lastly, to seize the tyrant and chain him, 
without depriving him of life. 

Turgesius did not fail to repair, on the day 
appointed, to receive the princess Melcha 
and her fifteen young ladies ; he even invited 
fifteen of the principal officers of his army 
to share in the festival. After spending the 
day in feasting, each of the officers was 
shown to the apartment intended for him ; 
and orders given for the guards and other 
domestics to retire. Turgesius himself re- 
mained alone in his apartment, where he im- 
patiently awaited the arrival of the princess 
Melcha. The porter, who was the only one 
of the domestics intrusted with the secret, 
soon entered, accompanied by the princess, 
with her little troop of amazons, who came, 
like a second Judith, to deliver her people. 
The tyrant, who was heated with wine, was 
about to insult the princess, when the young 
men immediately threw off their robes, and 
drawing their weapons, seized him, and 
tied him with cords to the pillars of his 
bed. They then opened the gates of the 
castle to permit Malachi and his troops to 
enter ; fell on the garrison, beginning with 
the officers, and put all, except Turgesius, 
to the sword. 

When Malachi had given the place up to 
pillage, in which they found immense booty, 
he repaired to the spot where the tyrant was 
bound, and reproached him bitterly with his 
tyranny, cruelty, and other vices, and having 
loaded him with chains, had him carried in 
triumph before him. He allowed him to 
live a few days, in order that he should be 
a witness, before his death, of the sufferings 
of his countrymen, and then caused him to 
be thrown, chained as he was, into Lough 
Ainnin in Westmeath, where he perished.* 

* " The king of Mcath (the poison rankling in 
his breast) promised to send him his daughter to an 
island in Meath, (Lough Vair,) together with fifteen 



The news of the defeat of Turgesius spread 
rapidly throughout the whole island, and had 
very opposite effects on the two parties.* 
The Irish, who looked upon this advantage 
as a happy omen of the recovery of their 
liberty, took up arms, pursued the Normans 
in every direction, and killed a considerable 
number of them. On the other hand, the 
Normans, having lost their chief, made but 
a feeble resistance, and sought safety by 
flight. Those who were near the sea quickly 
regained their vessels, and quitted the island 
for a time. 

The princes and nobles of the kingdom, 
seeing themselves delivered from tyranny 
by the death of Turgesius, and the universal 
extirpation of the Normans, assembled for 
the purpose of re-establishing the ancient 
constitution of the state, and the legitimate 
succession to the throne. Malachi had de- 
served too much gratitude from his country 
to dread a rival. He was declared monarch 
of Ireland by unanimous consent, and placed 
on the throne which several of his ancestors 
had already occupied. Every thing then 
returned to its natural order ; religion again 
flourished ; the churches and monasteries 
were rebuilt ; the laws to protect the inno- 
cent and punish the guilty were again vigor- 
ously enforced ; and the ancient proprietors 
restored to the possession of the lands and 
lordships they had lost during the usurpation. 

While the Irish were enjoying the sweets 
of peace and liberty, after the severity of a 
tyrannical government, the Normans, whom 
they had expelled some time before, did not 
lose sight of the island. The difference which 
they found between the rich and fertile lands 
of Ireland, and the cold and barren moun- 
tains of Scandinavia, made them constantly 
regret the former. Being however unable 
to return in an avowedly hostile manner as 
before, they determined to come under the 
pretext of commerce ; to commit no act of 
hostility ; to insinuate themselves by degrees 
into the good will of the inhabitants, and 
thereby insensibly to attain their end. They 

illustrious virgins. This gave delight to Turgesius, 
who came (with as many youths of his own nation) 
on the day and to the place appointed. He found 
there fifteen beardless youths, brave and chosen for 
the purpose, having beneath their female attire, 
poniards secretly carried, by which Turgesius and 
his companions fell." — Cambrensis, Topog. Hib. 
dist. 3, cap. 40. 

* " News of this event was quickly spread through 
the whole island: the Norwegians were everywhere 
destroyed either by force or stratagem ; those who 
escaped being forced to return in their ships to 
Norway, and the islands whence they had come." 
— Camb. Topog. cap. 41. 



220 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



made a show, therefore, of bringing over some 
merchandise, but the holds of their ships 
were fdled with arms and ammunition. The 
following is the account given by the author 
of the Polychronicon. " After the death of 
Turgesius," says he, " three brothers, Ame- 
lanus,Cyracus, and Imorus, landed with their 
retinue in Ireland, in a peaceable manner, 
under the pretext of carrying on trade. With 
the consent of the Irish, who were living in 
indolence, they settled in the maritime parts, 
and built the cities of Waterford, Dublin, 
and Limerick, and their numbers having 
increased, they frequently insulted the na- 
tives."* They became, indeed, almost as for- 
midable as in the time of Turgesius, and 
often gave battle to the inhabitants, with 
success. Two circumstances contributed to 
this misfortune ; first, having settled in the 
island under the pretext of carrying on trade, 
they had the advantage of being able, unno- 
ticed, to bring over reinforcements ; second- 
ly, the discord and domestic wars of the petty 
princes of the country, who often called in 
the aid of these foreigners against each 
other, so that the latter were sometimes a 
match for both the conquerors and the con 
quered.f In the same manner we have seen in 
France, in the time of Charles the Bald, his 
nephew Pepin, who left the monastery of St. 
Medard de Soissons, and was declared king 
of Aquitaine, join the Normans, and pillage 
Poitiers and many other places. The in- 
habitants of Northumberland, in England, in 
like manner having revolted against Edgar, 
sent to Ireland for Anlafe, a Danish captain 
and chose him for their king.J Thus too 
Elfrick, earl of Mercia, and his son Edrick, 
betrayed king Ethelred in the command with 
which he intrusted them against the Danes. 
This same Edrick (the favorite of that 
prince, who created him duke of Mercia, 
and gave him his daughter in marriage) de- 
serted the royal army the night before a 
battle, and joined the enemy with forty of 
the king's vessels, which caused the submis- 
sion of the entire of the west of England to 
the Danes. § 
The disorders were considerably increased 

* " After the death of Turgesius, three brothers, 
Amelanus, Cyracus, and Imorus, under the pretext 
of peace and of carrying on traffic, sailed with a 
retinue for Ireland, and with the consent of the 
Irish, who were prone to idleness, settled on the 
sea-shore ; they built the cities of Waterford, Dub- 
lin, and Limerick, and their numbers having in- 
creased, they frequently insulted the natives." — 
Fleury's Ecclesiastical History, b. 49. 

t Fleury, Hist. Eccles. lib. 49. 

X Baker's Chron. page 10. 

§ Baker's Chron. page 14. 



by the arrival of a Danish fleet. The Danes, 
who were jealous of the progress of the 
Norwegians in the island, resolved to contest 
the glory of the conquest with them ; and 
having first pillaged Dublin and its environs, 
which were in the power of the Norwegians, 
they defeated them in a pitched battle at 
Linnduachaill, in which about 1000 men 
were killed on the field. 

Malachi seeing two barbarous nations 
contending about a country to which neither 
had a right, thought it time to stop their 
progress, and for this purpose he convened 
an assembly of the princes and nobles at 
Rath-Aodh, now Rath-Hugh in the territory 
of Kinel-Fiacha, in Westmeath, in which 
regulations were made relative to the state 
of affairs ; the princes who had been at 
variance were reconciled, and all appeared 
disposed to defend the common cause. 

Some time afterwards the monarch car- 
ried on a successful war against the Danes, 
to revenge the death of Maolguala, king of 
Minister, who had been inhumanly killed by 
the barbarians. Malachi having met them 
at Drom-da-Moighe, came to an engage- 
ment with them, in which several of them 
perished. 

Malachi's piety having inspired him with 
the desire of going to Rome, to thank the 
Lord, in the centre of Christianity, for the 
success which had ever attended his arms, 
sent ambassadors with presents to Charles 
the Bald, with whom he was on terms of 
peace and friendship, both for the purpose 
of asking permission to pass through his 
kingdom,* and to inform him of his victories 
over the Normans, who were already well 
known in France by the robberies and cru- 
elties they had committed. A friendliness 
had existed between the kings of France 
and those of Ireland in the time of Char- 
lemagne. That monarch had not only at- 
tached men of learning to him by his fa- 
vors ; but Eginardus, the author of his life, 
asserts that he had the kings of the Scots, 
that is, of Ireland, at his command, who 
gave him the title of lord, and called them- 
selves his subjects, as appears by the letters 
they had written to him, and which were to 
be seen in the time of that author.")" 



* " Malachi sent ambassadors to Charles the 
Bald, king of the Franks, witli presents, to obtain 
his friendship and permission to go through his 
dominions to Rome, on account of the victories he 
had obtained." — -Ware's Antiquities, c. 24. 

t " He had the kings of the Scots so much at 
his will, from his munificence, that they never 
called him b) r any other name than that of lord, and 
pronounced themselves his subjects and servants. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



221 



Eginardus, in the year 812, plainly indi- 
cates that the country of the Scots here al- 
luded to, is Ireland ; for, he says, the Nor- 
wegians having attacked Ireland, the island 
of Scots, were put to flight by its inhabit- 
ants.* 

This alliance existed till the twelfth cen- 
tury, as long, in fact, as the Irish were a free 
people ; the succors which their kings sent 
to France against Henry II. of England, 
having formed one of the motives which in- 
duced that prince to undertake the conquest 
of their island. t 

Besides the political alliance between the 
two nations, there was a private connection 
between their subjects by marriage. The 
tyranny of Turgesius and the persecution of 
the Normans, had obliged many persons to 
leave Ireland ; and others having followed 
king Malachi to France, several settled there 
and entered the service of Charles the Bald, 
some of whose descendants still carefully 
preserve the tradition of their Irish origin, 
as, forinstance,the noble family of the Dales, 
who trace their descent from the O'Dalys of 
Corcaduin. 

The Scotch of latter times have used 
every effort to deprive the Scots of Ireland 
of the glory of this alliance with France, 
and to ascribe it to their own ancestors. By 
means of the two-fold acceptation of the 
word Scoti, or Scots, they assume an honor 
to which they are not entitled. They are 
not, indeed, ashamed to reckon among their 
countrymen the Irish Scots of the earlier 
time, when the race was pure and unmixed 
with foreigners ;| but with surprising incon- 
sistency, the authors of that nation affect to 
calumniate the modern Irish, who are more 
closely allied to them than the former. They 
forget that the aspersions with which they 



Letters are still extant which were sent to him, in 
which their affection for him is manifested." — Egi- 
nard's Life of Charlemagne, Preface. 

* " The Norwegians having attacked Hibernia, 
the island of the Scots, were put to flight." — Ogygia, 
Prologue, p. 30. 

t " After this Henry resolved to subdue Ireland, 
both on account of its contiguity, and the succors 
they afforded to France against him." — Polidorus 
Virgil, Hist. Angl. book 13, p. 55. 

At this period many marriages took place between 
the Frencli and the Irish, otherwise Scots. Bolland. 
Act. Sanct. Life of St. Erard, 8th Jan. 

King Henry being then at rest from all hostile 
arms, both at home and abroad, takes into his con- 
sideration the kingdom of Ireland, as a kingdom 
which oftentimes afforded assistance to the French. 
Baker, Chron. on Ike reign of Henry II. 

t Hume's Essay on the Characters of Nations. 
See the Mercure de France of the month of Janu- 
ary, 1756. 



load them indirectly reflect on themselves, 
as two thirds of Ireland have within a cen- 
tury been peopled by Scotch and English 
Presbyterians. 

Buchanan, without quoting any author 
more ancient than himself, says that Achaius, 
king of the Scots of Albania, had entered 
into an alliance with Charlemagne ; but in- 
dependently of there being noancient records 
in which it is mentioned, and that no traces 
of it are discoverable in the public archives, 
if we consider the state of the Scots of Al- 
bania at that time, the existence of such an 
alliance will appear doubtful. Previously 
to the conquest of the Picts, which happened 
in 840, after the death of Charlemagne, the 
Scots possessed but a small district, called 
in the Scotic language Albin, the inhabitants 
of which were called Allabany, or Alleba- 
nachs,* and to this day have no other name 
in that language, the terms Scotia, Scotland, 
Scot, or Scotch, having been given them by 
foreigners . This district was confined to the 
narrow limits of Dalrieda, which formed but 
a very small portion of modern Scotland, 
and consequently was of too little importance 
in the world for its inhabitants to have pre- 
tended to an alliance with the emperor of 
the west. 

The conquest of the Picts may be ranked 
among the extraordinary events in which 
chance and unforeseen circumstances have 
sometimes a greater share than the power 
of the victor. 

Kenneth, king of the Scots, having re- 
solved to revenge the death of his father, 
Alpin, who had been cruelly put to death 
by the Picts, whose prisoner he was,t made 
use of stratagem to overcome the reluctance 
his subjects had to go to war with them. He 
invited the principal of his nobility to a sup- 
per, and in the gloom of the night, while 
they lay on the floor of the banqueting hall, 
intoxicated with wine and overcome with 
sleep, they heard a voice, as if from heaven, 
commanding them to make war upon the 
Picts. This was enough to rouse a super- 
stitious and credulous people, and inspired 
them with such confidence that the Picts 
were unable to withstand the first onset, and 
being seized with terror, were completely 
defeated. 

The intercourse which existed between 
the Scots of Ireland and those of Albania, 
makes it probable that the former contrib- 
uted to this conquest of the Picts. They 
still considered themselves as forming but 



* Camd. Brit, pages 88, 90. 

t Buchan. Rer. Scotic Hist. p. 169. 



222 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the same people ; and their union was 
strengthened by alliances between their 
princes. Fionliath, son of Niall-Caille 
monarch of Ireland in 833, and who after- 
wards became king himself, under the name 
of Hugh VII., married about this time the 
daughter of Kenneth, king of the Scots of 
Albania ; from which there is good reason 
to believe that he shared with his father-in- 
law the glory and perils of the war against 
the Picts. 

The judicious Camden states that the 
Picts were destroyed by the Scots from Ire 
land, who fell on them so that, about the 
year 740, they were completely defeated in 
a single battle, and their name and nation 
almost annihilated.* We may suppose that 
there was an error of the press in this, and 
that the printer had put 740 for 840, which 
is not unlikely ; for it is evident that Cam- 
den indicates the conquest of the Picts by 
Kenneth, with the united forces of the Scots 
from Ireland. It appears, in any ease, ac- 
cording to this author, that at the period in 
question, the Scots from Ireland fought the 
Picts in their own country, which makes it 
natural to suppose that they had done so 
likewise under Kenneth, king of the Scots of 
Albania, in 840. This victory having made 
the Scots masters of the kingdom of the 
Picts as far as the eastern ocean, their very 
name became obliterated ; the northern part 
of Britain was, by degrees, called by foreign- 
ers Scotia, or Scotland, and the inhabitants 
Scots, or Scotch, and to distinguish them 
from the ancient Scots of Ireland, they in- 
troduced the names of Scotia Major, which 
was given to Ireland, and Scotia Minor, the 
country now known by the name of Scot- 
land ;f which terms were used till the 



* " The Scots from Ireland pouring in upon the 
Picts, the latter were so overwhelmed in battle, anno 
740, that they became almost annihilated, and those 
who remained merged into the name and people of 
the invaders." — Camd. p. 83. 

t " It is proper to investigate why the Scots who 
were in Britain call that part in which they were 
settled Albanan, or Albin, and the Irish Allabany. 
Historians say, that Hibernia (Ireland) was Scotia 
Major, and that the part of Britain inhabited by the 
Scots was Scotia Minor. Although the Scots and 
Picts were incessantly harassing the Britons by 
battles and plunder, still their limits did not extend 
beyond the narrow portion which they occupied in 
the beginning. Bede observes, that for 127 years, 
more or less, they did not carry their standards into 
Northumberland, and then only when the Picts were 
almost destroyed, and the kingdom of Northumber- 
land torn by intestine evils, and by the incursions of 
the Danes. It was then that the entire of north 
Britain, including the parts traversed by the Clyde, 
and the Frith (Forth) of Edinburgh, got the name 



twelfth century, when the English, in their 
own dialect, gave to Hibernia the name of 
Ireland, signifying the land of Ire, as they 
had called Britain England, that is, the land 
of the Angles, a people who came from 
Lower Saxony. The above is the account 
given by foreign and disinterested authors 
of the settlement of the Scots in Britain, and 
of the changes which took place in the name 
of that people, and the country they inhab- 
ited ; which account agrees with that of the 
venerable Bede, who marks their arrival in 
that country, and designates their place of 
abode. He first says that the Scots entered 
Britain after the Britons and Picts ;* after- 
wards, that they settled on the northern 
shore of the great gulf which formerly 
separated the Picts from the Britons, where 
the fort of Alcuith was situated ;f and in the 
eighth century, when finishing his history, a 
short time before his death, he says that the 
Scots who inhabited Britain, being content 
with their territory, had engaged in no enter- 
prise against the English.J 

Although Bede, says Usher, distinguishes 
the Scots of Ireland from those that, inhabit 
Britain, still he acknowledges but one Scotia, 
namely, Ireland ; a like course to which he 
follows in the distinction made by him be- 
tween the English who settled in Ireland 
and the Anglo-Britons, although there is 
but one country called England. fy 

He likewise observes, that neither Dalri- 
eda, which was the patrimony of the Scots 



of Scotland. No one denies that to have been 
a part of Northumberland, and to have been 
in the possession of the Saxons." — Camden, page 
90. 

* Britain received, after the Britons and Picts, a 
third race of the Scots, on the side of the Picts. — 
Bede, Eccl. Hist. b. 1, c. 1. 

t " A very extensive bay formerly separated the 
territory of the Britons from the Picts. It stretches 
for a great distance inland on the west, where the 
fortified city of Alcuith, belonging to the Britons, 
now stands. The Scots, on their arrival in the 
mtry, appropriated to themselves,, as has been 
observed, the portion to the north of the bay." — 
Bede, Eccl. Hist. b. 1, c. 1. 

X " The Scots who inhabit Britain are content 
with their own boundaries, nor do they plot any 
stratagem or fraud against the English." — b. 1, 5, 
c. 24. 

"As in our time the distinction of Anglo-Brit- 
ons and Anglo-Irish does not require two Englands, 
one in Britain and another in Ireland* so neither 
did it cause the settlements of the Scoto-Hiberni 
and the Scoto-Britanui to constitute two Scotias. 
For although Bede carefully marks a distinction be- 
tween the Irish.Scots and those of Britain, still 
Scotia is always one and the same to him, viz., Hi- 
bernia, (Ireland.)" — Usher's Primord. Eccles. Brit. 
c. 16, p. 733. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



223 



until 840, nor Albania generally, even after 
the conquest of the Picts, was called Scotia, 
till about the eleventh century, when the two 
races were united as a nation, and the Picts 
completely forgotten ; nor have any authors 
before that period mentioned Albania under 
the name of Scotland, which name was not 
used till the English gave to the Scots of 
Ireland the name of Irish, in their language, 
(in Latin Iri, or Irenses,) and that of Ireland 
to their island.* 

Buchanan is not the only Scotch writer 
who mentions the alliance withCharlemagne. 
Hector Boetius names the ambassador who 
had been intrusted with its negotiation, and 
those who accompanied him.f He says that 
Achaius sent his brother William into France 
to Charles, accompanied by Clement, John, 
Rabanus, and Alcuin, all, he says, of the 
pious and learned nation of the Scots, at- 
tended by a numerous train from the same 
country. It has been already observed that 
Scotland had no right to claim Raban and 
Alcuin, the former of whom was a French- 
man, and the latter universally acknow- 
ledged to have been English. With respect 
to Clement and John, otherwise Albin, co- 
temporary authors call them Scots from Ire- 
land. So manifest an error in facts should 
therefore make us at once reject this state- 
ment, when we have otherwise reason to 
doubt it. 

The alliance of the Scotch with France 
cannot be traced farther back than the 
twelfth century. It is affirmed that a Scotch 
cohort accompanied St. Louis to the holy 
war ; but the connection of these two nations 
in the fifteenth century, under Charles VI., 
is much more certain. The right of citizen- 
ship, whichthe Scotchhad then conferred on 
them, is an undoubted proof of the services 
they had rendered to his crown. 

The true Scotch have the reputation of 
being gifted and warlike ; they have dis- 
tinguished themselves on every occasion by 



* " Dalrieda, which was the settlement of the 
Scoto-Britanni, up to the year 840, had not obtain- 
ed the name of Scotia, nor did Albania generally 
acquire that name until after the destruction of the 
Picts, and the memory of them became effaced, 
which did not take place before the eleventh century, 
as we have mentioned in the beginning of the pre- 
ceding chapter. We are of opinion that no writer 
of the preceding ages can be adduced, who ever 
designated Albania by the name of Scotia, which 
name, however, was subsequently in frequent use, 
when the English began, in their language, to call 
the Hibernians Irish ; in Latin Iri and Irenses ; 
and from it their country Ire-Land." — Usher, 
Primord. Eccl. Brit. cap. 16, p. 734. 

t Hist. Scotor. lib. 10, p. 194. 



their bravery ; of which the generous effort 
made by them in our time, in favor of their 
legitimate prince, is a striking example ; and 
they always have maintained, with honor, the 
character of worthy children of their ances- 
tors, the Scoto-Milesians. This reputation 
having flattered the vanity of some of their 
historians, they have endeavored to give it 
an air of antiquity, and in a manner to engraft 
it on the merit of the ancient Scots, as if 
they had been the same people. 

The Scots were celebrated in France, 
and the rest of Europe, before the eleventh 
century. The Irish, who till then were the 
proper Scots, began at that period to lay aside 
that name, which became exclusively applied 
to the inhabitants of North Britain, and they 
are the only people since known to foreign- 
ers by the name of Scots, or Scotch. The 
world has been accustomed to call them so 
without investigation, and none but the 
learned in antiquity can elucidate such dis- 
tant facts. These circumstances were favor- 
able to the claims of their historians, and 
have given rise to the fabled alliance of the 
nation with Charlemagne. 

The analogy which exists between the 
names of Offa, king of the Mercians, who 
had solicited the friendship of Charlemagne 
through Alcuin, and Eocha, which is the 
real Scotic name for Achaius, mentioned by 
the Scotch authors, might have suggested 
the idea of this alliance . By substituting the 
latter for the former, the historians of that 
nation have been enabled to lay claim to 
princes who did not belong to them, and to 
render their history illustrious by appropri- 
ating to themselves the deeds of others, like 
Abercromby, who endeavors to persuade us 
that the celebrated Caractacus, king of the 
Silures in Britain, was the same as a pre- 
tended Caractacus, king of Scotland,four cen- 
turies before any kingdom of Scotland exist- 
ed in Britain ; while Tacitus informs us that 
Caractacus was a British prince, of Spanish 
origin, and kingof the Silures in the southern 
part of Britain ; that he defended himself 
bravely against the Romans, with only his 
own forces ; and that he ended his days in 
captivity in Rome, or its neighborhood. 
Besides, the period of his death, according 
to Tacitus, is at variance with the date of 
the accession to the throne, of the successor 
to the supposed Caractacus of Scotland. 

Notwithstanding the troubles which dis- 
turbed Malachi's reign, this pious prince 
governed his subjects with equity and justice. 
He formed alliances with foreign princes, 
and gained several victories over the ene- 
mies of his country ; but his weakness in 



224 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



having given a footing to the Normans in 
the maritime towns of the island, after the 
cruelties they had previously exercised in 
the country, lessens considerably the opinion 
we should otherwise have entertained of his 
policy. This prince died, much regretted, 
and was interred with great pomp at Cluain- 
Mac-Noisk, a. d. 863. 

Hugh VII., surnamed Fionliat, son of the 
monarch Niall-Caille, succeeded Malachi. 
He married Maolmuire, daughter of Ken- 
neth, king of Scotland, by whom he had a 
son called Niall-Glundubh.* 

Many remarkable occurrences took place 
during the reign of this monarch. Connor, 
son of Donnogh, prince of Meath, was killed 
at Clonard by the Danes, commanded by 
Amlaoib ; but the monarch attacking them 
some time afterwards at Lough-Febhail, 
nowLough-Foyle, in the county of Donegal, 
they were completely defeated, and several 
thousand killed, among whom were forty 
of the principal men in their army, whose 
heads were carried in triumph before the 
conqueror.f Encouraged by this success, 
the army pursued them in every direction, 
even to their forts, where they put a great 
number to the sword, and carried off con- 
siderable booty. Some time afterwards, the 
monarch, with about one thousand horse- 
men, gained a complete victory at Killuan- 
doigre, over a body of five thousand men, 
both Danes and Irish insurgents, which very 
much humbled the barbarians. About that 
time the castle of Cluain-Dalchain, near 
Dublin, was set on fire. It had been built 
by Amlaoib, the Danish chief, and was gar- 
risoned by his troops. The natives, taking 
advantage of the confusion caused by the 
fire, killed several of them, with their chiefs ; 
but the tyrant soon afterwards took signal 
revenge, by putting a considerable number 
of the inhabitants to death in an ambuscade 
he had prepared for them. This advantage 
raised his fallen courage, and the continual 
reinforcements that arrived from Denmark, 
soon enabled him to pillage and burn Ar- 
magh, and massacre the inhabitants ; after 
which he sailed with a fleet of two hundred 
vessels for Wales, accompanied by his 
brother Ivar, to the assistance of Iris coun- 
trymen, Hinguar and Hubba, and returned 
the following year to Dublin, loaded with 
booty, having pillaged Wales, and part of 



* Keating's History of Ireland. War. de Antiq. 
Hib. cap. 24. 

t Grat. Luc. c. 9. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 
5, c. 14. Porter. Comp. Ann. Eccles. Reg. Hib. 
sect. 4, c. 1. 



Scotland. Amlaoib, or Amlavus, survived 
this expedition but a short time, and Ivarus 
died the year following. Ostinus, son of 
Amlavus, was assassinated by the Danes, of 
whom he became chief after his father's 
death, and was succeeded in the government 
of these barbarians by Godfrey, son of Ivar. 
It was in this juncture of affairs that Roger, 
son of Moirmain, a British king, took refuge 
in Ireland with the relics of St. Columbkil, 
which he presented to the Irish monarch. 

In the reign of Hugh, the kingdom of 
Cashel was governed by Donnogh, who suc- 
ceeded Cionfaola ; and Thuomond, by Lor- 
can, son of Lachna, chief of the noble tribe 
of the Dalgais. In it also may be fixed the 
foundation of an abbey by Flan-Mac-Kel- 
lach, at Bally-ne-Scelig, otherwise Mount 
St. Michael, in one of the Sceleges isles, on 
the coast of Kerry, in Munster. The king, 
having repented sincerely of his sins, died 
on the twelfth of the calends of December, 
879, at Druim-Inisclain, in the district of 
Tyrconnel. 

Flan, surnamed Sionna, son of King 
Malachi, succeeded Hugh VII. in the su- 
preme government of the island. This 
monarch's reign was long, and filled with 
troubles.* The Danes still continued their 
hostilities ; they plundered Cluain-Ioraird 
and Kildare,A.D. 888, and exercised unheard- 
of cruelties, so that he was obliged to come 
to an engagement with them, which was 
disastrous to both parties, from the number 
of men killed on each side. The monarch 
gained a dear-bought victory, and Hugh, 
prince of Connaught, son of Conquovar, 
king of that province, was found among the 
slain. Several other battles were fought 
also, with unequal success. 

Discord now began to prevail among 
the Danes in Dublin, a. d. 892. Godfrey, 
son of Ivar, the Danish prince, was assassi- 
nated by the intrigues of his brother Sitrick ; 
while the latter found a formidable enemy in 
Galfrid, son of Merlus. The strife between 
these chiefs was carried to such a pitch 
as to divide the city into two parties, one 
half declaring in favor of Sitrick, and the 
other for Galfrid. Their disagreement did 
not, however, prevent them from pillaging 
the city of Armagh some time afterwards, 
and destroying the churches. In this expe- 
dition they surprised Cumasgach, king of 
Ulster, with his son Hugh, and took them 
prisoners. Sitrick did not long survive his 
fratricide, being killed by his own people. 



* Keating, Warteus, Grat. Luc, Bruodinus, et 
Portcrus, ibid. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



225 



His brother Amlave, having led a body of 
troops some time after into Tirconnel, was 
defeated and killed by the inhabitants. A 
fresh reinforcement of Danes that arrived 
in Dublin in 902, was destroyed near that 
city by the people of Leinster. 

The war against the Danes was not the 
only one in which this monarch was en- 
gaged. The equilibrium of the kingdom 
was already lost ; the union established be- 
tween the princes at the assembly of Rath- 
Hugh, by the authority of Malachi, was 
forgotten, and the rights of the monarchy 
violated. These circumstances induced 
Flan-Sionna to march with an army into the 
north of Munster, which committed dread- 
ful devastations. Donnogh, king of that 
province, died in the meantime. 

Cormac-Mac-Culinan succeeded Don- 
nogh in the kingdom of Munster ; he was 
of the royal race of Cashel, and king of the 
province. He himself was both a spiritual 
and temporal prince, being at the same 
time bishop of Cashel, and Icing of the pro- 
vince. Of such unions some examples were 
to be found among his ancestors. Olcobar, 
who died in 851, and Cenfoelad in 872, 
were at the same time kings of Cashel, and 
bishops of Emly. We have seen the func- 
tions of both dignities exercised by Jona- 
than, Simon, John Hircan, Aristobulus, and 
Alexander Janne. The Roman emperors 
took pride in the title of high priest ; and, 
without recurring to the example of the 
sacrilegious power so shamefully usurped 
by the kings of England, of which a certain 
author avails himself on this subject, we see 
still ecclesiastical electors in Germany who 
are both spiritual and temporal princes. 

Caradocus of Lhancarvan, in his Welsh 
Chronicle, mentions Cormac as a man of 
piety. However, either he, or the editor of 
his work in English, is mistaken in calling 
him Carmot, son of Cukeman, king and 
bishop of Ireland. 

In the seventh year of the reign of Cor- 
mac, he declared war against the province 
of Leinster, to enforce the payment of a 
Boiroimhe or tribute, which the kings of 
Cashel exacted from the inhabitants of that 
province. This peaceable and pious prince 
was averse to the war ; but his objections 
were overruled by his council, and particu- 
larly by Flahertach, abbot of Iniscatha, of 
royal blood, who persuaded him that Lein- 
ster, as forming part of Leath-Modha, ac- 
cording to the division made of the island 
in the third century, between Conn the 
monarch and Modha king of Munster, owed 
homage to his crown ; whereupon, he as- 



sembled an army, and marched towards the 
frontiers of Leinster. 

Cormac's uneasiness for the success of 
the war increased daily. He foresaw that 
it would be fatal, not only to his province, 
but to himself in person ; particularly as the 
monarch had declared in favor of the people 
of Leinster, and had marched with a body 
of troops to join them. These motives in- 
duced Cormac to receive the sacraments be- 
fore he commenced hostilities, after which he 
made his will, by which he left several pious 
legacies to churches and monasteries. He 
bequeathed an ounce of gold and one of sil- 
ver, with a caparisoned horse, to Ard-Fio- 
nan ; two chalices, one gold the other silver, 
with a church ornament, to Lismore ; to 
Cashel he left two chalices, one gold and the 
other silver, four ounces of gold, and five of 
silver ; to Imleach-Inbhair, (Emly,) three 
ounces of gold, and a missal ; to Glen-da- 
Loch, one ounce of gold and one of silver ; 
to Kildare, a caparisoned horse, an ounce of 
gold, and an altar ornament ; he left to Ar- 
magh eighty ounces of gold and as many of 
silver ; three ounces of gold to Inis-Catha ; 
and three ounces of gold, with an altar orna- 
ment, and his blessing, to the monastery of 
Mungarret, in the territory of Kinseallagh. 
This prince was desirous, too, of performing 
an act of justice before his death. He 
knew that Oilioll-Olum, first absolute king 
of Munster, in the third century, had made 
a regulation respecting the succession to the 
throne of that province, by which he had 
decreed that the sceptre should belong alter- 
nately to the two branches springing from his 
two sons, Eogan and Cormac-Cas. He also 
knew that this law had not been observed, 
inasmuch as the descendants of Eogan were 
generally kings of Cashel, with the title of 
kings of Munster, while those of Cormac- 
Cas were only kings of Thuomond. Cor- 
mac, being desirous of appeasing the discord 
and troubles thereby caused in the province, 
sent for Lorcan, son of Lachtna, king of 
Thuomond, chief of the branch of Cormac- 
Cas, and presented him to the nobles of 
Siol-Eogain, as having the right to succeed 
him on the throne ; but his wishes were not 
fulfilled, as Dubhlachtna, son of Maolguala, 
was appointed his successor. 

Every thing being prepared for the con- 
flict, the army marched through Leighlin, as 
far as the plains of Moyailbhe, in the district 
of Slieve-Mairge, which had been named as 
the place of meeting. Cormac again en- 
deavored to settle the dispute peaceably ; 
and sent a herald to the king of Leinster, to 
demand the tribute that he owed him, or 



226 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



hostages to secure the payment of it. The 
herald returned with ambassadors on the 
part of the king of Leinster, to seek a truce 
of a few months, during which time they 
might come to an accommodation ; but this 
proposal being rejected through the influence 
of the abbot of Inis-Catha, they determined 
to decide the matter by force of arms. 

The Leinster troops having arrived, with 
the monarch Flan-Sionna, and Carrol, son 
of Muireagein their king, at their head, their 
superior numbers made such an impression 
on the Munster men, that part of the army 
would not wait the issue of a battle, but took 
to flight, and the rest were cut to pieces, 
16th August, 913. The king of Munster, 
who had been always averse to this war, 
signalized himself particularly in the en- 
gagement, (which was commonly called the 
battle of Beallach-Mugna,) but was killed 
by a fall from his horse. Carrol took a great 
number of prisoners, among whom were 
several persons of distinction, and in that 
number the abbot of Inis-Catha, the princi- 
pal promoter of this war, whom he brought 
in triumph to Kildare, where he remained 
a prisoner till the death of Carrol. 

Authors are not agreed as to the death of 
Cormac. According to Caradocus, he was 
killed in a battle against the Danes. Ac- 
cording, however, to a manuscript in the 
Cottonian library, he was killed by some 
cow-herds at Bearnree, near Leichlin, while 
on his knees praying, like a second Moses, 
for the success of his army, during their 
engagement with the enemy. However, it 
is more likely that he was killed, as stated 
in the annals of Ulster and Inisfail, in the 
battle we have just mentioned. His body 
was brought to Cashel, where he was in- 
terred, as he had ordered in his will, although 
Keating asserts that he was buried at Dise- 
art-Diarmuda, now Castle-Dermod, in the 
monastery of St. Comhgoll.* 

This prince was learned, and well versed 
in the antiquities of his country. He wrote 
the Psalter of Cashel, in the Scotic language, 
a work highly esteemed. He is celebrated 
by the historians of his country, not only for 
his learning, but likewise his piety, charity, 
valor, and magnificence .f 

When speaking of this prince, mention 
should be made of the Episcopal see of 
Cashel, of which he was a distinguished 
ornament. This see was erected into the 
metropolitan of the province of Minister, at 
the synod of Kells, held in 1152, by cardi- 

* War. de Prasul. Casseliens. 
t War. ibid. 



nal John Paparo, who gave the pallium to 
Donat O'Lonargan, then bishop. 

After the conversion of Aongus, son of 
Naodfrach, king of Cashel, the people of 
that territory remained for some centuries 
under the jurisdiction of St. Ailbe and his 
successors, and considered their district as 
forming part of the diocese of Emly, which 
is twelve miles from Cashel, where that 
saint had established his see, and which at 
this remote period was looked on as the 
metropolitan of the province. 

The rest of Flan-Sionna's reign was tole- 
rably tranquil. The princes having been 
reconciled, held the Danes in awe ; justice 
was freely administered to the people, and 
peace restored to the church. The churches 
and public schools for the instruction of 
youth were repaired, and the husbandman 
cultivated his fields in more security. The 
barbarians, however, made their appearance 
from time to time. In 915, they laid waste 
part of Munster, but were vigorously repulsed 
the year following by the inhabitants of that 
province. They were more successful in 
Leinster, under the command of Sitrick, 
where they killed Angar, son of Oiliol, king 
of that province, and several of the nobility. 
Meanwhile the Danes of Dublin pillaged the 
Isle of Man, and that of Anglesey, in Wales. 
Flanna-Sionna died this year, at Tailton in 
Meath, on the eighth of the calends of June, 
(25th May,) at the age of 68 years, of which 
he had reigned 37, a. d. 916. 

Niall, surnamed Glundubh, son of Hugh 
VII., ascended the throne of Ireland on the 
death of Flan-Sionna. This prince re-es- 
tablished the fair of Tailton, which had not 
been held for some time. He afterwards 
marched against the Danes, who were com- 
mitting devastations in Ulster, and gained a 
victory over them, with the loss, however, 
of some of his best troops. Having given 
them battle on the 15th September, 919, 
near Dublin, his army was cut to pieces and 
he himself found among the slain, together 
with Hugh Mac-Eochagain, king of Ulster, 
and several other princes. 

Donchad, or Donough II., son of Flan- 
Sionna, who succeeded Niall, was more 
fortunate than his predecessor, in his wars 
against the Danes.* In the first year of his 
reign, he gained a complete victory over 
these barbarians at Kiannachta-Bregh, in 
Meath, and fully avenged the death of his 
predecessor, and the princes who had fallen 
with him, by killing several of the principal 
Danes. He afterwards laid waste the country 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 24. Grat. Luc. c. 9. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



227 



in the neighborhood of Dublin, which be- 
longed to the barbarians.* 

In the reign of Donchad, Keallachan, son 
of Buadhac, ascended the throne of Cashel 
after Flahertach, abbot of Inis-Catha, who 
had succeeded Dublachtna, notwithstanding 
the opposition of Kennedy, son of Lorcan, 
prince of Thuomond, who laid claim to 
that crown.f The king of Cashel signal- 
ized himself against the Danes, defeated 
them in several engagements, and forced 
them to quit his province. 

The barbarians being unable to attack 
this prince openly, or maintain possession 
of their conquests, had recourse to intrigue 
in order to be revenged on him. Sitrick, 
who was at that time chief of the Danes, 
sent a courier to the king of Munster, to 
signify his desire to make peace, and live 
on terms of friendship with him ; at the 
same time saying he would withdraw all his 
troops from the province, and thencefor- 
wardfout an end to hodtilities ; in fact, that 
he would enter into a league offensive and 
defensive with him, and as a pledge of his 
sincerity, offered him the princess of Den- 
mark, his sister, in marriage. Some al- 
liances had at this time already taken place 
between the Irish and the Danes ; among 
others, Sitrick having married Morling, 
daughter of Hugh-Mac-Eochaidh. 

The' king of Cashel fell into the snare, 
and was highly flattered by the proposals of 
Sitrick, particularly that respecting his sis- 
ter, having heard a great deal of the beauty 
of that princess. He answered that he 
would immediately repair to Dublin to con- 
tract the marriage, and to treat about the 
other articles of the league. 

Keallachan having given his orders, and 
every thing being ready for the journey, he 
set out for Dublin, accompanied by Dun- 
chnan, prince of Thuomond, son of Kennedy, 
and escorted by a chosen body of horse. On 
coming within a league of the city, he 
perceived Danish troops 'concealed in the 
hedges, which he considered as a bad 
omen, and attempting to turn back, he was 
assailed and made prisoner, with Dunchnan, 
in spite of the vigorous resistance of his 
guards, several of whom were killed on 
the spot. The princes were brought to 
Dublin, and thence to -Armagh, where they 
were placed in confinement and strongly 
guarded. Those -who escaped the combat, 
brought back to the province the news of 

* Porter, Compend. Annal. Reg. Hib. sect. 4, 
cap. 3. 

t Keat. History of Ireland, part 2. Propug. 
Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, c. 14. 



the perfidy of the Danes, and the captivity 
of their princes. 

Kennede,to whom Kellachanhad confided 
the administration of the government during 
his absence, exasperated at this shameless 
outrage, assembled the troops of the prov- 
ince, and sent them, under the command of 
Donnogh Mac-Keefe, prince of Fearmoihe, 
an experienced general, with orders to punish 
the insolence of the barbarians, and restore 
the captives to liberty. At the same time 
he dispatched a fleet under the command of 
Failbhe-Fionn, prince of Desmond, to cut 
off the enemy's retreat by sea. Never was 
a project better contrived, or more ably 
executed. 

The commander of the Danish army who 
was in care of the captives at Armagh, hav- 
ing learned through a spy that the Munster 
troops were on their march to attack him, 
left a detachment to guard the prisoners and 
advanced from the city with the rest of his 
army to prevent their arrival. The engage- 
ment began, and the Danes, unable to with- 
stand the impetuosity of the Munster men, 
fired with the desire of vengeance, were cut 
to pieces. The victory, however, was not 
productive of the effect which Donnogh had 
reason to hope. The prisoners had been 
previously removed to Dundalk, a seaport 
twenty miles from Armagh, and given up to 
Sitrick, who embarked with them on board 
his fleet, which was at anchor in that port ; 
these vessels being used as garrisons and 
places of retreat by the barbarians, when 
unable to defend themselves by land. Don- 
nogh having spent the night after the battle 
at Armagh, marched the next day for Dun- 
dalk, where he expected to overtake the 
enemy ; but his hopes vanished on discover- 
ing this manoeuvre of the barbarians, who 
feared nothing from a land army unprovided 
with a fleet. However, the aspect of affairs 
soon changed. The arrival of the Irish fleet, 
under the command of F a i'bhe-Fionn, dis- 
concerted the Danes, by whom they were 
wholly unexpected, and their dismay was in- 
creased by the most bloody and obstinate 
battle that had ever been fought on these 
coasts. As they were determined on board- 
ing the ships and coming to a close engage- 
ment, Failbhe-Fionn, desirous of setting his 
troops the example, leaped, sword in hand, 
into the Danish admiral's ship, on board of 
which was Sitrick, his brothers Tor and 
Magnus, and Keallachan, king of Munster, 
who was tied to the mast. Followed by a 
small detachment, this brave man made a 
dreadful slaughter among the barbarians, 
cleared a passage to the spot where the king 



228 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



was, and set him at liberty ; but his strength 
being exhausted by the heat of the action, 
and by loss of blood, he was unfortunately 
slain. The combat did not end with the 
loss of this hero, but was renewed through 
the courage of Fiongall. Encouraging his 
men by his own example, they caused dread- 
ful slaughter. Seeing, however, that the 
superior numbers of the enemy, animated 
by the valor of Sitrick, their chief, rendered 
his efforts useless, this skilful captain be- 
thought of an expedient as heroic as it was 
bold. Meeting with Sitrick in the thick of 
the fight, he darted on him, and seizing him 
in his arms, threw himself into the sea, 
where both perished together. The courage 
of Seagda and Conall was roused to such 
a degree, by this example of intrepidity, 
that they seized in like manner on Tor and 
Magnus, brothers of Sitrick, and shared 
with them a watery grave. 

The Danes having lost their commanders, 
and terrified by those horrid and cruel ac- 
tions, began to give way, and part of their 
fleet having abandoned the conflict, victory 
declared in favor of the Irish. The con- 
sternation of Donnogh's army during this 
engagement may easily be conceived — be- 
holding their countrymen engaged with a 
formidable enemy, while they were unable 
to give them any assistance. 

After the naval combat, and the dispersion 
of the enemy's fleet, Keallachan landed in 
Dundalk, where he was joyfully received by 
the people. Having rested his troops, and 
given orders for the care and removal of the 
wounded, he marched with his army towards 
Minister, and resumed the government of 
that province. When he had recruited his 
forces, he pursued the Danes, who remain- 
ed in his territory, five hundred of whom 
he killed at Limerick and its neighborhood, 
about the same number at Cashel, and the 
remainder escaped on board their ships. 
This prince died in peace some time after- 
wards, and left his crown to Feargna, son 
of Ailgenan, and grandson of Dungala, who 
was succeeded, after a reign of two years, 
by Mahon, son of Kennede, and brother of 
Eichiarium, prince of Thuomond. 

Reginald, king of the Ostmans of Dublin, 
having died in 921, was succeeded by God- 
frid, who led an army into Ulster the same 
year, and pillaged Armagh. He lost, how- 
ever, a considerable part of his troops in an 
expedition into Limerick, in 924. Two 
years afterwards he sent a body of men 
into Ulster, under the command of his son 
Aulaf, who was twice repulsed by the in- 
habitants of that province, and escaped with 



difficulty by the aid of a reinforcement which 
his father brought from Dublin. 

This tyrant died in 934, loaded with 
ignominy for his cruelty, and was succeeded 
by his son Aulaf, who died suddenly in 941. 
The year following, the barbarians plun- 
dered Down, Clonard, Kildare, and the 
neighboring country ; but in 943 they were 
driven out of the district of Lecale, by the 
people of Ulster. They were again de- 
feated, with the loss of eight hundred men, 
by the Ulster troops under the command of 
Mortough-Mac-Neill, king of that province : 
after which Ireland enjoyed peace for some 
time, which was, however, interrupted by 
the battle of Roscrea. 

The barbarians, whose only object was 
pillage, knew that the celebrated fair of 
Roscrea, in the district of Thobuir-Daron, 
(Tipperary,) was to be held on the 29th of 
June, St. Peter and St. Paul's day, and that 
most of the rich merchants in the kingdom 
repaired thither every year. Hoping to 
find sufficient booty to gratify their avarice, 
the Danes, who were quartered in and about 
Connaught, assembled under the command 
of Oilfinn, their general, and set out on 
their march in order to reach Roscrea on 
the day appointed. The news of this march 
soon spread, and caused dreadful alarm. 
At this period the inhabitants of Ireland 
always went armed to defend themselves 
against the barbarians ; and those who at- 
tended the fair of Roscrea did not fail to 
use the precaution on this occasion, being 
all provided with weapons ; and though 
strangers to each other, having come from 
different parts of the kingdom, still the gen- 
eral welfare and the love of country were ties 
sufficiently strong to unite them against the 
barbarians. They laid aside their traffic, 
left the fair, and went to meet the enemy ; 
the engagement was bloody and obstinate, 
but the barbarians were put to flight, having 
left their chief, Oilfinn, and 4000 men dead 
on the field of battle. The Danes of Lough- 
Oirbsion, now Lough-Corrib, in the county 
of Galway, were afterwards defeated by the 
people of Connaught. Teige, son of Cahill, 
king of tliat province, died about this time. 

The Danes of Lough-Neagh, in Ulster, 
were also cut to pieces by Conning-Mac- 
Neill, who killed one thousand two hundred 
of them. The usual quarters of these bar- 
barians were on the sea-shore, or near some 
lake, that they might be within reach of 
their ships, which served them as places of 
retreat. 

Notwithstanding the repeated victories 
which the Irish gained over the barbarians, 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



229 



Scandinavia still continued to send over 
reinforcements, which enabled them to con- 
tinue their depredations. They again pil- 
laged Armagh, and the neighborhood of 
Lough-Earne and Inis-Owen, where they 
surprised Mortough-Mac-Neill, who how- 
ever fortunately made his escape. 

After a reign of twenty-five years, filled 
with troubles, Donchad, the monarch, died a 
sudden death. 

Congal, son of Maolmithig, descended 
from Niall the Great by Conall-Creamthine 
and Hugh III., surnamed Slaine, ascended 
the throne, a. d. 944. The mother of this 
prince was Mary, daughter of Kenneth, son 
of Ailpin, king of Scotland.* 

The reign of this monarch was fatal to 
the Danes. After gaining a glorious victory 
over them near Dublin, where 4000 lost 
their lives, he entered the city triumphantly, 
which he gave up to pillage, and put the 
garrison to the sword ; but Blacar, brother 
of Aulaf, recovered the city the year follow- 
ing, and restored it to its former state.f 

The Danes of Dublin, eager to revenge 
the losses they had sustained, laid waste 
part of Meath, a. d. 946 ; but they were 
met near Slane by the monarch, who de- 
stroyed a great number of them, those who 
escaped the sword having been drowned, 
a. d. 948. The year following he killed 
1600, with Blacar their chief, who was 
succeeded in the command of the barba- 
rians by Godfrid, son of Sitrick. 

About this time it was that those barba- 
rians were converted to the Christian reli- 
gion : it did not, however, immediately 
soften their ferocity ; as, some time after- 
wards, they pillaged the territory of Slane, 
under the command of Godfrid. They set 
fire to the town and church, in which sev- 
eral lives were lost ; but on their return 
towards Dublin, they were stripped of their 
booty, and cut to pieces at Muine-Breogain, 
by the natives, commanded by Congal. Their 
loss amounted to 7000 men, including Imar, 
one of their chiefs. The monarch survived 
his exploits but a short time, being killed 
by the Danes at the battle of Tiguiran in 
Leinster. 

In the reign of Congal, Brien, afterwards 
surnamed Boiroimhe, succeeded his brother 
Mahon (who had been killed by robbers) on 
the throne of Munster, a. d. 956. Sanguine 
hopes were already entertained of the valor 
of this prince. Since the time that he com- 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 4, 24. Grat. Luc. 
cap. 9. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, cap. 14. 

t Porter, Comp. Annal. Eccles. Reg. Hib. sect. 
4, cap. 3, 4. 



manded the provincial army, under his 
brother Mahon, his exploits against the 
Danes were numerous ; but on succeeding 
to the government of his province, he be- 
came the scourge of these barbarians. He 
began by chastising the assassins of his 
brother Mahon, and Daniel O'Faolan, prince 
of Desie, who had espoused their quarrel. 
He afterwards attacked the people of Lein- 
ster, who were supported by a considerable 
body of Danes, and forced them to pay him 
a tribute ; and it is asserted that he won 
twenty-five battles against the Danes, the 
last of which was that of Clontarf, of which 
we shall again have occasion to speak. 

Domhnall, or Daniel O'Niall, son of Mor- 
tough, and grandson of Niall Glundubh the 
monarch, succeeded Congal, a. d. 956. His 
reign was very much disturbed by the incur- 
sions of the barbarians.* They pillaged the 
church and territory of Kildare, under the 
command of Amlare.- They afterwards laid 
waste Keannanus and part of Meath, from 
which they carried away considerable booty. 

The monarch, who was dissatisfied with 
the conduct of the people of Connaught in 
regard to him, sent an army to lay waste 
their province, a disaster which Feargal 
O'Rourke, who was at the time their king, 
was unable to prevent. He afterwards en- 
tered Leinster, in order to punish the people 
of that province for having revolted, in con- 
junction with their allies, the Danes. It 
was then that he gave battle at Kilmone, to 
Domhnall, son of Colegach, who was assisted 
by a body of Danes under the command of 
Aulaf. This battle was bloody and indeci- 
sive. Among the slain were Ardgall, king 
of Ulster, Donnagan, son of Maolmuirre, 
prince of Orgiallach, and many other per- 
sons of distinction. The barbarians, who 
were sometimes the allies, and sometimes 
the enemies of the people of Leinster, sur- 
prised Ugaire, son of Tuathal, king of that 
province, and made him prisoner. This 
outrage was revenged by Brien, king of 
Munster, who put eight hundred Danes to 
the sword in the isle of Inis-Catha, and 
made three of their chiefs prisoners. Ugaire, 
son of Tuathal king of Leinster, who was 
taken prisoner by the Danes, having been 
ransomed, was lulled by these barbarians 
at the battle of Biothlione. 

Edgar, king of England, is asserted to 
have conquered Ireland in the time of Domh- 
nall, monarch of the latter island. f The 
story of this conquest is founded on the pre- 

* War. Grat. Luc. Bruodin. et Porter, ibid, 
t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 4, et Propug. Cathol. 
Verit. lib. 5, cap. 14. 



230 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



amble of a pretended charter of that prince 
dated Gloucester, a. d. 964, in which he 
boasts of being emperor and lord of all the 
kings of the islands bordering on Britain. 
He gives thanks to the Lord for having ex- 
tended his dominions, and brought under his 
jurisdiction all the islands in the ocean, and 
their ferocious kings, as far as Norway, and 
the greater part of Ireland, with its noble 
city of Dublin, &c. ; but this charter, which 
is not mentioned by English writers, appears 
to have been a part of the flattery of the 
monks, who were powerfully protected by 
that prince in opposition to the secular cler- 
gy. Besides, Edgar had a particular fond- 
ness for navigation, and always kept 3600 
ships on sea, divided into three fleets, with 
which he sailed round England every year, 
to visit its coasts.* On his voyage he un- 
doubtedly saw the neighboring coasts, and 
had perhaps taken possession of them at 
sight, as possession is taken of a living in 
sight of the steeple ; in which, most prob- 
ably, consisted his conquest of Ireland. 

After a reign of twenty-four years, Domh- 
nal the monarch died at Armagh, with sen- 
timents worthy a true Christian. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Malachi II., otherwise Maolseachlin, 
succeeded his father Domhnal, a. d. 980. 
According to some historians, he was son 
of Domhnal, and grandson of Donchad the 
monarch. f Whatever may have been his 
genealogy, he was a valiant and warlike 
prince 4 He began his reign by attacking 
the Danes, and fought the memorable battle 
of Tara, in which they were completely 
defeated, with the loss of several thousand 
men, (according to some authors 5000,) with 
all their chiefs ; among others, Reginald, 
son of Aulaf.ty This defeat was so fatal to 
the Danes, that Aulaf, their chief, undertook 
a pilgrimage to the island of Hy the year 
following, (he would seem to have been a 
Christian ;) where, having performed pen- 
ance, he died with grief, and was succeeded 
in the command of the Danes by his son 
Gluniarand. 

After his victory over the Danes at Tara, 

• 

* Baker, Chron. p. 11 ; Historical Map of Eng- 
land, vol. 1, b. 4, pages 329, 330. 

t Heating's History of Ireland. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 4. 

§ Grat. Luc. cap. 9. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 
5, cap. 15. Porter, Comp. Ann. Eccles. Reg. Hib. 
sect. 4, cap. 4. 



Malachi marched with his victorious army 
into the territory of Fingal, which belonged 
to the barbarians, and laid the country waste. 
He afterwards besieged Dublin, which he 
took after three days, and set two thousand 
Irishmen at liberty, who had been prisoners, 
with Domhnal-Claon, king of Leinster, and 
Aithir-O'Neill, prince of Ulster. 

The Danes were forced by these con- 
quests to abandon all the territory they 
possessed, from the river Shannon to the 
eastern ocean, and acknowledge themselves 
tributary to the monarch. 

Having, however, received some rein- 
forcements from their own country, the 
Danes, regardless of the treaty they had 
entered into with Malachi, recommenced 
their hostilities, pillaged the churches, and 
laid waste the province. But the monarch 
attacked them with a success equal to his 
courage, and defeated them in two engage- 
ments with Tomor and Carolus, their chiefs, 
at Glunmam. After this, however, he gave 
himself up to pleasure, and neglected the 
welfare of the nation, while the Danish 
forces continued to increase. 

The name of Malachi had become for- 
midable to the Danes. Malachi I., having 
surprised their chief Turgesius, rescued his 
country from the tyranny of these barba- 
rians, though he afterwards allowed them to 
return and settle in some maritime towns, 
under the pretext of carrying on trade, an 
act which was highly impolitic. Malachi 
II. signalized himself equally against the 
enemies of his country. He humbled them 
by repeated victories ; but having afterwards 
relaxed in his exertions, he lost all the glo- 
ry of his exploits, and his crown at the 
same time. 

During the reign of Malachi, Gluniarand, 
son of Aulaf, and chief of the Danes of 
Dublin, was killed by his servant, and was 
succeeded by his brother Sitrick. Godfrid, 
son of Harald, king of the Hebrides, was 
killed the same year by the Dalriads. Sit- 
rick, son of Aulaf, having been expelled from 
Dublin by his subjects, was recalled a short 
time afterwards, and sent assistance to Maol- 
morha-Mac-Murchuda, to make him king of 
Leinster, in place of Donat, who had been 
taken in battle and forced to abdicate the 
throne. Brien, king of Munster, had de- 
clared war the same year against the Danes 
of Dublin, and having conquered them at 
the battle of Glenananin, in which their loss 
amounted to 6000 men, he razed their city 
to the groimd. They, however, rebuilt it 
afterwards, and gave hostages to Brien. 

It had now become necessary to put a stop 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



231 



to the progress which the Danes were making 
in the country, encouraged by their alliance 
with the people of Leinster, and the weak- 
ness of Malachi's reign. The princes of 
Munster and Connaught having assembled, 
it was decreed that Malachi should be de- 
throned, and the sceptre transferred to Brien, 
king of Munster, a prince who was capable 
of repressing the insolence of the barbarians. 
Although this decree did not emanate from 
a general assembly of all the provinces, the 
neutrality observed by those who did not 
join in it seemed to give it their sanction, 
and Brien supplied the deficiency by a 
powerful army of the natives and Danes, 
with which he marched to Tara and obliged 
Malachi to abdicate. He however retained 
the title of king of Meath, which was his- 
patrimony. The sceptre of Ireland, whi^eh 
had been swayed by kings of the hous/3 of 
Heremon, and particularly by the descend- 
ants of Niall the Great, since the reign of 
that monarch in the fourth century, was 
transferred in the beginning of the eleventh 
to the house of Heber. 

Brien, surnamed Boiroimhe, son of Ken- 
nede, and grandson of Lorcan, of the race 
of Heber-Fionn, having received the abdi- 
cation of Malachi at Athlone, was declared 
monarch of the whole island, a. d. 1002. He 
was surnamed Boiroimhe from a tribute he 
had exacted from the people of Leinster. 
Having received the fealty and homage of 
Cahall O'Conchovair, (O'Connor,) king of 
Connaught, and the other princes of that 
province, he entered Ulster with an army of 
20,000 men, consisting of the tribe of the 
Dal-Caiss, the Leinster men, and the Danes 
whom he had subjugated. He was honor- 
ably received at Armagh by Mselmury, or 
Marian, archbishop of that see, on whom 
he bestowed a considerable sum of money 
to repair the church. During his stay at 
Armagh, he was visited by Hugh O'Neill, 
king of Ulster, and the other princes off 
that province, who acknowledged hirtf as 
monarch. / 

Having settled the affairs of Ulster, Brien 
repaired to Tara, and, like his predecessors, 
convened an assembly of the bishops and 
nobles, in which he was solemnly crowned. 
He afterwards enacted several laws respect- 
ing the government and public welfare, 
which were enforced during his reign with 
rigor, and all traitors severely punished. 
He made the Danes restore all the church 
property they had usurped, and rebuild the 
churches and monasteries they had destroy- 
ed ; re-established the universities and pub- 
lic schools, and founded new ones, which 



he liberally endowed. Lastly, by his gen- 
erosity he encouraged professors of all the 
sciences ; so that literature, which had been 
in a manner banished from the island by 
the barbarians, began to flourish anew un- 
der this monarch. 

Brien, having settled the religious affairs 
of the state, next turned his thoughts towards 
the temporal government. He restored to 
the old proprietors the possessions of which 
they had been stripped by the Danes ; raised 
fortresses in every direction, in which he 
placed garrisons for the public safety ; re- 
paired the roads ; built causeways through- 
out the whole kingdom, and bridges over 
the rivers and deep marshes, which had 
be"en before impassable. 

The Irish had not yet adopted the use of 
surnames. The people added to the names 
of the lords, people of rank, and even to 
those of their kings, arbitrary distinctions, 
derived from their virtues, vices, color, 
complexion, or any military exploit ; which 
custom prevailed also in other countries. 

To prevent the confusion which these 
popular names might create in families, and 
in order that their genealogies should be 
more carefully preserved, it was decreed by 
this wise monarch that thenceforward all 
the branches of the Milesian race should 
have particular surnames. The custom was 
then introduced of families taking the name 
of some illustrious man among their ances- 
tors, to which was prefixed the article O, 
or Mac, to indicate the honor of their de- 
scent from him. Thus it is that the O'Neills 
express their descent from Niall the Great, 
monarch of the island in the fourth century ; 
the O'Briens, from Brien Boiroimhe ; the 
Mac-Cartys, from Carthach, &c. In the 
Irish language, the article o is equivalent to 
the French article de, and not to le, as has 
been asserted by ill-informed writers ; and 
Mac signifies the son of some one. 

It would appear that the Irish are now 
ashamed of these additions, which at once 
characterize their noble extraction and the 
antiquity of their names. We see some 
O'Neills, O'Briens, O'Connors, Mac-Cartys, 
Magennises,and many others, suppress them, 
which can only arise from ignorance, little- 
ness of mind, or a foolish desire of conform- 
ing to English taste, as they must be intro- 
duced in the Irish pronunciation of these 
names, and as in all countries the gentleman 
can be distinguished from the plebeian by 
some peculiarity in his name. They may be 
accused of the same indifference with respect 
to their language, which bespeaks an ancient 
people, and of which they affect to be igno- 



232 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



rant, to adopt a jargon introduced among 
them by foreigners. 

The assembly of Tara having terminated, 
Brien left Meath and repaired to Kean- 
Coradh, near Killaloe, on the banks of the 
Shannon, where he generally held his court, 
and there enjoyed for some time the sweets 
of peace. He was distinguished as well for 
the greatness of his mind as for his military 
exploits : " Princeps ob animi virtutes cele- 
berrimus." The great concourse of princes 
and nobles of the kingdom who attended his 
court, added much to its brilliancy. Peace 
was at length interrupted by Maolmorha- 
Mac-Murchad, king of Leinster, who visited 
the court of Brien for the purpose of seeing 
his sister, the queen ; but having received 
an insult from Morrough, eldest son of the 
monarch, he departed suddenly for his prov- 
ince, without taking leave of any one, de- 
termined to revenge the affront he had 
received ; and in order to carry his resolution 
into effect, he formed an alliance with Sitrick, 
king of the Danes of Dublin. They both 
then sent an express to the kingof Denmark, 
to request his succor against the monarch. 
The king, wishing to profit by the rupture, 
and hoping to recover the possessions of his 
predecessors in the island, sent 12,000 men, 
headed by his sons Charles Crot and Andrew, 
who landed in Dublin, with a further force 
of Norwegians from the Hebrides, to the 
number of 4000. These auxiliaries, together 
with the Leinster troops and the Danes of 
Dublin, formed a considerable army. 

The monarch, alanned at these movements, 
determined to prepare for the consequences. 
He assembled all the Munster troops, and 
his allies, the king of Connaught, Malachi, 
prince of Meath, and their followers, who 
composed an army of about 30,000 men, the 
chief command of whom he gave to his son 
Morrough. This, however, did not prevent 
him from assisting in person, though 88 years 
of age. Every thing being ready for the 
campaign, the army began their march 
towards Dublin, where the enemy awaited 
them in the plain of " Cluon-Tarbh," (Clon- 
tarf,) two miles from the city. The centre 
of the army was headed by the monarch and 
Thadeus O'Kelly, prince of Connaught ; the 
right by Morrough, and the left by Malachi, 
king of Meath.* The orders being given, 
the battle commenced at eight o'clock in the 
morning, and did not terminate till five in 
the afternoon. Malachi, who commanded 
the left wing, retired with his troops in the 
beginning of the action, and remained a 

* Ogyg. part 3, cap. 93. 



passive spectator, hoping for the. defeat of 
Brien, who had deprived him of his crown 
some time before. 

This battle, ..which took place on Good 
Friday, 23d April, 1014, though desperate 
and sanguinary, was glorious to the monarch, 
who gained a complete victory over the 
enemy. The loss, however, was consider- 
able on both sides. According to some wri- 
ters, that of the enemy amounted to 1 1 ,000 
men killed upon the spot ; and according to 
others, 13,000, including Moelmordha, king 
of Leinster, with the two sons of the king 
of Denmark, and several chiefs of the army. 
The loss of the royal army amounted to 
7,000. The monarch was killed by a retreat- 
ing band of Danes, commanded by Bruadar, 
chief of the Danish fleet : " Ipso parasceve 
Pascha? feria,"says Marianus Scotus, "nono 
kalendas Maii, manibus et mente in Deum 
intentus, necatur." These, however, were 
pursued by a detachment and put to the 
sword. Morrough O'Brien, the general, 
Turlough his son, and many persons of 
distinction, likewise fell victims to their love 
of country. The bodies of the monarch 
and of his son Morrough, or Murchard, were 
deposited in the town of Swords, six miles 
from Dublin, from whence they were .re- 
moved to Armagh by order of Majlmury, 
archbishop of that see, and interred in the 
metropolitan church. Some, however, say 
that they were buried at Kilmainham, near 
Dublin, with the bodies of Thadeus O'Kelly 
and other lords ; while others affirm that 
they were brought to Cashel. 

After this celebrated battle of Clontarf, 
Sitrick, king of the Danes of Dublin, having 
taken refuge, with the remains of his army, 
in that city, Donnough, or Denis O'Brien, 
took the command of the royal forces, and 
having expressed his gratitude to the Con- 
naught troops, dismissed them, and marched 
with those of his own province towards 
Cashel. A dispute, however, which arose 
upon their march between the two tribes 
of which his forces were composed, proved 
nearly fatal to him and his army. The in- 
habitants of southern Munster being desirous 
of enforcing the will of Oilioll-Olum, who 
had decreed that the crown of the province 
should belong alternately to the two branch- 
es formed by the descendants of his two 
sons, proposed that Donnough should resign 
the command, and yield the sceptre of the 
province to their chief, whose turn it was to 
reign. Donnough firmly replied>that his 
father and uncle had already made them 
feel the extent of their power, and that he 
was not inclined to renounce a right which he 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



233 



held from his father. He therefore gave 
orders to the tribe of Dalcaiss, who were his 
subjects as hereditary king of Thuomond, to 
prepare to defend his cause.; and in order 
to be more unincumbered, he resolved to 
remove the wounded, with a detachment to 
preserve them from injury. They however 
requested to be placed with their companions 
in line of battle, with sabres in their hands, 
and stakes to support them, in order to share 
the glory with them, and shed the last drop 
of their blood in the service of their prince. 
The enemy were so intimidated by this 
determination, that they renounced their 
claims ; and Donnough having arrived at 
Cashel, with the Dalcaiss, was declared 
king of Munster. 

Malachi II., who had been dethroned 
twelve years before by Brien Boiroimhe, 
resumed the government of the whole island 
on the death of this prince, a. d. 1014, and 
reigned nine years afterwards as monarch. 
Ireland was not the only country in Europe 
in which the Normans had rendered them- 
selves formidable at this time. After laying 
waste France, they massacred the clergy, 
both secular and regular, pillaged and burned 
their churches and monasteries, and prac- 
tised every species of cruelty for the space of 
about seventy years, when they finally made 
a settlement in the country.* Charles the 
Simple, who saw that, far from being able 
to expel, he was powerless even to resist 
them, resolved, by the advice of his nobles, 
to enter into a treaty with them. By this 
treaty, which was concluded at St. Clair, 
on the river Epte, the king ceded to Rollo 
(who, from a private individual in Denmark, 
became the chief of those robbers, and was 
named Robert at his baptism) the whole of 
that district since called Normandy, as a 
tenure from the crown, and Brittany as an 
arriere-fief, and gave him his daughter Gisle 
in marriage. t 

In England, the Danes continued their 
devastations from the beginning of the ninth 
to the end of the tenth century, and became 
so formidable, that while the owner la- 
bored in his field, they held command of his 
house, occupying themselves only in de- 
bauching his wife or daughters, and con- 
suming the fruits of his labor. They were 
there called, more through fear than from 
respect, Lord-Danes. | 

Ethelred, who was at this period king of 
England, finding no other expedient to rid 

* Fleury, Hist. Eccles. lib. 54. 
t Baker, Chron. Life of William the Conqueror, 
page 20. 

I Baker, Chron. England, page 13, et seq. 



himself of so formidable an enemy, sent 
secret orders to every town in his kingdom, 
to massacre all the Danes on an appointed 
day ; the 13th of November, the festival of 
St. Bricius, in the year 1002. Those orders 
were everywhere executed with such rigor 
that the Danes at Oxford, having taken 
refuge in the church of St. Frideswide, as a 
sanctuary, the people set fire to it, regardless 
of the sanctity of the place, and all that were 
within perished in the flames. 

The news of this massacre having reached 
Denmark, Sweyne, king of that country, 
stimulated by a desire of revenge, and thirst- 
ing for plunder, set sail with a powerful 
fleet for England, where he committed dread- 
ful devastations. Ethelred assembled a pow- 
erful army, under the command of Earl 
Edrick, to check the progress of the bar- 
barians ; but was betrayed by the earl, 
though his son-in-law and favorite, and cre- 
ated by him duke of Mercia. 

The year following the Danes besieged 
Canterbury, where they killed Alphegus, the 
archbishop, and nine hundred monks. They 
spared but a tenth part of the people, and 
put the remainder to the sword ; so that, 
according to the calculation made of this 
massacre, there perished 43,200 persons. 

Sweyne again returned with a considera- 
ble reinforcement, and reduced the north of 
England to subjection. He then marched 
towards London, and made himself master 
of the rest of the kingdom ; so that the un- 
fortunate Ethelred, havingfirst sent his queen 
Emma to her brother the duke of Norman- 
dy, with his sons Edward and Alfred, soon 
afterwards followed them himself, and left 
Sweyne absolute master of England. 

It might be expected that the death of 
the tyrant, which happened soon afterwards, 
would put an end to the usurpation. On 
the first intelligence of it Ethelred returned 
to his kingdom ; but he found Canute, son 
of the deceased, already in possession of 
part of his states ; so that he was under the 
necessity of fighting, not only against the 
Danes, but also against his own subjects, 
who had acknowledged the usurper. His 
efforts were however crowned with success, 
and Canute was obliged to withdraw to Den- 
mark. He had not renounced his claims, 
notwithstanding, and returned some time 
afterwards with fresh forces, and gained a 
complete victory over the English. 

In the mean time the illness and subsequent 
death of king Ethelred, enabled Canute to 
dispute the sovereignty with Edmund, sur- 
nam'ed Ironside, his son and successor, when, 
after several battles, the two princes agreed 



234 



KIKTORY OP IRELAND. 



to decide the quarrel by single combat, in 
presence of both armies. Canute having 
been wounded, he represeated to his rival 
the folly of exposing their lives for an empty 
title, and that it would be better to share 
the kingdom between them, and live together 
like brothers. Edmund consented to the 
proposal, but was assassinated some time 
afterwards, whereby Canute became sole 
king of England, and was solemnly crowned 
at London, by Elstane, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, after which he married Emma, 
widow of king Ethelred, by whom he had 
a son, called Hardicanute. 

On the death of Canute he was succeed- 
ed by his eldest son Harold, and the latter 
by Hardicanute ; so that the sceptre of Eng- 
land was swayed successively by three Da- 
nish kings, without opposition, and was only 
restored to the English race for want of 
heirs in the house of Denmark. 

The Irish, we have seen, opposed the 
efforts of the Normans for more than two 
hundred years, without yielding a single 
province to them, or acknowledging one of 
their tyrants as king. At length they com- 
pletely routed them at the celebrated battle 
of Clontarf ; but like a hydra, it was difficult 
to annihilate them, so inexhaustible were 
their resources. 

In the reign of Malachi II., the Danes of 
Dublin, and those who escaped the battle of 
Clontarf, still endeavoring to continue their 
depredations, the monarch sent for O'Neill, 
prince of Ulster, with his troops, and 
marched direct to Dublin ; and having de- 
feated a considerable detachment of Danes 
at Fodvay, he took the city and gave it up 
to plunder. He subsequently gained a com- 
plete victory over them at Athnilacham. He 
also banished Donnough-Mac-Giolla Pha- 
druig (Fitzpatrick) for having assassinated 
Donagan, king of Leinster, with the lords 
of his suite, in the castle of Teige O'Ryan, 
prince of Ondrona. Some time afterwards, 
Bran, son of Maolmordha, king of Leinster, 
was taken prisoner by Sitrick, chief of the 
Danes of Dublin, who caused his eyes to be 
put out ; which outrage was revenged by 
Ugaire, son of Danling, who succeeded 
Bran, at the battle of Delgne, in which 
6000 Danes were killed upon the spot. 
About this time, Sitrick, chief of the Danes 
of Waterford, was killed by the people of Os- 
sory, and Reginald O'Hivar succeeded him. 

Malachi governed his kingdom with great 
wisdom, and established several fine institu- 
tions. In the neighborhood of Dublin he 
built a celebrated monastery, dedicated to 
the blessed Virgin ; he repaired several 



churches which had been destroyed by the 
barbarians, and having granted pensions for 
the support of three hundred poor orphans, 
in various towns of the kingdom, he died at 
an advanced age, the 2d of Sept. a. d. 1022. 
We have now come to the period at which 
the declineof the Irish monarchy commenced. 
The historians of the country speak of no 
supreme or absolute monarch of the whole 
island, after Malachi II. The title was as- 
sumed occasionally by some of the provincial 
kings, who were acknowledged as such by 
their vassals only, and supported by some of 
the neighboring princes, without the general 
suffrages of the states. Their authority was 
wavering and much more restricted than that 
of their predecessors. They were called, in 
the language of the country, Righe-Gofra- 
Sabhrack, which signifies " kings with oppo- 
sition." At one time the Hy-Nialls claimed 
the supreme government of the island, in 
virtue of having possessed it for many ages ; 
at others, the O'Briens aspired to it, as heirs 
of Brien Boiroimhe. The Hy-Brunes of Con- 
naught laid claim to it also, and the kings of 
Leinster acted a part which did them no 
honor. They frequently formed alliances 
with the Danes, contrary to the general wel- 
fare of the country, and the nation at length 
became a prey to the fury of the English, 
by means of that unhappy race. Although 
the ancient constitution of the state had 
been weakened and enervated by these di- 
visions, it nevertheless existed for a century 
and a half in this sort of anarchy. 

Donnough, otherwise Donat, or Denis, 
son of the celebrated Brien-Boiroimhe, and 
king of Munster, was obeyed as monarch by 
a considerable part of the island, but was 
unable to reduce the rest to obedience.* This 
prince was very powerful, and from his great 
prudence, worthy of occupying the throne. 
He forced the people of Meath, Leinster, 
Ossory, and Connaught, to give him hos- 
tages ; punished the inhabitants of Con- 
naught for the sacrilege they had committed 
by pillaging the church of Clonfert, and 
enacted wise laws against robbery and other 
abuses which had crept in among the people. 
He prohibited travelling, fairs, and hunting 
on Sundays, and to give more weight to his 
laws, he caused them to be confirmed in an as- 
sembly of the bishops and nobles of his pro- 
vince which was convened for that purpose. 

Donnough's second queen was Driella, 
daughter of the celebrated earl Godwin, of 
England, who, with his brother Harold took 

* Keat. Hist, of Id. pt. 2 ; Grat. Luc. c. 9, et 
Bruod. Prop. Cath. Verit. lib. 5, c. 16. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



235 



refuge in Ireland ; the latter having been 
banished by king Edward the Confessor, 
whom he afterwards succeeded on the throne 
of England.* By this princess the monarch 
had a son, called Donald. Harold being 
desirous of returning to his own country, 
Donnough granted him a body of troops as 
an escort, who, entering the Severn with 
thirty vessels, in conjunction with Griffith, 
king of South Wales, laid waste the country, 
which induced the nobles, who dreaded a 
civil war, to effect a reconciliation between 
him and his prince.t 

The conversion of the Danes, or Normans, 
of which we have already spoken, having 
been so sudden, and policy having had some 
share in it, it could not, at first, have been 
very solid ; but they now began to give 
proofs of a stronger faith. 

Sitrick, chief of the Normans of Dublin, 
having undertaken a pilgrimage to Rome, 
died on his journey, a. d. 1035, and left the 
government of Dublin to his son Aulave, 
who, like his father, being desirous of going 
to Rome, was assassinated in England, a. d. 
1035. He was succeeded by his son Sitrick. 

These foreigners left monuments of their 
piety in the foundations they made. Bur- 
chard, a Nor wegian lord, had already founded 
the priory of St. Stephen, at Leighlm, in the 
district of Carlow. 

The priory of the Holy Trinity, since 
called Christ's Church, in Dublin, was found- 
ed in 1038, for secular canons, by Sitrick, 
chief .of the Danes of Dublin. \ This 
priory was afterwards made a cathedral 
church. 

Dublin, tire capital of Ireland, is also the 
metropolitan see of Leinster. By following 
the memoirs of the Danes, and styling Donat, 
or Dunarc, who flourished in the eleventh 
century, the first bishop of this see, Ware 
deducts considerably from its antiquity. It 
is certainly improbable that St. Patrick, who 
had • appointed bishops and priests to the 
other churches which he founded in the 
island, had left without a pastor the church 
of Dublin, at the time a rich and commer- 
cial city, where he had experienced so much 
gratitude from the inhabitants, who had 
agreed to pay to him and his successors in 
the see of Armagh, three ounces of gold 
annually. Jocelin, who, in the life of St. 
Patrick, calls Dublin a noble city, " In 
urbem nobilem qu<E vocatur Dublinia,"^ is 

* Baker, Chron. of Engl. Life of William the 
Conqueror, page 21. 

+ Baker, Ibid. Reign of Edward, page 18. 
X War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 
§ Vit. S. Patr. cap. 71. 



reproved by Usher, who accuses him of in- 
consistency, since in another place he calls 
it " pagus," which signifies a village.* 

The absence of records or registers more 
ancient than the eleventh century, is a nega- 
tive argument, and cannot be considered as 
a proof. It is very probable that they were 
burned or suppressed by the pagan Danes, 
who were frequently masters of the city, 
and that their descendants who became 
Christians, and were tolerated for commer- 
cial reasons, had begun their records with 
the first of their own countrymen who were 
appointed bishops of Dublin, which took 
place in the eleventh century. 

Ware, in his treatise on prelates, agrees 
that historians mention Wiro, Rumold, Se- 
dulius, and one Cormac, who had filled the 
see of Dublin before Donat.f On this head, 
Colgan quotes an English martyrology, Me- 
nardus, Molanus, Meyerus, Sanderus, Fer- 
rarius, the annals of the four masters, and 
the martyrology of Taulaught, which he calls 
Tamlactense, from an ancient monastery of 
that name three miles from Dublin, where 
it was written by St. iEngus, or iEngussius, 
of the noble race of the Dal-Arads of Ul- 
ster, and by Saint Moebruan, in the eighth 
century. J 

Although it may be reasonably supposed 
that several prelates had governed this 
church from the time of St. Patrick to that 
of the Danes, a space of about four hundred 
years, still, as most of them are unknown to 
us, we shall only speak of those mentioned 
by the above writers. 

According to Colgan, Livinus was bishop 
of Dublin, and he also says that he suffered 
martyrdom in 633.^ Meyerus calls him 
archbishop of Scotia, that is, of Ireland, and 
says that he was son of Theagnio and Agal- 
mia, people of rank in that country ;|| that 
having preached the gospel and converted 
a considerable number of persons, he was 
assassinated on the 12th of November, 633, 
at Hesca, in the low countries, by two bro- 
thers, called Walbert and Meinzo, and that 
his life had been written by Boniface, arch- 
bishop of lMentz.il Masseus in his chronicle, 
and Molanus in the lives of the saints of 



* " He seems to forget what he had before stated, 
that it was not a village, but the capita! of the king- 
dom, and a very noble city." — Usher, c. 17, p. 
681. 

t Trias Thaum. note 69, in 6, Vit. St. Pat. 

X Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 11 Mart. Vit. S. Magm, 
et 29, Vit. S. Fularth. 

§ Trias Thaum. note 69, in 6, Vit. S. Patr. 

|| Meyerus in Annal. Flandrire. 

If Sander, de Script. Flandriae. 



236 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Flanders, give nearly the same account ; 
Bale also makes mention of his writings. 
His relics were removed to Ghent in 1007, 
and deposited in the church of St. Bavo. 

St. Wiro, who was bom in Ireland, of 
distinguished parents,* from whom he re- 
ceived an education suited to his birth, made 
so rapid a progress in virtue and the sciences, 
that he was nominated bishop, and being 
obliged by the people to accept that charge, 
he went to Rome to receive his consecration 
from the pope. On his return he governed 
his diocese for some time in a most edifying 
manner, and acquired a high reputation of 
sanctity ; but being desirous of devoting his 
life to God in solitude, he resigned his 
bishopric and went to France, where he was 
honorably received by Pepin, duke of the 
French, who assigned him a place adapted 
for retirement and contemplation, called 
Mons-Petri, thought by Molanus to be the 
same as Ruremond.f Our saint caused an 
oratory to be built in it, dedicated to the 
blessed Virgin, which was called the monas- 
tery of St. Peter, and having lived to an ad- 
vanced age, he died on the eighth of May, 
650, in his oratory, where he was interred. 

Some writers place St. Desibod among 
the bishops of Dublin.^ He was born in 
Ireland, of a noble family, and celebrated 
for his talent and profound erudition. At 
the age of thirty years he was ordained 
priest, and nominated bishop some time 
afterwards. The insolence of the people 
having disgusted him with his bishopric, 
which he had held for ten years, he resigned 
it in 675. He afterwards left his native 
country, accompanied by some pious men, 
among others by Gisualdus, Clement, and 
Sallust ; and having preached the gospel for 
the space of seven years in different parts 
of Germany, he settled, with the consent of 
the proprietors, on a lofty mountain covered 
with wood, where he led a solitary life. 
Having acquired the reputation of great 
sanctity, he was joined by several monks 
of the order of St. Benedict, and founded 
a monastery on this mountain, which was 
called after him, Mont-Disibod, now Disen- 
berg, in the lower Palatinate. He led a 
penitential and mortified life in this retreat 
for the space of thirty-seven "years, and 
died there on the 8th of July, aged 81 years, 
but the year of his death is not known 
His life was written by Hildigardis, a nun of 
Disenberg, under the abbess Juttha, and 

* Surius ad 8 Maii. 

t Indiculus Sanct. Belgii sub Wirone. 

t Martyrol. Ang. ad 8 Julii. 



published by Surius, for the eighth of July. 
Dempster mentions having seen a treatise 
composed by Disibod, entitled " De Mona- 
chorum profectu in solitudine agentium liber 
1."* 

Molanus makes mention of Gualafar, as 
bishop of Dublin, without entering into any 
detail of his life, except that he baptized his 
successor Rumold. 

The life of St. Rumold, bishop of Dublin, 
and afterwards of Malines, in Brabant, was 
written by Theodorick, abbot of St. Tron, 
and published by Surius, for the 1st of July. 
The other writers who speak of him are 
Molanus, several martyrologists, and the 
legends of some breviaries. 

According to these authors, Rumold was 
son and heir of David, an Irish prince. He 
was baptized by Gualafar, bishop of Dublin, 
who also undertook his education. The 
desire of perfection made him give up the 
succession to his father, and having been 
nominated to the bishopric of Dublin, he 
some time afterwards set out for Rome, 
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ every- 
where as he passed. On his arrival at Rome, 
he went to the holy father, who received him 
kindly, and did justice to his merit. After 
a short stay in that city, he took leave of his 
holiness, and intending to return through 
France, went to Malines, where he was 
honorably received by count Ado and the 
countess his wife, who prevailed on him to 
settle in that district, for which purpose they 
granted to him a spot called Ulmus, from 
its being covered with elm trees, to found a 
monastery. Some time afterwards Malines 
being made a bishopric, he was nominated 
the first bishop. He was at length assassi- 
nated by two wretches, who attacked him, 
the one with the design of robbing him, 
thinking he had money, and the other in 
revenge for a reprimand he had received 
from the holy prelate, for the shameful life 
he led. The better to conceal their crime, 
they threw his body into a river, whence it 
was taken by count Ado, and honorably in- 
terred in the church of St. Stephen. A 
splendid church was afterwards built in 
honor of him, bearing his name, which is 
now the metropolitan church of the Low 
countries, and the relics of the saint were 
deposited there in a beautiful silver shrine. 
Alexander IV. transferred the festival of St. 
Rumold to the 1st of July, on account of 
that of St. John occurring on the 24th of June, 
the day he suffered martyrdom, which festi- 
val is annually celebrated in the diocese of 

* Hist. Eccles. Scot. lib. 4, No. 373. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



237 



Malines, as it had been in Dublin before 
the Reformation. 

According to Colgan, following the mar- 
tyrologies of Taulaught, Marianus Gorman, 
and Donnegal, Sedulius (in the Scotic lan- 
guage Siedhuil) was bishop of Dublin in the 
eighth century.* The first of these authors 
mentions several of the name of Sedulius, 
illustrious both for their piety and learning ; 
namely, Coelius-Sedulius, in the fifth cen- 
tury, so celebrated in antiquity for his virtue 
and profound erudition, and who was ranked 
among the Latin fathers ; Sedulius-Scotus, 
a bishop who assisted at the council held at 
Rome in 721, under Gregory II. ; Sedulius, 
abbot of Linnduachuil, in Ulster, in the 
eighth century ; Sedulius, bishop of Dublin, 
mentioned above ; Sedulius, abbot of Kinn- 
Locha ; Sedulius, abbot and bishop of Ros- 
common in the beginning of the ninth cen- 
tury ; Sedulius, son of Feradach, abbot of 
Kildare ; Sedulius, called of the desert of 
Kieran, who died in 855. In the time of 
Colgan, there were several families of the 
name of Siedhuil, (Shiel, perhaps,) who 
applied themselves to the study of natural 
science and of medicine, apparently having 
the genius of the great Sedulius. 

All that is known of Sedulius, bishop of 
Dublin, is, that he was son of Luaith ; that 
from his virtues he was appointed bishop 
of Dublin ; and that after his death, which 
took place on the eve of the ides of Febru- 
ary, 785, from his high reputation of sanc- 
tity and virtue, he was placed among the 
number of the saints. 

Cormac, another bishop of Dublin, is 
known only by name. 

Donnough O'Brien's reign was rather 
peaceful. The princes of the other provinces 
were satisfied with governing their own sub- 
jects, without disputing with him the su- 
preme authority ; but being suspected of hav- 
ing been accessary to the death of Thadeus, 
his eldest brother, he was dethroned by the 
nobles of the kingdom, and reduced to the 
rank of a private individual ; which induced 
him to undertake a pilgrimage to Rome, ac- 
cording to the habit of those ancient times, 
where he spent the remainder of his life in 
St. Stephen's monastery, and died at the 
age of 88 years, having presented the crown 
of Ireland to the pope. 

About this time was founded the abbey 
of Inis-Phadruig, that is St. Patrick's island, 
on the coast of the territory of Dublin, 
where it is said Saint Patrick landed on 

* Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Sedul. ad 12 Feb. p. 



returning from Ulster.* This abbey, which 
Ware calls only a priory, was founded for 
regular canons of the order of St. Augustin, 
by Sitrick-Mac-Murchard, a Danish lord, 
and its privileges transferred, in 1220, to 
Holme-Patrick, by Henry Loundres, then 
archbishop of Dublin. 

The disagreement among antiquarians re- 
specting this period, renders the succession 
of the monarchs of Ireland obscure and 
confused. Keating asserts that Donnough 
reigned fifty years ; others say only twelve. 
Ware does not mention him in his catalogue 
of monarchs. He speaks of an interregnum 
of twenty years after the death of Malachi, 
during which time the affairs of government 
were transacted under the regency of Cuan 
O'Leochain, a learned antiquary, and Cor- 
cran, a clerk, and head of the anchorites of 
Ireland, who died in the odor of sanctity at 
Lismore, a. d. 1042. 

Ware affirms that after this interregnum, 
Dermod, or Dermitius, son of Moelnamo, 
king of Leinster, assumed the supreme 
government of Ireland. He was of the 
race of Cahire-More, and descended in the 
seventeenth degree from Eana-Kinseallach. 
He was son-in-law of Donnough-O'Brien, 
having married his daughter the princess 
Dervorgal.f Some say that he was son of 
that princess, and consequently grandson of 
Donnough ; but however this be, he disap- 
proved highly of Donnough's conduct to- 
wards his brother Thadeus. He took Tour- 
lough, or Terdelach, son of the latter, under 
his protection, considering him as the le- 
gitimate heir to the crown of Munster, and 
constituted himself his guardian. He car- 
ried on a successful war against the people 
of Munster, in order to secure Turlough's 
right to the crown of that province ; plun- 
dered the city of Waterford in 1037 ; burned 
Glannusen in 1042, having taken four hun- 
dred prisoners, and killed one hundred men 
on the spot. He laid waste also the district 
of Desie in 1048, from whence he carried 
off considerable booty, and some prisoners. 
He plundered Limerick and Inis-Catha in 
1058, and gave battle to Donnough near 
Mount-Crot, in which the whole army of the 
latter was defeated. He afterwards received 
hostages in 1063, from the princes and lords 
of Munster, and gave them up to the young 
prince under his protection, who reigned 
over Munster and a great part of Ireland, 
after Donnough's abdication. 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemd. Hist. 
Monast. d'Irlande, p. 4. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 4. Grat. Luc. c. 9. 
Ogyg. part 3, c. 94. 



238 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Murchad, son of Donnough O'Brien, be- 
held with regret the sceptre in the hands 
of his cousin Terdelach, and endeavored to 
enforce his claims ; for which purpose he 
stirred up a revolt of that prince's subjects 
against him. It was, however, soon quelled 
by the appearance of Dermod, who marched 
thither with an army in 1065, obliged his 
subjects to return to their allegiance, and 
banished Murchad from the province ; so 
that the king of Leinster was at once both 
arbitrator of the crown of Munster, and pro- 
tector of the persecuted prince. He was 
the most powerful prince in Ireland at the 
time,and obliged Aid.or Hugh O'Conchobhar, 
(O'Connor,) king of Connaught, to do him 
homage. He placed Meath under contribu- 
tion, and carried away some prisoners ; laid 
waste the territory of Fingal and Dublin, as 
far as Abhin, (Allin,) and defeated the Danes 
near the city, by which victory he became 
their king. But Providence, which sets 
bounds to all human greatness, permitted 
him to be killed at the battle of Adhbha, the 
7th of the ides of February, 1072, by Con- 
ochor O'Moclachlin, king of Meath. Cara- 
docus-Lhancarvanenis says he was the best 
and most worthy prince that ever reigned in 
Ireland : " Dermitium dignissimum et opti- 
mum principem qui unquam in Hibernia 
regnavit ;" of which his conduct towards 
Terdelach O'Brien is a proof. 

His proximity of blood and relationship 
seemed to authorize Murchad to claim his 
protection, but he considered the justice of 
Terdelach's cause a much more powerful 
incentive. 

The conquest of England by William the 
Conqueror, duke of Normandy, happened 
about this time, that is, in 1066. England 
had been governed by Saxon princes from 
the end of the fifth to the beginning of the 
eleventh century, when the Danes made 
themselves masters of the country, after 
which it was ruled by three Danish kings 
in succession, namely, Canute, Harold, and 
Hardicanute ; but the latter dying without 
issue, the crown returned to the Saxon line, 
in person of Edward, surnamed the Confes- 
sor.* Edward died before he could place 
Edgar-Atheling on the throne, who was 
grandson of his brother, Edmund Ironside, 
and legitimate heir to the crown. Harold, 
son of the celebrated Earl Godwin, seized 
this opportunity, and ingratiated himself so 
much into the favor of the people, that he 
was proclaimed king, in opposition to the 
legitimate heir, whom he amused with the 
empty title of Earl of Oxford. 

* Baker's Chron. Engl, page 15, et seq. 



William the Bastard, duke of Normandy, 
since surnamed the Conqueror, founded his 
claims to the crown of England on a promise 
which Edward the Confessor (whose mother, 
Emma, was sister to the duke of Normandy) 
had given him in his youth, to make him his 
heir ; and on an oath which Harold had 
taken to aid him in his enterprise upon Eng- 
land after Edward's death ; but finding that 
he had been forgotten by the one, and was 
betrayed by the other, he sent an ambassa- 
dor to remind Harold of his oath, and demand 
that crown to which he had a right, in vir- 
tue of Edward's promise. Harold replied, 
that the barons and nobles, with one accord, 
had adjudged the crown to him, and that he 
would not surrender it without their concur- 
rence. The duke of Normandy, little satis- 
fied with this answer, considered his chance 
of obtaining justice by force of arms. Cir- 
cumstances favored this undertaking : an 
insurrection which had been raised in the 
north of England by Toustayne, the king's 
brother, abetted by Harold-Harfager, king 
of Norway, obliged Harold to leave the 
southern part of his kingdom unguarded, and 
go to quell the rebellion in the north, where 
he, however, gained a complete victory over 
the enemy at Stamford ; his brother Tous- 
tayne, who had headed the rebels, with the 
king of Norway, being among the slain. 

The duke of Normandy did not lose sight 
of his object. By means of his wife, who 
was daughter of Baldwin, count of Flanders, 
then guardian of Philip I., he obtained suc- 
cor from France.* The counts of Poitou, 
Anjou, Maine, and Boulogne, also furnished 
him with troops. In order to strengthen 
his cause by the apostolical authority, Pope 
Alexander II. sent him a consecrated banner 
and a golden ring. Every thing being pre- 
pared, and his Norman subjects, who had 
at first expressed a reluctance in the under- 
taking, having taken up arms, William em- 
barked with his army at Saint Valery, about 
the end of September, on board a fleet of 300 
sail, and landed in a short time at Pevensey, 
in Sussex, while Harold was still occupied 
in the north. 

Having landed his army, William gave 
orders to his fleet to return to Normandy, 
in order that his troops should have no hope 
but in their valor : " aut vincendum aut mori- 
endum." Camden says that he caused it 
to be burned. After some days he advanced 
along the coast as far as Hastings, where 
he intrenched himself, waiting the approach 
of the enemy. 

* Du Verdier, Abridgment of the History of 
England. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



239 



Harold,' surprised by the intelligence of 
the Norman invasion, returned to London, 
where he made a short stay to recruit his 
army, which had suffered considerable losses 
at the battle of Stamford ; after which he 
set out on his march towards Sussex, and 
encamped seven miles from Hastings, where 
their army was posted. The preparations 
which the duke of Normandy saw the king 
of England making, and which plainly indi- 
cated his desire of coming to a battle, hum- 
bled his pride, and made him uneasy as to 
the blood about to be shed in a cause which 
he himself, perhaps, did not consider a very 
just one ; as well as for the uncertainty of a 
battle in an enemy's country, the loss of 
which would be irretrievable. Before the 
action commenced, he sent a monk to Harold 
with proposals, leaving him the choice either 
of resigning the crown to him, as his claims 
were the best founded, or holding it in fealty 
from the dukes of Normandy, if he were un- 
willing to give it up ; lastly, if he chose, to 
decide the matter by single combat, or refer 
it to the decision of the pope. Harold re- 
fused to accede to any of the proposals, and 
said he would leave it to the God of armies 
to decide the next day. The night previous 
to the battle was spent in a very different 
manner by both armies. As the day follow- 
ing was the king of England's birthday, his 
troops passed the night in feasting ; while 
those of the duke of Normandy spent it in 
prayer. The day after, which was Saturday, 
14th October, the two armies engaged at 
day-break, and the battle, which was par- 
ticularly obstinate, lasted until night. 

It may be here observed, that circum- 
stances rather than the valor of the troops, 
decide the fate of battles, and that the van- 
quished often deserve laurels as well as the 
victors. These circumstances sometimes 
consist of inequality of numbers ; sometimes 
in the choice of ground, or in discipline and 
superiority of arms ; and generally in the 
skill of the commander. The number and 
valor of the troops were nearly equal at the 
battle of Hastings, and Harold did not yield 
in bravery to "William. The Normans hav- 
ing discharged their arrows on the English, 
who were unacquainted with the use of them, 
galled and surprised them a little ; but soon 
afterwards recovering from this first panic, 
they rallied, and attacked the Normans with 
so much impetuosity, that they made them 
give ground, without, however, putting them 
to flight. The battle lasted a long time with 
equal success, both sides performing prodi 
gies of valor ; but the fortune of the day 
was at length determined by a stratagem of 



William. He pretended to give way, which, 
as he expected, drawing the English from 
their ranks, who pursued him in disorder 
into a defile, he made a dreadful slaughter 
of them. Harold having rallied his flying 
troops, was slain in making a last effort, 
together with his brothers ; and the rest of 
the army saved themselves by flight. By 
this victory the duke of Normandy became 
master of all England ; the conquest being 
so rapid that he might have said, with Crcsar, 
Veni, vidi, vici." He lost 6000 men in the 
action ; the English 60,000. After resting 
and refreshing his troops, William marched 
awards London, and received the submis- 
sion of the bishops and the lords of England. 
He reigned as a tyrant, granting to those 
who abetted him in his usurpation, lands and 
lordships, without any other right save the 
problematical one of conquest, and after- 
wards created them lords, by which new 
title they ranked above the old nobility. 

Terdelach O'Brien, king of Minister, and 
of the greater part of Ireland, was son of 
Thadeus, and grandson of Brien-Bciroimhe. 
He proved himself worthy of his illustrious 
ancestors. He enacted wise laws, and gov- 
erned his subjects with justice,* to which 
Lanfrancus, archbishop of Canterbury, bears 
testimony in his letter to this prince, wherein 
he styles him the friend of peace and jus- 
tice,! and alleges that it was an instance of 
God's mercy towards Ireland, to have given 
her such a prince for a king. I 

William II., surnamed Rufus, king of 
England, obtained leave from Terdelach to 
cut wood in the forests of Ireland for the 
palace of Westminster, which he was then 
building. 

In the latter part of his life, the king of 
Ireland was confined to his bed by lingering 
illness, the pain of which he supported with 
truly Christian patience till his death, which 
took place on the eve of the ides of July, at 
Keancora, in the seventy-seventh year of his 
age, and fourteenth of his reign. 

Morthoug, or Moriertach O'Brien, suc- 
ceeded his father Terdelach, a. d. 1089. 
This prince's mother, according to Keating, 

* Keat. Hist of Irel. War. de Aiitiq. Hib. c. 4. 
Grat. Luc. c. 9. 

t Ogyg. part 3, c. 94. Bruodin. Propug. lib. 5, 
c. 16. 

t " God displays no greater mercy on eartb, than 
when he advances the lovers of peace and justice to 
the government of souls or bodies. The careful 
investigator readily discovers what has been con- 
ferred on the people of Ireland, when the Almighty 
hath given to your excellency the right of royal 
power over that land." — Usher's Syllogisms, epist. 
27. 



240 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



(the only writer, I believe, who has men- 
tioned her,) was Kealrach, daughter of Vi- 
Eine. According to the same author, she 
had another son, (apparently by a former 
marriage,) called Roger O'Connor, father 
of Terdelach O'Connor, who succeeded 
Moriertach O'Brien.* Moriertach is ac- 
knowledged king of Ireland by the annals 
of Inis-Fail, Donegal, and by the writer 
who has continued those of Tigernach. 
Usher, in his collection, quotes an epistle 
of St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, 
to Muriardach, the glorious king of Ireland, 
in which he extols this prince highly for 
his justice and love of peace. His authority 
was also acknowledged by the inhabitants 
of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man, who 
sent ambassadors to him to request that a 
king of his family might rule them during 
the minority of Olanus, son of Godred.f 

It appears, however, that this prince had 
a competitor in the supreme government of 
Ireland. Domnald-Maglochluin, son of Ard- 
gal, of the race of Niall of the nine hostages, 
by Domnald, brother of the monarch Niall- 
Glundubh, disputed with him the title of mon- 
arch, as appears by the hostilities carried on 
by them against each other,and the steps taken 
by the archbishops of Armagh to allay them. 

Moriertach was equally watchful for the 
interests of the church and state. Having 
been solemnly crowned at Tara, he con- 
vened an assembly of the lords and bishops 
of the province at Cashel, where, in their 
presence, he gave that city, which had been 
till that time the usual residence of the kings 
of Munster, with the lands and lordships ap- 
pertaining to it, as a donation to the see. 

About this time, viz. in the year 1 100, the 
priory of Dungevin, in the district of Ar- 
achty-Cahan, now the county of Derry, was 
founded by the noble family of the O'Cahans, 
lords of that country. :£ 

With the consent of Pope Paschal II., the 
monarch assembled a national council in 
1110 or 1112. This council was composed 
of fifty bishops, three hundred priests, and 
about three thousand of an inferior order of 
clergy, besides the monarch, who was pres- 
ent, and several princes and lords of the 
kingdom.^ The heads of the clergy were 

* Keat. Hist, of Irel. part 2 ; War. de Antiq. c. 4 ; 
Grat. Luc. c. 9 ; Ogyg. part 3, c. 94. 

t " All the chief men of the islands, as soon as 
the death of Lagmannas was heard of, sent ambas- 
sadors to Murchard O'Brien, king of Ireland, to 
send some energetic man of the royal line to rule 
over them until Olanus should be of age." — Camd. 
Chron. p. 840. 

t Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. p. 98. 

(j War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 



Milerus, or Mrelmurius O'Dunan, archbishop 
of Munster ; Kellach-Mac-Hugue, vicar of St. 
Celsus ; the primate, who was ill at the time ; 
and Gillaspec,or Gilbert, bishop of Limerick, 
and president of the council as apostolical 
legate. 

The records of the country mention three 
different councils as held in Ireland about 
this time, which, however, are perhaps but 
the same council, spoken of by different 
names. Some call it the council of Bath- 
Breasail,othersFiad-Mac-03ngus,thatis,the 
land or wood of ffingus, which is the same 
as others call Usneach, where there is a 
hill of that name, in' the district of Kinal- 
Fiacha, (Westmeath.) Canons and wise 
regulations were made in this council re- 
specting the spiritual and temporal adminis- 
tration : the bishoprics were reduced to a 
limited number, namely, twenty-four, with 
the two archbishoprics ; twelve in the 
northern division of the island, called Leath- 
Con, and twelve in the southern, or Leath- 
Mogha. By this division there were two sees 
in Meath, namely, Damliag and Cluainjoraird. 
The two archbishoprics were Armagh and 
Cashel. The limits of the bishoprics were 
decided upon, and the jurisdiction of each 
bishop was confined to his own diocese ; 
suffragans were allotted to each archbishop, 
and the ecclesiastical immunities and ex- 
emptions established. 

We may fix at this time, that is in 1120, 
the re-establishment of the abbey of Bangor, 
by St. Malachi, which had been several 
times destroyed by the Danes.* 

Moriertach O'Brien was not less assiduous 
in the temporal government of the state, and 
in defending the country against the common 
enemy. He defeated the Danes of Dublin 
three times, banished Godfrid their chief, 
and had himself proclaimed their king. 

A ridiculous and incredible anecdote re- 
specting Murchard, king of Ireland, is given 
in the chronicle of the kings of the Isle of 
Man. The author says that Magnus, king 
of Norway, sent a pair of his shoes to Mur- 
chard, with orders to carry them on his 
shoulders on the birthday of the Lord, as an 
acknowledgment of his submission to the 
kings of Norway, and that the king of Ire- 
land had obeyed his orders, lest he should 
draw upon himself so formidable an enemy. f 
According to the annals of the country,! the 
king of Ireland caused the ears of the com- 
missioners of Magnus to be cut off, and sent 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. 

t Chron. Reg. Man. apud Camb. Brit. 841. 

X Bruod. Propug. lib. 5, cap. 16, page 933. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



241 



them back with the intelligence ; which ac- 
count is more probable, as will be seen by 
the sequel ; for Magnus being exasperated, 
resolved to take revenge for the insult he 
had received in the person of his ministers, 
and formed the wild project of subjugating 
Ireland. For this purpose, he embarked 
with a large body of troops, and arriving in 
the north of Ireland, commenced hostilities ; 
but being surrounded by the Irish militia, he 
and all his suite were killed, and the tyrant 
was interred at Down-Patrick. Those who 
had remained on board the fleet, having 
learned the unhappy fate of their chief, re- 
turned to Norway, and gave up for ever 
their claims on Ireland. 

Moriertach O'Brien, says Malmesbury, an 
English cotemporary author, formed so strict 
a friendship with Henry I., king of England, 
that he did nothing without first consulting 
him. He made alliances also with foreign 
princes ; and gave one of his daughters in 
marriage to Arnulph de Montgomery, eldest 
son of the earl of Arundel, in England, and 
another to Sicard, son of Magnus, king of 
Norway. 

This pious prince, convinced that human 
grandeur is but transient, withdrew to Lis- 
more, where he took minor orders, and em- 
ployed the remainder of his life in preparing 
for eternity. He died the sixth of the ides 
of March, 1120. His body was removed to 
Killaloe, and interred in the cathedral of 
that city. Some time before his death, he 
undertook a pilgrimage to Armagh ; which 
gave rise to Keating's belief that he died 
there. This prince was the last king of 
Ireland of his race. From him, and conse- 
quently from Brien Boiroimhe, are descend- 
ed the illustrious houses of the O'Briens, of 
which the present head is Charles O'Brien, 
Earl of Thuomond, heretofore called Lord 
Clare, Marshal of France, knight of the or- 
ders of the most Christian king, and colonel 
of the Irish regiment of Clare, in the ser- 
vice of his Majesty. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Domnald-Maglochluin survived his ri- 
val Moriertach. Some annalists have placed 
him in the catalogue of monarchs, among 
others, Gillamaddud, an ancient writer, and 
O'Duvegan, in which they are followed by 
O'Clery, Colgan, and others, the first of 
whom says that he was united with Morier- 
tach in the supreme government. He ex- 
acted hostages from the inhabitants of Con- 



naught, Meath, and other districts ; carried 
on a war against the Danes of Fingal, and 
put their country under contribution. Mo- 
riertach was, however, better known to for- 
eigners, particularly the English. He had 
established an intercourse with the latter by 
treaties and marriages ; signed the postnlata 
of the bishops of Dublin, Waterford, and 
Limerick, who went over for consecration 
by the archbishop of Canterbury, contrary 
to the discipline of the church of Ireland, 
and also kept up a correspondence by letter 
with the prelates of Canterbury. This in- 
tercourse with the English, no doubt, influ- 
enced Domhnal-More-O'Brien, king of Lim- 
erick, in making prompt submission to Henry 
II. some time afterwards. However this 
may be, the people were much harassed by 
the wars of these princes ; and the efforts 
which the bishops and nobles made to ap- 
pease their quarrels, prove that their author- 
ity was equal, and that one was acknow- 
ledged monarch in the north, and the other 
in the south. 

Domnald was a generous prince, chari- 
table to the poor, and liberal to the rich. 
Feeling his end to be approaching, he with- 
drew to the abbey of Columb-Kill, in Doire, 
(Deny,) where he died in 1121, on the fourth 
of the ides of February, aged 73 years.* 

The abbey of Erinach, or Carrig, in Dala- 
radie, at present the county of Down, was 
founded in 1127 for Benedictines, dedicated 
to the blessed Virgin, by Magnellus-Mac- 
Kenleffe, and afterwards removed to Inis. 

Although it is alleged by some authors, 
that there was at this time an interregnum 
of some years, and though Ware, who speaks 
of it, comes to no conclusion upon the sub- 
ject, it is certain that Turlough-More-O'Con- 
nor, otherwise Terdelach O'Connor, son of 
Roderick king of Connaught, succeeded the 
two last princes in the supreme government 
of the island. He was of the race of Here- 
mon, and descended in the twenty-third 
degree from Eocha XII., surnamed Moy- 
veagon, monarch of the island in the fourth 
century. 

The two sons of that monarch, Brian and 
Fiachar, had formed two powerful tribes in 
Connaught, called after them the Hy-Brunes 



* " Domnaldus, grandson of Loehlannus, son of 
Ardganus, king of Ireland, and the handsomest of 
his countrymen. His birth was noble, his disposi- 
tion ingenuous, and he was most successful in his 
undertakings. The poor received many gifts from 
him, and the great were liberally rewarded. He 
retired to the abbey of Columb-Kill, where he died 
in the 73d year of his age, and 27th of his reign." 
— Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 27 March, cap. 4, p. 773. 



242 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



and the Hy-Fiachras, of Tir-Fiachra, and 
Tir-Amalgaid, or Tirawly. From these two 
tribes were descended all the kings that 
governed this province from the fourth to 
the twelfth century, but principally from the 
former, of which the O'Connors Don were 
the chiefs. This tribe was also called Clan- 
Murray, or Siol- Murray, from Muredach- 
Mullethan, one of their chiefs, and king of 
Connaught in the seventh century. 

Terdelach O'Connor, being the most 
powerful prince of Ireland at the time the 
throne became vacant, caused himself to be 
proclaimed monarch by his own adherents, 
and a considerable part of the island. He 
entered Munster twice with an army, to 
force the people of that province to pay him 
homage. At first he was repulsed with the 
loss of a great number of his best troops, 
including O'Flaherty, prince of Iar-Con- 
naught, and many other lords of distinction, 
but he was more successful in his second 
expedition, having defeated the Munster 
forces at the battle of Moinmor, in which he 
slaughtered great numbers of them, and put 
the remainder to flight, with their commander 
Terdelach O'Brien, son of Murgan, king of 
that province.* After this victory the prov- 
ince submitted to him, and he divided it be- 
tween Terdelach O'Brien and Dermod Mac- 
Carthy ; giving to the former the northern 
part, including Thuomond and Limerick ; 
and to the latter, the district of Cork, and 
the remainder of the southern part. Having 
received hostages from these princes, he 
marched towards the north, where he quell- 
ed some troubles occasioned by the revolt 
of the northern Hy-Nialls, who had not yet 
acknowledged his sovereignty, and received 
the homage of the O'Neills, O'Donnels, and 
other princes and lords of the province. 
On his return from Ulster, he re-established 
the games at Tailton, which had been inter- 
rupted during a long time. These games, 
which had been instituted for the exercise 
of the youth, consisted in races on foot and 
on horseback, in wrestling, in gladiatorial 
tournaments, leaping, throwing the stone 
and javelin, and every species of military 
evolutions. Emulation was excited by the 
applause and prizes which awaited the vic- 
tor. This monarch likewise caused the 
high roads to be repaired, and bridges built, 
two over the Shannon, one at Athlone, the 
other at Athrochta, and that of Dunleoghe, 
over the river Suck. Lastly, he had money 
coined at Cluon-Mac-Noisk. 



* Bruodin, Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, cap. 16, 
page 934. 



Terdelach was not less remarkable for 
his religion and piety, than for the wisdom 
of his government. He founded a priory 
at Tuam in 1140, dedicated to St. John the 
Baptist, which he liberally endowed with 
land ; he also granted a large tract of land 
to the abbey of Roscommon, in order to 
increase its revenues. In his will he be- 
queathed to different churches sixty-five 
ounces of gold, sixty marks of silver, all his 
furniture, including his vessels of gold and 
silver, precious stones, and other jewels.* 

This prince was inflexible in punishing 
crime. His son Roderick having been guilty 
of some misdemeanor, he caused him to be 
loaded with irons, and it was only at the 
frequent solicitations of the archbishops of 
Armagh and Cashel, and the heads of the 
clergy of his kingdom, that he restored him 
to his liberty, after a year's confinement. 

The annals of Ireland fix the foundation 
of several religious houses in this reign, 
namely, the monastery of St. Finbarry, at 
Cork, first founded by that saint, and rebuilt 
and dedicated to St. John the Baptist, in the 
year 1134, for regular canons, by Cormac- 
Mac-Carthy, king of Munster, or at least of 
that part of the province called Desmond. | 

The priory of St. John the Baptist, 
founded at Down, in 1138, by St. Malachi 
and Morgair.J 

A monastery of Benedictines in Dublin, 
first founded in the tenth century by the 
Danes, dedicated to the blessed Virgin, and 
afterwards changed to Bernardines, of the 
order of Citeaux, in 1139. 

St. Mell, or Mellifont, in the district of 
Louth, was a celebrated abbey of the order 
of Citeaux, under the invocation of our 
Lady.§ It was a branch of the abbey of 
Clairvaux, whence St. Bernard had monks 
sent thither, and nominated as first abbot the 
blessed Christian O'Conarchy, a native of 
Ireland, and a disciple of the abbey of Clair- 
vaux, who was afterwards bishop of Lismore, 
and apostolical legate, having been, as St. 
Bernard observes, the first abbot of Citeaux 
in Ireland. This abbey was parent of most 
of the other houses of the order of Citeaux 
in Ireland, the first monks having been taken 
from it. It is said to have been perfectly 
similar to the house of Clairvaux, both in 
the situation and construction of the building, 
and was so extensive, that by way of pre- 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. Gratianus 
Lucius, c. 9. Ogygia, part 3, cap. 94. 

+ War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 

t War. ibidem. 

§ Idem. ibid. Allemand's Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, 
page 167. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



243 



eminence it was called Monisther-Mor, that 
is, the great monastery. Our Lady of Mel- 
lifont was founded long before the arrival of 
the English in Ireland, namely, in 1140, by 
Donat O'Caruel, prince of Ergallie, accord- 
ing to Jungelinus. Ware fixes the founda- 
tion of it in 1142.* There are others who 
ascribe the foundation of this house to St. 
Malachi, bishop of Down ; it is, however, 
certain that this prince contributed with the 
holy prelate towards the building of it. 

At Bectiffe, on the river Boyne, in east 
Meath, there is an abbey entitled our Lady 
of Beatitude, a branch of Mellifont, founded 
in 1146 by Murchard O'Melaghlin, prince, 
or according to the style of those times, king 
of Meath. The chronologists of the order 
of Citeaux are at variance respecting the 
time of the foundation of this abbey. Some 
fix it in 1148, others in 1151.f 

In the town of Louth there was a monas- 
tery for regular canons, founded in 1148, 
by Donat O'Caruel, prince of Ergallie, and 
by Edan O'Kelly, bishop of Clogher.J 

The abbey of Baltinglass, Be Valle Salu- 
lis, on the river Slaney, in the territory of 
Wicklow, was founded and endowed for 
monks of the order of Citeaux, in 1148 or 
1151, by Dermod Mac-Murrough, king of 
Leinster.fy 

At Boyle, a borough situated on the river 
Bouel, in the county of Roscommon, there 
was a celebrated abbey, called after our 
Lady, and a branch of Mellifont, the first 
abbot of which was Peter 0'Mordha.|| This 
abbey was first founded at Grellechdine, in 
1148, afterwards transferred to Dromconaid, 
from thence to Buin-Finng, and lastly to 
Boyle, in 1161.1 

Dermod Mac-Murrough, king of Leinster, 
founded an abbey in Dublin, called after the 
blessed Mary of Hoggis, for regular canons 
of St. Augustin, of the peculiar congrega- 
tion of Arouaise, an abbey in the diocese 
of Arras, which was head of that congrega- 
tion, but is no longer in existence.** 

The latter part of Terdelach O'Connor's 
reign was not so fortunate. Moriertach- 
Maglochluin, (son of Niall, and grandson of 
Loghlin, from whom he had taken his sur- 
name,) prince of the northern Hy-Nialls. 
having become powerful proved a formidable 
rival to him ; and frequently carried on a 

* Lib. de Notif. Abbatia Ord. Cister. 

T War. ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 177. 

+ War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 

§ War. ibid. Allem. Hist. Monast. d'Irland. 

|| War. ibid. Allemand, ibid. 

T War. ibid. Allemand. ibid. 

** War. ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 341. 



successful warfare against him. He weak- 
ened his power considerably, without anni- 
hilating it : and the death of Terdelach at 
length opened to him a way to the throne. 
Bruodine fixes the death of Terdelach in 
1144, Keating in 1150, Gratianus Lucius 
and O'Flaherty in 1156, and Ware in 1157, 
at the age of sixty-eight years. However 
this be, he was interred at the altar of St. 
Kiaran, in the cathedral of Cluan-Mac- 
Noisk, of which he had been a benefactor. 

Moriertach being now without a rival, 
assumed the reigns of the supreme govern- 
ment. He was a warlike prince, and an able 
politician. He reduced all the provinces by 
his arms, and exacted hostages from them ; 
made wise regulations for the spiritual and 
temporal government, as appears by the 
frequent assemblies which were held under 
his reign; was the steady protector of the 
clergy, whom he made arbitrators of the 
most important of his affairs ; and may be 
considered to have been the most absolute of 
those who assumed the title of monarch since 
the reign of Malachi II. It would have 
been fortunate for Ireland, says a modern 
author, had Moriertach enacted a law in 
favor of the house' of the Hy-Nialls, securing 
their succession to the crown ;* which would 
have put an end to the factions caused by 
the usurpation of the provincial kings, that 
hastened the downfall of the nation. 

The most remarkable event that occurred 
in the reign of tins monarch, was the national 
council of Kells. The Roman church, always 
attentive to the necessities of the provincial 
churches, was not forgetful of the steps 
which St. Malachi had taken to obtain the 
pallium from Pope Innocent II. ; nor was 
she ignorant of the commission which the 
saint had received for that purpose from 
the clergy of Ireland, at the synod of Holm- 
Patrick. It was in consequence of this that 
Pope Eugene III. sent John Paparo, a priest 
and cardinal, with the title of" St. Laurence 
in Damasus," to Ireland, in 1152, as legate, 
with four palliums for the four archbishops 
of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam. 
The legate assembled a council, at which he 
presided, with Christian O'Conarchy, bishop 
of Lismore, and apostolical legate after the 
death of St. Malachi. Authors do not agree 
respecting the place in which this council 
was held. Some say that it was in the abbey 
of Mellifont ; and others, (which is the most 
general opinion,) that it was at Kenanus, by 
corruption Kells, an ancient city in Meath. 
This assembly, which was held in the month 

* Dissertation on the Ancient History of Ire- 
land, page 35. 



244 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of March, was numerously and brilliantly 
attended.* The bishops present at this 
council were : 

Giolla-Christ (Christian) O'Conarchy, 
bishop of Lismore, and legate. 

Giolla-Mac-Liah, (Gelasius,) primate of 
Ireland. 

Domnald O'Lonorgain, archbishop of 
Munster, that is, of Cashel. 

GSda, or Hugh O'Hossin, archbishop of 
Connaught, that is, of Tuam. 

Greri, or Gregory, archbishop of Dublin. 

Giolla-na-Naemh, bishop of Glendalodi. 

Dungol O'Cellaid, bishop of Leighlin. 

Tuistius, bishop of Waterford. 

Domnald O'Fogertaic, bishop of Ossory. 

Find-Mac-Tiareain, bishop of Kildare. 

Giolla-Ancomdeh (Deicola) O'Ardmail, 
bishop of Emly. 

Giolla-CEda O'Mugin, (or O'Heyn,) bishop 
of Cork. 

Mac-Ronan, or Maol-Breanuin O'Rua- 
nain, bishop of Kerry, that is, Ardfert. 

Torgesius, bishop of Limerick. 

Muirchertach O'Melider, bishop of Cluain- 
Mac-Noisk. 

Maeliosa O'Conochtain, bishop of Oirthir- 
Conacht, that is, of Roscommon. 

O'Radan, bishop of Luigni, that is, of 
Achonry. 

Macraith O'Morain, bishop of Conmacne, 
(Ardagh.) 

Ethru O'Miadachain, bishop of Clunair- 
ard, that is, Clonard. 

Tuathal O'Connachtaig, bishop of Huam- 
bruai, or Enaghdune. 

Muirideach O'Cobthaig, bishop of Keneal- 
Eogain, now Derry. 

Mselpadruic O'Beanain, bishop of Daila- 
raid, that is, Connor. 

Maeliosa-Mac-Inclericuir, bishop of Ul- 
lagh, that is, Down. 

In this council the bishoprics of Dublin, 
Cashel, and Tuam, were made metropoli- 
tans ; which privilege had been granted to 
Armagh in the beginning ; and the cardinal 
legate conferred on the four the palliums, 
with which he had been intrusted by the 
pope. To each of these metropolitans was 
assigned a limited number of suffragans ; 
regulations were made against simony and 
usury ; and the payment of tithes decreed by 
the apostolical authority, as appears by an 
act taken from the book of Cluain-Ednach, 
an ancient monastery in the diocese of 
Leighlin, in the district of Leix, now the 
parish of Clonenagh, near Mountrath.f 

* Keating's History, lib. 2. War. de Antiq. Hib. 
cap. 16. 
t " A grand synod was held in the spring of a. d. 



In 1157, the primate convened a synod 
in the abbey of Mellifont, composed of seven- 
teen bishops, besides the legate, who pre- 
sided, and the primate by whom it was con- 
vened. This synod seems to have been a 
prorogation of that of Kells. It is probable 
that Keating, and the other writers who place 
the latter in 1157, confound one with the 
other. This synod was honored by the pre- 
sence of Moriertach-Maglochluin, the mon- 
arch, Eochaid, king of Ulidia : Tiernan 
O'Rourke, prince of Brefny, and O'Caruel, 
prince of Ergall, were also present. The . 
principal object of this assembly was to ex- 
communicate and dethrone Dunchad O'Me- 
laghlin, king of Meath, and place his brother 
Dermod on the throne in his stead. It is 
not well known what crime he had committed 
which drew upon him so heavy a maledic- 
tion ; but it is mentioned in some records in 
the following terms : "This accursed atheist 
was excommunicated for having dishonored 
the Comarb or primate, the staff of Jesus, 
and all the clergy." The church of this 
abbey was solemnly consecrated during this 
synod, and received considerable donations 
from the princes. The monarch gave one 
hundred and forty oxen, sixty ounces of gold, 
and a tract of land near Drogheda, called 
Finnabhuair-Naningean ; O'Carroll gave 
sixty ounces of gold ; and the wife of Tier- 
nan O'Rourke, daughter of O'Melaghlin, 
prince of Meath, sixty ounces of gold, a 
golden chalice for the grand altar, and or- 
naments for the other nine altars of the 
church. 

This prelate, so zealous and indefatigable 
when God's glory and his neighbor's salva- 
tion were in question, convened a synod at 
Brighthaig, in the district of Leogaire, in 
Meath, in 1158, composed of twenty-five 
bishops, at which Christian O'Conarchy, 
bishop of Lismore, and legate, presided. The 
bishops of Connaught, when on their way 
thither, were met by a band of soldiers, who 
killed two of their attendants, and forced 
them to return into their province. Regula- 



1157. The Lord John, cardinal priest of St. Lau- 
rence, presided over twenty.two bishops, and five 
coadjutors, besides as many abbots and priors of 
the apostles Peter and Paul, and of the blessed 
Eugene. Simony and all manner of usury were sup- 
pressed and condemned, and tithes commanded to 
be paid by apostolical authority. Four palliums 
were given to the four archbishops of Ireland, 
namely, those of Dublin, Tuam, Cashel, and Ar- 
magh. The archbishop of Armagh was given pre- 
cedence over the others, as was fitting. The car- 
dinal John, immediately after the council termi- 
nated, set out upon his journey, and crossed the 
seas on the 24th of March." 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



245 



tions were made in this synod, respecting 
the reformation of morals, and re-establish- 
ment of ecclesiastical discipline. They 
made a cathedral of the abbey of Derry, of 
which Flathbert, then abbot, was first bishop. 
He was also appointed by the synod prefect 
general of all the abbeys of Ireland.* 

There were several monasteries for both 
sexes founded in this reign, as set forth in 
the following account : 

The abbey of Shroule was founded in 
1150, for monks of the order of St. Bernard, 
by O'Ferrall, chief of the noble tribe of the 
O'Ferralls of Analy, now the county of 
Longford. t Jungelinus says that it was not 
founded till the year 1200, and that it was 
a branch of Mellifont. 

In the city of Athlone there was the abbey 
of St. Peter, or of Innocents .J Ware says 
that this abbey had two titles, that of St. 
Peter, and St. Benedict. Some allege that 
this house was of the order of St. Benedict ; 
others, on the contrary, maintain that it be- 
longed to that of Citeaux. Jungelinus calls 
this abbey of Athlone, Benedictio Dei, and 
says that it was founded about the year 
1150, in honor of St. Peter and St. Bene- 
dict, and that.it was situated in that part of 
the city which was in the county of Ros- 
common. 

The abbey of Nenay, in the county of 
Limerick, otherwise called De Magio, hav- 
ing been built on the river Magia, was en- 
dowed in 1148, by an O'Brien, king of Lime- 
rick, for monks of the order of Citeaux, and 
dedicated to the blessed Virgin. § This 
abbey was a branch of Mellifont, and gave 
rise in its turn to several others. Jungelinus 
says it was founded in 1151. This house 
was called Na-Maigghe monastery, in the 
Irish language. 



* " A synod was convened by the Irish clergy, 
at Brighthaig, in the district of Leogaire ; at which 
the legate being present, 25 bishops assembled to 
examine into church discipline and morals. At this 
synod it was decreed by a general council, that the 
cathedral church should be conferred, in the man- 
ner of the other bishoprics, upon the Comarb, suc- 
cessor of St. Columb-Kill, Flethbertus O'BroIchan, 
and the supremacy of all the abbeys of the king- 
dom. The bishops of Connaught, however, were 
not present. On their journey to the synod, after 
leaving the church of Cluan-Mae-Nois, they were 
robbed on the way, and two of their party killed at 
Cluanias, by the emissaries of Diermitius O'Melagh- 
luin, king of Meath ; the others returned home." — 
Hibernian Annals in Colgan, 28th March. Life 
of St. Gelasius. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irlande, page 180. 

X Wareus, ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 190. 

§ War. ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 184. 



O'Domey, near the town of Ardfert, in 
the county of Kerry, otherwise called the 
abbey of Kyrie-Eleison, of the order of Ci- 
teaux, and a branch of the abbey of Nenay, 
was founded in 1154.* Christian, who was 
one of the most celebrated bishops of Lis- 
more, and apostolical legate in Ireland, was 
interred in this abbey in 1186. 

The abbey called our Lady of Greenwood, 
or St. Patrick of Greenwood, De Viridi 
Ligno, in the city of Newry, in the county 
of Down, was founded by Moriertach-Ma- 
glochluin, monarch of Ireland, in 1153, for 
monks of the order of Citeaux. f Ware says 
that some incorrectly attribute the founda- 
tion of this house to St. Malachi, who died 
some years before. 

The abbey of Ferns, under the invocation 
of the blessed Virgin, in the county of Wex- 
ford, was founded in 1158, for regular can- 
ons of the order of St. Augustin, by Dermod 
Mac-Morrough, king of Leinster.f 

The priory of the canonesses of Kilclehin, 
or Bello Portu, a fine harbor on the river 
Suir, in the district of Kilkenny, nearly op- 
posite to Waterford, was founded in 1151, 
by Dermod Mac-Morrough, king of Lein- 
ster.^ This priory was dependent on the 
abbey of Hoggis, in Dublin, of which we 
have already spoken. This king also found- 
ed a monastery for canonesses, nuns of the 
abbey of Hoggis, at Athaddy, in the district 
of Carlow. 

At Clonard, in Meath, there was a nun- 
nery of the order of St. Augustin, which was 
endowed by O'Melaghlin, prince of Meath, 
and confirmed in its possessions by Pope 
Celestine III., in 1195. 

The monastery of Termon-Fechin, in 
Louth, was founded in the same century, 
(the date is not precisely known,) by the 
noble family of the Mac-Mahons of Mona- 
ghan, or Uriel, for nuns of the order of St. 
Augustin. || This foundation was confirmed 
in 1195, by Pope Celestine III. 

Gelasius, primate of Ireland, also con- 
vened in this reign, in the year 1162, a 
synod of twenty-six bishops, at Cleonad, in 
the diocese of Kildare ; in which, among, 
other things, it was enacted that no one but 
a pupil of the University of Armagh should 
be admitted as professor of theology in a 
public school.1I In the succeeding reign this 

* War. ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 183. 
t Idem, page 194 
} Wareus, ibid. 

§ Wareus, ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 342. 
|| Wareus, ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 349. 
If Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Gelas. ad 28 Mart. e. 
15, et seq. 



246 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



prelate convoked another synod at Athboy, 
in Meatb, composed of the clergy and princes 
of Leth-Cuin, at which Roderick O'Connor, 
king of Connaught, and monarch of Ireland, 
attended. The object of all these assemblies 
was the spiritual government of the church, 
and also the tranquillity of the state. 

It is said that in this reign, in the year 
1155, Pope Adrian IV. issued the celebrated 
bull, by which this pontiff transferred the 
sovereignty of Ireland to Henry II., king of 
England. The tenor of it is here given, in 
order that an opinion may be formed of it. 

" Adrian, bishop and servant of the servants 
of God, to his most dear son in Christ, 
the illustrious king of England, greeting, 
health, and apostolical benediction." 

" Thy greatness, as is becoming a Catho- 
lic prince, is laudably and successfully em- 
ployed in thought and intention, to propagate 
a glorious name upon earth, and lay up in 
heaven the rewards of a happy eternity, by 
extending the boundaries of the church, and 
making known to nations which are unin- 
structed, and still ignorant of the Christian 
faith, its truths and doctrine, by rooting up 
the seeds of vice from the land of the Lord : 
and to perform this more efficaciously, thou 
seekest the counsel and protection of the 
apostolical see, in which undertaking, the 
more exalted thy design will be, united with 
prudence, the more propitious, we trust, will 
be thy progress under a benign Providence 
since a happy issue and end are always the 
result of what has been undertaken from an 
ardor of faith, and a love of religion. 

" It is not, indeed, to be doubted, that the 
kingdom of Ireland, and every island upon 
which Christ the sun of justice hath shone, 
and which has received the principles of the 
Christian faith, belong of right to St. Peter, 
and to the holy Roman church, (which thy 
majesty likewise admits,) from whence we the 
more fully implant in them the seed of faith, 
that seed which is acceptable to God, and 
to which we, after a minute investigation, 
consider that a conformity should be required 
by us the more rigidly. Thou, dearest son 
in Christ, hast likewise signified to us, that 
for the purpose of subjecting the people of 
Ireland to laws, and eradicating vice from 
among them, thou art desirous of entering 
that island ; and also of paying for each 
house an annual tribute of one penny to St. 
Peter ; and of preserving the privileges of 
its churches pure and undefiled. We, there- 
fore, with approving and favorable views 
commend thy pious and laudable desire, and 



to aid thy undertaking, we give to thy 
petition our grateful and willing consent, 
that for the extending the boundaries of the 
church, the restraining the prevalence of 
vice, the improvement of morals, the implant- 
of virtue, and propagation of the Chris- 
tian religion, thou enter that island, and 
pursue those things which shall tend to the 
honor of God, and salvation of his people ; 
and that they may receive thee with honor, 
and revere thee as their lord : the privilege 
of their churches continuing pure and unre- 
strained, and the annual tribute of one penny 
from each house remaining secure to St. 
Peter, and the holy Roman Church. If thou 
therefore deem what thou hast projected in 
mind, possible to be completed, study to 
instil good morals into that people, and act 
so that thou thyself, and such persons as 
thou wilt judge competent from their faith, 
words, and actions, to be instrumental in ad- 
vancing the honor of the Irish church, pro- 
pagate and promote religion, and the faith 
of Christ, to advance thereby the honor of 
God, and salvation of souls, that thou mayest 
merit an everlasting reward of happiness 
hereafter, and establish on earth a name of 
glory, which shall last for ages to come. 
Given at Rome, &c. &c. &c." 

The above was an edict pronounced 
against Ireland, by which the rights of men, 
and the most sacred laws are violated, under 
the specious pretext of religion and the 
reformation of morals.* The Irish were no 
longer to possess a country. That people, 
who had never bent under a foreign yoke, 
" nunquam externae subjacuit ditioni," were 
condemned to lose their liberty, without 
even being heard. t But can the vicar of 
Jesus Christ be accused of so glaring an 
act of injustice ? Can he be thought capa- 
ble of having dictated a bull which over- 
threw an entire nation, which dispossessed 
so many ancient proprietors of their patri- 
monies, caused so much blood to be shed, 
and at length tended to the destruction of 
religion in the island 1 It is a thing not to 
be conceived. 

In truth, were we to consider the circum- 
stances and motives of the bull, it has all 
the appearance of a fictitious one, under the 
borrowed name of Adrian IV.| Baronius 
quotes it, without giving any date of year or 
day, which would make it appear suspicious ; 
it remained unpublished for seventeen years ; 
it is said that it was fabricated in 1155, and 
not made public till 1172, which Nicholas 

* Cambrens. Evers. cap. 29. 

t Nubrigens. de Rebus Anglic, lib. 2, cap. 16. 

t Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, cap. 17. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



247 



Trivet ascribes to the opposition it met with 
from Henry's mother. He adds, that the 
king, having assembled his parliament at 
Winton, about the festival of St. Michael, 
proposed the conquest of Ireland to his lords; 
but that as it was displeasing to the empress 
his mother, he deferred the execution of it 
to another period.* 

The bull gains but little authentication 
from the authority of John of Salisbury, 
afterwards bishop of Chartres, in his treatise 
" do nugis curialibus." This writer is made 
to say, at the end of the last chapter of his 
fourth book, that " Pope Adrian had granted 
Ireland to king Henry, at his request, it 
being the patrimony of his holiness by he- 
reditary right, inasmuch as all the islands 
belonged to the Roman Church, by the 
concession of the Emperor Constantine the 
Great." But this nonsense is considered by 
the learned as having been added to the 
chapter by a strange hand ; since the author, 
in speaking particularly in the sixth and 
eighth books of his visit to the holy father 
at Benevento, where he remained with him 
for three months, states most minutely the 
various conversations which he had with his 
holiness, without making any mention of the 
bull in question, though it was a matter of 
particular importance, and that was naturally 
the fit time to have mentioned it. Pierre de 
Blois, a zealous panegyrist of this prelate 
who published his praises in various epistles, 
makes no mention of it either. 

It is well known that king Henry, who 
found creatures sufficiently devoted to him 
to revenge his quarrel with the holy prelate 
of Canterbury, did not want for venal wri- 
ters to add to, and retrench from, the wri- 
tings of the times, in order to give an ap- 
pearance of authenticity to a document so 
necessary for the justification of his conduct. 
Besides, it appears that Salisbury had gone 
to Italy of his own accord, and through curi- 
osity, to visit his countryman Adrian, and 
not with any commission from the king of 
England ; while the bull, according to 
Mathew of Westminster, was obtained by a 
solemn embassy, which Henry had sent to 
the pope. In my opinion, however, this 
circumstance appears to be another fable 
added to the former ; as he is the first who 
mentions this embassy, and that two centu- 
ries afterwards. The silence, too, of Nu- 
brigensis, an English cotemporary author, 
respecting this embassy and the bull which 
it is affirmed was granted, is an argument 
which, though negative, deserves some atten- 
tion. This author, who was so zealous for 
* Usser. Epist. Hib. Syllog. Epist. 46. 



the glory of Henry II. and his nation, com- 
mences his narrative by saying that the 
English had entered Ireland in a warlike 
manner, and that, their forces increasing 
every day, they subjugated a considerable 
part of it.* He makes no mention of a bull 
granted by any pope ; and I consider it 
highly improbable that he would have for- 
gotten to speak of a circumstance so neces- 
sary to give an appearance of justice to the 
unprecedented conduct of his nation. How- 
ever this be, it may be affirmed that no pope, 
either before or after Adrian IV., ever pun- 
ished a nation so severely without cause. 
We have seen instances of popes making 
use of their spiritual authority in opposition 
to crowned heads ; we have known them to 
excommunicate emperors and kings, and 
place their states under an interdict, for 
crimes of heresy, or other causes ; but we 
here behold innocent Ireland given up to 
tyrants, without having been summoned be- 
fore any tribunal, or convicted of any crime. 
If we consider the bull as the work of 
Adrian IV., it opens to our consideration 
two very important matters. The first is 
the real or supposed right of the popes to 
dispose of crowns and kingdoms ; the sec- 
ond regards the reason why the bull was 
granted, that is, the true or false statement 
which Henry had made to the pope, of the 
real state of religion in Ireland, on which 
the concession of the bull is founded. In 
the former we do not call in question the 
spiritual power of St. Peter's successor ; he 
is acknowledged by every Catholic Chris- 
tian as the vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, 
and the visible head of his church ; it is only 
necessary to know whether his power ex- 
tends equally over spiritual and temporal 
matters ; or rather, to speak in accordance 
with the schools, whether he received a two- 
fold power from God. I shall enter into no 
argument on this subject, which belongs 
more properly to theology than history, and 
which has already been so frequently dis- 
cussed. The digression would be of no 
value to my object, particularly as the bull 
only mentions islands ; though I see no rea- 
son why an island or a kingdom in the ocean 
should belong to the holy see, as affirmed in 
the bull, any more than the kingdoms on 
the continent, unless it be advanced that he 
holds the sovereignty of all the islands from 
the liberality of the emperor Constantine the 

* " At this time the English made a descent upon 
Ireland in a warlike manner, and their numbers 
having increased, they became masters of no incon- 
siderable portion of it by force of arms." — Nubrigius, 
de Rebus. Anglic, b. 2, c. 26. 



248 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Great; to which I answer, that Ireland, 
which had never obeyed the Romans, could 
not be of that number ;* consequently, this 
claim on Ireland is unfounded, and there- 
fore the concession of it unjust. It might 
more reasonably be made with reference 
to Great Britain, which was under the do- 
minion of the Romans both before and after 
the reign of Constantine ; yet the kings of 
England have never been understood to hold 
their sovereignty from the holy see. 

The supposed jurisdiction of the popes 
over the kingdom of Ireland acquires no 
greatweight from the authority of Sanderus,t 
who says that the Irish, on receiving the 
holy gospel, had submitted, with all they 
possessed, to the empire of the popes, and 
acknowledged no other supreme princes but 
the sovereign pontiffs, till the time of the 
English. 

It would appear that this writer had not 
consulted the Psalter of Cashed, or the 
other records of Ireland, to which alone we 
should refer in matters concerning the coun- 
try. We discover in those records that 
there was an uninterrupted succession of 
monarchs in this island, from Irial till the 
time of St. Patrick, and from that apostle till 
the arrival of the English, without any men- 
tion of the temporal jurisdiction of the popes. 
Ranulphus Higden, an English Benedictine 
monk, and an historiographer of the four- 
teenth century, expressly mentions, in his 
book entitled " Polychronicon," the number 
of kings who had reigned in this island, from 
the time of St. Patrick to the invasion of the 
English. He says, that from the time of 
St. Patrick till the reign of Feidlim, and the 
time of Turgesius, chief of the Danes, Ire- 
land was governed by thirty-three kings for 
the space of 400 years ; and that from that 
period to the reign of Roderick, the last mon- 
arch of the island, there were seventeen 
lungs.J The royalty and succession of the 
monarchs of Ireland were acknowledged by 
the English at the end of the eleventh and 



* " The Irish nation, from the first period of their 
arrival, and from the reign of the first Heremon to 
the times of Gurmundis and Turgesius, (when her 
peace was disturbed,) and again from I their death 
to our own times — continued free and undisturbed 
by any foreign nation." — G. Catnbrensis, Topogra- 
phy of Ireland, cap. 31. 

t De Schism. Anglican, lib. 1, page 163. 

t " From the arrival of St. Patrick to the time 
of king Feidlim, thirty-three kings reigned in Ireland, 
during 400 years. But in the time of Feidlim, the 
Norwegians, under the command of Turgesius, 
seized upon the island. From the time of Turgesi 
to the last monarch, Roderick, king of Connaught, 
17 kings ruled in Ireland." 



beginningof the twelfth century, some years 
before the bull was forged. The letters of 
the archbishops of Canterbury to the kings 
of Ireland have been preserved ; namely, 
that of Lanfrancus to Terdelach, " illus- 
trious king of Ireland," and that of Anselm 
to the glorious Moriertach.* William Ru- 
fus, king of England, sent to ask permission 
from Terdelach, monarch of Ireland, to cut 
wood in the forests of his kingdom, for the 
building of Westminster Abbey, and Henry 
I., in his letter to Radulphus, archbishop 
of Canterbury, which is the forty-first of the 
epistles quoted by Usher, seems to pay par- 
ticular regard to the recommendation of the 
king of Ireland in favor of Gregory, who 
was to be consecrated bishop. t 

Sanderus errs grossly in the same book, 
not only against historical truth, but also 
against chronology. He says that Henry 
II., with his followers, that is, Robert Fitz- 
stephen and the earl of Chepstow, having 
become masters of some places in the island 
by conquest, the bishops, some of the prin- 
ces, and a great part of the people, suppli- 
cated Pope Adrian to grant to Henry the 
sovereignty of Ireland, in order to put an 
end to the seditions and abuses which were 
springing up on account of the number of 
their petty kings. 

Adrian IV. was elected on the 3d of 
December, 1154, and held the holy see for 
four years, eight months, and twenty-nine 
days ; he therefore died 1st September, 1159. 
According to the most correct authors of 
both nations, the first English adventurer 
who landed in Ireland, under title of ally of 
the Icing of Leinster, was Robert Fitzstephen. 
His arrival in the island is fixed in the year 
1169. Some time afterwards he was followed 
by Richard of Chepstow, and in 1172 by 
Henry II. We should therefore place this 
supposed address of the clergy and people of 
Ireland to Adrian IV., at least twelve years 



* " Lanfrancus, a sinner, and the unworthy bishop 
of the holy church of Dover, to the illustrious Tcr- 
delvacus, king of Ireland, blessing with respect and 
prayers." — Usher, Epist. Hib. Syllog. Epist. 27. 

" To Muriardachus, by the grace of God glorious 
king of Ireland, Anselm, servant of the church of 
Canterbury, greeting, health, salvation, &c, to the 
king and his lieutenant." — Ibid. Epist. 35. 

t " Henry, king of England, to Radulphus, arch, 
bishop of Canterbury, greeting, health," &c. 

" The king of Ireland hath informed me .by his 
letter, and the Burgesses of Dublin, that they have 
chosen this Gregory to be bishop, and that they 
send him to thee to be consecrated. Whence I 
command thee to pay regard to their petition, and 
consecrate him without delay : witness Radulphus 
our Chancellor at Windsor." — Usher, Epist. 41. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



249 



after the death of that pope, which does not 
agree with the calculations of Sanderus. 

I here subjoin another bull, which Eng- 
lish authors mention to have been given by 
Alexander III., confirming that of Adrian, 
and apparently of the same fabric* 

Were we to compare this bull and the 
preceding one, with the treatise on " Ireland 
Conquered," composed at the same time by 
Giraldus Cambrensis, we should discover 
great similarity of style between them ; 
and if they are not by the same writer, they 
appear at least to have been composed to 
maintain each other mutually, and thereby 
acquire a degree of credit among the public. 

Giraldus Cambrensis gives the motives for 
this bull.t " In the year of our Lord 1 172," 
says he, "Christian, bishop of Lismore, and 
legate of the holy see ; Donat, archbishop 
of Cashel ; Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, 
and Catholicus, archbishop of Tuam, with 
their suffragans, and a great number of 
abbots, archdeacons, priors, deans, and other 
prelates of the church of Ireland, held a 
council in the city of Cashel by order of 
king Henry, in which, after a strict investi- 
gation into the degeneracy of morals in that 
country, an address was prepared, sealed 
with the seal of the legate, to be sent to the 
court of Rome ; in compliance with which, 
Alexander, who was then pope, granted the 
sovereignty of Ireland to Henry, on condi- 
tion that he would propagate there the faith, 
and ecclesiastical discipline, according to 
the rites of the English church." 

I shall here confine myself to a few ob- 
servations on the council of Cashel, and the 
manner in which the court of Rome was 
disposed towards the king of England. I 
shall in its proper place refute the imputation 
of irreligion and degeneracy of morals, with 
which Ireland is branded. 

There is no mention made of any English 
bishops or doctors having assisted at this 

* Alexander, bishop, servant of the servants of 
God, to his most dear son in Christ, the illustrious 
king of England, health and apostolic benediction. 

For as much as those things which are known to 
have been reasonably granted by our predecessors, 
deserve to be confirmed in lasting stability, we, 
adhering to the footsteps of pope Adrian, and re- 
garding the result of our gift to you, (the annual 
tax of one penny from each house being secured to 
St. Peter and the holy Roman church,) confirm and 
ratify the same, considering that its impurities 
being cleansed, that barbarous nation which bears 
the name of Christian, may by your grace, assume 
the comeliness of morality, and that a system of 
discipline being introduced into her heretofore un- 
regulated church, she may, through you, effectually 
attain with the name the benefits of Christianity. 

t Hiber. Expug. lib. 1, cap. 34. 



council of Cashel. It was entirely composed 
of Irish prelates, namely, the archbishops of 
Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, with their 
suffragans, and a great number of prelates 
of inferior rank, who formed three parts of 
the church of Ireland. St. Gelasius, the 
primate, is not included. It was to these 
fathers that Henry confided the work of re- 
forming their countrymen ; and he had no, 
need to bring other preachers among them. 

How can we reconcile the great degen- 
eracy supposed to have taken place in the 
religion and morals of the Irish people, with 
the zeal which the "fathers of this council 
displayed for the reformation of both ? 

Will it not be admitted that Henry II. 
himself was convinced that these ecclesias- 
tics were sufficiently enlightened and suffi- 
ciently zealous to effect a reformation with- 
out the aid or co-operation of any foreign 
doctors ? Can it be imagined that their zeal 
was a species of fever which seized them at 
the moment of their assembling at Cashel, 
and which immediately afterwards became 
extinct ? Should we not suppose that each 
of them preached and taught in his own 
church ; that the flocks listened to the voice 
of their shepherds, among a people who 
were submissive, to their ecclesiastics, whom 
they held in the highest veneration ? Re- 
ligion is improved by preaching, and the 
bishops and other pastors in Ireland were 
masters of that course, without any extraordi- 
nary mission from the pope or a foreign king. 
It is therefore improbable that the fathers 
of this council, supposing them free, would 
have forged chains for themselves, under the 
specious pretext of the propagation of the 
faith, or that they would have submitted, by 
a public act, to a foreign yoke, to the preju- 
dice of their legitimate princes. It was not 
in their power to act in such a manner. 

The bull of Alexander III. must appear 
a paradox to all those who strictly investi- 
gate the morals of Henry, and his behavior 
to the court of Rome. A bad Christian 
makes a bad apostle. What was Henry 
II. ? A man who in private life forgot the 
essential duties of religion, and frequently 
those of nature ; a superstitious man, who, 
under the veil of religion, joined the most 
holy practices to the most flagrant vices ; 
regardless of his word, when to promote his 
own interest, he broke the most solemn trea- 
ties with the king of France ; he considered 
principle as nothing, when the sacrifice of it 
promised to produce him a benefit. It is 
well known, that without any scruple, he 
married Eleanor of Aquitaine, so famous 
for her debaucheries, and branded by her 



250 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



divorce from Louis VII. He ungratefully 
confined this very woman in chains, though 
she had brought him one-fourth of France 
as her marriage portion. He was a bad 
father, quarrelled with all his children, and 
became engaged in wars on every side.* As 
a king, he tyrannized over his nobles and 
took pleasure in confounding all their privi- 
leges : like his predecessors, he was the 
sworn enemy of the popes ; he attacked 
their rights, persecuted their adherents, sent 
back their legates with contempt, encroach- 
ed upon the privileges and immunities of the 
church, and gloried in supporting the most 
unjust usurpers of them ; which led to the 
martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury. 
Again, his debaucheries are admitted by 
every historian.! No one is ignorant that 
he went so far as to seduce the young Alix, 
who had been betrothed to his son Richard, 
and that all the misfortunes which filled the 
latter part of his life with affliction, were 
caused by this passion, as obstinate as it 
was criminal and base. Behold the apostle, 
the reformer, whom the holy see would have 
chosen to convert Ireland ! The witnesses 
we here bring forth are not to be suspected. 
Cambrensis himself, whose opinions I have 
elsewhere refuted, is the first to acknow- 
ledge the irregularities of Henry II. He 
who knew him so well, and who was his 
friend and favorite, thus speaks of his 
morals. | 

It cannot be supposed that his conduct 
towards Alexander III. would have induced 
him, as pope, to grant the bull attributed to 
him. In 1150, Henry promised obedience 
to Octavianus, the anti-pope, and in 1166, 
to Guido, his successor. Roger Hoveden, 
an English contemporary writer, says, that 
in 1164 he pronounced a harsh and wicked 
edict against Pope Alexander, " Henricus 
rex fecit grave edictum, et execrabile, con- 
tra Alexandrum papam," &c. In that same 
year, he enacted laws, by which it was for- 
bidden, under heavy penalties, to obey the 

* Baker, Chron. of England. Life of Henry II. 

t Harpsfield, sasculo 19, cap. 15. 

t " He was less given to devotion than to hunting ; 
was an open violator of the marriage contract ; a 
ready breaker of his promise in most things ; for 
whenever he got into difficulties he preferred to re- 
pent rather of his word than of his deed, considering 
it more easy to nullify the former than the latter. 
He was an oppressor of the nobility ; daringly au- 
dacious in his usurpations of sacred things, and in 
his desire to monopolize the administration of jus- 
tice ; he united the laws of his realm with those of 
the church, or rather confounded them together ; 
and converted to the purpose of the state the reve- 
nues of the vacant churches." — Hibernia Expug- 
natas, book 1, c. 45, 



sovereign pontiff or his censures ; which 
gave rise to the complaints made by the 
pope of him, in a letter which he wrote to 
Roger, the archbishop.* It is mentioned by 
Baronius, that in the same year, Henry had 
caused troubles capable of overthrowing 
not only the primate of Canterbury and the 
whole English church, but even the holy 
Catholic church and its prelate Alexander, 
for whom, in particular, he had laid his 
snares. f Westmonasteriensis says that in 
1168 he sent an ambassador to the emperor 
Frederick, proposing to second him in de- 
posing pope Alexander, who had become 
his adversary by encouraging the opposi- 
tion of Thomas a Becket. He adds, that 
he made his English subjects, both young 
and old, abjure their obedience to the pope.J 
In fine, he was so disrespectful to the holy 
see, that he dismissed, with contempt, the 
cardinals whom the pope had sent to him 
in 1169. 

These bulls have, in fact, all the appear- 
ance of forgery. They are not to be met 
with in any collection. It appears, also, that 
Henry II. considered them so insufficient to 
strengthen his dominion in Ireland, that he 
solicited Pope Lucius III., who succeeded 
Alexander, to confirm them ; but that pope 
was too just to authorize his usurpation, and 
paid no regard to a considerable sum of 
money which the king sent to him.fy 



* " When the king should attend to reforming 
the abuses of his predecessors, he himself adds in- 
justice to injustice, and establishes and confirms, 
under sanction of the royal authority, equally un- 
just institutions ; under which the liberty of the 
church perishes, and the regulations of apostolical 
men are, so far as it lies in his power, deprived of 
their efficacy. The king himself, trifling with our 
forbearance by the subtle acts of his ambassadors, 
seems to have so far hardened his mind to our ad- 
monitions, that he will not be reconciled to the 
archbishop," &c. &c. — Hoveden, pp. 518, 519, cited 
Grat. Luc. c. 23. 

t " Henry raised the waters to overwhelm not 
only the bishop of Canterbury, together with the 
whole English church, but the entire of the holy 
Catholic church, together with its pastor Alexander, 
against whom, in particular, he directed his machi- 
nations." , 

X " King Henry, whose anger was changed into 
hatred of the blessed Thomas, and of the pope, in 
consequence of his having espoused the cause of 
the former, sent to the emperor Frederick, request- 
ing him to co-operate in removing Alexander from 
the popedom ; because he had made himself obnox- 
ious to Henry by aiding the fugitive and traitorous 
Thomas, who had been the archbishop of Canter- 
bury for some time ; he caused the obedience due 
in England to the pope to be abjured by all, from 
the boy of twelve years old to aged men." — West. 
FIq>: Hist. 1168. 

§ Cambrens. Evers. cap. 24. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



251 



The misunderstanding between the sove- 
reign pontiff' and the king of England was 
carried to the highest pitch by the martyr- 
dom of the archbishop of Canterbury, which 
happened in 1171. Strong suspicions were 
entertained of the prince having contributed 
to that barbarous deed. He saw the storm 
ready to burst upon him, and being desirous 
to avert the blow, he sent ambassadors to 
Rome, who were very badly received. The 
pope refused to see or hear them, and all 
that could be obtained from his holiness 
was, to use the general terms of abettors, 
actors, and accomplices, in the excommuni- 
cation he pronounced on that occasion, with- 
out naming Henry.* 

Such was the state of affairs between 
Alexander III. and Henry II., who never 
ceased annoying the pope, from the time of 
his elevation to the holy see, in 1159, to 
1172, the date of the bull. Every year he 
was guilty of some new act, as dishonoring 
to the pope as it was injurious to the in- 
terests of the church. The massacre of St. 
Thomas of Canterbury, which happened in 
the year above mentioned, alarmed all Eu- 
rope, and angered the pope to such a de- 
gree against Henry, that he was on the 
point of making use of the spiritual weapons 
of the church against him. Can we believe 
that, under these circumstances, the pope 
would have publicly loaded the man with 
benefits, whom he had tacitly 'excommuni- 
cated 1 It is quite impossible to imagine, that 
in order to bring a foreign people back to 
their obedience to the holy see, his holiness 
would have committed the undertaking to a 
prince who had already banished that obe- 
dience from his own states. 

In order to judge of the motives upon 
which the bulls of Adrian IV. and Alex- 
ander III. were founded, the state of the 
church of Ireland, at this time, should be 
examined into. 

Ireland was, from its conversion to the 
Christian religion in the beginning of the 
fifth, to the incursion of the Danes in the 
ninth century, universally acknowledged to 
have been the theatre of learning, and the 



* " The pope refused either to see or hear the 
ambassadors whom Henry had sent to exculpate 
himself from the murder of Thomas of Canterbury ; 
but the Roman court cried out, ' desist, desist,' as 
if it were impious for the pope to hear the name of 
Henry who had sent them. By the general advice 
of the council, the pope dispensed with expressly 
mentioning the name of the king, and the country 
beyond the sea ; but the sentence of the interdict 
was maintained, and that against the bishops con. 
firmed." — Hoveden, page 526. 



seminary of virtue and sanctity ; which ac- 
quired for her the glorious title of the " Island 
of Saints." But it must be allowed that, for 
nearly two centuries, that is, from the ninth 
to the beginning of the eleventh, the north- 
ern pirates had never ceased committing 
devastations in the island, pillaging and 
burning her churches and religious houses ; 
the public schools became interrupted ; ig- 
norance spread its influence widely, and reli- 
gion suffered much in its practice, without, 
however, becoming entirely extinct. 

After the complete overthrow of those 
barbarians in 1014, at the battle of Clon- 
tarf, near Dublin, Ireland having recovered 
her freedom, the inhabitants began to re- 
build their churches and public schools, and 
to restore religion to its primitive splen- 
dor. 

From the battle of Clontarf to the reign 
of Henry II., and the period of the bulls in 
question, about a century and a half elapsed ; 
during which time all ranks were emulous in 
their endeavors to re-establish good order 
in the government, and discipline in the 
churches. For these purposes several coun- 
cils were convened and held, at which the 
monarch and other princes of the kingdom 
attended, and canons and statutes were 
enacted for the regulation of morals, and the 
restoration of discipline. Cardinal Paparo 
was in a position to inform the holy see of 
the measures adopted in the council of Kells, 
over which he had presided. 

During this interval of time, Ireland pro- 
duced prelates of the highest celebrity for 
their virtues and doctrine, who would have 
been an ornament to the most flourishing 
churches in Europe. 

In the Roman Martyrology we discover 
St. Celsus, St. Malachi, and St. Laurence. 
Gelasius, archbishop of Armagh, had led so 
austere a life, that Colgan does not hesitate 
to number him among the saints, in the trea- 
tise on his life, under the date of the twenty- 
seventh March.* This holy man, says Cam- 
brensis, being exhausted by old age and 
fasting, took no sustenance but the milk of 
a white cow, which was brought in his train. 

Christian, bishop of Lismore, was so emi- 
nent for his virtue, that Wion and Menard 
place him in their martyrology. * 

St. Bernard speaks highly of Malchus, 
bishop of Lismore, in his life of St. Malachi, 
in which he says that " he was a man ad- 
vanced in years, eminent in virtue, and pos- 
sessed of great wisdom ; that God had en- 
dowed him with such abundant grace, that 

* Act. Sanct. Hib. Hibern. Expug. lib. 1, c. 34. 



252 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



he was celebrated, not only for his life and 
doctrine, but also for his miracles."* 

St. Bernard, too, speaks of St. Imar, from 
whom St. Malachi received his early educa- 
tion. He calls him " a holy man, who led a 
very austere life, and chastised his body 
with rigor. He had a cell near the church 
of Armagh, in which he spent his days and 
nights in fasting and in prayer."! 

Colgan mentions St. Imar Hua-Hedhagain, 
who had built at Armagh the church of the 
apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and who 
had performed a pilgrimage to Rome, in 
1134, for the benefit of his soul. 

St. Bernard again says, that " Malachi 
had a brother called Christian, a man full of 
grace and virtue ; he was a bishop, and 
though he might have been, in reputation, 
inferior to Malachi, he did not yield to him 
in the sanctity of his life, nor in his zeal for 
justice." " St. Christian Huamorgair," says 
Colgan, (following the annals of the four 
masters, for the year 1 138,) " was bishop of 
Clogher, and an eminent doctor in wisdom 
and religion. He was a lamp that shone by 
his preaching, and a devout servant of God, 
that enlightened both the people and clergy 
by his good works, and a faithful pastor of 
the church. He died the 12th June, and 
was interred at Armagh, in the monastery 
of the apostles SS. Peter and Paul." 

Gilbert, bishop of Limerick, and apos- 
tolical legate, was celebrated for his zeal in 
the government of the church. He convened 
an assembly of the bishops and princes to 
oblige St. Malachi to accept of the see of 
Armagh.^ 

Usher quotes a treatise on the ecclesias- 
tical ritual, addressed by Gilbert of Limerick 
to the bishops of Ireland, and another by the 
same author respecting the state of the 
church, " de statu Ecclesiae," about the year 
1090.^ He also gives us a letter from the 
same Gilbert to Anselm, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, with his answer. [| This great man, 
worn down with age, and no longer able to 
sustain its burden, resigned the powers of 
legate to Innocent III., which that pope 
conferred on St. Malachi. % 

St. Bernard mentions, in his preface to 
the life of St. Malachi, the abbot of Congan, 
whom he speaks of as a reverend brother 
and a dear friend : " Reverendus frater et 
dulcis amicus meus." He speaks of Edan 

* St. Bernard, Life of St. Malachi, c. 3. 
t Ibid. t Ibid. 

§ Epist. Hibern. Syllog. Epist. 30. 
|| Ibid. Epist. 31. 

If " Appointing him legate for the whole of Ire- 
land." — Hibernia. Epistola, e. 2. 



whom St. Malachi had placed instead of his 
brother Christian , in the bishopric of Clogher, 
and a young man whom he calls a second 
Zacheus,* who was the first lay brother in 
the monastery of Shrowl, where they bore 
testimony to his having lived in a holy man- 
ner among the brethren : " Testimonium 
habet ab omnibus, quod sancte conversetur 
inter fratres." This author also mentions a 
poor, but holy and learned man, whom St. 
Malachi had placed in the see of Cork, with 
the approbation of the people.f 

According to Cambrensis, Maurice, arch- 
bishop of Cashel, was a learned and discreet 
man : " Vir literatus et discretus."J 

St. Malachi, St. Gelasius, St. Laurence, 
and the other prelates and holy persons 
whom I have just mentioned, except Malchus 
of Lismore.hadall studied in Ireland, instead 
of being indebted to foreigners for their 
education. The schools, particularly those 
of Armagh, were already firmly re-establish- 
ed during the interval between the battle of 
Clontarf and the arrival of the English. In 
the council of Cleonard, composed of twenty- 
six bishops, convened by St. Gelasius, it was 
decreed among other things, that none but 
a scholar of the university of Armagh should 
be admitted as a professor of theology in a 
public school. § St. Bernard mentions a 
professor of Armagh, who was celebrated 
for those branches of education which are 
called liberal : " Erat enim famosus in disci- 
plinis quas dicunt liberales."|| He says that 
although there were eight married men, who 
successively usurped the see of Armagh, 
they were, notwithstanding, learned :H "Octo 
extiterant ante Celsum viri uxorati et absque 
ordinibus, literati tamen." We may suppose 
that those bishops who succeeded them ca- 
nonically, were not less so. The sovereign 
pontiffs were so well convinced of the merit 
and erudition of the Irish bishops, that they 
appointed five of them, one after the other, 
apostolical legates, namely, Gilbert, bishop 
of Limerick; St. Malachi; St. Christian, 
bishop of Lismore ; St. Laurence, archbishop 
of Dublin, andMathew O'Heney, archbishop 
of Cashel. Henry II. himself employed no 
other missionaries than the prelates- of Ire- 
land, whom he had convoked at Cashel, to 
cultivate religion, and reform the morals of 
the people. 

* St. Bernard, Vit. S. Malach. cap. 7. 

t Ibid. 

X Top. Hib. Dist. 3, cap. 32. 

§ " Regulations were made for laymen as well 
as ecclesiastics, regarding good morals and disci- 
pline."— Life of St. Gelas., c. 23. 

|| Vit. S. Malach. cap. 1. 

1f Idem. cap. 7. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



253 



During this interval of time, Ireland sent 
several holy missionaries into foreign coun- 
tries.* Raderus, an ancient author of the 
life of St. Marianus, and John Aventinus, 
speak of Murchertach, Marianus, Clement, 
John, Isaac, Candidus, Magnoaldus, and 
many others, all Scots from Ireland, who 
had preached and instructed the inhabitants 
of Ratisbon, and its environs. They first 
settled in the church of St. Peter, in the 
suburbs of the city, under the protection of 
the emperor, Henry IV., but their numbers 
having increased, they built in the city of 
Ratisbon the monastery of James, which 
gave birth to other establishments for the 
Scots of Ireland, in the cities of Houitz- 
berg in Franconia, Vienna in Austria, Erm- 
stadt, Nuremberg, and others.f 

The Chronicle of Ratisbon mentions, that 
Denis, abbot of the monastery of the Scots 
at Ratisbon, had sent to Ireland Isaac and 
Gervasius, natives of that country, and of 
noble descent, to look for some assistance 
towards rebuilding their monastery, and that 
Conchovar O'Brien, king of Minister, and 
other princes, had sent them back to Ger- 
many, loaded with gold and silver, with 
which the abbot bought a piece of ground, 
and caused the house to be rebuilt.^ 

The annals of Ireland mention, that Con- 
chovar O'Brien, king of Munster, after hav- 
ing sent considerable presents to Lothaire, 
king of the Romans, for the expedition to 
the Holy Land, undertook a pilgrimage to 
Kildare, where he died in 1142: "Per 
magnae nobilitatis, ac potentias comites cruce 



* Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 17 Jan. Cambr. Evers. 
cap. 21 et 22. 

t " Muricherodachus, an Irishman, and coming 
from the ancient Scotia, was beforehand with his 
countryman Marianus." — Eaderi in Bavaria. 

" At this time also, D. Marianus Scotus, a poet 
and an eminent theologian, inferior to none in his 
time, together with his brother philosophers John 
and Candidus, Clement, Murcheridacus, Magnoal- 
dus, and Isaac, came to Germany, and then pro- 
ceeded to Reginburgh." — Annals of the Boii. 

" Ireland indeed was, in the time of our ances- 
tors, most fertile in holy and learned men. Thence 
Columbanus,Chilianus, and most of those designated 
Scots migrated into Germany. Here the excellent 
Marianus, with six of his disciples, arrived at Regin- 
burgh, where they inhabited an edifice outside the 
walls of the city, but a great number of Gentiles 
coming thither, by their assistance and that of the 
Boii, they built a large church within the city. 
There, by their zeal in religious observances, their 
chastity and rigid abstinence, as well as by writing 
and teaching, they attained great celebrity, and by 
their pious example edified not only the Boii, but 
also their neighbors. All were unanimous in praise 
of them." — Joan. Avent. b. 5 ; Annals of the Boii. 

X Page 62 of this History. 



signatos, et Hierosolyman petituros, ad Lo- 
therium regem Romanorum ingentia munera 
misisse traditur." 

Christianus, a man of noble birth, and 
descended from the leading family of the 
Macartys in Ireland, on becoming abbot of 
the monastery of the Scots of St. James at 
Ratisbon, and finding that the money which 
his predecessor had obtained from Ireland 
was already spent, and that the brothers 
were in great distress, was anxious to remedy 
their wants. He accordingly returned to 
Ireland, to seek the aid of Donat O'Brien, 
lung of Munster, and the other princes of 
the country. The holy man, however, died 
on the eve of his departure, and the sum 
obtained was placed in the hands of the 
archbishop of Cashel.* 

Gratianus Lucius accuses the author of 
the Ratisbon Chronicle of an error in chro- 
nology, or at least of having substituted one 
name for another. He is correct in asserting 
that there was then no king of Munster, 
muchless of Ireland, called Donatus O'Brien, 
and that this fact of Irish history, and the 
alms granted to Christianus, must either 
refer to Donatus Macarty, (king of Desmond, 
according to the division of that province by 
Terdelach O'Connor, who was at that time 
the monarch,) or to Terdelach O'Brien, who 
was king of Munster. However this error 
may have arisen, which does not affect the 
groundwork of the history, the same chron- 
icle mentions that Gregory, a native of 
Ireland, a man eminent for his virtues, and 
a regular canon of the order of St. Augustin, 
having been admitted into the order of St. 
Benedict, and received as a member of the 
community of Ratisbon by Christianus, was 
elected abbot on the death of the latter. In 
the mean time, Marianus, a celebrated Irish 
scholar and a learned man, who was public 
professor of the liberal arts in Paris, (where 
he had for his disciple Nicholas Breakspeare, 
an Englishman, afterwards pope, under the 
title of Adrian IV.,) was received into the 
house of Ratisbon. After his election, Gre- 
gory went to Rome to receive his consecra- 
tion from the hands of Pope Adrian IV. 
The pope questioned him on several matters, 
and particularly about his old master Ma- 
rianus. " Marianus," replied Gregory, " is 
well ; he has renounced the world to embrace 
the monastic state in our house at Ratisbon." 
" God be praised," said Adrian. " I have 
never known in the catholic church an abbot 
so perfect in wisdom, prudence, and other 

* Chron. Ratisbonense, apud Grat. Luc. pages 
21, 62, et seq. 



254 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



gifts of God, as my master Marianus." On 
his return to Ratisbon, Gregory, at the soli- 
citation of the brothers, went to Ireland, 
where he received from Muriertach O'Brien, 
successortoDonatus, (to whom he presented 
a letter from Conradus, king of the Romans,) 
the sum of money which had been deposited 
at Cashel on the death of Christianus, his 
predecessor. With this money he purchased 
land and goods at Ratisbon, and rebuilt the 
church and monastery.* The troubles caused 
in Ireland by the English after the twelfth 
century, having obliged the Irish Scots to 
leave their house at Ratisbon, it fell into the 
hands of the Scotch, who were always ready 
to appropriate to themselves every thing 
desirable, particularly when connected with 
the name Scot. About this time also flour- 
ished the celebrated Marianus, known by the 
name of Marianus Scotus, and who was con- 
sidered a chronologist of the first order. 
He was born in Ireland in 1028, and became 
a monk, or as he himself says, withdrew 
from the world in 1052. He left Ireland in 
1056, and went to Germany, where he shut 
himself up for almost three years in the 
abbey of St. Martin of Cologne.! From that 
he went to the abbey of Fulde, in which he 
remained ten years, and was ordained priest 
in 1059. Finally, he left Fulde in 1069, to 
go to Mentz, (Mayence,) where he continued 
till his death, which took place in 1086, he 
being then fifty-eight years old. He was 
interred in the convent of St. Martin, or 
according to others, in the church of St. 
Peter, outside of the city. 

Marianus was, undoubtedly, the most 
learned man of his age ; an excellent his- 
torian, a distinguished arithmetician, and a 
profound theologian.^ Trithemius says "he 
was very learned in the holy Scriptures, well 
versed in all the sciences, possessed of an 
acute genius, and led an exemplary life ;"§ 
he adds, that he died with a reputation of 
sanctity. He left many works, and wrote 
a universal chronology, " Chronicon Uni- 
versale," from the creation to the year 1083, 
which was continued to 1200 by Dodechin, 
abbot of Disibod, in the diocese of Triers. 
He took Cassiodorus as his guide, which he 
enlarged considerably. According to Bale 
he wrote "Evangelistarum concordiam," "De 
universali computo," " Emendationes Dio- 
nysii," " De magno Cyclo Paschali," " Algo- 

* Chron. Ratisbonense, apud Grat. Luc. pages 
21, 162, et seq. 

t War. de Script. Hib. 

1 Sigebert. de Gemblours, de Scriptor. Eccles. 
page 172. 

\ Catalog. Vir. Illustr. 



rismum," " Breviarium in Lucam," " Anno- 
tations Scripturarum," " Epistolas hortato- 
rias."* According to others, he wrote "Com- 
mentaria in Psalmos,"and"Notitiautriusque 
Imperii."t It is affirmed that there are 
epistles of St. Paul, written by the hand of 
Marianus, with commentaries, in the library 
of the emperor of Vienna.f 

In the interval between the overthrow of 
the Danes, and the time of Henry II., (the 
period of the production of the bulls of 
Adrian IV. and Alexander III.,) several 
churches and monasteries were established. 
I have already given the dates of their found- 
ations, and the names of their founders. 

We discover, at the same time, among the 
princes and nobles of Ireland, illustrious ex- 
amples of religion and piety, by the voluntary 
surrender of their crowns, dignities, and pos- 
sessions, to follow the more freely the foot- 
steps of Jesus Christ. The example of kings 
and princes has a great influence over their 
people. In the eleventh century, we find 
Donnough, son of Brien Boiroimhe, monarch 
of the island, give up his kingdom, and after 
spending a life of penance, end his days in 
St. Stephen's abbey at Rome. Flahertach 
O'Neill, a prince highly esteemed in Ulster, 
renounced the world to practise penance, 
and undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. Teige 
Mac-Lorcan, king of Kinseallagh, ended his 
life in an edifying manner in the monastery 
of Gleandaloch. Cahal-Mac-Rory O'Con- 
nery, king of Connaught, and Moriertach 
O'Brien, king of Minister, and joint monarch 
of Ireland, animated with the same spirit of 
religion and penance, ended their days, one 
at Armagh, and the other at Lismore. 

After all that I have said on the state of 
religion in Ireland during the hundred and 
fifty years which immediately preceded the 
reign of Henry II. ; of the several councils 
which had been convened for the regulation 
of morals and the re-establishment of disci- 
pline ; of so many saints and learned prelates 
who were an honor to religion, and from 
among whom, Catholicus, archbishop of 
Tuam ; Laurence, archbishop of Dublin ; 
Constantine, bishop of Killaloe ; Brictius, 
bishop of Limerick ; Augustin, bishop of 
Waterford ; and Felix, bishop of Lismore, 
were considered worthy of being called to 
the third general council of Lateran, in 1 1 79 ; 
after exhibiting the many zealous mis- 
sionaries who had left their country, (their 



* Script. Britan. cent. 14, n. 45. 
t Joannes Vossius de Hist. Lat. lib. 2, pp. 360 et 
361. Dempst. Hist. Eccles. Scot. lib. 9. 
t Lambecius, lib. 2, cap. 8, page 749. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



255 



ministry not being perhaps needed at home,) 
to go and instruct foreign nations ; after de 
scribing so many religious foundations, ef- 
fected through the liberality of the faithful ; 
and lastly, viewing the numerous examples 
of virtue given by the heads of the nation 
can it be supposed that the degeneracy of 
morals and religion was so general and in 
veterate as is represented in the two bulls 
of Adrian and Alexander ? People who 
rationally weigh the whole, will not be such 
dupes as to believe them. The priest and 
his flock will resemble each other, " sicut 
populus, sic sacerdos." The Irish, says 
Stanihurst, possess docile and flexible dispo- 
sitions ; the priests have a great influence 
over them, and easily work upon their feel- 
ings by their exhortations.* Let us listen 
to the account given by Cambrensis, whose 
testimony cannot be suspected, respecting 
the. clergy of Ireland in general. " The 
clergy of that country," says he, " are highly 
to be praised for their religion ; and, among 
other virtues with which they are endowed, 
their chastity forms a peculiar feature. 
Those who are intrusted with the divine 
service, do not leave the church, but apply 
themselves wholly to the reciting of psalms, 
prayers, and reading. They are extremely 
temperate in their food, and never eat till 
towards evening, when their office is ended." 
I am convinced that a people instructed by 
such masters, cannot deserve the shameful 
imputations which have served as a pretext 
for the bulls above quoted. The life of St. 
Malachi, written by St. Bernard, and that 
of St. Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, by 
an anonymous writer of the college of Eu, 
as related by Surius and Messingham, pre- 
sent to us so great a number of both sexes, 
who not only made profession of virtue 
and piety, but likewise practised religion 
in its highest purity, that it is impossible to 
believe that the contagion was universal. 
It affected but a few ; and if a country de- 
serve to be destroyed, and given up to a 
foreign power, for the faults of individuals, 
the most polished nations should at present 
fear the same fate. 

The greater part of those who went to 
Ireland, under Henry II., to reform the 
morals of the Irish, were the descendants 
of the Normans who had accompanied Wil- 
liam the Conqueror into England. Their 
sojourn in France had been too short to 

* " The majority of the Irish are very religious : 
their priests are dignified, and by their wholesome 
admonitions the consciences of the people (who are 
docile and respectful) are very easily worked upon." 
— Stanihurst, b. 1, p. 49. 



have enabled them to divest themselves 
completely of the barbarous manners of 
their ancestors, and assume those of the 
polished people of that country ; and their 
removal to England did not tend to diminish 
their ferocity. Indeed, the tumults of war, 
and the hostilities which are inseparable 
from it, are ill calculated to polish the man- 
ners. During the four reigns which had 
preceded that of Hemy II., they were con- 
tinually under arms, either to crush the re- 
volts of the Anglo-Saxons, or check the in- 
cursions of the Scotch, or lastly, to complete 
the conquest of the principality of Wales. 
They must therefore have acquired polite- 
ness by inspiration, to have been capable 
of polishing the manners of others. 

Such, however, were the doctors whom 
Henry II. sent to Ireland, by apostolical 
authority, (as it is pretended,) to re-establish 
religion, and correct the morals of the peo- 
ple ; but their conduct was more calculated 
to shake the true believers, than confirm 
them in the Christian religion. They made 
the Irish pay dearly for their pretended mis- 
sion, and taught them the English language 
to their cost. Experience itself proves the 
futility of this pretended reformation. The 
first adventurers who came from England 
into Ireland, were people that held nothing 
sacred ; but their children, more happy than 
their fathers, having been civilized by their 
intercourse with the natives of the latter 
country, whose manners they assumed, lost 
altogether that ferocity of disposition which 
is, even to this day, the attribute of the in- 
habitants of Great Britain. 

We shall now examine upon what basis 
the imputation of rudeness and barbarity of 
manners, which has been cast upon the Irish, 
is grounded. Every one is aware of the 
libels and dreadful calumnies which Giral- 
dus Cambrensis published in his topography, 
against Ireland ; his distortions of language, 
and the studied research for terms and words 
to which he resorts, in order to defame her, 
must be admitted. He describes the inhab- 
itants as a cheating, passionate, traitorous 
people, and faithless to every engagement. 

Although it be allowed by men of wisdom, 
that the evidence of a man who speaks ill of 
his enemy is not admissible,* it is possible, 
notwithstanding, that the English may have 
found the Irish to be so disposed towards 
themselves. The sway of the English in 
Ireland was considered by the natives as a 
violence, an injustice, and usurpation ; con- 
sequently any engagement made with them 

* Bodin. Method. Hist. cap. 4. 



256 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



was looked upon not to be binding. They 
did not think themselves bound by the law 
of nature, which forbids us either 'to take 
the goods of others, or do violence to their 
will. They therefore thought themselves 
dispensed with, from keeping their word 
with a people who observed no treaty made 
with them, and whose only rule was the law 
of the strongest ; like a man who, having 
given his purse to save his life, thinks he 
has a right to reclaim it when the danger is 
over. These are the principles which the 
Irish observed in their conduct towards the 
English, to whom they saw themselves a 
prey ; principles which drew upon them the 
exaggerated attacks of Cambrensis. 

That author again judges of the manners 
of the Irish by the supposed peculiarity of 
their dress ;* as if the exterior appearance 
had any analogy with the disposition of the 
man. The Irish wore long garments, like 
the Romans and other people, and the pre- 
sent nations of the east, who however are 
not, on that account, reputed barbarous. 

The long hair which Cambrensis accuses 
them of having worn, and which he assigns 
as a proof of their barbarity, was worn by 
the Egyptians, who were, notwithstanding, 
considered a polite people. The Lacedemo- 
nians looked upon it as a symbol of candor ; 
and it is well known that a considerable part 
of Gaul was called Gallia Comata, on ac- 
count of the long hair by which its inhabit- 
ants were distinguished from other people. 
The beard was as commonly worn among 
the ancients as long hair ; the razor not 
having been used among the Romans till 
four centuries and a half after the foundation 
of their city, nor till a much later period 
among the other nations of Europe. 

The Irish originally wore sandals, nearly 
the same as other nations ; in the time of 
Cambrensis, they wore flat and pointed 
shoes without heels, tied with leather strings 
instead of buckles, called in their language 
brogues, which, however, appeared barba- 
rous to a man fond of novelty. " Juxta mo- 
dernas novitates incultissima ;" without heels 
and buckles, a man was considered barba- 
rous by Cambrensis. If a people are to be 
accounted barbarous for not conforming in 
their style of dress to the taste of their neigh- 
bors, every nation may be considered bar- 
barous ; and if it be necessary to adopt new 
fashions, in order to be thought a polished 

* " This people, uncivilized not only in their bar- 
barous mode of dress, but likewise in their mode of 
wearing the hair and beards, are very uncouth, ac- 
cording to modern ideas, and their manners are of 
a barbarous turn." — Topography, dist. 3, cap. 10. 



nation, every country is barbarous in its turn, 
since every age, and even every year, brings 
about new fashions. The Irish were much 
attached to their own customs ; they de- 
spised novelty in dress, which is indicative 
of the inconstancy and frivolity of mankind. 
Dress is not the only thing which the Eng- 
lish discovered to be barbarous among this 
people ; according to them, they were so 
even in their names. In his description of 
Westmeath, when speaking of the proprie- 
tors of land in that country, Camden men- 
tions the O'Malaghlins of Clonlolan, and the 
Magheoghegans of Moicassel, who were 
lords of the country, as persons whose 
names,, he said, had a barbarous sound.* 

Names are generally conformable to the 
language, and the pronunciation depends on 
the accent of the country in which they are 
used. It is not surprising that a foreigner 
should find something harsh in the pronun- 
ciation of proper names which are not fa- 
miliar to him, as several German, Bohemian, 
Hungarian, and other names, are to be met 
with every day in history, the pronuncia- 
tion of which appears harsh to us ; but none 
except an Englishman, that is, a man full 
of himself and despising all others, could 
impute barbarity to a people from the pro- 
nunciation of their names. 

It is easy to discover the springs which 
the Englishman put in motion on this occa- 
sion. The supposed reformation of the 
morals of the Irish was but a pretext which 
he made use of to usurp the crown of Ire- 
land, and dispossess a numerous proprietory 
of the inheritance which they held from 
their ancestors. Charity cannot but appear 
suspicious when influenced by interest. 
The difference of religion is not a reason 
for despoiling men of their properties, still 
less for depriving them of their politeness ; 
and the right of conquest is but a chimerical 
right, authorized by no law, either human 
or divine. 

Nothing but a war founded on just grounds, 
that is, on some injury from those we in- 
tend to reduce, can render a conquest law- 
ful. At the time we speak of, there was no 
war between the English and the Irish ; and 
if the king of Leinster brought over the for- 
mer to assist him in recovering his crown, 
he rewarded them amply. He could give 
them no right over the other provinces, not 
possessing any over them himself. 

Henry II. got rid of all these obstacles. 
This ambitious prince, not content with the 
crown of England, the duchies of Normandy, 

* Camden, p. 754. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



257 



Aquitaine, &c, which he possessed on the 
continent, looked upon Ireland as an object 
deserving his attention. It was a large 
island, very populous, fertile, conveniently 
situated, and had very often sent succor 
to the king of France, with whom he was 
frequently at war.* The king of England, 
finding himself unable to reduce Ireland by 
force of arms, had recourse to every strata- 
gem, even to religion, to conquer this king- 
dom. Westmonasteriensis says that he so- 
licited, through a solemn embassy, the new 
Pope Adrian (confident of obtaining it of him, 
as he was an Englishman) for leave to enter 
Ireland in a hostile manner, to subjugate it.f 
It is alleged, that he represented to him 
that religion was almost extinct in the coun- 
try ; that the morals of the people were cor- 
rupted, and that it was necessary to remedy 
it, for the glory of Christianity. In his zeal, 
he offered to become an apostle for that end, 
on condition that his holiness would grant 
him the sovereignty of the island, and also 
promised to pay Peter's pence for every 
house. The pope, who was born his sub- 
ject, readily granted him (as it is pretended) 
his request ; and the liberty of an entire na- 
tion was sacrificed to the ambition of the one, 
through the complaisance of the other. 

Like an able statesman, Henry waited a 
favorable opportunity to carry his project 
into execution. This presented itself in a 
civil war that broke out between the mon- 
arch and the king of Leinster, of which he 
took advantage to begin his mission ; and 
although, according to the law of God, it is 
not by despoiling our neighbor of his pro- 
perty that we should convert him, still the 
missionaries whom Henry II . employed were 
men with arms in their hands, and more in- 
tent upon converting the land to their own 
use, to the prejudice of the old proprietors, 
than gaining souls to God. We shall now 
resume the thread of our history, and the 
reign of Moriertach Maclochluin. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Great men have sometimes greatdefects, 
and their virtues are frequently obscured by 
their vices. The monarch of Ireland was a 
pious prince, zealous in the cause of reli- 
gion, and a protector of the church and its 



* Polidor. Virgil, lib. 13, p. 555. Baker, Chron. 
Engl, page 55. 
t Flor. Hist. lib. 2, p. 246. 



privileges,* but his ruling passion was anger, 
which sometimes degenerated into madness.f 
Eochad, prince of Ulad, or Dalrieda, now 
the county of Antrim, was one of those who 
felt the effects of his passion.' Being de- 
sirous to shake off the yoke, and to get free 
from the dominion of the monarch, his 
formidable enemy entered his principality, 
and putting all to fire and sword, forced 
him to seek safety by flight ; whereupon 
Gelasus, primate of Ireland, continually 
occupied in preserving peace between the 
princes of the country, prevailed upon Mo- 
riertach the monarch, and the other princes 
and nobles of Tir-Eogan, Oirgiell, and Ulad, 
to come to Armagh, where he concluded, to 
all appearance, a solid peace between the 
monarch and the prince of Ulad, of which 
he was himself a guarantee, together with 
Dunchad O'Caruell, prince of Ergallie, or 
Orgiell. The prince of Ulad paid homage 
to the monarch, gave him hostages, and was 
restored to his estates. This peace, however, 
though in appearance solid, was of short 
duration. The monarch, either thinking 
himself not sufficiently revenged, or having 
had some fresh motive of displeasure, caused 
Eochad's eyes to be taken out, and the hos- 
tages he had given him to be put to death. 
The prince of Ergallie, finding himself in- 
sulted and aggrieved by the infraction of a 
treaty to which he had been a guarantee, 
resolved to take revenge. For this purpose 
he collected all the forces he could muster, 
and being joined by the inhabitants of Ulad, 
Ive-Bruin, and Conmacne, his allies, he 
marched at the head of nine thousand armed 
men into Tyrone, where, at Litterluin, he 
unexpectedly attacked the monarch, who was 
sacrificed, with several of his nobles, to the 
vengeance of an injured people. Keating 
and Bruodine assert that this monarch died 
a natural death, after a peaceful reign of 
eighteen years. He was the last monarch 
of the illustrious tribe of the Hy-Nialls, who 
had filled the throne of Ireland, with but lit- 
tle interruption, from the fourth century. 

From this monarch are descended the 
O'Neills. They founded three principal 
houses in Ulster, namely, those of Tyrone, 
the Fews, and Claneboy. Tyrone, the head 
of the tribe of the O'Neills, partly supported 
the splendor of his illustrious ancestors ; 
and in latter times there have been heroes 
in this family worthy of their forefathers. 
However, it was at length ruined, and buried 



* Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Gelas. ad 27 Mart. 
Grat. Luc. c. 9. 

t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 94. 



258 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



beneath its own grandeur. The present 
representative is Felix O'Neill, the chief of 
the house of the Fews, and an officer of 
rank in the service of his Catholic Majesty. 

Roderick, or Rory O'Connor, son of Tur- 
lough-Mor, and king of Connaught, being 
at the time the most powerful prince in 
Ireland, had but little difficulty in getting 
himself proclaimed supreme king of the 
island, after the death of Moriertach, a. d. 
1166.* He overcame the opposition he met 
with from Donald More O'Brien, king of 
Limerick, and Dermod Mac-Cormac Ma- 
carty, king of Cork and Desmond, and de- 
feated Dermod Mac-Murrough, king of 
Leinster, in battle. He finally received, 
voluntarily or by force, hostages from every 
prince in Ireland, and made presents to 
them ; two things which formerly character- 
ized the supreme authority of their princes 
among the Irish.t 

In the first year of the reign of Roderick, 
the priory of All Saints, near Dublin, was 
founded by Dermod Mac-Murrough, king 
of Leinster, for regular canons of the fra 
ternity of Arouaise. This priory was after- 
wards converted into a college, under the 
name of the holy Trinity, by queen Eliza- 
beth.:): 

About this time, some religious house 
were founded by Donald, otherwise Domhnal 
More O'Brien, king of Limerick; in the dis- 
trict of Thuomond, the abbey of Clare, other- 
wise Kilmony, or de Forgio, from the river 
Forge, by which it was watered, under the 
name of St. Peter and St. Paul;fy and the 
priory of Inis-ne-Gananach, for regular can 
ons, in an island in the river Shannon. || He 
also founded, in the county of Limerick, the 
monasteries of St. Peter of Limerick, of the 
order of St. Augustin, and that of St. John 
Baptist, called Kil-Oen.l' The monastery 
of our lady of Inis-Lanaught, in the county 
of Tipperary, of the order of Citeaux, other- 
wise called de Surio, situated on the river 
Suire, was founded, according to some, in 
1159. Others say it was founded in 1184, 
by Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick, who 
endowed it, in conjunction with Malachi 
O'Felan, prince of Desie.** 



* Keating, History of Ireland, part 2 ; Grat. Luc. 
c. 9 ; Ogyg. part 3, cap. 94. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 4 ; Bruodin. Propug. 
Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, c. 17 ; Allemand, Hist. Monast. 
d'Irl. page 7. 

t War. ibid. 

§ Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 59. 

|| War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 4. 

IT War. ibid. 

** Allemand, ibid, p. 188. 



At Holycross,in the county of Tipperary, 
there was a celebrated abbey of the order of 
Citeaux, which enjoyed great privileges, 
and where a portion of the true cross is pre- 
served.* This abbey, which was a branch 
of that of Nenay, or Magie, was founded in 
1169, by Domnald O'Brien, king of Lime- 
rick, as appears by the act of its founda- 
tion, quoted in the Monasticon Anglicanum, 
and signed by the bishop of Lismore, le- 
gate of the holy see in Ireland, the arch- 
bishop of Cashel, and the bishop of Lime- 
rick. Others say that this abbey was found- 
ed in 1181. 

The abbey of Kilkenny, otherwise, "de 
valle dei," in the district of this city, was 
founded and dedicated to the blessed Vir- 
gin, in 1171, by Dermod O'Ryan, an Irish 
lord.f 

The abbey of Maur, or " de fonte vivo," 
in the county of Cork, was founded for 
monks of the order of Citeaux, under the 
title of our Lady, by Dermod, son of Cor- 
mac Macartach, (Mac-Carty,) king of Cork 
and Desmond. I The first monks who es- 
tablished it were from the abbey of Baltin- 
glass. 

Roderick governed the kingdom of Ire- 
land with wisdom and moderation. He 
convened a synod at Athboy, in Meath, in 
1167, of which we have already spoken. 
This synod, which was, properly speaking, 
an assembly of the states, was composed of 
St. Gelasus, archbishop of Armagh and 
primate of Ireland ; of St. Laurence, arch- 
bishop of Dublin; Catholicus O'Dubthay, 
archbishop of Tuam, and many of the in- 
ferior clergy. The princes present were, 
the monarch, Tighernan O'Rourke, prince 
of Brefne ; Dunchad, prince of Orgiell ; 
Eochaid, son of Dunsleve, prince of Ulad ; 
Dermod O'Melachlin, prince of Tara ; As- 
culph, son of Torall, prince of the Danes 
of Dublin; Dunchad O'Foelan, prince of 
the Desies, and several other lords; amount- 
ing in all to 1300 men. They made many 
wise laws and regulations, and the police 
was afterwards so strictly enforced through- 
out the island, that it might be said of it, 
as Bede observed of the kingdom of Nor- 
thumberland in the reign of Edwin, that a 
woman with a new-born infant might travel 
over the whole island, from one sea to the 
other, without fear of insult.^ 

This monarch, who was mindful of every 
thing, knowing that amusements are essen- 

* War. ibid.; Allemand, ibid., p. 186. 
t War. ibid. ; Allemand, ibid., p. 174. 
$ War. ibid. ; Allemand, ibid., p. 181 
§ Hist. Eccles. lib. 2, cap. 16. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



259 



tial for youth, re-established the games at 
Tailton, in 1168. He was also a protector 
of learning, and in 1169 founded a profes- 
sor's chair at Armagh, in favor of strangers ; 
finally, he watched over the administration 
of justice, and punished crime with se- 
verity. 

The reign of Roderick O'Connor is 
memorable for a revolution, which forms 
an epoch fatal to Ireland. An invasion of 
the English, which, in its beginning, would 
not have alarmed even the petty republic of 
Ragusa, became, from its having been neg- 
lected at first, so serious, that the liberty of 
a powerful nation became its victim, and a 
monarchy which had lasted for more than 
two thousand years was overthrown. 

Politicians endeavor to account for the 
fall of empires. By some it is ascribed to 
the weakness of those rulers who introduce 
a bad system in the administration of their 
laws, and by some to exterior causes ; while 
others, with more reason, assign it to the 
will of the supreme Being, who has drawn 
all things out of nothing, who governs all, 
and sets bounds to the duration of all cre- 
ated objects. Besides this, however, I think 
we may examine the connection that ex- 
ists between natural and secondary causes, 
which are the instruments made use of by 
the Divinity. 

With respect to Ireland, the source of 
her destruction can be discovered within her 
own bosom. This kingdom was, from the 
settlement of the Milesians in the island, 
governed by one king till the reign of Eocha 
IX., who erected the four provinces into as 
many kingdoms, independent of each other, 
some time before the Christian era ; they 
were, however, dependent on the monarch, 
as those electors and princes are who hold 
their states of the emperor of Germany. 
This was the first blow which the constitu- 
tion of Ireland met with. It suffered again 
in the first century, by the revolt of the 
plebeians, and the massacre of the princes 
and nobles of the country by these barba- 
rians, who seized upon the government. 
Towards the end of the second century, a 
war also, which Modha-Nuagat, king of 
Munster, carried on against Conn the mon- 
arch, (the result of which was the division 
of the island between the contending par- 
ties,) produced new disasters to the king- 
dom. 

Notwithstanding these convulsions in the 
state, and the violent attacks of the Normans 
during two centuries, the Irish monarchy 
still maintained itself till the reign of Mal- 
achi II., in the beginning of the eleventh 



century, when the sceptre, which had been 
for six or seven hundred years hereditary in 
the same tribe, passed into other hands. 
Factions increased in proportion to the 
number of claimants to the crown, and the 
government was, in consequence, rendered 
weak and enfeebled by them. 

The fall of monarchies seldom occurs 
suddenly. The change takes place by de- 
grees, and from a chain of events which 
imperceptibly undermine the constitution of 
the state, (as sickness enervates the body,) 
till it requires but a slight shock or stroke 
to complete their destruction. The Irish 
monarchy received this fatal blow in the 
twelfth century, through the debauchery and 
boundless ambition of one of its princes, 
as we shall now discern. 

Derforguill, daughter of Mortough-Mac- 
Floinn, prince of Meath, was married against 
her will to Teighernan O'Rourke, prince of 
Brefny.* This princess indulged a secret 
passion for Dermod, son of Murrough, king 
of Leinster, who paid his addresses to her 
before her marriage ; and taking advantage 
of her husband's absence, she dispatched a 
courier to Dermod, begging that he would 
come and rescue her from the engagements 
she had contracted with a husband whom 
she disliked. Dermod was possessed of 
too much gallantry to refuse his services to a 
princess to whom he had been previously 
attached ; he repaired, on the appointed day, 
to the place of meeting, with a band of arm- 
ed horsemen, and carried away the princess 
of Brefny to his castle of Ferns in Leinster. 
O'Rourke, on his return, finding that the 
princess his wife had eloped, and feeling 
deeply the insult given him, had recourse to 
the monarch for redress. Roderick O'Con- 
nor was an upright prince, and opposed to 
all injustice ; he heard O'Rourke's complaint 
with attention, and having assembled the 
forces of Connaught, whom those of Brefny, 
Orgiell, and Meath afterwards joined, he 
entered Leinster, determined to revenge the 
insult received by the prince of Brefny. 

Dermod was well aware of the march of 
the royal army, and also of the sentence of 
excommunication pronounced against him by 
the clergy. He summoned the nobles of his 
kingdom to Fearna, in the territory of Kin- 
seallagh, now Ferns, in the county of Wex- 
ford, where he held his court, in order to 
consult with them upon the means he should 
adopt to avert the storm that threatened him ; 
but his subjects, who were indignant at the 

* Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 2, cap. 
59, et seq. 



260 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



enormity of his crime, and, moreover, dis- 
satisfied with his tyrannical government, in- 
stead of supporting him in this critical junc- 
ture of his affairs, renounced their allegiance 
to him, and placed themselves under the pro- 
tection of the monarch ; so that the unhappy 
prince, abandoned by them, had no other 
resource than to embark for England. The 
monarch then finding no enemy to contend 
with, contented himself with destroying the 
city of Ferns, and the royal castle, whence 
he carried away the unfortunate Derforguill, 
whom he confined in the monastery of St. 
Bridget, at Kildare, after which he dis- 
banded his troops and returned into his 
province. 

Dermod, now driven from his dominions, 
breathed revenge against his rebellious sub- 
jects and the nation at large. Henry II., 
great-grandson of William the Conqueror, 
was then king of England. He was a prince 
of boundless ambition, and very powerful, 
and was often heard to say, during his pros- 
perity, that the government of the whole 
world was hardly sufficient for a great man. 
Besides the kingdom of England, he pos 
sessed the duchies of Normandy and Anjou, 
by right of inheritance ; and in virtue of his 
marriage with Eleanor, whom Louis VII 
surnamed the younger, had divorced, he 
was master of Aquitaine, Poitou, Touraine, 
and Maine. On account of these states, he 
was frequently engaged in wars with France, 
which required his presence. Such was the 
situation of the affairs of Henry when the 
king of Leinster went to Aquitaine to solicit 
his alliance, and ask of him the succor 
necessary for the recovery of his throne, 
promising to place his kingdom under his 
protection. This proposal was highly flat- 
tering to Henry, and favorable to his views. 
He replied, however, that the state of his 
affairs at that time upon the continent would 
not permit his giving him any troops, but that 
if he would go to England, he might raise 
forces there, and begin the war in Ireland, 
till he should be able to join him ; and even 
sent orders to his ministry to forward the 
enterprise of this fugitive prince. 

The king of Leinster, having taken leave 
of Henry, embarked for England, and on his 
arrival at Bristol, communicated their king's 
orders to the magistrates of that city, who 
caused them to be published. 

Richard, surnamed Strongbow, "de arcu 
forti," (which signifies a' strong bow,) was 
then at Bristol. He was son of Gilbert, 
earl of Pembroke or Chepstow, whom Cam- 
brensis calls earl of Strangwel. This young 
lord had squandered his property, and con- 



tracted heavy debts ;* and to heighten his 
misfortune, was in disgrace with his prince ;t 
so that he was willing to undertake any de- 
sign to retrieve his fortune. Taking advan- 
tage therefore of this opportunity, which 
was, he conceived, highly favorable, he of- 
fered his services to Dermod, who received 
him with kindness, and made him a propo- 
sal far above what he had reason to expect ; 
offering him his daughter, Aoffe, or Eve, in 
marriage, and promising to secure his suc- 
cession to the throne of Leinster, after his 
death, on condition of his assisting to recover 
it ; which condition was joyfully accepted 
by earl Richard. 

Dermod having concluded his negotiation 
at Bristol with the earl Richard, who prom- 
ised to cross over to Ireland in the spring, 
with a body of troops, went into Wales, where 
he applied to Ralph Griffin (who was gov- 
ernor of that province for Henry II.) to 
liberate Robert Fitzstephen, a brave and 
experienced general who had been a state 
prisoner during four years, by order of the 
government. Dermod having obtained the 
pardon of Robert Fitzstephen, on condition 
that he would accompany him to Ireland, 
and never think of returning to his own 
country, from which he was then forever 
banished, took him into his service, with his 
half-brother, Maurice Fitzgerald, promising 
to him and his posterity the city of Wexford, 
and the neighboring districts. He entered 
into like engagements, and made similar 
promises to many others, whom he allured 
by the hope of gain, as Neubrigensis, 
an English cotemporary author, mentions : 
" Spe lucri profusions illecti."J According 
to the same author, they were mostly men 
who possessed nothing at home, " Accitis ex 
Anglia viris impropia. labontibus et lucri cu- 
pidis," and to better their condition were 
desirous of leaving their own country. The 
king of Leinster, pleased with the reception 
he met with in England, returned to Ireland, 
where he remained concealed in his city of 
Ferns, waiting the arrival of his allies. 

Robert Fitzstephen was not forgetful of 
his engagements with Dermod. Two pow- 
erful motives induced him to carry them 
into execution ; he was an outlaw in Eng- 
land, whereas he recovered his liberty only 
on condition of leaving it immediately; and 
the reward which he expected in Ireland 
was very flattering to a man whose only 
riches lay in his sword. He applied all his 

* Gulielm. Neubrig. de Reb. Anglo, lib. 2, c. 26. 
t Stanihurst, b. 2, c. 67. 

t Guli. Neubrig. de Reb. Anglic, sui temporis, 
lib. 2, page 211, et 212. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



261 



influence to enlist volunteers for bis enter, 
prise, and raised 400 men, whose fortunes 
were desperate, like his own. With this force 
he landed on the coast of Wexford in Ire. 
land, in the month of May, a. d. 1169. Of 
his landing, information was dispatched im- 
mediately to the king of Leinster, who lay 
concealed in the city of Ferns till his arrival 
Dermod, overjoyed at the news, left his 
retreat, and put himself at the head of five 
hundred horsemen, whom he kept in read! 
ness to join the English captain. After the 
usual compliments on such occasions, they 
held a council of war on the plan of their 
campaign, the result of which was, to lay 
siege to Wexford, which was at that time 
inhabited by Danes. The troops being led 
on against this place, it surrendered to the 
king of Leinster ; the inhabitants paid him 
homage, and gave him hostages and presents. 
In order to fulfil his promise to Fitzstephen, 
the king gave him that city, and a few dis- 
tricts in the neighborhood, where he estab- 
lished a colony, among whom the ancient 
Saxon language is still preserved, with a 
small mixture of the Irish. This district is 
called the barony of Forth. Dermod granted 
also to Hermon Morty, (Herveius de Monte 
Maurisco,) Fitzstephen's paternal uncle, 
some lands near Wexford, so that through the 
generosity of this prince, those adventurers 
were influenced to the greatest enterprises 
to please him. 

In the mean time, Maurice Prendergast 
landed in Wexford with a fresh reinforce- 
ment, which increased the little army of the 
confederates, then amounting to three thou- 
sand men. 

Encouraged by his first success, and find- 
ing himself able to follow up his conquest, 
Dermod turned his thoughts towards the 
people of Ossory. Donnough Mac-Giolla 
Phadruig, (Fitzpatrick,) son of Domhnal 
Ramhar, was hereditary prince, or, according 
to the style of those times, king of Ossory. 
He was the avowed enemy of Dermod, and 
one of those who had abandoned him in his 
misfortune . He was therefore the first victim 
of his resentment. Dermod marched at the 
head of his army towards the frontiers of 
Ossory, spreading terror and consternation 
everywhere as he passed, and obliged that 
prince to send him hostages, and agree to 
pay an annual tribute to the crown of Lein- 
ster. 

The progress which the king of Leinster 
and his English allies were making, having 
alarmed the whole island, the princes and 
nobles had recourse to Roderick O'Connor, 
to deliberate on what was to be done to quell 



a rebellion in its beginning, which, if neg- 
lected, must create confusion in the state. 
It was determined in the conference held for 
this purpose, that the provinces should supply 
the monarch with their quota of men, to en- 
able him to chastise the king of Leinster, 
and put down the rebellion. The monarch's 
army being reinforced by the allied troops, 
he set out on his march for Leinster, and 
advanced towards Hy-Kinseallagh, intending 
to give the enemy battle. Dermod finding 
himself unable to keep the field against an 
army so superior to his own, withdrew into 
the inaccessible forests and marshes near 
Ferns, with his troops, and held himself on 
the defensive. The monarch thus foiled in 
his attempt, sent a communication to Fitz- 
stephen, chief of the English in the service 
of Dermod, that he should immediately de- 
part from the country with his Englishmen ; 
that he had espoused an unjust and dishon- 
orable cause, and that he had no lawful 
claim to the possessions he had usurped in 
the island. It can be easily conceived that 
such an order must have been very disagree- 
able to this adventurer, who was an outlaw 
in his own country, where he had suffered 
several years imprisonment, and who had no 
asylum but what his good fortune procured 
him. Besides that, he had then a real interest 
in Ireland. He was already lord of Wexford 
and its environs, which had been conferred 
on him by the king of the province as a re- 
ward for his services ; and this was too con- 
siderable, and too gratifying to the avarice 
of a man who was destitute of every thing 
else, to give it up. He therefore declared to 
the monarch, that so far from being disposed 
to quit the island, he was determined to 
support the interest of his benefactor, the 
lung of Leinster, as long as a single man 
remained with him. The monarch, exaspe- 
rated at the stranger's haughty reply, ordered 
his officers to send detachments to scour the 
forests and pursue the rebels ; but the bish- 
ops of the province, alarmed at the idea of 
a war breaking out among them, prostrated 
themselves at his feet, and pointed out to 
him the danger of a civil war, which might 
prove fatal to the nation. They represented 
to him that peaceful measures would be the 
most likely to succeed with an irritated prince, 
who was capable of any act, and supported 
by a neighboring nation, whose interest it 
was to increase the discord between the 
princes of this island . These arguments were 
plausible and well grounded, if they could 
have supposed that the king of Leinster was 
possessed of honor or good faith ; but as 
this unhappy prince had given himself up to 



262 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



his ambition, and afforded every reason to 
distrust him, it would have been good policy 
to employ measures of rigor, and crush the 
evil at its root. 

Roderick, moved by the remonstrances of 
the bishops and clergy of Leinster, ceased 
hostilities, and entered into negotiation with 
the king of the province. A treaty of peace 
was concluded and signed by both parties, 
on the following conditions : — 1st, That Der- 
mod should be restored to the possession of 
his kingdom of Leinster, with the same 
authority which his predecessors had en- 
joyed, and that he should be compensated for 
the losses he had sustained during his misfor- 
tunes ; 2d, That the king of Leinster should 
do homage to the monarch, and promise him 
fidelity ; 3d, That he should bind himself by 
oath, never to call in the English to his aid, 
and to afford them no longer any protection 
4th, That Robert Fitzstephen should remain 
in possession of Wexford, instead of the 
Danes, who occupied it before. In order to 
ratify this treaty, and remove all suspicion 
of bad faith on his side, Dermod gave Art- 
Na-Nigall, or Arthur, his son, as hostage to 
the monarch ; after which the latter, having 
disbanded his forces, returned into Con- 
naught. 

It would now seem that Ireland was about 
to enjoy a lasting peace ; that civil war was 
put down, and that the English, after losing 
the protection of the king of Leinster, had 
nothing more to hope for in the island. The 
result however proved other wise. The treaty 
concluded between the monarch and Dermod 
was the fruit of the policy, as well as the 
perfidy of the English, who had drawn the 
prince of Leinster into it. They wanted to 
escape the danger of being destroyed by the 
superiority of the royal army, and gain time 
till the succors which they expected would 
arrive ; those adventurers being less actu- 
ated by their pretended motives of re-estab- 
lishing religion, reforming the morals of the 
Irish, and defending an oppressed prince, 
than that of making their fortunes at the ex- 
pense of justice itself, as they proved. The 
treaty was scarcely concluded between the 
belligerent princes, when Maurice Fitzge- 
rald, half-brother to Fitzstephen, landed in 
Wexford with a considerable reinforcement 
of Englishmen, which raised the courage of 
the rebels to a high pitch. 

On the first intelligence of the arrival of 
Maurice Fitzgerald, Dermod repaired to 
Wexford, where he held a council with Fitz- 
stephen, Morty, Prendergast, Barry, Meiler, 
Fitzgerald, and other English chiefs, who 
prevailed on him to break his treaty with the 



monarch, by inspiring him with the extrava- 
gant idea of aspiring to the universal mon- 
archy of the island, and promising to send 
to England for sufficient forces for that enter- 
prise. Dermod either did not perceive the 
danger of introducing into the country a 
number of foreigners capable of reducing 
it, (as happened to the ancient Britons, whose 
country was invaded by their treacherous 
allies, the Saxons,) or his unbounded ambi- 
tion led him to sacrifice his country's free- 
dom to that passion. 

The king of Leinster, finding himself 
supported by the English, in conjunction 
with some of his subjects, whom fear brought 
back to their allegiance, marched at the head 
of his army towards Dublin, the neighbor- 
hood of which he laid waste, particularly 
that part of it called Fingal. His intention 
was, to revenge on the Danes of that city 
the insults which himself and his father had 
received from them, and levy contributions 
to defray the expenses of the war ; so he laid 
siege to the city, with Maurice Fitzgerald, 
who commanded under him. Asculph, son 
of Torcall, at that time commander of the 
place, alarmed at the danger which threat- 
ened the city, assembled the principal inhab- 
itants, to deliberate upon what measures 
they should adopt. It was concluded that a 
quick submission was necessary to avert the 
storm ; in consequence of which they sent 
deputies to the king of Leinster, with large 
sums of gold and silver. Asculph paid him 
homage in the name of the city, and sent 
hostages as pledges of his obedience. Rob- 
ert Fitzstephen had no share in this expe- 
dition, being busily employed in building 
and fortifying the port of Karraick, near 
Wexford. 

Such was the state of the affairs of the 
king of Leinster when Richard Strongbow 
landed in Ireland. This English nobleman 
had not forgotten the promises he had given 
to Dermod, of furnishing him with troops, 
nor the hope the latter held out to him, of 
making him his son-in-law, and successor to 
his throne — things highly flattering to a man 
possessed of nothing himself, and whose es- 
tate had been confiscated in England. Re- 
solved, however, to act in a becoming way 
towards his king, Henry II., he went to him 
and asked permission to leave the kingdom 
and seek his fortune elsewhere. The king, 
who was already dissatisfied with him, grant- 
ed him his request in an ironical and repul- 
sive manner, as if he never wished to hear 
of him.* Richard, desirous to take advan- 

* Stanihurst, de Eeb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 2, p. 94. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



263 



tage of this doubtful leave, made the neces- 
sary preparations for his expedition to Ire- 
land ; but before he should go himself, he 
dispatched Raymond le Gros, who, accord- 
ing to Stanihurst, was son of William Fitz- 
gerald, and nephew to Maurice, or, accord- 
ing to others, brother of the latter, with a 
small body of troops to reconnoitre the 
country, and facilitate the descent which he 
meditated ; and at the same time to inform 
the king of Leinster of his intentions . Ray- 
mond landed on the first of May, 1170, in a 
small harbor called Dun-Domhnail, four 
miles from Waterford, and formed an in- 
trenchment for the protection of his troops. 

The Danes of Waterford, hearing of the 
arrival of a body of English troops, who had 
encamped in their neighborhood, assembled 
a force, which was joined by the vassals of 
Malachi O'Faolan, lord of Desie, to the 
number of 200 men, without discipline and 
badly armed, intending to dislodge those 
strangers. Raymond would not wait for 
the enemy in his intrenchments, but sallied 
forth with his troops to meet them in the 
plain. The action began with vigor, and 
the English were driven back to their in- 
trenchments ; but excited by despair, which 
frequently rouses to action, (" Una salus 
victis nullam sperare salutem,") they turned 
on this undisciplined army, who were pur- 
suing them in disorder, and made a dread- 
ful slaughter of them. This victory of the 
English, though inferior in numbers, was 
owing to their discipline, and a number of 
archers, who discharged their arrows against 
an enemy unaccustomed to that manner of 
fighting: "Britannici sagittarii, miserandum 
in modum, inermes sauciarunt." The sequel 
of this victory was highly disgraceful to the 
conquerors, who massacred seventy pris- 
oners, of the first citizens of Waterford. 
A council of war was held after the battle, 
on the manner in which they should be 
treated. Raymond, who possessed a noble 
mind, was in favor of clemency, but Her- 
veius de Monte Maurisco, who had by chance 
been present at the battle, having come that 
morning to pay a visit to Raymond, ha- 
rangued the soldiers with such effect, that he 
instigated them to commit the act of cruelty 
of which the prisoners were the victims. 
This barbarous conduct of that cruel man 
is disapproved of by Stanihurst himself, (who 
is in other respects a true Englishman,) and 
he says that his memory was detested ; he 
also adds, that no person is so insolent or 
devoid of pity, as a man of low birth who is 
raised above his level.* 

* " ' I consider and command, that an enemy, not 



Earl Richard, surnamed Strongbow, whom 
we left in England, having all things ready 
for his voyage, sailed from Milford harbor 
in the month of August of the same year, 
with 1200 chosen men, and landed near 
Waterford on the 24th of the same month, 
St. Bartholomew's day. He was soon joined 
by the king of Leinster, and the English 
whom he had already in his service. After 
the usual congratulations, they held a coun- 
cil of war, in which it was determined to 
besiege Waterford. When the troops were 
refreshed, they marched towards the city, 
which, according to the custom of the times, 
was poorly fortified, and laid siege to it. 
There was a great disproportion between 
the besieged and the besiegers. The place 
was defended by those citizens who had es- 
caped the late defeat ; while it was attacked 
by an army superior both in numbers and 
discipline, and commanded by skilful leaders ; 
so that, notwithstanding an obstinate de- 
fence which lasted for some days, the city 
was taken by assault, and the garrison put 
to the sword. Malachi O'Faolan, prince 
of Desie, was made prisoner, and only es- 
caped from the rage of the soldiery through 
the interference of the king of Leinster. 
After such barbarous acts, may it not be 
affirmed with truth, that those adventurers 
came over rather to destroy the inhabitants 
than to reform their morals ? 

The taking of Waterford was so pleasing 
to the king of Leinster, that he testified his 
gratitude to earl Richard by renewing the 
treaty of alliance he had already made with 
him in England ; for which purpose he sent 
for his daughter Aoife, or Eve, to come to 
Waterford. The marriage was celebrated 
with great pomp between her and the earl, 
and the king declared them heirs to his 
crown. 

A first success generally leads to new 
enterprises. The king of Leinster was a 
violent and vindictive prince, and always 
considered himself at liberty to violate the 
most solemn treaties, when passion or interest 
required it. The Danes of Dublin were the 
continual objects of his hatred and revenge. 
The treaty he had concluded with them 
the preceding year, and the presents he re- 
ceived from them, did not prevent him laying 
siege a second time to their city, with all his 

only while fighting, but even conquered and bound, 
should be put to death.' From that time Hervey 
was loaded with weighty and lasting disgrace and 
infamy, nor could one be found whom tjiis carnage 
of the citizens did not disgust. But none is so in- 
solent and merciless as a man raised from the dregs 
of the people." — Stanihurst, book 2, p. 103. 



204 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



forces. Asculph, the commander, finding 
himself unable to support a siege, deputed, 
with the consent of the principal inhabitants, 
Laurence O'Toole, their archbishop, a man 
of high reputation for sanctity, to negotiate 
a peace with the king. While this holy pre- 
late was deliberating on peaceful measures 
with the king in his camp, Raymond le Gros, 
Maurice Fitzgerald, and Milo Cogan, fol- 
lowed by their troops, entered the city by a 
breach, on the 21st of September, and made 
themselves masters of it, sword in hand, 
sparing neither sex nor age ;* thus carrying 
on the war more like assassins than regular 
troops, violating the rights of men, and 
disregarding the principle by which all hos- 
tilities should cease when a town offers 
to capitulate. Such were the fancied masters 
of refinement, who came to civilize the Irish 
people ! 

Dermod, well pleased with this conquest, 
left a garrison in the city, the command of 
which he gave to Milo Cogan, after which 
he turned his arms against O'Rourke, prince 
of Brefny, to punish him for a crime which 
he himself had committed ; according to the 
proverb, which says, that " the injured are 
generally punished, instead of the aggres- 
sors." The violation of the wife of the 
prince of Brefny, was revenged on his vas- 
sals by the violator himself. 

The monarch of Ireland beheld tranquilly, 
during a whole year, the progress which the 
king of Leinster was making, without taking 
any measures to check the course of his vic- 
tories ; but finding him to approach his own 
borders, and knowing that such an enemy, 
when so near him must be dangerous, he be- 
came alarmed. The season, however, being 
too far advanced to take the'field, he sent an 
officer to reproach him for the perfidy with 
which he had broken the solemn treaty con- 
cluded between them in the preceding year, 
and to complain that (contrary to its faith 
and tenor, which he had pledged himself 
upon oath to observe) he obdurately per- 
sisted in introducing robbers into the country, 
and thereby disturbed the public peace. The 
same officer had orders to tell him, that if 
he persisted in his course of warfare, means 
would be found to constrain him to abandon 
it, and that the head of his son Arthur, who 
was held as hostage, should answer for it. 
Something more efficacious than threats was 
however necessary to be adopted towards a 
man blinded by his passions, and bereft of 
every sentiment characteristic of the man of 
honor. Dermod's reply to the monarch was 

* Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 3, p. 106. 



worthy of his character ; he said that he 
was quite regardless of his son's fate, but 
that if any thing happened to him, he would 
take revenge, both on the monarch and his 
whole race ; and that his design was, to 
make himself master of the kingdom before 
he laid down his arms. It is alleged by 
Stanihurst, that Roderick, exasperated at 
this haughty reply, caused prince Arthur to 
be beheaded ; but in this he is contradicted 
by Keating and others, who say that he 
confined himself to threats only, without 
carrying them into execution. 

The severity of the weather having put 
an end to hostilities, and the king of Lein- 
ster's troops being withdrawn into winter 
quarters, Dermod repaired to Ferns, where 
he died of sickness in the month of May 
following, a. d. 1171. He was a man of ex- 
traordinary height, strong, robust, and war- 
like, whose principle was to make himself 
more the object of fear than of love, and 
who had lived too long for the good of his 
country. This monster, whose memory must 
be abhorred by all true Irishmen, after having 
founded several religious houses, sacrificed 
the country to his revenge, and caused her 
to submit to a yoke which she has never 
since been able to shake off. After the death 
of the king of Leinster, his father-in-law, 
earl Richard endeavored to get himself de- 
clared heir to the throne of Dermod, as he 
was in truth the heir of his tyranny. He led 
his troops to the frontiers of Munster, where 
they committed great devastation ; but was 
checked in his progress by the monarch, 
Roderick O'Connor, who gained several ad- 
vantages over him, particularly at the battle 
of Durlus, or Thurles, in Upper Ormond, 
where 1700 English were killed upon the 
spot* 

Henry II., who was at that time in Aqui- 
taine, being busily occupied with his conti- 
nental affairs, and hearing of the success of 
Richard and his other subjects in Ireland, 
conceived strong suspicions of the fidelity 
of the earl, with whom he was already dis- 
pleased.! He began to look upon him as an 
intriguing character, desirous of usurping a 
kingdom which he himself had long wished 
to unite to his other states.:): He therefore 
published an edict, by which he prohibited 
all intercourse with Ireland, and forbade his 
subjects to transport either men or provisions 
from England to Ireland, under the penalty 
of being severely punished. He ordained by 

* Cambrens. Evers. cap. 9, page 89. 
t Guliel. Neubrig. de Reb. Anglic, c. 26. Stani- 
hurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 3. 
1 Keat. Hist, of Ireland. 



CHRISTIAN" IRELAND. 



265 



the same edict, that all his subjects then in 
Ireland should repair on a certain day to 
England, under pain of being considered 
traitors and rebels to their king. The earl 
Richard was soon apprized of the proclama- 
tion, which disconcerted him considerably, 
being altogether opposed to his design. Al- 
though master of Dublin, Wexford, Water- 
ford, and other places on the coast, he was 
unable to retain possession of them without 
the assistance of England, of which he saw 
himself thus deprived by the edict. In 
order to avert the danger consequent on 
resisting the king's commands, he assembled 
the heads of the English colony, who deter- 
mined on sending Raymond le Gros (Fitz- 
gerald) to represent to his majesty, that it 
was by his permission Richard and the other 
Englishmen had crossed over to Ireland to 
support the cause of Dermod, king of Lein- 
ster ; that they did not consider themselves 
less his subjects there, and that they acted 
altogether in his name. 

Raymond being intrusted by the assembly 
with this avowal of their fidelity, set out for 
Aquitaine, where Henry II. still was, who 
gave him an audience ; after which the king 
returned to England, and appointed him to 
be the bearer of a letter to Richard, wherein 
he commanded the latter to return imme- 
diately to England, and render an account 
of his conduct. 

About this time, Asculph, chief of the 
Danes of Dublin, who had escaped with his 
fleet from the last siege, returned with sixty 
vessels and a great number of troops, with 
the intention of besieging it, and encamped 
before the eastern gate, called Dame's-Gate. 
The attack was so brisk, that the English, 
finding themselves unable to resist the supe- 
rior force of the Danes, had recourse to strata- 
gem. Milo Cogan, who was then governor 
of the city, sent out by the southern gate, 
called St. Paul's, a body of cavalry under 
the command of his brother, Richard Cogan, 
to attack the enemy in rear. The Danes, 
struck with consternation, thinking it to be 
a fresh reinforcement that had come to the 
assistance of the city, took to flight : the 
slaughter was immense, and the loss of the 
Danes considerable ; their chief, Asculph, 
was led captive into the city, and beheaded, 
contrary to the laws of war. 

Dublin was attacked soon afterwards by 
the monarch himself, with as little success 
as the Danes. The art of besieging was 
then quite unknown to the Irish, who never 
made use of fortifications. They were accus- 
tomed to fight only in the open field, and 
present their bodies to the enemy, unpro- 



tected by walls, or any defence except their 
valor and their arms; consequently, they 
were unacquainted with the use of battering- 
rams, and such machinery employed by other 
nations to destroy fortified places. 

In order to secure more firmly the con- 
quest of the city, Roderick O'Connor and 
Laurence, the archbishop, wrote to Gottred, 
king of the Isle of Man, to request of him, 
in virtue of the ancient alliance existing be- 
tween him and Ireland, to send a fleet to 
block up the harbor of Dublin, and cut off 
all communication between the garrison and 
England, (which was already interrupted by 
the proclamation of Henry II. ;) while on his 
part, he would take care to close every 
avenue by land. These plans appear to 
have been well laid. The city was soon 
surrounded by sea and land, and famine was 
already beginning to be felt by the garrison. 

At the same time, Domnal, son of Der- 
mod the late king of Leinster, more anxious 
for the welfare of his country than his father 
had been, collected a few troops and be- 
sieged Robert Fitzstephen in the fort which 
he had built at Carrick, near Wexford. The 
English captain having found means to 
make his situation known to earl Richard, to 
Raymond le Gros, (who had lately returned 
from England,) to Maurice Fitzgerald, and 
the other commanders of the garrison of 
Dublin, he sent them word, that if he did 
not receive succor before two or three days, 
he would inevitably fall into the hands of his 
enemy. This information, and the unhappy 
state of their other affairs, gave them great 
uneasiness ; but inspired them with a reso- 
lution which succeeded to their most san- 
guine desire. The siege of Dublin had 
already lasted for two months ; the besieged 
were much weakened, and the besiegers, 
fearing nothing from an enemy they intended 
to reduce by famine, became negligent, and 
too confident of their security, of which the 
latter found means to take advantage. The 
besieged, having determined to attack the 
besiegers, sallied forth at the break of day, 
forced the sentinels to give way, and falling, 
sword in hand, on their enemies, who were 
still in bed and asleep, killed a great number 
of them, and put the rest to flight.* This 
victory enabled the English of Dublin to 
send assistance to Fitzstephen, who was be- 
sieged in the fort of Carrick ; but the detach- 

* " They fly on a sudden, armed, out of the city, 
and fall, sword in hand, on a foe unprepared and half 
sleeping. It cannot cause surprise, if lethargy should 
have seized on numbers of the besiegers, when none 
were upon guard, and none could foresee that so few 
would sally out against an army." — Stan. p. 117. 



266 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



ment commanded by Strongbow for this 
purpose, having been harassed by the Lein- 
ster people in the defiles of Idrone in the 
county of Carlo w, arrived too late. The 
fort of Carrick had been already taken by 
prince Domnal, part of the garrison put to 
the sword, and the rest (among whom were 
Robert Fitzstephen and William Norton) 
made prisoners of war, and brought to the 
island of Beg Erin, at a short distance from 
Wexford. 

Richard Strongbow, coerced by the orders 
he had just received from his master, Henry 
II., embarked immediately for England, 
leaving his affairs in Ireland in a very bad 
state. He was presented to the king at 
Neweham, near Gloucester, where the prince 
was collecting an army for his expedition to 
Ireland, and was v«ry badly received by 
him. The king upbraided him bitterly with 
the robberies and devastations he had com- 
mitted in Ireland, inasmuch as, not content 
with the honorable conditions which were 
granted him by the king of Leinster, he had 
acted the tyrant by usurping the properties 
of others. It might be imagined that this 
was the language of a man of honor, who 
would be incapable of committing an unjust 
act himself; yet it would be difficult to 
decide which of the two was the more 
worthy character. After the king had given 
vent to his anger and reproaches against the 
earl, he was at length appeased by the sub- 
mission of this nobleman, and a promise 
that he made him of putting Dublin, and 
the other places he held in Ireland, into his 
power. In the mean time, O'Rourke, prince 
of Brefny, attacked the English who were 
in Dublin. He attempted to besiege the 
city, and having drawn Milo Cogan, the 
governor, and his garrison outside of the 
fortifications, a bloody battle was fought 
between them, which produced no other 
effect than the loss of many lives. The son 
of O'Rourke, having signalized himself by 
his valor in the thick of the battle, was 
mortally wounded, with several of his fol- 
lowers, who sold their lives dearly to the 
English, of whom also a great number fell 
on the field of battle.* 

Every thing being ready for the expedi- 
tion to Ireland, Henry set sail from Milford 
in the month of October, 1172, in the forty- 
first year of his age, and seventeenth of his 
reign, with a formidable and well-provided 
army. He landed safely at Waterford on 
St. Luke's day, where he established his 
head-quarters. The news of his arrival be 

* Stan, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 3, cap. 193. 



ing spread, his English subjects who had 
settled in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, &c, 
came to pay him homage and renew their 
oath of allegiance ; and their example was 
soon followed by some of the princes of the 
country, who had the baseness to submit to 
a foreign yoke, instead of uniting together 
to preserve their liberty. Dermod More 
Mac-Carthaig, (Mac-Carty,) king of Cork, 
was the first among these proselytes. He 
presented himself before the king of Eng- 
land at Waterford, and paid him homage. 

After a conference with his English sub- 
jects, on the measures to be adopted for the 
reduction of the island, Henry II. collected 
his forces and marched to Lismore, where, 
having stayed two days, he set out for Cashel, 
and was met upon his march, on the river 
Suire, by Domnald O'Brien, king of Thuo- 
raond and Limerick, who made a similar 
submission to that of the king of Cork, and 
their examples were followed by the other 
princes of Munster. Henry sent detach- 
ments to Limerick and Cork, to secure the 
possession of those cities ; after which, re- 
turning to Waterford, he there received the 
homage of Domnald More Mac-Giolla-Pha- 
draig, (Fitz-Patrick,) prince of Ossory, and 
Malachi O'Faolan, lord of Desie. He treat- 
ed those princes honorably, made them mag- 
nificent presents, and promised to secure to 
them their possessions and dignities.* On 
the interference of the English, the king re- 
stored his liberty to Robert Fitzstephen, 
whom he had some time before committed 
to prison on account of the complaints which 
had been made to him of the tyranny of 
this officer over the inhabitants of the coun- 
try. The conditions, however, on which 
he obtained his freedom were dishonor- 
able to the king, and strongly marked his 
insatiable thirst for the riches of others. 
Fitzstephen was obliged to give to him the 
town and county of Wexford, which he held 
from the liberality of the king of Leinster. 

Robert Fitz-Bernard being appointed to 
the government of Waterford, Henry II. 
proceeded on his route to Dublin, where his 
government was acknowledged by several 
princes of Leinster, among whom was 
Morrough Mac-Floinn, prince of Meath. 
The king, as an able politician, treated all 
these princes with politeness, and loaded 
them with presents, which blinded them to 
such a degree that they could not perceive 

* " Henry received the princes, on their arrival, 
with great honor ; he promised not only to take 
care of their safety, but to advance them in dignity ; 
and loaded thembesides with magnificent presents." 
— Stan, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. 125. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



267 



the chains which he was preparing for them. 
He likewise promised to maintain them in 
the possession of their estates and dignities ; 
but he was too perfidious to keep his word 
with them : such has ever been the course 
which the English nation has observed to- 
wards Ireland. 

Roderick O'Connor, finding himself al- 
most universally deserted, was obliged to 
yield to the necessity of the times. Henry 
sent two noblemen, Hugh de Lacy and Wil- 
liam Fitz-Aldelm, to request an interview 
with him, in consequence of which the two 
princes met on the banks of the river Shan- 
non, where the time was spent in paying 
mutual compliments, and nothing was deter- 
mined upon. 

The monarch's army was posted in marsh- 
es and in woods, where Henry thought it 
imprudent to attack him ; but a treaty was 
concluded between them some years after- 
wards at Windsor, during the octave of St 
Michael, through the mediation of Laurence, 
archbishop of Dublin, and Catholicus, or 
Codla O'Dubhay, archbishop of Tuam. 
The copy of this treaty is to be found in 
Roger Hoveden, an English writer of the 
same century, under date of the year 1175.J 
The conditions were, that Roderick should 
pay an annual tribute to the king of Eng- 
land, as lord of Ireland ; that he should 
always retain the title of monarch, and that 
the provincial kings should be dependent on 
him as previously .J 

In his expedition to Ireland every thing 
succeeded to the wishes of Henry. In a 
short time he found himself master of a con- 
siderable part of the island, without shedding 
a single drop of blood. The Hy-Nialls of 
Ulster alone, namely, the O'Neills, O'Don- 
nels, and other princes of that province, 
with a few in Connaught,§ (whose minds 
were too noble and generous to bend to 
him,) refused to submit to a foreign yoke, 
at the expense of their liberty. This revo- 
lution in Ireland, under Roderick the mon- 
arch, is very similar to that which occurred 
in Spain in the beginning of the eighth cen- 
tury, in the reign of Roderick. The names 
of the princes are alike, and the causes 
were almost the same. Roderick, king of 
Spain, lost his life together with his crown, 
on account of his crimes ; Roderick, mon 
arch of Ireland, was dethroned for having 

* Baker, Chron. Engl. p. 56. 

t War. de Archiepisc. Tuamens. 

t Cambr. Evera. cap. 9, p. 89. 

§ " Not a dynasty in Leinster, nor indeed in any 
corner of Ireland, except Ulster, which did not sub- 
mit to the sovereignty of Henry." — Stanihurst. 



punished crime. In Spain, Count Julian, 
a Spanish nobleman, not only took revenge 
on Roderick, his king, who had violated his 
daughter Cava, but sacrificed his country 
to his revenge, by introducing into it the 
Moors, by whom it was afterwards con- 
quered. In Ireland, Dermod, king of Lein- 
ster, introduced the English, to recover a 
kingdom from which he had been expelled 
for a similar crime to that of Roderick of 
Spain, and caused his country to submit to 
a yoke which it has never since been able 
to shake off. 

The success of Henry II. was followed 
by much trouble and uneasiness. Having 
retired to Dublin for the purpose of spend- 
ing the winter there, the weather became so 
tempestuous, and the storms so frequent, 
that all communication with England was 
broken off, which filled him with apprehen- 
sions. The martyrdom of Thomas a Becket, 
archbishop of Canterbury, happened about 
the same time, and the first news which the 
king received from England on the return 
of fine weather, was, that Pope Alexander 
III. had sent two cardinals to inquire into 
the circumstances attending the murder of 
that prelate, with orders to excommunicate 
the king, and put the country under an in- 
terdict, if he did not exculpate himself from 
the crime. He also learned by the same 
messenger, that in England his son Henry, 
whom he had caused to be crowned some 
time before, had been suspected of en- 
deavoring to take advantage of his absence, 
to stir up a revolt against him, in conjunc- 
tion with his brothers. 

These were powerful reasons for requir- 
ing the king's presence in England, notwith- 
standing the design he had formed of remain- 
ing for some time in Ireland, and causing 
fortifications to be built, by which means it 
would be easy, he thought, to keep the Irish 
in subjection. In order, however, that his 
affairs in this island might not be neglected, 
he confided the command of the important 
posts to men of trust, and set sail for Eng- 
land during the festival of Easter. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



The Irish nation has, since the 12th cen- 
tury, been composed of two races, namely, 
the ancient Irish, and the English colonists 
who established themselves in Ireland after 
that epoch. We have, in the first part of this 
history, given an account of the origin and 
settlement of the ancient Irish in the island, 



2(iS 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



and it is but fitting to say something of the 
origin of the Anglo-Irish, who have played 
a prominent part in it for nearly 600 years. 
In doing so, we must consider them both be- 
fore and since the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 

The English who passed into Ireland in 
the twelfth century, are called the Old Eng- 
lish, and sometimes Strongbownians, from 
Richard Strongbow, one of their chiefs. In 
this class, indeed, may also be placed the 
English who arrived there during the sub- 
sequent period, until the reign of Elizabeth ; 
but both these must be distinguished from 
the swarm of English adventurers who ar- 
rived in Ireland subsequently to her reign. 
We must not confound them with the infa- 
mous parricides who infested that sacred 
island, after staining their sacrilegious hands 
with the blood of their king. 

There was nothing culpable in the enter- 
prise of the first English who landed in Ire- 
land ; they presented themselves there much 
less as enemies of the nation, than as friends 
and allies of Dermod, king of Leiuster. 
This prince invited them to aid him in the 
recovery of his kingdom. He rewarded 
them liberally, and gave them the city of 
Waterford, with two cantreds* of land in its 
environs. These first concessions were 
reasonable, being a recompense for the valor 
of their new proprietors ; and had they been 
content with them, the Irish would have had 
no ground of complaint. But the success 
of the first settlers tempted others of the 
English to similar enterprises. Henry II. 
conducted thither, in the year following, a 
powerful band, whom he was desirous to 
enrich. Leinster, Meath, and a part of 
Munster, were parcelled out and sacrificed 
to the ambition of these strangers ; and 
every succeeding age furnished new colo- 
nies, who went to seek their fortune in that 
fertile country. 

It cannot be asserted that each individual 
in an army, or in a body, which undertakes 
the conquest of a country, is noble. There 
must be among them under-officers and com- 
mon soldiers, who cannot be presumed of 
illustrious birth. Doubtless the majority of 
those chiefs who led the English colonists 
into Ireland, were of noble rank. They 
were knights, and the younger sons of fami- 
lies distinguished by birth and valor, who 
had retained those lofty and humane senti- 
ments which characterize men of worth, and 
(if we must draw a veil over the injustice 
of the fathers) their children, at least, merit 

* A cantred of land is a Breton term which sig- 
nifies a hundred villages. 



the highest degree of praise. They became 
attached to the country of their adoption ; 
they united themselves by marriage with the 
natives ; they adopted its language and its 
manners ; and for some centuries past they 
have formed with the old inhabitants but one 
people, yielding to them neither in zeal for 
their religion, nor fidelity to their lawful 
princes. They have been victims as well 
as the former, and are comprised under the 
same anathema, as objects of hatred and 
envy to the English, who think to insult 
them by the taunt that they are " more Irish 
than the Irish themselves," " ipsis Hibernis 
Hiberniores ;" and can boast of a nobility 
in the island for nearly 600 years, sustained 
by their virtue and by their generous senti- 
ments. If they rest satisfied to confine 
themselves to that limit, (many might aspire 
to higher antiquity,) the period is sufficiently 
respectable. 

The leaders of the first divisions of the 
force which joined the king of Leinster, 
were Robert Fitzstephen, Hervy de Monte 
Marisco, nephew of Strongbow, Maurice 
Prendergast, Maurice Fitzgerald, Barry, 
Cogan, Raimond le Gros, and some others. 
They were relatives or kindred, and engaged 
in the same cause, and became possessors 
of large estates in Ireland. 

The first establishment of Maurice Fitz- 
gerald was at Wicklow, and in the country 
of Ofaly, county Kildare, which was granted 
to him by his relation, Richard Strongbow, 
earl of Pembroke. The family of Fitzgerald 
was, according to Nichols, descended from 
Otho,* an Italian baron, who drew his origin 
from the dukes of Tuscany. The son of 
Otho, named Walter, having passed into 
England with William the Conqueror, was 
appointed baron and constable of Windsor 
Castle, and became possessed of many lord- 
ships in England. Gerald, the eldest son of 
Walter, went, on the affairs of the king, into 
the principality of Wales, where lie built the 
castle of Pembroke : he was generally called 
Fitz-Walter. The king gave him, as a re- 
ward for his services, considerable estates in 
Wales, where, having fixed his residence, he 
married Nesta, daughter of Rees Gruffydh, 
prince of that country. She had been origi- 
nally the concubine of King Henry I., by 
whom she had a son, who was called Henry. 
The latter was father of Meyler, and Robert 
Fitz-Henry, who arrived in Ireland with 
Richard Strongbow. Nesta was married 
afterwards to Stephen, constable of the 
castles of Cardigan and Pembroke. She had 

* Lodge's Peerage. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



269 



by this marriage Robert Fitzsteplien, of 
whom we have already spoken. After the 
death of Stephen, she became the wife of 
Gerald Fitz-Walter, and the mother of 
Maurice and William Fitzgerald. 

Maurice left a numerous issue in the prov- 
inces of Leinstef and Munster. John, one 
of his descendants, was created earl of Kil- 
dare in 1316, by king Edward II. Maurice, 
brother of John, was made, in the following 
reign, earl of Desmond, by Edward III. 
This house was sacrificed, in the reign of 
Elizabeth, for its attachment to religion and 
country, and its large estates confiscated and 
bestowed upon English adventurers. The 
house of Kildare is still in being, with the 
rank of the premier earldom of Ireland 
From these two stocks sprung a number of 
distinguished branches, holding large pos- 
sessions, and characterized by their high 
and generous sentiments. Of these were 
the Fitzgeralds of Laccagh, Allen, Black' 
hall, Blackwood, Ballisonnan, Rathrone 
Teiroghan, Windgate, and others in Lein- 
ster. From them were also descended the 
knights of Kerry and Glynn ; the knight 
Blanc, who took the name of Fitzgibbon ; 
the Fitzgeralds of Carrigilleere, Carrigro- 
han, Castlemore, Moyallow, Rathgrogan, 
Imokilly, &c, in the county of Cork. Sev- 
eral of these noblemen were dispossessed of 
their estates on account of their religion, in 
the various revolutions which happened in 
the country ; others among them, by con- 
forming to the times, saved the patrimony 
left them by their fathers. William, son of 
Gerald Fitz-Walter by Nesta, and brother of 
Maurice Fitzgerald, was father of Reymond 
le Gros, or the Fat, who had a great share in 
reducing a part of Ireland to the sway of 
Henry II. Reymond married Basilia, the 
sister of earl Strongbow.* This count gave 
him for a dowry the lands of Idrone, Fot 
hard, and Glascarrig in the county of Car- 
low, and named him Constable of Leinster. 
In an expedition which Reymond under- 
took against Donald O'Brien king of Lime- 
rick, Dermod M'Carty, king of Cork, sent to 
ask his aid against his son Cormac O'Leha- 
nagh, who rebelled against him. The cause 
of this rebellion of the son, was his father's 
weakness in having submitted to Henry II. 
Reymond did not hesitate ; he marched 
against the disobedient son of M'Carty, 
caused him to be arrested, and delivered 
him to his father, who ordered him to be be- 
headed. In reward for his services, Rey- 
mond received from M'Carty a large district 

* Lodge's Peerage. 



in the county of Kerry, which formed at that 
time part of the kingdom of Cork. Reymond 
granted this territory to his eldest son Mau- 
rice : the latter became powerful, his de- 
scendants took the name of Fitzmaurice, 
and the district was called Clan-Maurice. 
Reymond, it is said, had another son named 
Hamon, Hamo, or Heimond, surnamed like 
his father, le Grosse ; it is from him that the 
family of Grace is descended ; which is a 
corruption of Grosse. This family has been 
in high repute, for some centuries, in the 
county of Kilkenny, where they possessed 
a large district named Grace's country. 

The Fitz-Maurices of Kerry were much 
renowned in succeeding ages for their vir- 
tues, wealth, and connections. Edmond, 
one of the chiefs of the family, was created 
by Henry VIII., in 1537, Baron of Odorney 
and Viscount of Kilmaule. The same prince 
gave him, by letters patent, the spoils of 
several abbeys and religious houses in his 
district. This noble family often gave proofs 
of their attachment to • religion : the Fitz- 
maurices of Lixnaw greatly distinguished 
themselves in the war of the Confederates 
against Elizabeth ; so much that, when pro- 
claiming a general pardon to those who had 
borne arms against her, she made an express 
exception of the earl of Desmond, his brother 
John, Pierce Lacy, the knight of Glinn, and 
Thomas Fitz-Maurice, son of the late baron 
of Lixnaw : but Fitz-Maurice got into favor 
again, upon the accession of James I. to 
the throne. 

Historians are not quite agreed respecting 
the origin of the noble family of the Barrys 
in Ireland.* According to Camden, the 
Barrys derive their name from an island be- 
longing to Wales, called Barry. That island 
was so named from Barruch, who having 
lived there in the odor of sanctity, was in- 
terred in it. Others say that the name of 
Barry is found in a roll of Battle-Abbey,t 
among the number of those who had assisted 
the duke William in the conquest of Eng- 
land ; from hence it is presumed that the 
family of Barry has its origin from Norman- 
dy. However this be, William de Barry was 
the common ancestor of different branches 
of that name in Ireland. He married 
Angareth daughter of Nesta, and sister of 
Robert Fitzstephen : he had by her four 
sons, namely, Robert, Philippe, Walter, and 
Girald, or Girard, surnamed Cambrensis, of 
whom we have spoken in the first part of 
this history. Robert Barry accompanied 

* Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. Brit. p. 837. 
t Lodge's Peerage. 



270 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Robert Fitzstephen to Ireland ; he was 
wounded at the siege of Wexford, and was 
killed afterwards at Lismore. Philippe de 
Barry, brother of the latter, crossed into 
Ireland some time afterwards, at the head 
of some troops, to assist his uncle Robert 
Fitzstephen, and Reymond le Grosse,* to 
keep the kingdom of Cork against the efforts 
of the Mac-Cartys, its ancient proprietors. 
Robert Fitzstephen gave him the lands of 
Olethan, of Muskerry, of Dunegan, and 
Killede, where he built some castles. This 
donation was confirmed to William, son of 
Philippe, by king John. Sir David Barry, 
son of William, was Lord Justice of Ire- 
land. He made war against the M'Cartys 
and the Fitz-Geralds of Coshbride. He 
increased his possessions in the county of 
Cork, and became lord of Castle-Lyons, 
Buttevant, and Barrys-court. This high 
family supported the splendor of their origin 
down to our time ; their attachment to the 
interest of the English government, partic- 
ularly under the reign of Elizabeth, has well 
earned its favors to them. David Barry, the 
head of it, already baron of Ibawne, and 
viscount of Buttevant, was created earl of 
Barrymore in 1627 by Charles I. 

The origin of the Butlers of Ireland is 
undoubted. The best authors give them an 
illustrious descent from Normandy ; but the 
author who seems to have best fathomed the 
antiquity of that house is Mr. John Butler, 
resident at his benefice in the county of 
Northampton. He makes it a younger 
branch of that of Clare, formerly so illus- 
trious, so numerous, and so powerful in 
England. According to him, Richard, first 
count of Clare, had two sons. The descend- 
ants of the elder took by degrees the surname 
of Clare, from the manor of that name situate 
in the county of Suffolk. The posterity of 
the younger, after having borne for some 
time the name of Walter, or Fitz-W alter, 
took that of Butler, when the office of Grand 
Butler became hereditary in Ireland, and 
was conferred on them as a favor. They 
enjoyed the same office in England, and in 
herited the land of Baynard Castle, which 
was annexed to it as a perpetual fief. 

When M. Nichols gives to the family of 
Butler a descent from the ancient counts of 
Brionne in Normandy, he must have been 
led to think, according to Oldaricus Vitalis, 
that the family of Clare was sprung from 
that of Brionne, which house of Brionne, 
according to the same Oldaric, is descended 
from the dukes of Normandy. 

* Ware's Antiquities of Hib. c. 27. 



Mr. Carte, in his life of the duke of Or- 
mond, has left us a long dissertation upon 
the origin of this family, but it is more cal- 
culated to embarrass than throw light on the 
subject, if there was a necessity for it. 

If Mr. Lodge had condescended to give 
in his peerage a more copious and accurate 
genealogy, he would have rendered an im- 
portant service to this family. But our au- 
thor was as modest as he was learned, and 
did not wish to undertake the task. He 
has refrained from ascending higher than 
the father of Hervy Walter, who was father 
to the first grand butler of Ireland. 

Camden says that the name of Butler is 
derived from the office of honorary grand- 
butler of Ireland ; that the Butlers are de- 
scended from a sister of Thomas a Becket, 
archbishop of Canterbury, and that Henry 
II. had heaped upon that family, already so 
illustrious and wealthy in England, posses- 
sions and honors in Ireland, in order to 
allay in some degree the hatred which the 
murder of that holy prelate had drawn on 
him. 

William Dugdale, king-at-arms imder 
Charles II,, makes mention of Hubert Wal- 
ter, in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk ; 
he speaks of five sons of Hervy Walter, 
whom he had by Maud, daughter of Theo- 
bald de Valoines ; also of the extensive in- 
fluence of Hubert, one of their sons, arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, and of the lordship of 
Preston in Amunderness, in the county of 
Lancashire, which Richard I. gave to Theo- 
bald, brother of the prelate, who, according 
to him, was very wealthy, and had founded 
monasteries and endowed churches. He 
mentions, likewise, the great wealth brought 
him by his wife Maud, daughter of Robert 
Vavasour, and adds, that from one of their 
sons named Theobald, who first took the 
name from the office of grand-butler, the 
noble family of Butlers, since earls of Or- 
mond, is descended. 

The same author likewise mentions that 
the counts of Ormond are descended by the 
paternal line from Hervy Walter, premier 
baron of England in the time of Henry II. 
While Richard Strongbow, earl of "Pem- 
broke, was supporting the interests of the 
king of Leinster, and something beyond, 
Theobald Walter was with Henry II. in 
Normandy, where he succeeded in influ- 
encing the prince to restore his favor to 
Thomas a. Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. 
This holy prelate was his maternal grand- 
uncle, Hervy, the father of Theobald, having 
been married to Maud, daughter of Theo- 
bald Valoines and of Matilda Becket, sister 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



271 



of the prelate. Hubert Walter, brother of 
Theobald, was one of the successors of his 
uncle Thomas a Becket, in that see. 

After the martyrdom of the primate, which 
happened December 28, 1171, Henry II. 
passed overto Ireland, and was accompanied 
in the expedition by a great number of lords, 
among others, by Theobald Walter. He 
contributed to the reduction of a part of the 
kingdom ; his services merited for him more 
and more the favor of the king, who re- 
warded him liberally, and bestowed on him 
large possessions, besides the hereditary of- 
fice of grand-butler in Ireland, a situation 
that Ms ancestors had filled in England. 

Theobald was powerful in England, and 
one of the wealthiest of the great old feuda- 
tories of the crown, and his descendants 
enjoyed without interruption during 350 
years, the same privileges in that kingdom ; 
but in 1515 they were reduced to the estates 
and honors held by them in Ireland only. 
Thomas, earl of Ormond, who died in that 
year, left only daughters after him, who 
brought their English estates to the families 
of St. Ledger and Bollen. Peter Butler, a 
member of the house, found means to possess 
himself of the estates in Ireland, as well as 
the titles of honor which they bore in that 
country, and his posterity during the two 
last centuries supported the splendor of 
their family from 1515 till 1717, when 
James, peer of the three kingdoms and duke 
of Ormond, having taken measures in oppo- 
sition to the reigning family, was attainted, 
and his title and estates confiscated. 

The family of Burkes, otherwise de Bourks, 
or de Burgo, in Ireland, derives its origin 
from William Fitz-Adelm, one of the first 
English who landed in Ireland under Henry 
II. Fitz-Adelm was descended from Serlo, 
or Harlowen de Bourgo, son of a Norman 
lord named Eustace. Serlo having espoused 
Arlotte, mother of William the Conqueror, 
passed over with that prince into England. 
Of this marriage of Serlo with Arlotte, was 
born Robert, earl of Cornwall, from whom 
descended William, who succeeded to the 
dignity of the earl. The latter was father 
to Adelm and John, who was father to Hu- 
bert de Burgo,* Chief- Justice of England 
and earl of Kent. He was deprived of his 
office, judged by his peers in full parliament, 
and degraded, for having counselled king 
Henry III. to annul the grand charter and 
the privileges of his subjects. 

* Cox is not in accordance with Nichols respect- 
ing the descent of William Fitz-Adelm ; we do not 
mean to reconcile them, they may be consulted by 
the reader. 



Adelm was father to William, known under 
the name of William Fitz-Adelm ; he went 
with Henry II. to Ireland, who confirmed to 
him by charter five military fiefs in a place 
called Toth, where the castle of Canice, at 
present Castleconnel, is situated ; he then 
gave him large estates in Connaught, where 
the noble family of the Burkes, his descend- 
ants, became settled. William de Burgo, 
earl of Ulster, and chief of that family, 
having been assassinated in 1333, without 
leaving any male heirs to succeed to the 
possession of his estates in Connaught, two 
noblemen of his name and family made 
themselves masters of all his lands in that 
province, and formed two powerful families 
distinguished by the names of Mac-William 
Eighter, and Mac-William Oughter, a dis- 
tinction which continued for a long time. 
These houses produced several collateral 
branches, which gave origin to many private 
families. 

The sept of the Burkes was honored with 
four peerages in the persons of Ulysses 
Burke, created earl of Clanrickard in 1543, 
by Henry VIII. Theobald Burke, (com- 
monly called Tibbod ne Lung, that is to say, 
the naval, because he was conversant in 
naval pursuits,) who was created viscount 
of Mayo in 1627, by Charles I., both which 
titles are still in being. There have been 
also two lord-barons in the family, namely, 
Castleconnel and Brittas. These titles do 
not exist at present in Ireland, but are united 
in the person of N. Burke, captain in an Irish 
regiment in the service of his most Christian 
Majesty. 

The noble family of the Lacys in Ireland 
derive their origin from Normandy. Walter 
and Ilbert de Lacy, having accompanied 
the duke William into England, they had a 
share in the conquest of that kingdom, where 
they were amply rewarded with donations 
in lands by that prince. 

Hugh, grandson of Walter de Lacy, ac- 
companied Henry II. to Ireland in 1172. 
The king, to reward him for his services in 
England and Ireland, gave him for the ser- 
vice of fifty knights, the territory of Meath, 
to be possessed by him and his descendants 
in the manner in which it was held by Mur- 
chard O'Melachlin, the ancient proprietor 
of that county. He left him also all the fiefs 
which he had around Dublin, and all which 
he might acquire afterwards. He then named 
him governor of the city of Dublin, and 
Lord Justice of Ireland. Hugh employed 
many workmen to build castles ; one among 
whom, named Malva Miadaiah, cut off his 
head with the stroke of an axe, either to take 



272 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



revenge for the severity which that noble- 
man had practised against his companions 
or for the injustice done to O'Melachlin. 
whose patrimony he had seized. Walter 
left two sons named Walter and Hugh ; the 
first inherited the lordship of Meath, and 
the latter was made earl of Ulster, in con- 
sequence of the disgrace of Sir John de 
Courcy. These two lords having left none 
but daughters after them, their vast estates 
fell into the hands of strangers. 

The posterity of Ilbert de Lacy, of whom 
we have already spoken, settled in England. 
The Conqueror gave to this nobleman the 
castle and lordship of Pontfract in the county 
of York, and several estates in the county of 
Lancaster and elsewhere,together amounting 
to the number of 150 lordships in England. 
We discover in the county of Limerick, in 
Ireland, some families of Lacys, very distin- 
guished for their virtues and attachment to 
the interests of religion and country, and are 
able to trace their genealogy to one or other 
of the two houses of which we have just 
given an account. 

It was in the reign of Henry II. that the 
noble family of Nugent established them- 
selves in Ireland. They are of Norman 
descent, Sir Gilbert de Nugent, with his 
brothers, having accompanied in 1 172 Hugh 
de Lacy in the expedition to Ireland.* This 
nobleman, in gratitude for his services, gave 
him in marriage his sister Rosa, and the 
fortune he received with her was the terri- 
tory of Dealma, or Delvin, in the county of 
Westmeath, with all its dependencies, to be 
held by him and his descendants for ever. 
Gilbert divided the estate with his brothers 
and other relatives. From this stock nu- 
merous branches, eminent for noble and 
generous sentiments, were produced. The 
chief of the family was first called to par- 
liament in 1486, in quality of baron of 
Delvin. His descendants were created 
peers of the realm, under the title of earls 
of Westmeath, by James I. 

The liberality of Hugh Lacy was not 
confined to the Nugents. He gave estates 
to the Tyrrels, the Petits, Nangles, Tuites, 
Missets, Husseys, Flemings, and to many 
others. 

Sir John de Courcy of Ulster,! (part of 
which he had conquered,) was celebrated in 
the twelfth century. He left a son named 
Milo, or Miles, who was deprived of the suc- 
cession by his father's disgrace and the in- 
fluence of Hugh de Lacy, who was a favorite 



* Ware's Antiquities, Hib. cap. 27. 
t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. 



at court.* King Henry III. wishing to in- 
demnify Milo de Courcy, gave him the bar- 
ony of Kinsale in the county of Cork, with 
the title of baron : this family is still in being, 
and enjoys a peculiar privilege granted by 
King John to Sir John de Courcy and his 
descendants, of remaining covered in the 
presence of the king. Genealogists give to 
this family a very illustrious origin. They 
trace their descent in the male line from the 
house of Lorraine, of the race of Charle- 
magne, and in the female line from the house 
of Normandy. 

The Birminghams of Ireland are of Eng- 
lish extraction ; they derive their name from 
the town of Birmingham, in the county of 
Warwick, of which Peter de Birmingham 
was the possessor in the time of Henry II. 
His son William, or according to others, 
Robert de Binningham his grandson, passed 
over to Ireland in the twelfth century with 
Earl Strongbow. This earl gave him con- 
siderable possessions in Ofaly, particularly 
the barony of Carbry in the county of Kil- 
dare. 

John de Birmingham, one of the descend- 
ants of Robert, was created knight in the 
fourteenth century, by Roger Mortimer, at 
that time Lord Justice of Ireland ; he was 
afterwards made baron of Athenry (in Irish 
Agh-na-Ry) and earl of Louth, for having 
killed in battle Edward Bruce, brother of 
the king of Scotland. The Birminghams 
frequently filled public offices in the state. 
They were invested during some time with 
the title of barons of Carbry. The house of 
Athenry is still in existence, with the title of 
premier baron of Ireland. 

The noble family of Preston derives its 
origin from Robert Preston, Esq., lord of the 
manor of Preston, in Lancashire, England, 
in the reign of Edward III. In the year 
1470 he was first created knight of the order 
of the garter, and in 1477 viscount Gor- 
manstown, in the county of Meath, and his 
descendants have filled with distinction 
places of trust and honor. 

Roche, otherwise de la Roche, or de rupe, 
i. e. of the rock, lord of Fermoy, in the 
county of Cork, was created, the same year, 
viscount of Fermoy. This noble family is 
descended from Hugh de la Roche, whose 
ancestors had followed William the Con- 
queror into England. Hugh crossed after- 
wards, with Strongbow, into Ireland, in the 
twelfth century, under Henry II., where he 
obtained a Cantred, called to this day 
Roche's country, with its dependencies. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



273 



Ralph, son of Alexander de la Roche, one 
of the descendants of Hugh, married, in 
the fourteenth century, Elizabeth, third 
daughter of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Glou- 
cester and Hereford, to whom Nichols, in 
his rudiments of honor, gives a descent 
from Charlemagne, through a great number 
of kings and sovereign princes. Such is the 
origin of that house, which subsisted in 
splendor until the revolution of Cromwell ; 
when David Roche, Viscount Fermoy, sacri 
ficed for his loyalty to his legitimate sove- 
reigns, Charles I. and II., an extensive es- 
tate, which still bears the name of Roche's 
country. 

The Barnewalls are from Little Brittany, 
in France, where some of their ancestors 
were allied to dukes of that province. Hav- 
ing accompanied William the Conqueror to 
England, they passed afterwards with Henry 
II. to Ireland, where they became possessed 
of Beerhaven, and other estates that be- 
longed to the O'Sullivans, in the county of 
Cork; but the O'Sullivans, with others of 
the Irish, having conspired against them, 
they were all massacred, except the wife of 
the head of that family, who was pregnant 
of a male child at the time, and escaped the 
carnage. This murder happened about the 
middle of the fifteenth century, according 
to a letter from the inhabitants of Cork to 
the duke of York, as mentioned by Cam- 
pion in his history, p . 1 84 . This letter makes 
mention of the Barnewalls, as the possessors 
of Beerhaven at that time. It also speaks 
of the Irish taking advantage of the disputes 
of some lords in the county of Cork, having 
fortified themselves in the country, a great 
part of which had fallen into their possession. 
The letter adds, that there remained but 
Roche, Courcy, and Barry, who possessed 
something of their patrimony. Madam 
Barnewall withdrew to Dublin, where she 
lay in of a son, who raised the family, which 
was almost extinct. He established himself 
at Dromenach, in the county of Dublin, and 
married a rich heiress, by whom he had two 
sons ; from the elder of whom were descend- 
ed the Barnewalls of Crickston, in the coun- 
ty of Meath, and the Viscounts Kingsland, 
and from the younger the barons of Trim- 
blestown. 

These two houses gave rise to several im- 
portant branches of the name in Ireland, 
who sustained in splendor the cause of reli- 
gion and of their country, among the sev- 
eral revolutions which happened in it. 

The noble family of Flemings in Ireland,* 

* Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. 



take their origin from Michael Fleming, a 
native of Flanders, whence the name is taken. 
He was related to Baldwin, earl of Flanders, 
who sent him with some troops to assist 
his son-in-law, William the Conqueror, in 
his expedition into England. After this he 
was sent with an army to the north of Eng- 
land, to oppose the incursions of the Scotch. 
William Rufus subsequently gave him some 
estates in the counties of Lancaster and 
Cumberland, as rewards for his services. 
Archibald Fleming, one of his descendants, 
having accompanied Earl Strongbow to 
Ireland, received the estate of Slane, in 
the county of Meath, with its dependen- 
cies. This family always supported itself 
with honor in the country. James Fleming, 
lord baron of Slane, was created Knight 
of the Garter in 1479 ; and lastly, Christo- 
pher Fleming, baron of Slane, signalized 
himself in the revolution, under James II., 
and sacrificed his fortune for the good 
cause. 

The noble family of the Plunkets, more 
anciently called Plugenets, of Danish ex- 
traction, were established first in England. 
They came afterwards to Ireland, under 
Henry II., and settled in the counties of 
Meath and Dublin. Many great men were 
descended from them, who were remarkable 
for their attachment to the orthodox faith, 
and loyalty to their legitimate princes ; this 
family gave many peers to Ireland, viz., the 
barons of Dunsany, of Killeen, and Louth, 
and the earl of Fingal. 

The Dillons* hold a distinguished rank 
among the Irish nobility. Lodge gives to 
this family a very illustrious and ancient 
origin, fie says that they are descended 
from Lochan, or Logan, son of Hugh Slaine, 
of the race of the O'Neills, and monarch of 
Ireland towards the end of the sixth cen- 
tury. Lochan having killed his cousin, Col- 
man Kimidh, whom the monarch had united 
to him in the government, he was named 
Deloun, or Dillon, which signifies brave or 
valiant. In order to escape from the anger 
of his father, enraged against him for caus- 
ing the death of Colman, Lochan went into 
foreign countries, and entered into the ser- 
vice of the duke of Aquitaine, at that time 
at war with the king of France, and contrib- 
uted greatly, by his valor, to keep that prince 
in his sovereignty. The duke, to reward 
the services of Lochan, gave him his only 
daughter in marriage, and by virtue of this 
alliance he became prince of Aquitaine after 
the death of his father-in-law, who left no 

* Lodge's Peerage. 



274 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



male children after him. The descendants 
of Lochan ruled for a long time in Aqui- 
taine. In the twelfth century this family 
were dispossessed by William, prince of 
the house of Burgundy. Two male chil- 
dren of the race of Lochan, Thomas and 
Henry, were still living. Henry II., king 
of England, having espoused Eleanor, daugh- 
ter of William, and heiress of Aquitaine, 
thought it prudent to remove the two young 
pretenders to the principality ; and in order 
to take every opportunity from them of seek- 
ing after it, had them conducted to England, 
where he provided for them an education 
suitable to their birth, and on attaining man- 
hood, Henry received the order of knight- 
hood. 

Sir Henry Diloune, or Delion, now called 
Dillon, was sent to Ireland as first gentle- 
man and secretary to John, earl of Mor- 
tagne, afterwards king of England. This 
prince gave him the territory of Corkny, 
which belonged to Mac-Carron, in West- 
meath, with a part of Annaly. The do- 
mains of M'Geoghegan and O'Malachlin 
extended from the river Shannon, as far as 
Cloghanenumore, to the east of Mullin- 
gar. The family of Dillon became very 
numerous and renowned in the counties of 
Meath, Westmeath, Longford, Roscommon, 
Mayo, and in other districts of the kingdom. 

The Dillons have filled high places in the 
church and state. There were two peerages 
in the family ; Sir Robert Dillon was created 
baron of Kilkenny West, in 1619, by James 
I., and in 1622 the same king created him 
earl of Roscommon. He who ought to be 
his representative now, and heir to his for- 
tune as well as title, is brigadier in the king 
of France's armies. The second peerage 
was given in 1621 to Sir Theobald Dillon, 
who was created viscount of Castillo-gillen. 
in the county of Mayo, by James I. This 
family is well known in France, where an 
Irish regiment bears the name of Dillon 
In 1745 and 1747, two brothers of the fam- 
ily were successively its colonels, and shed 
their blood at the head of that regiment, in 
the battles of Fontenoy and Lawfeld, in the 
service of France. 

The family of Nettervil is very ancient 
in Ireland ; they have their origin from 
Charles, duke of Normandy. Sir Formal 
Nettervil passed over into Ireland in the 
twelfth century. He married Phaladelphia, 
daughter of William Vesey, by whom he 
had a son named Richard, who espoused 
Catherine, daughter of Sir Hugh de Lacy 
This family continued in splendor until the 
reign of James I., who created Nicholas 



Nettervil viscount of Louth, in the county 
of Meath, which house is still in being. 

The family of Bedlows, or Bellews, owe 
their descent to Normandy, as appears from 
the rolls of the abbey of Hastings. A no- 
bleman of that name accompanied William 
the Conqueror to England, in quality of 
marshal of his army. His descendants after- 
wards proceeded to Ireland, where they es- 
tablished themselves, and still hold large 
estates. Sir John Bellew was honored with 
the peerage in 1686, by king James II., 
under the title of Lord Baron of Duleek, 
in the county of Meath. This family is 
still in being. 

The Taffes of Ireland are originally from 
England ; their first appearance in Ireland 
was at the end of the thirteenth and begin- 
ning of the fourteenth century. William 
Taffe, one of the descendants of the family, 
espoused warmly the cause of Queen Eliza- 
beth against the Catholics of Ireland. He 
served that princess with zeal in her last 
campaigns in Munster, for which he was 
well rewarded ; he received his share of the 
confiscations made of the Catholic proper- 
ties, in that, and in the succeeding reigns. 

James I., wishing to compensate the ser- 
vices of the father, created Sir John Taffe, 
his son, baron of Ballymore, and viscount 
of Coranne, in the county of Sligo, where 
the estates of Mac-Donough were given him. 
Theobald, son of John, was created, in 1662, 
earl of Carlingford, in the county of Louth, 
by Charles II. Nicholas, son of the latter, 
was the third viscount, and second earl of 
Carlingford ; he was killed at the head of 
his regiment at the battle of the Boyne. 
Francis, his brother, was the third earl ; he 
served with distinction during 30 years in 
the empire, where he was lieutenant-gen- 
eral of cavalry, and colonel of the Royal 
Cuirassiers. This earl having died without 
issue, his nephew Theobald became the 
fourth earl of Carlingford, and the title be- 
came extinct by his death in 1738, at Lisle, 
in Flanders. Lambert Taffe, brother of the 
earl, colonel of cuirassiers in the service of 
the emperor, was killed in 1702, at the fa- 
mous battle of Cremona, where the French 
and Irish tore from Prince Eugene the city 
and victory which that general enjoyed for 
a few hours. 

The name of le Poer, at present Power, 
is an ancient one in Ireland. Sir Roger le 
Poer entered the country with Strongbow, 
in the twelfth century. He accompanied 
the knight Courcy to Ulster, where he shared 
largely in the conquest of a part of that prov- 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



275 



His descendants possessed Curraghmore, 
Cowleftyn, Gortbady, and other estates in 
the county of Waterford. Richard le Poer 
was created lord baron of Curraghmore, in 
1452, by Henry II. Another Richard Poer 
was created, in 1673, viscount of Desies 
and earl of Tyrone, by Charles II., but 
the title of Tyrone afterwards passed into 
another family. 

A descendant of Roger le Poer, named 
Eustace, in the beginning of the 14th cen- 
tury founded the illustrious house of Fitz- 
Eustaces, created viscounts of Baltinglass 
by Henry VIII. Under the reign of Eliza- 
beth, this family was sacrificed for their zeal 
in the Catholic cause. There are two families 
of the name still in being, viz., the Eustaces 
of G ammonstown, and those of Cradokstown. 

Although the following families are not 
found in the list of Irish peers, still there 
are many among them not inferior in either 
nobleness of extraction or in those qualities 
which characterize good citizens. 

The Walshes of Ireland are originally 
from Great Britain. The Britons, says 
Camden, exhausted by the long war they 
were forced to maintain against the perfidious 
Saxons, were constrained to seek a country 
even in their own. They retired into the 
district that lies west of Britain, since called 
Wales by the Saxons, and the inhabitants 
Welchmen, which signifies strangers. A 
striking picture of the conduct of the Eng- 
lish in Ireland, where the ancient inhabitants 
have been treated as strangers among them, 
and compelled to obtain letters of naturali- 
zation in the country which gave them birth. 
Two noblemen named Welshes, went to 
Ireland in the reign of Henry II. One of 
them, called Philip,* was mentioned by Ware 
as a valiant young man, from the bravery he 
displayed in a naval engagement with the 
Danes of Cork : the other, named David, dis- 
tinguished! himself particularly at the pas- 
sage over the Shannon, when Reymond le 
Gros attempted to lay siege to Limerick. 

These were the two stocks of the different 
families of the Walshes (called by the Irish 
Brannaghs) established in Ireland. We 
discover them in the counties of Kilkenny, 
Kildare, and Dublin,^ where the Walshes of 
Carrickmain were lords of Oldcourt. Their 
power, says Camden, equalled their noble- 
ness in that country. 

We see, at the present day, two brothers, 
who are offshoots of the noble family of 



* Annal. Hib. c. 5. 

t Cox. Hist, of Irel. p. 28. 

t Camden. Brit 



Walshes in Ireland, established in France, 
one of whom conducted Prince Edward into 
Scotland in 1745, which would have earned 
for him the title of lord. The other has 
purchased the beautiful estate of Seran in 
Anjou, and has been honored by the king 
of France with the title of count. 

The Warrens are of Norman extraction. 
William, count of Warren in Normandy, 
being allied to the duke of that province. 
He was nephew to the countess of Gunnora, 
great-grandmother of that prince. He ac- 
companied the duke in his famous expedition 
to England in 1066, and distinguished him- 
self greatly at the battle of Hastings, which 
transferred the crown of England to the 
conqueror. The king, in consideration of 
the services of Count Warren, gave him 
estates and lordships in the counties of Nor- 
folk and Lincoln.* He was created in the 
following reign count of Surrey, and the 
house became powerful in England. William, 
count of Surrey, left after him a son also 
named William, who inhabited his estates 
and titles. The latter had three sons, one 
named William, who succeeded him, besides 
Reginald and Ralph. Reginald having es- 
poused Alice, heiress of Wirmgay, in the 
county of Norfolk, founded a second family 
of Warren. 

The descendants of that family removed 
afterwards to Ireland, where they became 
very numerous and influential, as well by 
their virtues as their possessions. In addition 
to public notoriety, this account is strength- 
ened by topographical proofs which are not 
to be despised. We discover in the maps on 
Ireland, places which bear their name in 
two different provinces. The name Warrens- 
town, that is, the town or borough of War- 
ren, is found in the King's county in Leinster, 
and in Down in Ulster ; clearly indicating 
the old proprietors. There was a family of 
the name in the county of Meath near Dun- 
shaughlin, who possessed a large estate ; 
but it has undergone the same lot with 
others, and there remains of these different 
branches, only Warren of Corduff, near 
Dublin, who still possesses a part of the 
family estate. 

A cursory piece written by Sir James 
Ware, and printed under his own inspection 
in London, a. d. 1657, gives a very remote 
origin to the Whites of England and Ireland. 
The venerable Bede, in his ecclesiastical 
history of the English nation, supplied him 
with the materials for it.f Ware gives the 

* Baker's Chron. on the reign of William, 
t Book 1, c. 15. 



270 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



opinions of Polidore Virgil, of Speed, Cam- 
den, Florentius Wigorn, Gratzius, and others ; 
and from drawing a comparison of all, he 
concludes, with a great probability of truth, 
that White is a Saxon name, derived from 
Vitus, Wite, or Weight, according to the dif- 
ferent changes which have occurred to the 
name since the establishment of the Vites 
in England, in the beginning of the fifth 
century. 

Sir Walter Whyte removed with his bro- 
thers into Ireland in the time of Henry II. ; 
his father was governor and justice of South 
Wales, which had then the title of a kingdom. 
The Whites became settled in different 
counties of Ireland, where they held a dis- 
tinguished rank among the nobility. Cam- 
den, in his description of the country, places 
them in the counties of Kildare, Wexford, 
and Down. Among the different families 
of the Whites, that of Lexslip ranks the 
highest, from their merits, wealth, and con- 
nections. 

Chance has put into my hands some very 
interesting and ancient documents respecting 
the Whites in general, but more particularly 
a branch of that name established in Lime- 
rick, before the revolution fomented in Ire- 
land by the tyrant Cromwell. These docu- 
ments are legally authenticated copies, col- 
lated with their originals at Brussels. 

The first is a patent of the Emperor Max- 
imilian I., written in the Latin language, 
dated atTournay, a. d. 1513. By this patent, 
the emperor created Dominic White baron 
of Albis, both for himself and his descendants . 
The motives which induced the emperor to 
grant the patent are particularized, which 
are, the origin of the name, taken fromViti, 
a people of Germany, (being attested by 
letters from Henry VIII. to the emperor;' 
the bravery which that nobleman displayed 
at the sieges of Terouene and Tournay ; the 
goodness of his disposition, and finally the 
beauty of his person, a quality hereditary in 
that family. 

The second document is a certificate of 
the earl of Strafford, Viceroy of Ireland. 
It is dated Dublin, 25th December, anno 
1639. It is followed by another, signed by 
the bishop of Limerick, the mayor, and other 
magistrates of that city. We have already 
noticed the fragment of Sir James Ware, 
dated London, 1657. Charles II., king of 
England, likewise gave a diploma at Brussels, 
in 1658, which is in conformity with those 
now mentioned. The purport of all is to 
authenticate the origin and nobility of this 
ancient family. 

The Wales of Ireland take their origin 



from a barony of Northampton in England, 
of which they had been the possessors in 
the time of William the Conqueror. 

William Wale, son of that ancient family, 
went over to Ireland in the twelfth century, 
when Richard Strongbow was invited thither 
by the king of Leinster. In the second 
division which Strongbow made of the estates 
in Leinster, he gave to William Wale that 
of Johnstown in the county of Carlow, to 
reward him for the services he had rendered 
in the reduction of that district. This first 
inheritance was afterwards increased by the 
acquisition of other estates, viz., those of 
Coolnamuckie, Ballynakelly, in the Queen's 
county, and several others. This family 
was distinguished by their virtues and merited 
the confidence of their sovereigns, who fre- 
quently appointed them to offices of high 
trust in the state ; but their attachment to 
the religion of their fathers caused them to 
share the same lot of many among their 
countrymen. Count Wale, minister to the 
court of Spain, is descended from this noble 
house.* 

The family of the Stacks is of consider- 
able antiquity in Ireland. It derives its 
origin from the ancient Gauls. Some of the 
family having followed the fortunes of Wil- 
liam the Conqueror into England, established 
themselves in Wales. It is asserted, that 
before the time of Henry II., Mac-Carty 
More had married a lady belonging to it, 
and that he brought over with her into Ire- 
land her four brothers, to whom he offered 
estates in the county of Kerry. However 
this may be, it is certain that the family set- 
tled in the country at a very early period, 
and formed several branches which possessed 
considerable property in the neighborhood 
of Ardfert, as far as the river Smearlagh. 
There is still a district of the country called 
P oble-Stuckagh, that is, the country of the 
Stacks, who were proprietors of it. This 
topographical proof is not to be disregarded, 
being a public testimony to the antiquity of 
the family. Its alliances too with the best 
families of the province, namely, the Mac- 

* It is a singular feature in the character of the 
virtuous and renowned family of the Wales, that the 
author of this translation is enabled to bear testi- 
mony to the nobleness of sentiment and reputation 
sustained by their descendants. While residing at 
Versailles, immediately before the abdication of 
Charles X., M. de Wale, captain in the regiment of 
cuirassiers quartered then in that city, was very 
intimately known to him. His father, Count de 
Wale, was military commander and governor of 
Paris at the particular juncture of Louis Philippe 
gaining the throne of France ; the de Wales are of 
the Carlist party, taking no place under L. Philippe. 
—P. O'Kelly. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



277 



Mahons, the Fitzgeralds,the McCarthys, the 
Burkes, the Fitzmaurices, and others, shew 
the consideration in which it was held. The 
Stacks met the fate of so many of their fel- 
low-countrymen ; their zeal for religion and 
attachment to their legitimate monarch, were 
crimes with them as with others. They 
were on these grounds deprived of their 
possessions, some under Elizabeth, others 
by the usurper Cromwell. Ponsonby, a 
soldier of fortune and a creature of his, ob- 
tained the estates of Stackstown and Crotto. 

To establish the antiquity of the noble 
family of the Darcys in Ireland,it is sufficient 
to say that they are descended from Sir 
John Darcy, lord-justice and viceroy in 
that kingdom in the fourteenth century. The 
first stock of that name was Norman de 
Arcy, who had entered England with Wil- 
liam the Bastard. The Conqueror gave him 
thirty-three lordships in the county of Lin- 
coln,* the chief of which was Nocton, where 
he established his residence ; his son Robert 
succeeded him, and Thomas succeeded the 
latter. These noblemen founded and en- 
dowed religious houses. They filled high 
places in the military and civil departments, 
and were greatly esteemed by their sove- 
reigns. The name de Areci was afterwards 
changed into that of d'Arcy ; the accent 
was at length suppressed, and at present it is 
written Darcy. 

John Darcy, mentioned above, was fre- 
quently named lord-justice of Ireland. 
Edward III. to reward his services gave him 
by letters patent the estates of Rathwer and 
Kildalk, in the barony of Farbile, in Ireland. 
His first wife was Emelina, daughter and 
heiress of Walter Heron. He had by her 
three children, John, Eleanor, and Roger ; 
this was the stock of the house of Holder- 
ness, in England. Havingbecome awidower, 
he married Joanna, daughter of Richard 
Burgh, earl of Ulster, and the widow of 
Thomas, earl of Kildare. He had by this 
marriage a son namedWilliam,from whom the 
Darcys of Plattin are descended, and those 
of Dunmow, in the county of Meath ; the 
first were dispossessed in the late revolution 
for their attachment to the loyalist cause. 

The Darcys of Connaught were a collat- 
eral branch of the house of Plattin. Nicho- 
las, brother to John Darcy of Plattin, and 
descended in the fifth degree from John 
Darcy, lord-justice of Ireland, having 
married the daughter and heiress of 0'- 
Duraghy, lord of Partry, in the county of 
Mayo, became possessed of the whole for- 
tune of that family. This branch multi- 

* Dugdale's Baronage of England, b. 2, p. 369. 



plied exceedingly ; several other families 
sprang from it, viz., the Darcys of Kiltolla, 
of Chmuane, of Gorteen, and others in Con- 
naught. Some other families may be intro- 
duced here, which, according to Camden, 
were of English descent, to wit, the Jordans, 
the Nangles of Castlough, and the Prender- 
gasts of Clan-Moris. 

The family of the Aylmers were estab- 
lished at Lyons in the county of Kildare, 
in Ireland, at the end of the thirteenth cen- 
tury. It is said that they have their origin 
from Aylmer, earl of Cornwall in the reign 
of Ethelred, lung of England in the tenth 
century. However this be, history mentions 
Ralph Aylmer and William his brother, to 
have been in possession of Lyons in the 
year 1300. This family multiplied them- 
selves exceedingly, and subsequently gave 
out the collateral branches of the Aylmers 
of Ballykenan, Donadea, Dullardstown, and 
of Balrath. They were distinguished by 
their virtues and high connections, as well 
as for their attachment to the Roman Cath- 
olic religion. The houses of Lyons and 
Balrath are still in being. 

There are several families of Browns in 
Ireland. They are not less respected for 
their virtues and nobleness than for their 
extraction. They are of English descent, 
and there is in England a viscount Montague 
who bears that name. 

The Browns of Kenmare are established 
in the county of Kerry since the reign of 
Elizabeth. The first of that noble family 
who went to Ireland, was Sir Nicholas 
Brown, of Tataridge, in the county of Hert- 
ford. This family was allied to the O'Sul- 
livans, McCartys, Fitzgeralds, Butlers, and 
other noblemen of that province. They 
received the honor of the peerage from 
James II., who created Valentine Brown 
baron of Castleross and viscount Kenmare, 
in the county of Kerry. 

Some families of Browns were established 
in Connaught, viz., those of Neal, Westport, 
Elystren, and others. Some also were of 
the counties of Limerick and Waterford ; 
we discover a family of the name in the 
county of Kildare in possession of the lord- 
ship of Castlebrown. 

The noble family of the Wogans of Rath- 
coffey is well known in that district. They 
are descended from Sir John Wogan, lord- 
justice of Ireland at the close of the 
thirteenth century. We find also in the 
county of Kildare, the Husseys of Moyle- 
Hussey ; there are also the Husseys of Old- 
town, near Kilcock, and some others. Cam- 
den places in the same county, the de la 



278 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Hides, the Boiseles, the Suttons, and others.* 
These last, as well as the Suttons of Wexford, 
hare their descent from Sir John Sutton, 
lord Dudley, viceroy in Ireland in the be- 
ginning of the fifteenth century .j - 

The family of Devereux, in Wexford, 
have the same origin as the Devereuxs of 
England, sometime earls of Essex. They 
are descended from a count d'Evreux in 
Normandy, who was archbishop of Rouen. 
The other good families of the county of 
Wexford are the Sinnotts, Staffords, Chee- 
vers, Furlongs, Fitzharris, Mastersons, 
Hores, Hates, Coddes, Maylers. 

In the county of Kilkenny are found the 
Graces, Lovels, Foresters, Shortels, Blanch- 
fields, Drilands, Comerfords. The Carews 
were established in the county of Carlow, 
the Herberts, Colbys, Moores, in the King's 
county. The respectable family of the Tyr- 
rels are said to have been first of Castle 
knock, in the county of Dublin, and to have 
had the title of barons. They were trans 
planted afterwards into the barony of Fer 
tullagh in the county of Westmeath, where 
they supported for a long time the noble- 
ness of their origin.^ 

There are, in the county of Dublin, 
the Talbots, of Malahide, who are yet in 
being, the Holywoods, Lutterells, Burnills, 
Fitzwilliams, Gouldings, Ushers, Caddels, 
Finglas, Sarsfields, Purcels, Blackneys 
Cruces, Baths, and others. 

The county of Meath, besides titled fami 
lies, contains the Husseys, barons of Gal 
trim, Cusacks, and Garvys. In Westmeath, 
the Petits, Tuites, Nangles, Daltons, and 
other names may be discovered. 

In the county of Waterford, an ancient 
family named Strange is established. They 
are descended from Sir Thomas Strange,^ 
a deputy in Ireland in the 15th century. 
Tins family was transplanted by Cromwell 
into Connaught. According to Camden, 
the Hurleys, Chaceys, Suppels, Purcels, 
all of English origin, are to be met with in 
the county of Limerick. 

The expedition which Sir John Courcy 
conducted into Ulster, afforded an oppor- 
tunity to some English families to establish 
themselves in that province. In the county 
of Louth, the Verdons, Tates, Clintons, 
Dowdals, Gernons, Hadsors, Wottons, Bran- 
dans, Moors, and Chamberlans, are to be 
found ; and in the county of Down, the 
Russels, Audleys,, Savages, Ridells, Man- 

* Dugdale's Baronage, book 2, p. 215. 
t Ware's Annals. 

X Camden's Description of Ireland. 
§ Ware's Annals. 



devills, Jordans, Stantons, Stokes, Passe- 
levys, Copelands, Martels, Logans, Sandals, 
and the Camerars, appear to be established. 
Besides the families mentioned, according 
to Camden and Ware, the following are dis- 
covered to have been found in Ireland in the 
12th century, and afterwards in the time of 
Henry VIII., when they were in possession 
of estates. 

In Leinster, the Wolwostons, the Pep- 
pards, the Wallases, Blacks, Redmonds, 
Esmonds, Chettens, Tobins, Aliens, Gen- 
nits, Wades, Sweetmans, St. Logers, Grants, 
Archers, Rochfords, Datons, Rothes, Wares, 
Purfields, Smiths, Cooks, Hooks, Taylors, 
Dens, and Archdekins. 

In Munster, there were the Lacys, Can- 
tillons, Mathias, Nagles, Morres, Keatings, 
Johns, Piercies, Comminges, Rices, Moc- 
lers, Cantwels, Stapletons, Mandevills, Lom- 
bards, Tallons, Golds, Baggots, Bagnels, 
Coppingers, Porters, Cosbys T Dennys, Ter- 
rys, Goughs, Stritches, Pickets, Dondons, 
Waters, Skiddys or Squiddys, the Woulfs, 
of Tirry-Callane, in the county of Clare. 
In the county of Galway, we see the Blakes, 
Keerevans, Lynches, Frenchs, Bodkins, 
Martins, Craftons, and others. 

In Meath are found the Everards, Gar- 
lands, Griffins, Biataghs, Dungans, Ivers, 
Dardis, Ledwidges, Pallas, Aliens, Deases, 
Cheevers, Dowdals, Cruces, Malpas, and 
others : and lastly, a family named Drom- 
golds, in the county of Louth. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Henry II., having received the submission 
of some of the principal lords in Ireland, 
established a colony of English in Leinster ; 
and having settled governors in the import- 
ant places, (as has been observed in the 
preceding chapter,) sailed for England du- 
ring Easter, a. d. 1 172.* He went afterwards 
to Normandy, where his son Henry, to whom 
he had given a share in the government some 
time before, rebelled like a second Absalom 
against his father and benefactor. The king's 
debaucheries were in a great degree the cause 
of this revolt. Eleanor, his queen, jealous 
of the number of concubines he supported, 
in violation of all conjugal fidelity, excited 
her son Henry, who had been crowned with 
Marguerite, his princess, daughter of Louis 



* Christophori Pembrige Annal. Hib. a Camd. 
edit, ad calcem Britan. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



279 



VII., to lay claim to his father's throne.* 
This young prince was abetted in his rebel- 
lion by his brothers, Richard and Geoffroy, 
and supported by his father-in-law, Louis 
VII., and Philip Augustus, his son and suc- 
cessor. The consequences of this rebellion, 
Were the invasion of his states by the neigh- 
boring princes, and by his own subjects ; 
the taking of Vemeuil in Normandy, in the 
time' of Louis VII., and of Mans, his native 
city, under Philip Augustus. So strongly 
was he affected by the loss of Mans, that he 
cried out in blasphemous imprecations, " I 
shall no longer love God, who has permit- 
ted that I should be deprived of a place so 
dear to me." 

Henry II. was too busily employed on the 
continent, to attend to the affairs of Ireland 
himself. As a skilful politician, he consid- 
ered it necessary to induce his English sub- 
jects, whom he had left there, to support his 
interests for the sake of their own. Among 
the English chiefs he divided the lands of 
those princes who had just acknowledged 
his dominion by a voluntary submission, 
violating thereby the treaties and solemn 
promises which he had made to maintain 
them in their wealth and dignities. 

Notwithstanding the jealousy which the 
success of Richard Strongbow, and his alli- 
ance with the royal house of Leinster, excited 
in Henry, he granted to this nobleman, as 
a military tenure, the entire of the country, 
except Dublin and other maritime towns, 
with their dependencies, and the strong 
places, which he reserved for himself.f 
This donation was afterwards confirmed by 
a charter granted by King John to William 
Marshal, earl of Pembroke, who had mar- 
ried Isabella, daughter and heiress of Earl 
Richard. The copy of this charter is among 
the archives in the tower of London. 

Strongbow found himself enabled, through 
the liberality of his prince, to be generous to 
his favorites, and created vassals for himself 
by sub-infeudations. He first gave to Ray- 
mond, who had married his sister Basilea, 
the lands of Fothert, Odrone, and Glascarig 
to his cousin Hervey, surnamed de Monte 
Marisco, the district of Obarthy ; to Maurice 
Prendergast the lands of Fernegenelan ; to 
Myler Fitzhenry the district of Carbry, at 
present a barony in the county of Kildare : 
Naas, a considerable town in this country 



* Baker, Chron. Engl. p. 54. Abridg. Chron. of 
the Hist, of France, on the reign of Louis VII. 
and Philip Augustus. 

t Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 3. War. 
de Antiq. Hib. cap. 27. Idem, in Annal. cap. 3. 



with its dependencies, extending to Kildare 
town, which gives name to the country, and 
which formerly belonged to Mackelan, were 
given to Maurice Fitzgerald, together with 
the town of Wicklow. This concession was 
confirmed, after the death of Maurice Fitz- 
gerald, to his son, by King John, the charter 
of which is in Bermingham tower, in Dublin. 

In this distribution of the properties of the 
Irish, Walter Ridelesford had the district of 
Omorthy, in the county of Kildare, near 
Castledermot, given him ; Vivian de Cursun 
received the district of Ratheny,near Dublin, 
(formerly the patrimony of Gilcolm ;) John 
Clahul, the lands extending from Aghavo, 
in Ossory, as far as Lechlin, with the office 
of Marshal of Leinster ; and Robert Ber- 
mingham got, as his portion, O'Faly, that 
is, that part of the domain of O'Connor Faly, 
in the county of Kildare, extending towards 
the river Boyne. Adam of Hereford, one 
of his favorites, obtained extensive posses- 
sions, which are specified in an ancient 
registry in the monastery of St. Thomas, 
Dublin : namely, a territory in the county 
of Kildare, near the waterfall called the 
Salmon leap, on the river Liffey, at present 
the barony of Salt ; the lands of Cloncoury, 
Kille, Houterard, and the district of Don- 
ning, with its dependencies. Adam, who 
never had or would have been so rich in his 
own country, sent to England for his bro- 
thers John and Richard, the better to defend 
himself against any attempts of the ancient 
proprietors. With them he shared the pro- 
perty thus obtained, reserving to himself the 
territory of Salt and its dependencies. 

Strongbow likewise conferred on Milo 
Fitzdavid the district of Overk, in Ossory. 
He made some other grants also : namely, 
the lands of Arde to Thomas Le Fleming ; 
to Gilbert Borard, those of Ofelmith ; to a 
certain knight* called Reinand, fifteen mili- 
tary fiefs along the sea-shore ; and to one 
Robert, son of Richard, who was afterwards 
killed in Connaught, the barony of Norragh, 



* The word knight was anciently called Miles. 
Knights, in general, had neither regiments nor even 
companies ; they were commonly volunteers, formed 
into corps like our Gendarmes. It is not easy to 
decide what was the pay of a knight : Sir John 
Davis, in his historical narrative, wherein the dif- 
ferent ranks of officers who accompanied Prince 
Lionel, son of Edward III., to Ireland, in the four, 
teenth century, are given, makes it two shillings a 
day. Troops were not raised in those times in the 
name of the king, nor by commission, as at pre- 
sent ; but the lords had to supply forces for their 
prince, in time of war, either by paying a sum of 
money, or by a portion of land, the proceeds of 
which were to be applied to that purpose. 



280 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



on the river Barrow, in the county of Kil- 
dare. At length the earl having come to 
Ferns, gave his natural daughter in marriage 
to Robert de Quincy, with the district of 
Daffren as a dowry, and afterwards appointed 
him constable of Leinster. After the cele- 
bration of the nuptials, the earl departed for 
Kildare, whence he set out in the beginning 
of the year, at the head of a thousand horse 
and foot soldiers, to invade the possessions 
of O'Dempsy, in Offaly, where he pillaged 
and burned some villages, and carried off 
considerable booty to Kildare ; but he had 
the mortification to lose Quincy, his son-in- 
law and general, who was killed at the head 
of his troop in a defile, where he was at- 
tacked by O'Dempsy. Quincy left an only 
daughter, who was afterwards married to 
Philip, son of Maurice Prendergast. 

However weak Henry II. 's claim may 
have been to the province of Leinster,* he 
had still less to the territory of Meath, which 
had been for many ages the domain of the 
monarchs of Ireland, and in no way de- 
pendent upon Leinster. Nevertheless, by 
a charter, dated at Wexford, he granted this 
extensive territory to Hugh de Lacy, (on 
condition of keeping fifty knights for his 
service,) and to his descendants, as pos- 
sessed by Murchard O'Melaghlin before him. 
This grant was confirmed in favor of his 
son, Walter de Lacy, by King John, as we 
discover by a charter, among other registries 
in the tower of London ; whereby he added 
some other fiefs which belonged to the 
crown, in the territory of Fingal, near Dub- 
lin, to the grants made by his father Henry. f 

To secure himself in the possession of 
Meath, Hugh de Lacy exercised unheard-of 
cruelties upon the inhabitants of the country. 
Not content with depriving the old proprie- 
tors of their possessions, he caused a great 
number of them to be massacred. He after- 
wards penetrated into the territory of Annaly, 
(Longford,) sword in hand, where he com- 
mitted horrible devastations, and killed, in a 
skirmish, Donald O'Ferral, prince of that 
country. O'Melaghlin, hereditary prince 



* The right of Henry II. to the crown of Lein. 
ster was founded upon the settlement, only, which 
the king of this province had made of it on Richard 
Strongbow, in consequence of the assistance he had 
given him in the recovery of it, and the forced ab- 
dication which Strongbow had made in favor of 
Henry II. 

t The military fief was a certain portion of land, 
producing twenty pounds a year ; the county com- 
prised about twenty military fiefs, and the barony 
nearly thirteen. — Selden. Titul. Honor, part 2, 
cap. 5. 



of Meath,* overwhelmed with grief at the 
hostilities exercised against his native coun- 
try, came to Dublin, to Lacy, to complain 
of the outrages perpetrated in Meath and 
other districts. These two lords, unable to 
bring their differences to a conclusion in 
Dublin, agreed to meet at Tara, in Meath, 
and explain matters more fully, in order to 
bring about a reconciliation. The number 
of persons that were to accompany each 
party was fixed upon, and also the kind of 
arms they were to carry. 

The prince of Meath inveighed loudly at 
their conference, against the injustice of the 
king of England, who, notwithstanding the 
promises he had given of supporting him in 
the possession of his wealth and dignities, 
had sent robbers to invade his patrimony ; 
and who, although avaricious and sparing of 
his own possessions, was lavish of those of 
others, and enriched libertines and profli- 
gates, who had consumed the property of 
their fathers in debauchery. However just 
these reproaches were, it may be readily 
inferred that they were not palatable to De 
Lacy. He was highly offended with the 
rebuke, but still dissembled for the moment. 

Stanihurst, who was in heart as much an 
Englishman as if born in London, being 
desirous to cast a doubt upon the honor of 
O'Melaghlin, dares to affirm that this prince 
had posted at the foot of the hill on which 
the conference was held, a body of armed 
men, ready to appear on the first signal. t 
He also adds, that the prince of Meath struck 
De Lacy with an axe, and that missing him, 
he killed his secretary. The same author, 
however, acknowledges that there was a 
body of English, well mounted and armed, 
lying in ambush at a short distance from the 
place of meeting, to await the event ; and 
in order to warrant such precaution, he art- 
fully introduces a dream, that he said Griffin, 
brother of Raymond le Gros, had, which 
portended evil to De Lacy. However this 
be, O'Melaghlin was struck by Griffin with 
a poniard in the back, as he was mounting 
.his horse ; and was then beheaded, and his 
body interred with the feet upwards. This 
head was sent to Dublin, and thence to 
England, as the head of a traitor and a rebel. J 



* The same as we have in another place called 
Mortough Mac-Floinn, father of Derforguill, who 
had married O'Rourke, or O'Rork. 

t De Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 3, page 133. 

t The English had scarcely set their foot in Ire- 
land, when they began to treat the natives, who so 
justly defended their homes against them, as rebels. 
Such has been always since the manner in which 
that imperious nation had acted. This cannot 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



281 



Stanihurst, who mentions O'Rourke to have 
been prince of Meath, ascribes this catastro 
phe to him. The tyranny of De Lacy drew 
on him afterwards the execration of all good 
men, and merited for him a violent death in 
the end. 

This English nobleman, eager to have his 
vassals, divided Meath into dynasties, which 
he conferred on his favorites.* To Hugh 
Tirrel, his friend, he gave the territory of 
Castleknock ; and to William Petit, that of 
Castlebreck. He also granted to the latter, 
according to an ancient charter, the lands of 
Magherithirnan and its dependencies, ex- 
cept the lake and town, called Dissert. To 
Meiler Fitzhenry, he gave the lands of Mag 
heran, Rathkenin, and the cantred of Athi 
norker ; to Gilbert De 1' Angle, or Nangle, 
the land of Magherigallen ; to Joceline, son 
of Gilbert Nangle, the town of Navan, and 
the lands of Ardbraccan ; to Robert De 
Lacy, those of Rathever ; to Richard Tuit, 
and Richard De la Chappelle, he gave 
several districts ; to Galfrid Constantine, 
the lands of Kilbixy and Rathmarthy, near 
the river Inny. A charter granted by Wal- 
ter De Lacy, son of Hugh, treats more 
largely of this grant ; according to it, it con- 
sisted of five fiefs, in the Theof of Kilbixy; 
with a castle, and of fifteen in the district of 
Conemake (Conmacne) in the neighborhood 
of the castle, beyond that river. To Adam 
De Feipo, Gilbert De Nugent, William De 
Misset, and Hugh De Hose, he granted ex- 
tensive possessions ; namely, to Adam De 
Feipo, the territory of Skrine, in Meath, 
with the fiefs of Clontorht, and Stantreff, 
near Dublin, as appears by the copy of the 
charter, which has been preserved in a regis- 
try in the monastery of the blessed Virgin, 
near Dublin. To Gilbert Nugent he granted 
the district of Dealbna, (Delvin,) which had 
till then been the patrimony of the O'Finel- 
lans, with its towns and dependencies, ex- 
cept the town of Torrechelasch, belonging 
to the abbot of Foure. Lastly, he conferred 
on Misset the lands of Luin ; on Hose, or 
Hussey, the whole district of Deldies, for- 
merly belonging to Schaclin, or Moelsachlin ; 
on Adam Dullard, the lands of Dullenvarthy ; 
on one Thomas, the lands of Cramly, Tim- 
lath-Began, east of Kenlis, Lathrakalim, 
and Sendevonath ; and on Richard Le 
Fleming, he bestowed the lands of Cran- 
don. 

he wondered at, since in latter times we find that 
their writers look upon those troops as rebels, who 
supported the cause of their lawful prince, James 
II., against a usurper. 
* War. de Antiq. 



In the year 1172, died Giolla Ada O'Mu- 
gin, bishop of Cork, and previously abbot 
of the abbey of St. Finbar near that city, a 
man distinguished for his piety. About the 
same period Dubhay, archbishop of Tuam, 
convoked a provincial council in that city. 
This prelate consecrated three churches at 
the time mentioned.* 

The king of England finding himself hard 
pressed by his enemies in Normandy, a. d. 
1 173, sent in the month of April, in the year 
following, an order to Earl Strongbow, to 
repair immediately to him with all the forces 
he could collect.! Having placed garrisons 
in the towns and castles which were in the 
power of the English, the earl obeyed with 
alacrity, and set out with a few chosen troops 
for Normandy, where, Regan says, he re- 
mained for some time as warden or governor 
of Gisors. The king, however, who knew 
that his sway in Ireland was not firmly estab- 
lished, desired that Strongbow should re- 
turn thither as chief-justice or viceroy, in 
order to keep his new subjects firm in their 
allegiance to him. The earl, in obeying the 
king's orders, represented to him, that as 
great envy prevailed among his country- 
men, it was necessary he should have a col- 
league to be witness to his administration, 
in order to remove any suspicions which 
might attach to his conduct ; and required, 
therefore, that he would send Raymond Le 
Gros with him to Ireland. The king was 
much pleased by this apparent modesty, and 
granted his request ; and as a stimulus to his 
zeal in his service, he gave him in perpetuity 
the town of Wexford and the castle of 
Wicklow. 

On Strongbow's return to Ireland with 
Raymond, Hugh De Lacy gave him up the 
city of Dublin, where he was joyfully re- 
ceived. At the same time Robert Fitzber- 
nard, Robert Fitzstephen, and Maurice 
Prendergast, were ordered to proceed to 
England, where they joined the English 
army, and defeated Robert, earl of Essex, 
who had revolted against the king. The 
earl was made prisoner, and brought over 
to the king, who was still in Normandy. 

In the mean time, the Irish, convinced of 
the injustice and tyranny which the English 
exercised among them, began to have re- 
course to arms, to defend their properties, 
and revenge the loss of their liberty. The 
present they thought a favorable oppor- 
tunity for their purpose. The affairs of the 

War. de Episc. Corcag. Idem, de Archiep. 
Tuam. 

t Stanihurst, ibid. lib. 3. War. de Annal. Hib. 
cap. 5. 



282 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



strangers were in a bad state, and part of 
their army absent ; the exchequer was drained 
by the imprudence of Strongbow, and those 
to whom it had been intrusted ; the troops 
were in want of every thing, and began to 
mutiny against Hervey De Monte Marisco, 
who commanded them in the absence of 
Raymond Le Gros. He kept his men under 
severe discipline, and was obnoxious to the 
soldiery, from his desire to restrain them in 
their thirst for plunder. In order to allay 
among the troops a discontent which might 
be attended with dangerous consequences, 
Strongbow gave the command to Raymond, 
who possessed their confidence, and they 
then left the fortresses to go in quest of 
plunder. Raymond led them into the ter- 
ritory of Desie, belonging to the O'Faolans, 
and from thence to Lismore, where they laid 
waste the whole country. The booty was 
so considerable, that he was obliged to dis- 
patch part of it by sea to Waterford, under 
the command of Adam De Hereford, a. d. 
1174. 

The Danes of Cork, determined to inter- 
cept this convoy, equipped thirty-five vessels 
and attacked the English fleet. They, how- 
ever, lost the victory through the valor of 
Philip Walsh, who leaped, sword in hand, 
on board the admiral's ship, and killed Gil- 
bert, son of Turgesius, who commanded the 
Danes, when the latter, finding themselves 
deprived of their chief, thought prudent to 
withdraw, and De Hereford continued his 
course to Waterford. In the mean time, 
Raymond with difficulty marched his army 
thither by land, with the remainder of his 
spoils from the province, consisting chiefly 
of cattle, to the number of four thousand. 
He had to contend with Dermod, king of 
Cork and Desmond, who opposed him in his 
march. On his arrival at Waterford, he 
received intelligence of the death of his 
father, William Fitzgerald, which obliged 
him to cross over into Wales ; but others 
say that displeasure caused his sudden de- 
parture. According to Regan, he loved 
Basilia, sister of Earl Strongbow, who re- 
fused her to him, and also the office of con- 
stable of Leinster, during the minority of 
Quincy's daughter, which made him adopt 
that line of conduct. He retired to the cas- 
tle of Carew in Wales, and determined to 
lead a private life. 

This year was remarkable for a plague 
which desolated the provinces of Munster 
and Connaught, and for the death of the 
following illustrious personages : Maurice 
O'Coffy, bishop of Derry, (where he was 
interred, in the monastery of St. Columb,) 



one whose memory was always held in high 
veneration for his eminent virtues ; Celesti- 
nus, or Hyned O'Ronan, bishop of Glenda- 
lough ; and Melissa Mac- Award, bishop of 
Clonfert. Dunleve, prince of Ulidia, was 
likewise lulled by his own subjects ; and was 
succeeded in the government of his princi- 
pality by his son Roderick. 

After Raymond's retirement to Wales, the 
army being without a chief, Strongbow ap- 
pointed Hervey to the command. This 
general, desirous of trying the success of an 
incursion upon Limerick, collected the troops 
of Waterford and Dublin, and marched to- 
wards Cashel ; but being met by the mon- 
arch, Roderick O'Connor, at Durlas Hy- 
Ogarta, at present Thurles, in the territory 
of Ormond, his army was completely de- 
feated, and seventeen hundred English left 
dead upon the field.* Ware ascribes the 
glory of this action to Donald O'Brien, king 
of Limerick, and calculates that the loss of 
the English was not so considerable. Strong- 
bow was so much affected by the disaster, 
that he kept himself secluded for some time 
at Waterford, without seeing any one. 

Animated by this success, Roderick march- 
ed at the head of his army into Meath, 
which was then in possession of the English; 
pillaged and burned their habitations, and 
laid the whole country waste. Hugh Tyrrel, 
governor of this part of the country, in the 
absence of De Lacy, who was in England, 
finding himself unable to oppose so superior 
an army, led his troops towards Dublin, and 
destroyed the fortifications of Trim and 
Duleek. According to Regan, the allies of 
Roderick in this expedition were, beside the 
princes of Connaught, O'Melaghlin, prince 
of Meath, O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, and 
others. 

Strongbow's alarm, while he remained 
secluded at Waterford, was greatly increased 
by the intelligence he received of the loss of 
Meath. The natives were rising on every 
side, as well as the Danes who inhabited the 
coasts, and he saw himself on the eve of 
sharing the evil fortune of his countrymen. 
In order to avert the danger, he consulted 
with his friends, and wrote to Raymond, 
who had withdrawn the preceding year into 
Wales, an affectionate letter, in which he 
represented the unhappy posture of his affairs 
in Ireland, and entreated him to return im- 
mediately with some assistance to extricate 
him from his embarrassments ; proposing, as 
an inducement, to give himhis sister Basilia 

* Cambrens. Evers. cap. 9, page 89. Annal. 
c. 6, regnant. Hen. II. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



283 



in marriage, with whom he knew that he was 
deeply in love. It may be easily inferred, 
that Raymond felt pleased with a proposal 
that nattered both himself and his inclina- 
tions. Without loss of time, he, in concert 
with his cousin Milo, collected thirty young 
men of his own family, who were desirous 
of making their fortunes,* and one hundred 
horsemen, besides three hundred foot-sol- 
diers, and with this force he embarked for 
Ireland. On his arrival at Waterford, finding 
the inhabitants ready to attack the place, he 
facilitated Strongbow's escape, and brought 
him to Wexford. After this retreat of the 
earl, the Danes made themselves masters of 
the city, and put the English to the sword, 
without sparing either age or sex ; but being 
unable to force the tower of Reynald, which 
part of the garrison had shut themselves up 
in, and defended with obstinacy, the Danes, 
dreading the consequences of their rash 
enterprise, surrendered the city on unfavor- 
able terms. 

Earl Strongbow was not unmindful of his 
promises to Raymond ; he sent to Dublin 
for his sister Basilia, and their marriage was 
celebrated with great pomp at Wexford 
Raymond was immediately appointed con- 
stable of Leinster, in the room of Hervey, 
by whom that office had been held since the 
death of Quincy. 

Raymond now began to collect his forces, 
and putting himself at their head, led them, 
bv order of Strongbow, towards Meath 
Roderick's army was already weakened by 
the retreat of his allies after the reduction 
of the province, so that his own troops alone 
remained, with whom, according to Cam- 
brensis, he retired into Connaught, finding 
himself quite unable to keep the field against 
a general of Raymond's high military repu- 
tation. Regan, in whom more reliance can 
be placed than in Cambrensis,f asserts that 
the earl was there himself; that having 
attacked Roderick's rear-guard, one hundred 
and fifty men were killed ; and that having 
reinstated Tirrel at Trim, he returned to 
Dublin. However this be, it is certain that 
the English remained in possession of Lein- 
ster and Meath. 

In the course of this year, Hervey de Monte 
Marisco married Nesta, cousin to Raymond, 
and daughter of Maurice Fitzgerald ; and 
the earl gave his daughter Aliva in marriage 
to William Fitzgerald, eldest son of Maurice . 

* Ireland was at that time another Peru for the 
English, who were poor. The law which forbids 
us to usurp the goods of others, had no weight 
among them. 

t He was a near relative of Raymond's. 



In the same year died Gelasus, archbishop 
of Armagh, and primate of Ireland ; Eleu- 
therus, bishop of Clogher, in Meath ; Melissa 
O'Conactain, bishop of Elphin ; Patrick 
O'Barman, formerly bishop of Connor, who 
had retired to the abbey of Hy-Collum-Kill ; 
and Florence, or Flamin O'Gorman, a cele- 
brated professor in the university of Armagh. 

We discover at this time many celebrated 
writers in Ireland, even before the arrival of 
the English. Giolla, or Gilbert, bishop of 
Limerick, wrote some epistles, and a treatise 
on the state of the church, which Usher 
deemed worthy of being published.* Celsus, 
or Celestinus, archbishop of Armagh, wrote 
an abridgment of theology, which, accord- 
ing to Ware, was published at Vienna. 
According to Bede, he wrote several letters 
to Malachi, and certain ordinances, which 
were probably those enactedinthe celebrated 
synod held at Usneach in 1110, or 11 12, in 
the reign of Moriertach O'Brien. 

Malachi O'Morgain, archbishop of Ar- 
magh, wrote many epistles to St. Bernard ; 
he gave a compilation of the general statutes, 
and wrote laws on celibacy ; besides tradi- 
tions, and the life of St. Cuthbert, which he 
dedicated to David, king of the Scots. A 
prophecy respecting the popes is ascribed to 
him, which was published by Arnold Wion, 
in his Lignum Vita,. 

Tundal, or Tungal, a native of Cashel or 
Cork, in Munster, flourished about the year 
1159. He had frequent visions, which he 
himself, or some other person for him, has 
described. They are quoted by Tinmouth 
and Vincent, and are preserved in manu- 
script in the library of the university at 
Oxford. 

Congan, a Cistertain monk, lived in 1150. 
It is said that he wrote the life of Malachi, 
archbishop of Armagh, and some epistles to 
St. Bernard. It was at his request that this 
saint composed the life of Malachi, as appears 
by the preface, in which he styles him his 
reverend brother and dear friend. It is 
said that he also wrote the acts of St. Ber- 
nard. 

Maurice Regan, secretary and interpreter 
of Dermod Mac-Murrough, last king of 
Leinster, lived in 1171. He wrote with 
care a history of the affairs of Ireland in his 
time, which was put into French verse by 
one of his friends, and translated into Eng- 
lish by Sir George Carew, president of Mun- 
ster in the reign of queen Elizabeth. 

In this century, Concubran wrote three 
books on the life of St. Moninna, or Modwen, 

* Vet. Epist. Hib. Syllog. 



284 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



a virgin. He composed also two hymns in 
her praise. The original of these works is 
in the Cottonian library, from whence Ware 
says he obtained the copy. There is, in the 
same library, another manuscript, on the 
birth and dignity of St. Cuthbert, composed 
according to the ancient histories of Ireland, 
by Eugene, bishop of Ardmore, a suffragan 
of Cashel. 

Mathew O'Heney, archbishop of Cashel, 
lived about the end of this, and perhaps in 
the beginning of the following century. 
Among other things, he wrote the life of 
St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarn, and some 
epistles to the popes Celestinus III. and In- 
nocent III. 

About this time, says Ware, following 
the English authors, by whom alone it is 
mentioned, Henry II. sent Nicholas, prior 
of Wallingford, afterwards abbot of Malms- 
bury, and William Fitz-Adelm to Ireland, 
a. r>. 1175, with the bull of Alexander III., 
which they say was read and approved of 
in an assembly of bishops at Waterford. 
This bull, according to them, confirmed that 
by which Adrian IV. had already granted 
to this prince the title of lord of Ireland, and 
other privileges.* 

Strongbow being anxious to paralyze the 
efforts which Donald O'Brien, king of Lim- 
erick, was making in that country, sent Ray- 
mond with forces sufficient to reduce the 
capital in which he had taken shelter. On 
his way he met Donald Mac-Giolla-Phad- 
ruig, (Fitzpatrick,) prince of Ossory, the 
avowed enemy of Donald O'Brien, whojoined 
him in his expedition. Limerick was, at the 
time, open, and without fortifications ; the 
great difficulty being in crossing the river 
Shannon, by which it was surrounded. This 
was removed by the intrepid boldness of 
David Walsh, a young man of Wales, and 
nephew to Raymond ; he swam across the 
river, and by the goodness of his horse, sur- 
mounted the danger caused by the rapidity 
of the waters. This example was followed 
by the army, part of whom crossed by swim- 
ming also, and the remainder by a ford. 
When the English reached the opposite 
bank, they repulsed a detachment of the 
garrison which had made a sally against 
them, and pursuing that portion of it now 
in disorder, made themselves masters of the 
city. It was then given up to pillage, and 
Raymond, having placed a garrison in it, 
under the command of Meyler de St. David, 
returned to Wexford. Roderick O'Connor 
witnessed with grief the tyranny which the 

* Annal. Hib. cap. 7, reg. Hen. II. 



English were practising in Ireland, and find- 
ing it impossible to put an end to the dis- 
orders, judged it prudent to yield to the ne- 
cessity of the times by a voluntary submis- 
sion to the king of England. For this pur- 
pose he sent to him, as ambassadors, Cathol- 
icus, archbishop of Tuam, Concord, abbot of 
St. Brendan of Clonfert, and Laurence his 
chancellor, who were received by Henry on 
the 8th of October, 1175, at Windsor, where 
he was holding his parliament.* The king 
of England, flattered by this embassy, granted 
peace to Roderick, with the title of tributary 
king, which was transmitted to some of his 
successors. His son is called king of Con- 
naught, in a roll in the tower of London, 
dated the sixth year of the reign of John. 
In the fifth year of the reign of Henry III., 
he sent letters patent to the kings of Con- 
naught and of Kinel-Ean. Mathew Paris 
mentions, in the year 1240, the dispute be- 
tween Fedlim O'Connor and John de Bur- 
go, and the complaints which the former 
made to Henry III. in presence of his court, 
in London ;f tin's historian calls him king 
of that part of Ireland called Cunoch, (Con- 
naught. )+: Lastly, Henry III. granted to 
O'Brien, by charter, the lands of Thuomond, 
with the title of king. There is no charter 
to be found respecting Ulster, the kings of 
which had not as yet submitted to the Eng- 
lish yoke. 

About this time the kings of England be- 
gan to nominate to the vacant benefices in 
that part of Ireland which was under their 
dominion. Hoveden says that Henry III. 
had appointed to the bishopric of Waterford, 
Augustin, an Irishman by birth, and that he 
sent him to Ireland with Laurence, arch- 
bishop of Dublin, to be consecrated by Do- 
natus, archbishop of Cashel. According to 
annalists, Flathbert O'Brolcan, bishop of 
Derry, Malachi, or Melissa Mac-Inclericuit, 
andGelasus Mac-Cormac,both successively 
bishops of Down, died during this year. 
O'Brolcan was celebrated for his learning 
and generosity ; he resigned the episcopal 
see of Derry a short time before his death, 

* " This was the final agreement made at Windsor, 
on the 8th of October, 1175, between Henry, king 
of England, son of the Empress Matilda, and Rod- 
erick, king of Connaught, through Catholicus, arch- 
bishop of Tuam, Concord, abbot of St. Brendan, 
and Laurence, chancellor of the king of Connaught, 
viz., that the king of England granted to the afore- 
said Roderick, liege king of Connaught, that he 
shall continue king under him so long as he shall 
serve him faithfully, and shall be prepared for his 
service as his subject." — Hoveden, ad arm. 1175. 

t Hist. Anglic, page 365. 

t Rotulus Chart, an 6, Hen. III., Memb. 2. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



285 



and confined himself to the government of 
the abbey of St. Columb, having refused that 
of Hy. 

The alliance which Hervey had formed 
the preceding year with Raymond, by his 
marriage with his cousin Nesta, daughter of 
Maurice Fitzgerald, was insufficient to re- 
move the secret jealousy he entertained of 
him, caused by the loss of the office of con- 
stable of Leinster, which Strongbow had 
given to Raymond, and the preference testi- 
fied towards the latter by the troops, who are 
generally good judges of a general's merit ; 
he therefore determined to injure him.* He 
wrote a letter to the king of England, dictated 
with all the art that malice could devise, 
a. D. 1 176 ; in which strong suspicions were 
cast upon the conduct of Raymond, repre- 
senting him as an intriguing and popular 
character, likely to corrupt his majesty's sub- 
jects in Ireland. The too credulous Henry 
dispatched four commissioners to Ireland in 
the spring ; namely, Robert Poer, Osbert 
de Herlotera, William de Bendenges, and 
Adam de Gervensan, two of whom were 
ordered to bring Raymond to England, and 
the other two to remain with Earl Strongbow 
in Ireland. When the commissioners pre- 
sented their commands to Raymond, he im- 
mediately obeyed; but while they were wait- 
ing for a favorable wind to embark, news ar- 
rived that Limerick was besieged by Donald 
O'Brien, at the head of a powerful army, 
that the city was in want of provisions, and 
consequently that it should surrender if re- 
lief was not sent in time. 

Strongbow held a council of war to de- 
liberate on the means of sending succor to 
Limerick, but finding that the troops refused 
to serve if they were not commanded by 
Raymond, he, as well as the commissioners, 
considered this captain's presence necessary 
in so critical a conjuncture ; so that instead 
of embarking for England, Raymond resu- 
med his command by order of the earl. He 
marched with all possible diligence towards 
Limerick, at the head of eighty knights, two 
hundred horsemen, and three hundred foot- 
soldiers, with the troops of Murchard, prince 
of Kinseallagh, and Donald, prince of Ossory, 
who both joined him as allies. The king of 
Limerick, informed of the march of the Eng- 
lish, raised the siege, and came to meet 
them as far as Cashel, where he fell into an 
ambuscade on Easter Saturday : his army 
was surrounded by the superior forces of the 
English, and routed, after a vigorous resist- 

* Stanihurst, ibid. lib. 4. War. Annal. Hib. cap. 
reg. Hen. II. 



ance. The English then marched to Lim- 
erick, which they entered three days after- 
wards. We here discover the perfidy of 
the prince of Ossory, who had contributed 
much to the gaining of this battle : although 
an Irishman, he sacrificed the welfare of his 
country to his private hatred against Donald 
O'Brien ; and not content with aiding the 
English against him, he signalized himself 
in the beginning of the action by encouraging 
them to the combat. The English general 
had separate interviews with Roderick, king 
of Connaught, and Donald, kingof Limerick. 
They agreed on both sides to make peace, 
and Raymond received hostages from them. 

About this time, Dermod Mac-Carty, king 
of Cork and Desmond, wrote to Raymond, 
requesting him to send him some assistance 
against Cormacleiavac, his eldest son, who 
had rebelled against him with a design of 
dethroning him. This captain marched to- 
wards Desmond, at the head of some troops, 
and having quelled the revolt, and reinstated 
Dermod in the possession of his kingdom, 
he returned to Limerick. This unnatural 
son again conspired against his father, and 
put him into confinement ; but a violent 
death, by which this horrid action was pun- 
ished, restored the unhappy father to his 
liberty. Mac-Carty, filled with gratitude 
for the services he had received from Ray- 
mond, conferred an extensive territory on 
him in the county of Kerry, where he estab- 
lished his son Maurice, who became power- 
ful by his marriage with Catherine, daughter 
of Miles Cogan, and gave his name to his 
descendants, as well as to the territory, 
which is called Clan-Morris. 

In the beginning of June, 1 176, according 
to Keating, the celebrated Richard Strong- 
bow died a miserable death in Dublin, having 
exercised his tyranny over the inhabitants of 
Leinster for the space of seven years, sparing 
neitherthe clergy, churches, or monasteries.* 
His sister Basilia, wife of Raymond, did not 
fail to give timely information to her husband 
of an event which was so likely to change 
the aspect of their affairs. Raymond having 
consulted with his friends, it was determined 
that they should abandon Limerick, which 
was too distant from the centre of their pos- 
sessions ; that Raymond's presence was 
necessary in Dublin to guard the ports and 
fortresses belonging to the English ; and that 
the troops, which had been scattered in the 
different quarters, should be collected to se- 
cure the possession of Leinster. On leaving 
Limerick, Raymond gave the command of 

* History of Ireland, book 2. 



286 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the place to Donald O'Brien, who set fire to 
it immediately.* 

Raymond repaired with all possible dili- 
gence to Dublin, where they waited his 
arrival, to attend the funeral ceremonies of 
Strongbow, in accordance with the last will 
of that nobleman. His body was interred 
with great pomp, by Laurence O'Tool, arch- 
bishop of the city, in the cathedral of the 
holy Trinity, since called Christ's Church, 
where his tomb is still to be seen. 

The commissioners who were sent some 
time before by Henry II. to bring Raymond 
to England, finding the face of affairs altered 
by the earl's death, intrusted that general 
with the government of the colony till other 
arrangements could be made, and set out for 
England to render to the king an account of 
his affairs in Ireland. Upon their arrival 
Henry immediately sent over William Fitz- 
Adelm, with the title of viceroy, and ap- 
pointed for his colleagues John Courcy, 
Robert Fitzstephen, and Milo Cogan, who 
had rendered him important services during 
the war in which he had been engaged 
during two years, both in France and Eng- 
land. 

By his marriage with Eva, daughter of 
Dermod, king of Leinster, Strongbow had one 
daughter, called Isabella, heiress of his ex- 
tensive possessions in that province. Some 
time afterwards this princess married Wil- 
liam Marshal, an English lord, by whom she 
had five sons, and as many daughters : the 
sons all died without issue ; the daughters 
were married to English noblemen, who, in 
virtue of their alliance, claimed extensive 
estates in Leinster. It was thus the race 
of this celebrated man became extinct, whom 
the English have ranked as a hero, but who 
in reality was an extortioner and a tyrant ; 
it might be said of him, as the royal prophet 
said of the wicked man, that, having been 
raised above the cedars of Mount Libanus, 
there remained no vestige of him, but a hor- 
ror for his memory. t " He carried nothing 
with him," says Nubrigensis, " of the spoils 
of the Irish, for which he had evinced such 

* This action of O'Brien, which the English have 
treated of as a signal perfidy, is not so atrocious as 
may seem at first view. It should be observed, that 
as it was the want of any other defender which in 
duced the English to confide the place to Donald, 
it is evident that the latter considered himself un 
der no gratitude for a forced mark of their confi 
dence. Besides, O'Brien was the lawful master of 
the country ; it therefore appears just that he should 
have used the only means of recovering it from un- 
just usurpers, which was to destroy their settlements 
altogether. 

t Ps. 36, ver. 38, 39. 



greediness, and left to ungrateful heirs all 
the riches which he had amassed at the risk 
of his salvation ; his fall furnishes a salutary 
warning to posterity."* 

The Irish still retained a passion for found- 
ing religious houses, even in the midst of the 
troubles with which their country was agi- 
tated. In the history of this period we 
discover a strange mixture of cruelty and 
religion ; at one time an inclination to mutual 
destruction, at another to raising monuments 
of religious devotion. A people stripped of 
their possessions, to be given away in alms ; 
what justice ! what charity ! Little did 
these pious founders think that their zeal 
would be soon made unavailing by the im- 
piety of their descendants. Although the 
account of those foundations may appear te- 
dious to the reader, still, as they are facts 
which do not admit of doubt, my respect 
for religion, and consideration for the great 
number of virtuous persons that are yet in 
being, and interested to know the good ac- 
tions of their ancestors, will not allow me 
to pass them over unnoticed. 

Richard Strongbow, head of the English 
colony, was the first who gave the example 
to his fellow-citizens : being desirous of 
devoting to God, before his death, part of 
what he had taken from man, he founded a 
priory at Kilmainham, near Dublin, in 1174, 
so called from St. Mainan, or Maignan, a 
bishop who lived in the seventh century. 
This house was magnificent, and considered 
one of the finest in the kingdom before the 
suppression of religious houses in Ireland. 
It was the grand priory of the order of 
Templars, which was reunited in the four- 
teenth century with its eight commanderies, 
namely, Kilclogan, in the county of Wex- 
ford ; Killergy, in the county of Carlow ; 
Kilsaran, county of Louth ; Kilbarry, Kilure, 
and Crooke, county of Waterford ; Clonaul, 
county of Tipperary, and Teach-Temple, in 
the county of Sligo, to the order of Malta. 
The order of Malta was inconsiderable 
before this reunion, having but one priory, 
namely, that of Wexford, and nine com- 
manderies, which were, Kilbeg, Kilheal, and 
Tully, in the county of Kildare ; Kilmainan- 
Beg, and Kilmainan Wood, in east Meath ; 
St. John the Baptist of Ardes, county of 
Down ; Morne, or Ballinemony, county of 
Cork ; Any, county of Limerick, and Kil- 
nalekin, county of Galway ; so that by this 
union there were two grand priories of the 
order of Malta in Ireland, and seventeen 
commanderies. 

* Nubrig. de Reb. Anglic, lib. 2. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



287 



When William Fitz- Adelm arrived in Ire- 
land as chief-justice or viceroy, Raymond 
went to Wexford to congratulate him, and 
gave up the government with which he had 
beenintrusted by the commissioners ; where- 
upon the new viceroy took possession, in 
the name, and by order of the king, of all 
the places which had belonged to Strong- 
bow. 

According to Stanihurst, Fitz- Adelm was 
neither a foolish nor a wise man ; he was 
hostile to the Fitzgeralds, and frequently 
made them feel that he was possessed of 
more will than power to injure them. This 
family was already firmly established in 
Leinster, and allied to the principal chiefs 
of the English colony. Maurice Fitzgerald 
died this year at Wexford, much regretted ; 
he was the ancestor of all the noble families 
of that name in Ireland, by his three sons, 
William, Gerald, and Alexander. He was 
scarcely dead, when Fitz-Adelm seized upon 
the castle of Wicklow, which had been given 
him by Strongbow ; and in order to give 
some color to so flagrant an injustice, by 
way of compensation he gave to the three 
brothers the little town of Ferns, where the 
fortresses had been the only security against 
the insults of the inhabitants, to which they 
were exposed. These brothers, wishing to 
render their new establishment secure, began 
to build a castle, which was immediately 
demolished by Walter Allemand, Fitz- 
Adelm's nephew, and a man of obscure ori- 
gin ,but who was become conspicuous through 
the influence of his uncle, who committed to 
him the government of Wexford. 

About this time, Vivian, cardinal priest, 
with the title of St. Stephen in Monte Cmlio, 
was sent as legate, by Pope Alexander III., 
to visit the churches of Scotland, Ireland, 
and Norway. When passing through Eng- 
land, he was reproved by Henry II. for 
having entered his kingdom without permis- 
sion, and was made to swear that he would 
not, in his capacity of legate, do any thing 
prejudicial to his interests, whereupon, he 
proceeded to Scotland, from whence he set 
sail for the Isle of Man, on Christmas eve, 
where he was honorably received by God- 
frey, king of that island. He remained there 
for a fortnight, and from thence he went to 
Down, in Ireland. 

The castle of Slane, in Meath, was taken 
the same year by assault, and destroyed by 
Melaghlin Mac-Loghlin, the former pro- 
prietor of that country ; and Richard le 
Fleming, who was then master of it, having 
been given up to him by De Lacey, was 
killed, with several of his followers. 



John Courcy, a warlike but cruel man, 
seeing the rapid success of his countrymen 
in Ireland, and the extensive estates they 
had become possessed of by force, resolved 
to try his own fortune. With this view he 
turned his thoughts on Ulster, which had 
not been, as yet, entered by the English. 
He accordingly set out from Dublin, with 
four hundred men, in the month of January, 
a. d. 1177, for the county of Down, then 
called Ullagh, and arrived in the capital, 
called Down also, without meeting an enemy 
to oppose him.* The sight of these adven- 
turers caused great consternation in a place 
not provided with means of defending itself 
against an enemy, who were thought too re- 
mote to be feared. The general having given 
his orders, the barbarians commenced to 
break in the doors in all directions, to force 
open the chests and presses, and to carry 
off the property of the citizens, to satisfy, 
says Stanihurst, their extreme indigence and 
poverty. Nothing was heard on all sides, 
but tears, groans, and lamentations, while 
the streams were dyed with the blood of the 
innocent inhabitants . Such was the manner 
in which the English carried on their war- 
fare in Ireland — this was the mode in which 
they preached the gospel, and the example 
they gave to a people, whose morals they 
pretended to reform. The remonstrances 
of Cardinal Vivian, who was at that time in 
Down, produced no good ; in vain he en- 
treated of their leader to put an end to his 
cruel proceedings, and make peace with a 
people who were ready to submit to the king 
of England, and pay him tribute. Nothing 
could soften the barbarous heart of De 
Courcy, who only sought happiness in the 
misfortunes of others. 

Roderick, son of Dunleve, prince of the 
countiy, finding the necessity of having re- 
course to arms, collected ten thousand men 
in one week, to deliver the city of Down 
from the tyranny of the English. When 
Courcy heard of the preparations that were 
making against him, he left the city, and 
gave battle to Roderick in the open plain, 
where, after a severe action, he put the 
Irish army to flight. 

There is an obvious contradiction in the 
account which Stanihurst gives of this affair ; 
according to him, Courcy had nearly four 
hundred men, who overcame ten thousand ; 
the disproportion, as to numbers, is at the 
extraordinary rate of thirty to one ; still he 
allows that the bravery and skill in arms 
were equal on both sides. " The men of 

* Stan. ibid. lib. 4. War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 9. 



288 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Ulster," he says, " are naturally warlike, 
and accustomed to arms ; theyadvance bold- 
ly and fearlessly against the Britons, engage 
with them in fight, and prove themselves 
equal in valor to their enemies."* How is it 
then possible that four hundred men could 
have conquered ten thousand, who were 
their equals in courage and experience. 

In order to support the opinion which our 
author entertains of the bravery of the Ul- 
ster men, we should diminish their numbers 
greatly, or suppose them to have been taken 
from the plough, and to have faced the 
English without arms or discipline. In truth, 
their having been levied, according to Ware, 
in a week, favors this conjecture, and takes 
away considerably from the glory of this 
boasted achievement by the English. A 
company of grenadiers would easily put two 
hundred peasants, armed with sticks or pitch- 
forks, to flight. It is true that the author 
resorts to the divine interference, in order to 
affix an appearance of probability to his ac- 
count ; saying, that God gave the victory to 
Courcy. God, of course, was peculiarly in- 
terested for the success of the English! as if 
robbery, rapine, and the fury of a band of 
adventurers, are virtues that can claim the 
protection of heaven. A young Englishman 
named Roger Poer, who signalized himself 
in the engagement, is much praised for his 
courage. Malachi, bishop of Down, was 
made prisoner, but restored to his liberty at 
the solicitation of Cardinal Vivian, and rein- 
stated in his dignities. Courcy gained some 
further advantages over the people of Ulster 
in the month of June following ; many, how- 
ever, were killed and wounded on both sides; 
among the latter were Almerick de St. 
Laurence, and his son Nicholas. f 

Courcy also made some incursions the 
same year into Tyrone and Dalrieda, burning 
and destroying all before him, and carried 
off considerable booty. He was extremely 
superstitious, and thought himself to have 
been designated in the prophecies of Am- 
brosius Merlin, as the conqueror of Ulster ; 
when the mind is enthusiastically smitten, 
every thing that flatters hope being readily 
believed. He likewise held the prophecy of 
St. Columb in high veneration, in which it 
is said the destruction of that province had 
been foretold ; and John Courcy persuaded 

* Stan, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. page 182. 

t The barons of Howth are descended from Al- 
merick. The land of Howth and its dependencies 
were confirmed to his son by a charter of John, earl 
of Mortagne and lord of Ireland, given to S. Edmond 
in presence of John de Courcy, Godfrey de Con- 
stantine, Gilbert Angulo, and his brother Jordan. 



himself that the prophecy applied to him. 
This, which was written in the Irish lan- 
guage, he kept with great respect about him, 
and concealed it while he slept under the 
head of his bed. 

The legate, who seemed to have come to 
Ireland but to hasten its subjugation to the 
English, convened a council of bishops and 
abbots at Dublin ; in which he endeavored 
to make good Henry II. 's right to the throne 
of Ireland, in an eloquent discourse, and 
enjoined the Irish people to obey him under 
pain of excommunication. From thence he 
set out for the coast of England, where he 
requested a passport to continue his embassy 
to Scotland. 

During this prelate's stay in Dublin, Fitz- 
Adelm founded the celebrated monastery 
called Thomas-Court, in that city, by order 
of the king his master, for regular canons of 
the order of St. Victor. The king bestowed 
for ever on this house, the land of Donoure 
as an offering for the souls of Geoffry, earl 
of Anjou, and the empress Matilda, his father 
and mother, and likewise for the souls of bis 
other ancestors, for himself and his children, 
as is expressed in the charter ;' he should 
have added the souls of those whom he had 
deprived of their lands. 

About this time, says Hoveden, Henry II., 
with the approbation of Pope Alexander III., 
gave his son John the title of king of Ireland, 
in a parliament held at Oxford. This year, 
says Brompton, the king obtained the pope's 
leave to crown whichever of his sons he 
thought fit, as king of Ireland, and to reduce 
the lords of that country under Ins dominion. 
However, in the charter granted by Henry 
for that purpose, and confirmed by Richard 
I., John Lackland is only called lord of Ire- 
land and earl of Mortagne, and his successors 
were content with that title till the reign of 
Henry VIII., who was the first to assume 
that of king of Ireland. 

The ready submission of the kings of Cork 
and Limerick, and the other princes of Mun- 
ster, did not secure them from sharing the 
fate of their countrymen. By a charter, 
given at Oxford about the year 1177, Henry 
granted to Robert Fitzstephen and Milo 
Cogan the kingdom of Cork and Desmond, 
reserving for himself the city of Cork, the 
cantred of the Ostmans,* and all the land 
lying between Waterford and the river that 
separates Lismore and Cork, and which now 

* The Ostmans were the Danes or Normans 
who inhabited Cork and a few other maritime towns 
in Ireland. The cantred was a tract of land con- 
taining about one hundred villages or town lands. 
War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 27. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



289 



forms the county of Waterford. He also 
confided to them the regency and govern- 
ment of the city of Cork, the cantred of the 
Ostmans, and the other districts he had re- 
served for himself, making about twenty- 
four cantreds. Two years afterwards, 
Fitzstephen and Cogan divided the seven 
cantreds which the king had given them ; 
Fitzstephen taking the three which adjoined 
the sea, and Cogan the remaining four. 

It appears from the charters of King John, 
dated in the ninth year of his reign, that 
Fitzstephen had given to Philip de Barry, 
his nephew, and son of Philip, three cantreds 
in the county of Cork, namely, Olethan and 
its dependencies, Muscherie, Dunegan, and 
Killede ; to Adam de Rupe, (De la Roche,) 
the cantred of Rosselihir and its depend- 
encies ; to Richard de Cogan, the cantred of 
Muscherie O'Millane, together with twenty- 
five military tenures ; and lastly, some fiefs 
to Robert Fitzmartin, and to Henry and 
Maurice, brothers, (and sons of Philip,) a 
cantred where Dunalahoth lies. 

The kingdom of Limerick shared the 
same fate as that of Cork. The king of 
England ceded it to Philip de Breus, or 
Braos, reserving, however, for himself, the 
chief city, the cantred of the Ostmans, the 
holy island, and the power of nominating to 
the bishoprics and abbeys. 

After Philip de Braos, the principal per- 
sonages who settled in this county were 
Hamo de Valois, (Walsh,) Philip de Wig- 
orn, Theobald Walter, William Fitz-Adelm, 
and Thomas Fitz-Maurice. 

All these grants of extensive estates from 
Henry II. to the principal English chiefs, 
and the lesser fiefs which the latter bestowed 
on their creatures, were given on condition 
of military service ; which consisted in a 
certain number of armed men furnished by 
each in proportion to the extent of land 
which he held. 

The king of England confided to Robert 
Puher, or Le Poer, the government of the 
city of Waterford, and the surrounding 
country ; to William Fitz-Adelm, that of 
the town of Wexford and its dependencies ; 
and to Hugh de Lacy the government of 
Dublin, and all the country depending on it. 
He made other arrangements relative to the 
counties which were to be subservient to 
the cities of Waterford, Wexford, and Dub 
lin. 

We have now reviewed Ware's researches 
respecting the distribution of the lands of 
the Irish by Henry II. and his son John ; 
on which head he mentions some letters 
patent, granted by these two princes, and 



also quotes contemporary authors : namely, 
Regan, the secretary and interpreter of 
Dermod, king of Leinster, and an eye-wit- 
ness to the facts which he advances ; the 
Abbe Benedict, who wrote the life of Hemy 
II., and Giraldus Cambrensis. Still the 
account he gives is very general, consider- 
ing the great number of English families 
that settled in this country in the twelfth 
and succeeding centuries, who are pos- 
sessed of immense landed property. 

The^ rebellion of Conchovar and Mur- 
chard, sons of Roderick O'Connor, broke 
out at this time. These unnatural children, 
wishing to usurp their father's rule, had re- 
course to the enemies of their country, and 
applied to Milo Cogan, who had been lately 
appointed warden of Dublin by Fitz-Adelm, 
for assistance. The Englishman, who only 
thought of extending his power, seized the 
opportunity with avidity, and taking Ralph, 
son of Fitzstephen, as his lieutenant, crossed 
the river Shannon at the head of forty 
knights, two hundred horsemen, and three 
hundred archers, and entered Connaught, 
which had been till then unknown to the 
English. He advanced as far as Tuam ; 
but as Roderick had caused the provisions, 
in every place through which he had to pass, 
to be either burned or removed, he soon saw 
his army ready to perish, which obliged him 
to return. After a march of eight days, he 
was attacked when crossing a wood, by 
Roderick, who killed several of his men. 
As usual, Cambrensis makes the loss but 
very trifling. Having conquered the Eng- 
lish, Roderick turned his thoughts towards 
chastising his rebellious children ; he con- 
demned Murchard to perpetual imprison- 
ment, and caused his eyes to be put out ; 
and banished Conchovar to an island in the 
lake Lochcuan, from whence he was taken 
a year afterwards, by the faction of the 
O'Flahertys, and other friends, who restored 
him to his father's favor. About this time, 
Hugh O'Neill, king of Tireon, or Tyrone, 
was killed by Melachlin Mac-Loghlin, and 
his brother Argal. 

Courcy had not abandoned his enterprise 
in Ulster : he marched towards Uriel at the 
head of his army, a. d. 1178, where he was 
vigorously attacked in his camp at Gliury, 
by Murtach O'Carwil, prince of that coun- 
try, in conjunction with Roderick, prince of 
Ullagh, (Ulidia.) The action was brisk, 
and Courcy and his army were completely 
routed.* 



* Stan. ibid. lib. 4, page 182. War. de Annal. 
Hib. reg. Hen. II. cap. 10. 



290 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



This English general soon afterwards 
gave a second battle to the same princes on 
the frontiers of Dalaradie, near Fernia, 
which was altogether fatal to him. After 
witnessing the total defeat of his army, 
he escaped with much difficulty, and was 
obliged to walk thirty miles without any 
sustenance, and in continual danger of losing 
his life, till he arrived at the castle of Down. 

William Fitz-Adelm, viceroy of Iceland, 
fell into disgrace, and was deprived of his 
office : he was succeeded by Hugh de 
Lacy, to whom the king gave as colleague, 
Robert Poer, warden of the cities of Water- 
ford and Wexford. 

When the viceroy was changed, Cogan 
and Fitzstephen were recalled to England 
to give an account of their conduct, which 
had always been looked upon with suspicion 
by the king, as indeed had that of all the 
chiefs of the English colony in Ireland. 

In the mean time Robert Poer, warden of 
Waterford, sent troops to lay waste the dis- 
trict of Imurede, in the county of Wicklow, 
whence they returned to Wexford, loaded 
with booty, having assassinated Dunlang 
O'Toole, lord of that country. 

The English who had settled in Meath 
built a castle at Kenlis, to preserve them- 
selves against the incursions of their neigh- 
bors, the people of Ulster. 

The abbey called Monasterevan, or Ross- 
Glass, de Rosea Voile, in the county of Kil- 
dare, on the river Barrow, was founded this 
year, and dedicated to the blessed Virgin 
and St. Benedict, for Cistertian monks, by 
Dermod O'Dempsy, lord of Clanmalire ; but 
others say it was founded so late as 1189. 
This abbey was a branch, of that of Baltin- 
glass.* 

Donald O'Fogarty, bishop of Ossory, died 
this year, and was succeeded by Felix 
O'Dullany, of the order of Citeaux, 

Robert Fitzstephen and Milo Cogan, 
whom the king had recalled to England the 
preceding year, repaired to Waterford in 
the month of November, accompanied by 
Philip de Braos, to whom the king had 
granted the district of Limerick, a. d. 1179. 
These noblemen brought a reinforcement of 
Englishmen to Ireland, consisting of one 
hundred and ten knights, as many horsemen, 
and a considerable number of foot soldiers. 
They went from Waterford to Lismore, and 
from thence to Cork, where they were hon- 
orably received by John de Londres, on 
whom Fitz-Adelm had conferred the govern- 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irl. page 176. 



ment of that city. They then marched to- 
wards Limerick, intending to besiege it ; but 
their new troops were disheartened by the 
difficulty of crossing the river which sur- 
rounds it, and prevailed on Philip de Braos 
to return to England, rather than incur the 
risk of a hazardous war in an enemy's coun- 
try. Fitzstephen and Cogan proceeded to 
Cork, to watch over the safety of the Eng- 
lish colony in that district. 

The abbey of Ashro, or Easrua, called 
also de Samario, for Cistertian monks, was 
founded in Tirconnel, near the mouth of the 
river Erne, by Roderick O'Cananan, an 
Irish lord, about this period, or according 
to others five years later, by his successor 
Flahertach. Jungelinus mentions the abbey 
of Kilfothuir, in the same country, founded 
by O'Dogharty. The wars having subse- 
quently forced the monks to abandon this 
house, it was united to the abbey of Ashro, 
of which it was a branch. 

An abbey of Bernardines, under the title 
of our Lady, a branch of the abbey of Bal- 
tinglass, was also founded at this time, at 
Geripont, or Jeripont, a small town on the 
river Nure, in the county of Kilkenny, by 
Donald Fitzpatrick, prince of Ossory.* 

About the end of December in this year, 
Laurence, archbishop of Dublin ; Catholicus, 
archbishop of Tuam ; Constantius, bishop of 
Killaloe ; Felix, bishop of Lismore ; Augustin, 
bishop of Waterford ; and Brice, bishop of 
Limerick, set out for Rome, where they at- 
tended at the third council of Lateran, con- 
vened by Alexander III. As they passed 
through England, Henry II. made them 
swear they would do nothing prejudicial to 
his welfare, or that of his kingdom. The 
pope appointed Laurence legate for Ireland ; 
and on his return, according to the author 
of his life, he discharged the duties of that 
office. If we can believe Cambrensis, this 
holy prelate never returned to Ireland, hav- 
ing incurred the king's displeasure by obtain- 
ing some privilege from the pope in favor 
of his country, which this prince looked 
upon as opposed to his authority. 

John Courcy, who had been already cre- 
ated earl of Ulster by the king, though he 
owned but a very inconsiderable part of it, 
made an alliance with Godfry, king of the 
Isle of Man, by marrying his daughter Africa, 
a. d. 1180, in order to secure the interest 
of that prince. t The island being but a 
short distance from the coasts of Ulster, it 
was easy to draw resources from it. 

* Allemand, ibid, page 175. 
r War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 12. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



291 



This year, according to Hoveden, Lau- 
rence, archbishop of Dublin, accompanied a 
son of Roderick, king of Connaught, who 
was sent as a hostage to Henry II., for the 
payment of the tribute agreed upon between 
his father and that king.* The holy prelate 
fell sick at Eu, where he died in the odor 
of sanctity, on the 14thof November, and was 
interred in the church of our Lady, in that 
city.f His life, quoted by Surius, was ac- 
curately written, according to Baronius, by 
an anonymous author, of the college of Eu. 
The miracles which God wrought through 
his intercession, both before and after his 
death, induced Pope Honorius III. to place 
him among the number of saints in 1225, 
by a bull dated the eleventh of December, 
in the tenth year of his pontificate, a copy of 
which is in the collection of bulls of Laurent 
Cherubin. The relics of this saint were 
removed to Dublin, and deposited in the 
cathedral of the holy Trinity. Henry II. 
took care to send his chaplain Geoffry de 
Haya, and another to collect the revenues 
of the archbishopric, while it continued 
vacant. 

The abbey of Chore, or De Chore- Bene 
dicti, called by the Irish Monaster-Ore, in 
the county of Cork, was founded this year 
for Bernardins, by the Geraldines, or Pitz- 
geralds.J Jungelinus says it was founded 
by the Barrys ; however this be, this abbey, 
founded under the title of our Lady, was a 
branch of that of Nenay, or Magio. 

It was about this time that St. Patrick's 
crosier, called, in the language of the country, 
Baghal Phadruic, that is, the staff of Patrick, 
and sometimes the staff of Jesus, which, 
according to St. Bernard, in the life of St. 
Malachi, was ornamented with gold and pre- 
cious stones, and preserved with veneration 
in the church of Armagh since the death of 
the apostle, was carried away, by orders of 
Fitz-Adelm, and placed in the cathedral of 
the holy Trinity, in Dublin, a. d. 11 81, where 
it was carefully preserved till the suppression 
of the monasteries. 

The death of Gilbert O'Caran, archbishop 
of Armagh, is said to have occurred about 



* This account appears rather incredible ; for 
why should the king of Connaught have sent a hos- 
tage this year to the king of England, when, ac- 
cording to the same Hoveden, (in the year 1175,) 
peace and unity had been ratified between these 
princes five years previously. It is, however, well 
known that English writers are fond of claiming 
honors which they never enjoyed. 

t Messingham, Florileg. Insul. Sanct. Vit. Sanct. 
Laurent. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, ibid, 
page 181. 



this date, some time before which the cathe- 
dral church, the monastery of the apostles 
St. Peter and St. Paul, two nunneries, and 
a great part of the city, were consumed by 
fire, a frequent disaster in Ireland in ancient 
times, on account of the prevalence of wood- 
en buildings. It is to prevent similar acci- 
dents, which still often occur in the north of 
Europe, particularly in Sweden and Den- 
mark, that privileges are granted by the gov- 
ernments of those countries to those who 
build of stone. The holy prelate of Armagh 
was the benefactor of the monastery of the 
Blessed Virgin, near Dublin. He added the 
village of Ballibaghal, situated in the county 
of Dublin, to the revenues of that house. 
MoelisaMac-Carwil, bishop of Clogher, was 
elected to succeed him in the see of Armagh, 
but died on his way to Rome. 

As the churches and monasteries were the 
onlyplaces of safety in those disturbed times, 
the Irish carried thither their gold, silver, 
and other valuable matters, as to a secure 
asylum ; but as nothing is held sacred by the 
wicked, these places were often violated. 
The church of Ardfert, and the priory of 
Inis-Fallen, in lake Lene, in the county of 
Kerry, were pillaged this year by Milduin, 
son of Daniel O'Donagha, and those of his 
retinue, and the lives of several of the com- 
munity lost. 

Having settled his followers in Meath, 
Hugh de Lacy turned his thoughts towards 
defending it against its former masters ; for 
which purpose he built strong castles in dif- 
ferent parts of this province. This ambitious 
nobleman, finding himself supported by his 
colonists, and encouraged by his alliance 
with Roderick O'Connor, began to extend 
his views, and to think himself possessed of 
more power in Ireland than the king of 
England. 

Henry II. having been informed of the 
intentions of De Lacy, sent him an order to 
return to England ; but the latter confirmed 
the suspicions entertained of his presump- 
tion, by refusing to obey. Cambrensis says 
that De Lacy was suspected of aspiring to 
the sovereignty, from the vast estates he had 
acquired, the immense wealthhe had amassed 
for himself and his dependents by the op- 
pression of others, and the familiar and pop- 
ular manners he had assumed towards every 
one.* Henry was already dissatisfied with 
him for having married without his permis- 
sion the daughter of O'Connor, king of Con- 
naught, after the death of his first wife, Rosa 
de Munene: and he therefore sent John, con- 

* Hib. Expug. lib. 2, cap. 19, 20. 



292 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



stable of Chester, and Richard de Pech, to 
Ireland, in the beginning of May, as chief- 
justices in room of De Lacy, who repaired 
to England and removed all suspicion from 
the king's mind in the short space of six 
weeks. Before his departure for England he 
had given a plan to the English who pos- 
sessed land in Leinster, to fortify this prov- 
ince as he had done in Meath, which plan 
was executed in the ensuing summer. The 
castle of Fort O'Nolan was built by Raymond 
le Gros, and another by his brother Griffin. 
A third was built at Tristle-Dermot, in the 
district of Omorthy, by Walter de Ridles- 
ford ; John de Clahut built a fourth at 
Leighlin, on the river Barrow, and a fifth 
was constructed at Kildroghed, by John de 
Hereford. 

During Lacy's absence, and the adminis- 
tration of the justices whom Henry had sent 
to Ireland, Myler Fitzhenry was forced to 
give up the land of Carby, which he had 
received from Strongbow in the county of 
Kildare, and to be satisfied with an equivalent 
in the county of Lese, where he was more 
exposed, being surroundedby the O'Mordhas, 
or O'Mores, a warlike people, and lords of 
that district ; but Lacy, whose niece he had 
married, caused the castle of Temogho to be 
built for him some time afterwards. 

Lacy having been restored to the king's 
favor, was sent back to Ireland the winter 
following as chief-justice, accompanied by 
Robert, earl of Shrewsbury, as his colleague, 
who was, however, to keep watch over his 
conduct. He filled the post for nearly three 
years, during which time he built several 
castles in Leinster and Meath ; among 
others, that of Oboney, in the county of 
Lese, the government of which he confided 
to Robert de Bigarz ; another in the district 
of Omurthy, near the river Barrow, of which 
he made Thomas le Fleming governor ; and 
that of Norragh for Robert Fitzrichard. The 
castles he caused to be built in Meath were 
those of Clonard, Killair, Delvin, and that 
of Adam de Ruport. 

The English had now usurped both the 
spiritual and temporal government of Ireland. 
Henry II. nominated John Comin, a native 
of England, to the archbishopric of Dublin, 
(vacant by the death of St. Laurence ;) an 
eloquent and learned man, according to the 
writers of his own country. The election 
took place on the sixth of September, in the 
monastery of Evesham, in England, by the 
clergy of Dublin. The candidate was ordain- 
ed priest on the 12th of March following, at 
Velletri, in Italy, and consecrated archbishop 
by Pope Lucius III. Some time afterwards 



this prelate obtained a bull from the same 
pope, dated the thirteenth of April, (convo- 
cation 15,) by which the holy father granted 
several privileges to the see of Dublin. It 
was forbidden by this bull that any arch- 
bishop or bishop should hold assemblies in 
the ecclesiastical province of Dublin, or take 
cognizance of the affairs of that diocese 
without the consent of the archbishop, or a 
special license from the pope or his legate. 
The copy of this bull may be found in an 
old registry in the archbishop's palace of 
Dublin, beginning with the words, " Crede 
mihi." This bull was the cause of warm de- 
bates between the prelates of Armagh and 
Dublin, respecting the primacy, which have 
lasted to our time : the subject of them being 
whether the archbishop of Armagh, as pri- 
mate of Ireland, possessed the right to hold 
visitations in the ecclesiastical province of 
Dublin, or to carry the cross raised, and 
receive appeals there.* 

In the month of May of this year, Fla- 
hertach O'Meldory, prince of Tirconnel, 
indignant at the unnatural conduct of the 
princes of Connaught, who were still in arms 
against their father Roderick, entered their 
province at the head of his troops and gained 
a complete victory over them and their allies. 
Many lives were lost, among them those of 
sixteen distinguished persons, of the royal 
race of Connaught. 

In the beginning of summer, a. d. 1182, 
Courcy marched at the head of his troops 
into Dalrieda, or Route, county of Antrim, 
where he defeated a body of troops com- 
manded by Donald O'Loghlin, and pillaged 
the whole country. f 

About this time Hugh de Lacy founded 
two chapels or priories, for regular canons 
of the order of St. Augustin, one at Colpa, 
a small village on the sea-shore at the mouth 
of the river Boyne, below Drogheda, and 
the other at Duleek ; one of these houses 
depended on the priory of Lauthon, in Mon- 
mouthshire, England, and the other on that 
of Lauthon, near Gloucester. 

Edan O'Kelly, bishop of Clogher, died 
this year, and was interred in the priory of 
St. Mary, which he had founded for regular 
canons in Louth, in 1148, with the aid of 
Donat Mac-Carwell, king of Ergalic. This 
prelate was disciple of St. Malachi, by whom 

* We discoverin this an act of English policy ; they 
caused the see of Dublin, situated in the English 
province, to be erected into a primary, in order to 
cause a schism in the church of Ireland, by with- 
drawing from the jurisdiction of Armagh the 
churches under their dominion. 

t War. de Annal. cap. 14. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



293 



he was consecrated in 1 140, and having rilled 
the see of Clogher for forty-two years, he 
was succeeded by Malachi Mac-Carwel. 
Edan was the confessor of Dermod, king of 
Leinster ; he endowed the monastery of 
Knock, near the town of Louth, (otherwise 
called St. Peter and St. Paul's Mount,) which 
Donat caused to be built. This place was 
more anciently called Knock Na-Sengan, 
that is, the Mount of the Ants. Philip Seguin 
and Christopher Henriques are wrong in 
placing Edan among the prelates of Armagh. 
About this time died also Donald O'Hul- 
lucan, archbishop of Cashel, who was suc- 
ceeded by Maurice, called by Cambrensis a 
learned and discreet man, " Vir literatus et 
discretus."* 

We must not omit to introduce in this 
place, the sharp and satirical, though indirect 
answer which Maurice gave Cambrensis in 
presence of Gerald, the pope's legate, who 
was then on some mission in Ireland 
which he alludes both to the martyrdom of 
St. Thomas of Canterbury, and the cruelties 
which the English had after that committed 
in Ireland. Cambrensis reproached the pre- 
late, in his accustomed haughty manner, 
with the indolence of the Irish clergy, and 
the little care they took to instruct the people, 
the result of which was a degeneracy in 
their morals ; and as proof of what he ad- 
vanced, he alleged that he had never known 
any in Ireland to have suffered martyrdom 
for the church of Jesus Christ. " It is true," 
replied the prelate of Cashel, modestly, " that 
our people, who are said to be barbarous, 
rude, and even cruel, have always behaved 
with honor and respect to the clergy, and 
none have yet been found among them im- 
pious enough to raise their hands against 
the saints of the Lord. But there are men 
now among us who can make us suffer mar- 
tyrdom, and Ireland, like other nations, shall 
henceforward have her martyrs ;" which 
prediction has been amply verified. 

Courcy being master of the episcopal city 
of Down, a. d. 1183, changed the constitu- 
tion of the cathedral church, by substituting 
Benedictine monks for the secular canons to 
whom it belonged till that time : those monks 
came, by his directions, from St. Werburgh's 
abbey, at Chester, and he appointed William 
Etleshale, a monk of their fraternity, as 
prior over them.f He also changed the in- 
vocation title of the church from the Holy 
Trinity to that of St. Patrick, which, accord- 
ing to the general opinion of the times, says 



an English author, was the cause of the 
misfortunes that afterwards befell this noble- 



* Topograph. Hib. (list. 3, cap. 32. 
t War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 15. 



Malachi, bishop of Down, endowed this 
church with several tracts of land, reserving 
for himself the title of warden, or abbot, and 
half of the offerings of the five grand festivals 
of the year ; namely, Christmas, Candlemas, 
the festival of St. Patrick, Easter, and Pen- 
tecost.* It was much frequented, on account 
of its containing St. Patrick's tomb, and the 
transferring to it of the bodies of St. Columb 
and St. Bridget. 

Courcy founded other houses, viz., the 
priory of Toberglorie, at Down, (so called 
from its having been built near a fountain of 
that name,) for the cross-bearers of the order 
of St. Augustin, and the abbey of Nedrum, 
for Benedictines, which was connected with 
that of St. Bega, in Cumberland. 

While Courcy was acting in Ulster the 
parts alternately of a robber and a bigot, 
fresh disturbances broke out in Minister. 
Milo Cogan and Ranulph Fitzstephen, his 
son-in-law, with five knights, were killed on 
the road to Lismore, by a band of men under 
the command of a celebrated leader called 
Mactire. This news having spread over the 
country, Dermod M'Carty,king of Desmond, 
and some other princes of the province, be- 
ing determined to make an effort to recover 
their liberty, took up arms and invested the 
city of Cork, where Robert Fitzstephen 
was. However, a reinforcement of twenty 
knights, with -a hundred men, both horse 
and foot, brought by Raymond le Gros by 
sea from Wexford to Cork, together with 
the strength of the place, frustrated .their 
attempt, and averted the storm which threat- 
ened the English. Richard Cogan was 
afterwards sent to Ireland by the king of 
England, with a body of troops, to replace 
his brother Milo. 

About the end of February, Philip Barry 
and his brother Gerald, known by the name 
of Cambrensis, crossed over with a reinforce- 
ment to Ireland, both to assist their uncle 
Fitzstephen, and recover the estate of Ole- 
than, which had been given them by Fitz- 
stephen, and was usurped by his son Ralph. 
Hervey, surnamed De Monte Morisco, (in 
English he was called Heremon Morty,) 
wishing to expiate the crimes of his past life, 
particularly his having pillaged the churches 
of Inis-Catha in concert with William Fitz- 
Adelm, (the revenues of which they appro- 
priated to their own use,) founded an abbey 
for Bernardine monks this year, at Don- 

* War. de Preesul. Dunens. 



294 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



brody, or Dun-Broith, in the county of Wex 
ford, near the confluence of the rivers Bar- 
row and Suire ; he afterwards became a 
monk in Christ's Church at Canterbury 
where he was interred.* 

About this time was founded, also, an 
abbey of Bernardine monks on the river 
Nore, in that part of the Queen's county 
called Loise.f This abbey was called " De 
Lege Dei," or " of the law of God," and 
was founded by an Irish lord of the ancient 
and noble family of the O'Mordhas, (in Eng- 
lish Moore,) to whom the country belonged 
for many ages. Flatzburius fixes the found- 
ation of this house in 1180. 

Henry II., being desirous of transferrin^ 
the lordship of Ireland to his son John, sent 
John Comin, archbishop of Dublin, in the 
beginning of the month of August, to pre- 
pare the minds of the people for his reception, 
a. d. 1 184. | He also recalled Hugh de Lacy 
in the month of September following, and 
granted the office of chief-justice to Philip 
de Wigorne, who came to Ireland accompa- 
nied by forty knights, to take possession of 
the government. § The new viceroy having 
reannexed to the king's domain the privi- 
leges which Lacy had alienated, marched 
the Lent following, in the beginning of the 
month of May, with a powerful army to 
Armagh, where he imposed a heavy tribute 
on the clergy, which he made them pay by 
a military execution. || He had scarcely left 
the city, when he was seized with an attack 
in his bowels, so violent that he was very 
near dying ; which was considered a just 
punishment for his crimes. Hugh Tirrel 
was an accomplice of the viceroy in his 
depredations ; having retired to Down with 
his share of the spoils, he witnessed the fruits 
of his robberies, the house in which he lodged, 
the stables, horses, and a considerable part 
of the city, being destroyed by fire the night 
following ; by which he was so much affected 
that he immediately restored all that remained 
of the plunder of the churches of Armagh. 
Lacy, his friend and benefactor, returning 
from England some time afterwards, he con- 
ceived an implacable hatred towards him, and 
declared war against him ; but after several 
battles, in which much blood was spilled, 
Tirrel was obliged to bend to the authority 
of his rival. 



* Keating, Hist, of Ireland, b. 2, page 117. 

t Allemand, ibid, page 177. 

t Westmon. Flores Hist. lib. 2, ad an. 1184. 

§ Stanih. ibid. lib. 4. War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 
16. 

|| Cambrens. Top. Hib. distinc. 2, c. 50. Stan, 
ibid. lib. 4. 



How edifying it is to behold the spoliators 
of churches and of the goods of others, 
founding religious establishments ! This ex- 
traordinary devotion was introduced into 
Ireland by the English. Philip de Wigorne, 
viceroy of Ireland, who a short time before 
had pillaged the clergy of Armagh, founded 
a priory for Benedictine monks atKilcumin, 
in the county of Tipperary, dedicated to St. 
James and St. Philip.* It appears by the 
act of its foundation, the original of which 
has been discovered in the Cottonian library, 
that this English nobleman bestowed several 
estates which he possessed in Ireland on the 
abbots of Glaston in England, on condition 
that they would build a house of their order 
at Kilcumin, in Ireland, the land of which 
he had also given them ; this priory conse- 
quently depended on the above-mentioned 
abbey. 

About this time Arthur O'Melaghlin, cliief 
of his tribe in Meath, was killed by the 
English ; he was succeeded by O'Melaghlin 
Beg, or the little. Three English noblemen 
shared the same fate as O'Melaghlin ; namely, 
Robert Barry, who was killed at Lismore ; 
Raymond, son of Hugh, at Lechana; and 
Cantilon, at Idrone. 

In the month of June, on Saint Barnaby's 
day, Henry the younger, son of Henry II., 
died in the castle of Martell, in Gascony, at 
the age of twenty-eight years ; he was the 
cause of frequent troubles to his father during 
his reign. His body was brought to Rouen, 
and buried in the cathedral there near the 
grand altar. 

John, earl of Mortagne, named lord of 
Ireland, having been created a knight at the 
age of twelve years, by the king his father, 
at Windsor, set out in the month of April 
for Milford, where a fleet was waiting to 
convey him to Ireland, a. d. 1185.f He set 
sail during the Easter, accompanied by 
Ralph Glanvill, chief-justice of England, and 
his preceptor, Gerald Cambrensis ; and at- 
tended by four hundred knights, and some 
troops, among whom were several young 
men of dissipated habits, who possessed his 
entire confidence. As soon as they landed at 
Waterford, the Irish lords of the neighbor- 
hood hastened to greet the young prince on 
his arrival. The manners and customs of 
the two people were very different ; the Irish 
were naturally hospitable, familiar, and polite 
towards the strangers ; while the English, 

War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, ibid, 
page 149. 

t " John, the younger son of King Henry, was 
created knight by liis father, and sent into Ireland." 

Ware's Annals. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



295 



who rarely possess these qualities, received 
them with coldness and contempt. In con- 
sequence, therefore, they on a sudden with- 
drew, with the determination of being re- 
venged. The kings of Cork, Limerick, Con- 
naught, and other princes of the country, 
were soon informed of what had occurred : 
they looked upon the whole nation to have 
been insulted in the persons of these noble- 
men, and foresaw, by the conduct of the 
strangers, what they might expect from them 
if they became absolute masters of the coun- 
try. These considerations for a time putting 
an end to all domestic quarrels, they formed 
a general league, and took up arms indis- 
criminately and without leaders, throughout 
the several districts, against the English 
Many lives were lost in this conspiracy, 
which was followed by no other result than 
that of disturbing the pleasures of the young 
prince, (who, together with his courtiers 
spent their days and nights in debauchery,] 
and inspiring him with a dislike for his newly- 
acquired dignity of lord of Ireland. He re- 
solved therefore to return to England, leaving 
Ireland, which he found in peace, a prey to 
tumult and sedition. During his stay in the 
country he caused three castles to be built, 
one at Tibract, one at Ardfinan, and another 
at Lismore, to defend his subjects against 
the insults of their enemies. According to 
Hoveden, John appropriated the chief part, 
of the money intended for the payment of 
the troops to his own purposes ; the rest he 
squandered in a petty warfare with the Irish, 
and his funds being at length exhausted, he 
placed garrisons in all the strong places, and 
returned to England, leaving the government 
to De Lacy. The only good action attributed 
to this prince, during his stay in Ireland, was 
the foundation of the priory of St. John the 
Evangelist, at Waterford, for Benedictine 
monks. Cambrensis, his tutor, and Bertram 
de Verdon, remained after him in Ireland, 
to execute, it is said, a commission which 
this prince had intrusted them with ; but 
more probably to collect the fables of which 
Cambrensis composed his history. How- 
ever this be, the prince granted them four 
cantreds and a half of land in the territories 
of Uriel and Luva, (Louth,) in the neighbor- 
hood of Dundalk, where Verdon founded, 
some time afterwards, the priory of St. 
Leonard. 

The bodies of St. Malachi, "St. Columb, 
and St. Bridget, having been discovered this 
year at Down, Malachi, bishop of that place, 
sent intelligence of it to Pope Urban III.* 

* TJsser, in Indice Cliron. ad an. 1186. 



The holy father immediately sent a legate 
(probably Cardinal Vivian) to Ireland, who 
performed the translation of the bodies of 
these saints on the fifth of June. 

The Irish and English carried on a con- 
tinual petty warfare in the southern parts of 
the island.* Four English officers, with a 
detachment from the garrison of Ardfinan, 
were put to the sword by a body of men 
under the command of Donald O'Brien, king 
of Limerick. Another detachment from the 
same garrison, having been taken in the act 
of plundering near that city, shared the 
same fate. 

When the king of England saw the ill- 
success of his son John in the management 
of his Irish affairs, he deemed it prudent to 
consign them to military veterans, who had 
been trained in the art of war and were ac- 
quainted with the country, and he therefore 
gave the viceroyalty of Ireland to John 
Courcy the following winter. 

This skilful general made frequent incur- 
sions into the kingdoms of Cork and Con- 
naught, with unequal success ; but though 
he was not always victorious, his reputation 
rendered him very formidable. 

In the mean time, O'Connor, surnamed 
Maonmuighe, son of Roderick, still enter- 
tained the horrible design of dethroning his 
father, notwithstanding a recent reconcilia- 
tion between them. Having collected his 
vassals, and all those who were attached to 
his interest, he entered Connaught in a hos- 
tile manner, where he treated his father's 
subjects with great cruelty, but was checked 
in his career by the united forces of Roder- 
ick and Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick, 
who gave him battle. The victory of the 
two kings put an end to the rebellion, and a 
solid peace was concluded between O'Con- 
nor and his father through the mediation of 
their mutual friends. 

The fatigues and grief which Roderick 
O'Connor had undergone having given him 
a disgust for governing, he abdicated the 
monarchy. He sent back the hostages which 
he had exacted from those princes who had 
acknowledged his sovereignty, and gave up 
to his son Conchovar (O'Connor) the totter- 
ing throne of Connaught. He then with- 
drew to the abbey of Cong, where he spent 
the remainder of his life, thirteen years, in 
preparing for eternity. He died on the 28th 
of November, at the age of 82 years, and 
left several pious legacies to the churches 
of Ireland, Rome, and Jerusalem. His body 
was removed from Cong to Cluan-Mac- 

Trias. Thaum. not. 2, 3, in Vit. 6 Sanct Patr. 



296 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



Noisk, and interred in that church with 
great pomp and solemnity. Thus ended, 
with this prince, the monarchy of Ireland, 
which had lasted for more than two thou- 
sand years. 

Amlave O'Murid, or O'Murry, who had 
been nominated to the archbishopric of Ar- 
magh, after Maelisa Mac-Carwel, who died 
on his way to Rome, soon followed his pre- 
decessor, and was succeeded by Tomultach, 
or Thomas O'Connor. The latter had al- 
ready been archbishop of Armagh, upon the 
death of Gilbert, which took place in 1180; 
but the tumults of war having caused him to 
resign, he ceded the archbishopric to Maelisa 
Mac-Carwel in 1184, and resumed it again 
on the death of Amlave. He was a noble 
and prudent man, says the author of the an- 
nals of the monastery of the Blessed Virgin 
near Dublin, and governed that diocese the 
second time for nearly sixteen years. 

About this time Dermod M'Carty, king of 
Desmond, having placed too much reliance 
on the good faith of the English, was sacri- 
ficed to their fury. He was killed, with all 
his retinue, by Theobald Walter and the 
Englishmen of Cork, at a conference which 
he was holding with them for the regulation 
of some affairs, near that city. 

John Cumin, archbishop of Dublin, as- 
sembled a provincial council the following 
Lent, in the church of the Holy Trinity, 
Dublin, which ho opened by a sermon on the 
sacraments of the church. Aubin O'Molloy, 
abbot of Baltinglass, and afterwards bishop 
of Ferns, preached the day following on the 
chastity of ecclesiastics ; he inveighed in 
strong terms against the impurity of those 
who came from England and Wales, and at 
tributed the corruption which was beginning 
to creep in among the Irish clergy to their 
evil example. This sermon caused a warm 
altercation between the abbot of Baltinglass 
and Giraldus Cambrensis, who was present 
at it. Cambrensis repaired soon afterwards 
to his archdeaconry in Wales, where he 
completed his Topography, and his history 
of the Conquest of Ireland. 

Hugh de Lacy, lord of Meath, having 
persecuted the Irish for a considerable time, 
and committed the most flagrant acts of in- 
justice upon the inhabitants of Meath, ended 
his days miserably at Dermagh, now Dur- 
rogh, a. d. 1186.* The tyrant's head was 
cut oft* by a blow of an axe, which he re- 
ceived from a young Irish nobleman in the 
disguise of a laborer, while he was super- 



* War. de Annal. Hib. c. 18. 
Ireland, b. 2. 



Keating, Hist, of 



intending the building of a strong castle in 
that place. The person who performed 
this deed (whom some call Malachi Maclair, 
and others Symmachus O'Cahargo) fled to 
a neighboring wood. The English who be- 
longed to De Lacy's retinue were attacked 
also, and put to the sword. If we cannot 
justify this action, which was barbarous in 
itself, circumstances must at least extenuate 
its atrocity. The dead body of the English 
nobleman was deprived of burial by the 
people for the cruelties he had committed, 
and kept concealed for some time ; it, how- 
ever, was discovered in 1195, and interred 
with great pomp in the abbey of Bective, 
on the river Boyne, by Matthew O'Heney, 
archbishop of Cashel, and apostolical le- 
gate ; assisted by John Cumin, archbishop 
of Dublin. The head of De Lacy was 
brought to Dublin, and buried with Rosa de 
Munemnene, his first wife, in the abbey of 
Thomas Court. Lacy left two sons, Walter 
the elder, lord of Meath, and Hugh, after- 
wards earl of Ulster. 

Geoffroy,* fourth son of Henry II. by his 
wife Eleanor, and duke of Brittany, died 
August 16th, 1186, and was buried in the 
choir of the church of Notre Dame, at Paris. 
He had by his wife Constantia (who was 
the daughter and heiress of Conon, count of 
Brittany,) two daughters, and a son named 
Arthur, who was born after his death. 

Henry II. j upon hearing of the tragical 
end of De Lacy, dispatched his son John, 
with a large army, to resume the govern- 
ment of Ireland ; but the news of Geoffroy's 
death at Paris having reached him while the 
prince was detained at Chester by contrary 
winds, orders were sent for him to return, 
and the command of the expedition to 
Ireland was given to Philip de Wigorne. 
Some people say that Henry himself sailed 
with it. 

The destruction which now threatened 
the country from the continual incursions 
of the English, was still insufficient to unite 
the people in its defence, and to suppress 
the factions which prevailed among them. 
Donald, son of Hugue O'Loghlin, prince of 
the family of the O'Neills, and king of Tir- 
ven, was dethroned, and Roderick O'Laeh- 
ertair was declared king in his stead. The 
year following Tirconnel was invaded by 
the latter, who was killed, and Donald re- 
stored to the throne. 

The death of Christianus O'Conarchy, 
the late bishop of Lismore and apostolical 
legate, is said to have occurred in this year, 

* Westmonast. Flores Hist. lib. 2, ad an. 1186. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



207 



1186 ; he was buried in the abbey of O'- 
Dorny, where he spent many years after he 
had retired from the attractions of the 
world. 

This year was also remarkable for the 
death of an illustrious woman, namely, Ma- 
tilda, daughter of Henry I., king of Eng- 
land, wife of Henry IV., emperor of Ger- 
many, and the mother of Henry II. She, 
like her father, died at Rouen, in Normandy 
and was interred in the abbey of Bee. Others 
say that she was buried in the abbey of 
Reading, in England, where the subjoined 
epitaph on her may be seen.* 

Cardinal Octavianus and Hugue Nunant, 
bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, were sent 
in quality of legates by Pope Urban III 
at the solicitation of Henry II., to assist at 
the coronation of his son John as king of 
Ireland. But this ceremony, says Hoveden, 
was dispensed with on account of the affairs 
of Henry, who brought with him to Nor- 
mandy these two legates, to be present at a 
conference which he was about to hold with 
Philip Augustus, concerning a peace, a. d. 
1188. 

The viceroy of Ireland, together with 
Conchovar O'Dermod, carried their hostile 
intentions into Connaught,t and having ad- 
vanced as far as Esadar, pitched their camp 
there with a design of desolating and ravag- 
ing the country of Tirconnel. The news, 
however, of Flahertach O'Maolduin march- 
ing with an army from that quarter, made 
them abandon this project ; they set fire to 
Esadar, and returning into Connaught met 
the united fbrcesof Conchovar Maonmuighe, 
king of the province, and of Donald O'Brien, 
king of Limerick. The viceroy gave them 
battle, which, however, proved fatal to him ; 
he lost the flower of his forces, besides sixteen 
persons of rank in his army, and the remain- 
der were put to flight. About this time 
Roderick O'Gavanan, king of Tirconnel, to- 
gether with his brother and several persons 
belonging to his suite, were killed near the 
bridge of Sligo, by Flahertach O'Maolduin. 
The annals of Ulster mention a sanguinary 
conflict that took place in the same year, 
between Donald, son of Hugh O'Lochlin, 
king of Tyrone, and the English garrison of 
the castle of Moycava, or Cava-na-Cran. 

* Ortu magna, viro major, sed maxima partu 
Hie jacet Henrici filia, sponsa, parens. 

Matth. Paris, ad an. 1196, p. 99. 
" Here lies the daughter, wife, and mother of 
Henry ; great by birth, greater by her husband, but 
greatest by her offspring." — Matthew Paris, ad an. 
1196, p. 99. 
t War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 20. 



The action was brisk, and the victory for a 
long time doubtful ; but was at length gained 
by Donald, with the loss of his life. The 
body of this celebrated prince was removed 
to Armagh, and interred with great pomp. 

Alured le Palmer, of Danish extraction, 
founded the priory of St. John the Baptist, 
of which he was the first prior,* outside of 
the new gate of Dublin. This house was 
afterwards endowed, and changed into an 
hospital, with accommodations for one hun- 
dred and fifty-five patients, besides the chap- 
lains, and other necessary attendants. It 
belonged in latter times to hermits of St. 
Augustin. 

Courcy suppressed the abbey of Carrick, 
founded near the bridge of St. Finn, by 
Magnal Mac-Eulof, one of the Icings of Ul- 
ster, and appropriated its revenues to a new 
house which he founded at Inis, dedicated 
to the Blessed Virgin, and to which he 
brought over Cistertian monks from the ab- 
bey of Furnes, in England. It was the poli- 
cy of the English to make the monks inter- 
ested in the success of their arms. One of 
these monks, called Jocelin, wrote the life 
of St. Patrick, at the request of Tomultach 
O'Connor, archbishop of Armagh, Malachi, 
bishop of Down, and De Courcy. Martan 
O'Broley, a celebrated professor in the uni- 
versity of Armagh, died about this time ; 
he is highly eulogized for his learning in 
the annals of Ulster. 

The Irish princes having determined to 
make an effort to rescue themselves from the 
slavery of the English, and finding no reme- 
dy for their misfortunes but uniting under 
one chief, offered the sovereignty to O'Con- 
nor Maonmuighe. The princes who formed 
this league were, Donald O'Brien, king of 
Limerick, Roderick, son of Dunsleve, king 
of Ullagh, Donald Mac-Carthy, king of 
Desmond, O'Melaghlin, surnamed Beag, or 
the little, king of Meath, and O'Rourke, 
king of Brefny and Conmacne. This con- 
federacy, however, was productive of no 
good result, in consequence of the acci- 
dental death of O'Connor, at Dun-Leoga, 
in Hymaine, where he held his court." He 
left a son called Cahal-Carrach. 

John Courcy, accustomed, like most of 
his countrymen in Ireland, to live by pil- 
lage, laid waste the neighborhood of Ul- 
lagh, (county of Down,) not sparing Ar- 
magh, a. d. 1188.J- His accomplices there 
were the Audleys, Gernons, Clintons, Rus- 
sels, Savages, Whites, Mandevils, Jordans, 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 
+ War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 21 



2D8 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Stantons, and Poers, who had followed his 
fortune, and on whom he had bestowed es- 
tates and lordships which did not belong 
to him. It is easy to be generous at the 
expense of others. 

While De Courcy was carrying on his 
military expeditions in Ulster, Roger Poer, 
a brave man, of noble family, was lulled, 
with the garrison, in the castle of Dangis- 
drony, in the district of Ossory, which the 
Irish took by assault. They also reduced 
the castle of Lismore ; but finding it impos- 
sible to hold out against the English, they 
determined to destroy it. 

Murchard Mac-Carwel, king of Ergail, 
finding his end approaching, retired to the 
abbey of Mellifont, where he was buried 
near his father Donat, by whom it had been 
founded. I have now given an imperfect 
sketch of what passed in Ireland from the 
first invasion of the English, under Henry 
II., to the death of that prince, which took 
place on the sixth of July, in his castle of 
Chinon, in Normandy.* His body was in- 
terred with great pomp in the monastery of 
Font Everard, which he had founded. He 
had been for some time in a declining state 
of health, overcome with grief and sorrow ; 
but the list which Philip Augustus sent to 
him of those who had conspired against him, 
among whom was his favorite son John, 
was the immediate cause of his death. 

The following ceremony was observed, 
according to Baker, at his funeral obsequies : 
"He was clothed in his royal robes, his crown 
on his head, white gloves on his hands, boots 
and spurs of gold on his feet, a valuable 
ring on his finger, the sceptre in his hand, 
his sword to his side, and his face un- 
covered. 

" As they were carrying his body to the 
grave, his son Richard approached it with 
eagerness, in order to look at it, whereupon 
a quantity of blood issued from the nose. 
Although the above fact," continues our 
author, " was not a proof of the innocence 
of Richard, the torrent of tears which he 
shed on the occasion was a sign that he had 
repented." Baker speaks of a princess of 
the house of Anjou, from whom Henry was 
descended, who was suspected of being a 
sorceress, and who, it is said, flew through 
the windows of the church when it was 
required of her to receive the blessed Eu- 
charist ; and that it never could be discovered 
what became of her. This story, he says, 
which has been published by every writer, 
might have afforded to Heraclius, patriarch 

* Baker, Chron. of England, on the year 1189. 



of Jerusalem, (who solicited the aid of 
Henry against Saladin,) the opportunity of 
foretelling many misfortunes that should 
befall that king, and of announcing to his 
children, that they should return to the 
devil, from whom they had gone forth. But 
he remarks, with justice, that historians 
ought rather to have passed over the sub- 
ject in silence. 

I have already portrayed the morals of 
Henry II. ; let English writers therefore 
draw his panegyric. A flatterer has written 
the following line, in itself fine, and very 
laudatory of the memory of that prince, 
and of Richard, his successor. 

" Mira canam, sol occubuit, nox nulla secuta est." 

John Comin, archbishop of Dublin, Aubin 
O'Mulloy, bishop of Ferns, and Concort, 
bishop of Enaghdun, assisted at the coro- 
nation of Richard, surnamed Coeur de Lion, 
on the third of September following, at 
Westminster, which was performed by Bald- 
win, archbishop of Canterbury. His brother 
John, earl of Mortagne, was content with 
being lord of Ireland. The marriage of 
William Marshal with Isabella, daughter of 
Earl Strongbow, took place about this time ; 
by which he acquired extensive possessions 
in Leinster, and the title of earl of Pem- 
broke. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



As soon as Richard I., surnamed Coeur de 
Lion, was crowned king of England, he 
determined to undertake an expedition to 
the Holy Land, a. d. 1190, in order, it is 
said, to make atonement for the rebellion 
which he had been guilty of against his 
father. He set out for Palestine, where he 
arrived the year following with a numerous 
army, without leaving any orders relative to 
the government of Ireland, thinking, perhaps , 
that he had no right to interfere in the 
affairs of that island, since Henry II. had 
granted the sovereignty of it to his brother 
John. He sent a deputation, however, to 
Pope Clement III., requesting him to appoint 
William de Long-Champs, bishop of Ely, 
legate of the British dominions, and -of that 
part of Ireland which was subject to his 
brother John. It appears by the pope's 
rescript, quoted in the history of Matthew 
Paris,* that the English then owned but a 

* " Richard, king of England, sent William, 
bishop of Ely, with a deputation to Pope Clement, 
from whom he obtained the following rescript — 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



299 



small portion of that country. We do not 
discover that the legate had ever been in 
Ireland, or made any regulations concerning 
it. 

The O'Connors had still retained a vestige 
of sovereignty in Connaught. Cahal-Car- 
rach, son of O'Connor Maonmuighe, suc- 
ceeded his father ; but had a formidable 
rival in his grand-uncle, Cahal-Crovedarg, 
brother to Roderick the monarch. These 
princes had each his party to vindicate their 
respective claims, and the province suffered 
greatly by their disunion. They even sought 
for partisans among the English.* William 
Fitz-Adelm declared in favor of Cahal- 
Carrach, and Crovedarg was supported by 
John de Courcy. After many acts of hos- 
tility on both sides, they at length came to a 
decisive engagement. Both armies were 
composed of Irish and English, who per- 
formed prodigies of valor, and the victory 
was long doubtful ; but the troops of Cahal- 
Carrach beginning to give way, were at 
last put to flight. The prince himself, and 
several nobles of the province, were found 
among the slain, and Fitz-Adelm returned 
to Limerick with the troops that remained. 
Cahal-Crovedarg then besieged a strong 
castle which Fitz-Adelm had built at Mi- 
leach O'Madden, in the district of Siola- 
namchad, to favor his retreat in case of 
need : the garrison, which was composed of 
Englishmen, finding themselves unable to 
defend the place, and dreading military exe- 
cution in case of resistance, withdrew during 
the night, and the victorious prince caused 
the castle and all its fortifications to be razed 
to the ground. 

As an act of thanksgiving, Cahal-Crove- 
darg founded an abbey for Bernardine 
monks in a place called Knock-Moy, in the 
county of Galway, where he had gained the 
victory, which he called De Colle Victoria, 
or the Mount of Victory.t This house was 
a branch of the abbey of Boyle, of the order 
of Clairvaux. Jungelinus places this foun- 



" Clement, bishop, &c, according to the com- 
mendable desire of our dearest son in the Lord, 
Richard, the illustrious king of England, we have 
by our apostolical authority decreed that the office 
of legate be intrusted to thy charge over England, 
Wales, including the archbishoprics of Canterbury 
and York, and those parts of Ireland in which John, 
the noble knight of Moreton, and brother of his 
majesty, exercises control and dominion." " Given 
on the fifth of June, in the 3d year of our ponti- 
ficate." — Matthew Paris, on the year 1188, part 
108. 

* Keating, Hist, of Ireland, b. 2. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irl. page 189. 



dation in 1190, and others so late as 1200 : 
however this be, Crovedarg soon afterwards 
finding^ his end approaching, assumed the 
monastic habit in this house, where he was 
interred, having governed the province as 
chief of the Hy-Brunes and of Clan-Murray. 
The descendants of this valiant prince never 
accepted of titles of honor from the kings 
of England ; titles which most of the ancient 
Irish families then despised, and looked upon 
as marks of slavery. The name of O'Con- 
nor Don, which belonged to the chief of 
this tribe, as well as those of other chiefs of 
great families, was much more noble, accord- 
ing to the genius and manners of the nation, 
than the title of earl or marquis. The pres- 
ent chief of this illustrious house of O'Con- 
nor, is Daniel, son of Andrew O'Connor, of 
Ballintobber, who still retains a small por- 
tion of the vast possessions of Ms ancestors 
in Connaught. 

Ware mentions the foundation of a priory 
at this time, under the title of Saint Mary, 
at Kenlis,* in the county of Kilkenny, by 
Galfridus, seneschal of Leinster, for regular 
canons of St. Augustin. But in the additions 
made to the Monasticum Anglicanum of 
Dugdale and Dodswort, this foundation is 
fixed earlier, that is, in 1183, under the 
reign of Henry II. 

At Navan, a considerable town in Meath, 
at the confluence of the rivers Boyne and 
Blackwater, there was an abbey founded for 
regular canons of St. Augustin, by Jocelin 
Nangle, (De Angulo,) an English lord, who 
had settled in this country.! 

In the neighborhood of the town of Wex- 
ford, we discover the priory of Saints Peter 
and Paul, called Selsker, founded in this 
century, for regular canons of the order of 
St. Augustin, by the Roches, lords of Fer- 
moy. 

John Comin, archbishop of Dublin, em- 
ployed himself in beautifying the churches 
of that city ; he had the cathedral, called 
Christ's Church, repaired ; and St. Patrick's 
Church, which was falling into ruins, com- 
pletely rebuilt. He founded thirteen pre- 
bendaries, which number was afterwards 
increased to twenty-two. He also founded 
a nunnery in that city for regular canon- 
esses of St. Augustin, called De Gratia Dei, 
" of the grace of God. "J 

The war between the O'Briens of Thuo- 
mond, and the Mac-Cartys of Desmond, had 
lasted for a considerable time ; and though 
peace was at length concluded between these 

* War. de Antiq. cap. 26. 

t Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 32. 

\ Idem, page 341. 



300 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



two septs, it was, unluckily, but of short 
continuance. Heaven itself seemed displeas- 
ed with the discord of these people at a pe- 
riod when union was so necessary for the 
defence of their country. Minister was visited 
at this time by dreadful storms and hurri- 
canes, which destroyed several houses and 
churches, and caused the loss of many lives. 

About this time was celebrated, in the 
monastery of Clairvaux in France, the festival 
of the translation of the relics of St. Malachi, 
archbishop of Armagh. They were after- 
wards removed to the abbey of Mellifont in 
Ireland, and particles of them distributed to 
the different houses of the Cistertian order. 

Matthew O'Heney, archbishop of Cashel, 
having been nominated legate of Ireland by 
Pope Celestinus III., convened a council in 
Dublin, a. d. 1 1 92 ; but we are unacquainted 
with what passed in it. About this time the 
city suffered considerably by fire. 

While some of the English were occupied 
in building the castles of Ballinorcher and 
Kilbixi, in Westmeath, and that of Kilkenny, 
in Leinster, others of them were completely 
destroyed at Dunlus O'Fogerte, by Donald 
O'Brien, king of Limerick ; after which the 
English, in revenge for their losses, collect- 
ed a force and pillaged the country of Thuo- 
mond. 

About the same time an abbey of Bene- 
dictines was founded at Glascarrig, in the 
county of Wexford ; an abbey also of the 
Cistertian order at Ballinamore, in West- 
meath, and one in the city of Down.* 

There were two priories in Eastmeath, 
one near the town of Trim, and the other 
at Kells, in the same county. Both belonged 
to the order of the Holy-Cross. The former 
was founded by a bishop of Meath, the lat- 
ter by Walter de Lacy.f 

Richard, king of England, whom we left 
in Asia, was shipwrecked in the Adriatic 
sea, on his return to Europe. In order to 
conceal his coming to England, he took the 
road through Germany, where he had the 
misfortune of falling into the hands of Leo- 
pold, marquis of Austria. This prince had 
not forgotten the insult he had received at 
the siege of Acre, from Richard, who tore 
down the standard he had set up on the top 
of a tower, and placed his own in its stead. 
He sold Richard to the Emperor Henry VI., 
who detained him a prisoner for fifteen 
months. His brother John, lord of Ireland, 
wishing to take advantage of this opportunity, 
and, according to Ware, at the instigation of 



* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 
t Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. 



Philip Augustus, made some attempts to 
usurp the crown of England ;* but being 
doubtful of success, he only fortified some 
castles in England, and went to Normandy, 
where Philip Augustus then was, by whom 
he was honorably received. 

Richard having been released from his 
captivity, returned to England, where he was 
joyfully received by his subjects ; and then 
went to Normandy, to put a stop to the 
progress of Philip. t His brother John fol- 
lowed him thither, and implored his forgive- 
ness in the humblest manner, promising him 
fidelity for the future. He granted him his 
pardon, through the solicitation of his mother 
Eleanor, saying, " I wish I may forget your 
crime, and that you alone may preserve 
the remembrance of it."J 

In Ireland the O'Briens were still opposed 
to the M'Cartys, and in 1193 the king of 
Limerick consented to the building of the 
castle of Briginis, in the country of Thuo- 
mond, to favor the incursions of the Eng- 
lish into Desmond. These strangers still con- 
tinued their depredations ; they held nothing 
sacred. Gilbertde Nangle pillaged the island 
of Inisclohran, in lake Ree, and also the ab- 
bey ; while Africa, wife of John de Courcy, 
founded the abbey of our Lady of Leigh, or 
De Jugo Dei, in Ulster, in which she was 
afterwards interred. About this time died 
Derforgill, wife of Tigernach O'Rourk, 
whose misconduct had drawn irremediable 
misfortunes on her country. She had been 
at first confined, by order of Roderick O'Con- 
nor, in the abbey of St. Bridget in Kildare, 
from whence she was removed to the abbey 
of Mellifont, where she died. 

The year following was much more memo- 
rable by the death of Donald O'Brien, king 
of Limerick, a. d. 1194. Thisprince was no 
less pious than warlike ; he founded several 
monasteries, and made also many efforts, 
though too late, to shake off the yoke of the 
English. His first fault was irreparable : 
instead of joining the other princes of Ire- 
land in the common cause, he had been one 
of the first to submit to Henry II., without 
making the least resistance, and thereby 
afforded the English an opportunity of be- 
coming strong in the country. Although 
the last king of Limerick, he was succeeded 
in the government of that part of the island 
by his son Donogh Cairbreach. The eyes of 
his second son, Mortough, were put out by 
the English. 

* Annal. Hib. ad an. 1193. 
t Westmonast. Flores Hist. lib. 2, ad an. 1192. 
X Walsing. Ypodig. Mcust. ad an. 1193, 1194. 
Bak. Chron. of Engl, on the reign of Richard. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



301 



The affairs of the English in Ireland were 
in a very precarious state, a. d. 1195 ; after 
being defeated in several engagements, they 
were expelled from Limerick by Donald 
M'Carty. The Irish knew how to gain vic- 
tories, but had not the art of turning them 
to advantage ; the superiority of their arms 
was soon counterbalanced by the stratagems 
of war skilfully made use of by the English, 
and by the succor these strangers were 
continually receiving from England. Philip 
de Wigorne landed this year on the coasts 
of Munster, with a strong reinforcement, 
which changed the aspect of their affairs. 
In Ulster, Roderick, son of Dunleve, with a 
body of troops composed of both English 
and Irish, made incursions into Tyrone ; but 
was repulsed, and attacked in his retreat at 
Armagh, by Mortough O'Loghlin, prince of 
that district, who destroyed a considerable 
part of his army. This prince, celebrated 
in the histories of the country, was killed 
some time afterwards, by Donough M'Blos- 
chy O'Cahan, and his body interred with 
great pomp at Derry. 

About this time Pope Celestine III. con- 
firmed the foundation of a monastery for 
Augustin nuns at Termonfechau, in the 
county of Louth, by the M'Mahons, lords of 
the country.* 

Courcy having taken the castle of Kil- 
sandall, placed a garrison in it, a. d. 1196, 
under the command of one Russell, who, to 
tiy his fortune, made some incursions with 
the troops of his garrison into the country 
of Tirconnel, from whence he carried away 
considerable booty ; but he was attacked on 
the way and killed, with several of his fol- 
lowers, by Flahertach O'Maolduin, prince 
of Tirconnel. 

In Munster, Donald M'Carty put the 
English garrison of Imacalle to the sword, 
and razed the castle to the ground. He 
treated the garrison of Kilfeacle in the same 
manner, and pillaged the castle. In order 
to put a stop to the enterprises of M'Carty, 
the English sent an army, composed of the 
garrisons of Cork and other places, against 
him ; but did not, however, come to an 
engagement. A truce was concluded, and 
hostilities ceased for some time. 

Gilbert de Nangle, a man of considerable 
power in Meath, put himself at the head of 
a body of troops, and committed dreadful 
devastation in the surrounding country ; but 
finding himself threatened by Hamon de 
Valoines, who had succeeded Peter Pippard 

* War. de Antiq. Allemand, Hist. Monast. 
d'Irl. page 349. 



as lord-justice of Ireland, he laid down his 
arms and took to flight, after which his cas- 
tles were seized, and his estates confiscated. 

A serious dispute occurred, a. d. 1179, 
between John Coram, archbishop of Dublin, 
and Hamon de Valoines, and other ministers 
of John, lord of Ireland, who were encroach- 
ing on the privileges of his church. The 
prelate excommunicated them, and then went 
to England, where he in vain complained 
of the injustice of these ministers. It has 
since been discovered in the registries of 
the church of Dublin, that Hamon granted 
to the successor of Comin, twenty carucates 
or quarters of land, in compensation for the 
wrongs he had done it. 

John de Courcy continued his tyranny in 
Ulster. He made the people suffer for the 
crime of an individual ; putting several in- 
nocent persons to death in order to be re- 
venged for the death of his brother Jordan, 
who was killed by his own servant. He 
laid waste the country of Tirconnel, from 
which he carried off much booty, after hav- 
ing killed O'Dogherty, who became prince 
of that country after the death of Flahertach 
O'Maolduin. The latter, who was so cele- 
brated among the Irish for his military ex- 
ploits, and other virtues, died at Inis-Samer, 
on the 10th of February, after a long illness, 
and was buried, with pomp, at Drum-Tuama. 

Hamon de Valoines, lord-justice of Ire- 
land, was at length recalled, a. d. 1198. 
He was succeeded by Meyler Fitzhenry, 
renowned in history for his exploits against 
the Irish. 

The castle of Ard-Patrick, in Munster, 
was built this year by the English ; and the 
year following, that of Astretin, in the same 
province. 

Richard I. survived his captivity but five 
or six years. He was almost continually at 
war with Philip Augustus.* Several truces 
were concluded between them. Richard 
was at length wounded in the arm by an 
arrow that was discharged by Bertram de 
Gordon, otherwise called Peter Basile, when 
he was endeavoring to enter the castle of 
Chalus, near Limoge, by force.")" His wound 
having mortified through the ignorance of 
the surgeon who dressed it, he died after a 
few days. His body was interred atFonte- 
veraud, near the tomb of his father, and his 
heart brought to Rouen, in gratitude for the 
love which that city had always manifested 
towards him. J 

* Westmon. Flores Hist. lib. 2, ad an. 1199. 
t Matth. Paris, Angli. Hist. Major. Vit. Richard. 
1 Baker's Chron. of Engl, on the reign of 
Richard I. 



302 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



John, earl of Mortagne, lord of Ireland, 
who had endeavored to usurp the throne 
of England during his brother's lifetime, 
did not fail to lay claim to it after his death, 
to the prejudice of his nephew Arthur, son 
of Geoffry, of Brittany, his elder brother.* 
Arthur took up arms, and was supported by 
Philip Augustus ; but John made him pris- 
oner at Mirabel, in Poitou, whence he sent 
him, under a strong escort, to Falaise, and 
thence to Rouen, where he had him put to 
death ; by which means he united the he- 
reditary domains of his family, on the con- 
tinent, with the kingdom of England.! 

The English still continued their hostili- 
ties in Ireland, a. d. 1199. John de Courcy 
sent a body of troops this year to Tyrone, 
who laid the country waste and carried 
away several herds of cattle. They were 
not, however, so fortunate in a second enter- 
prise. Hugh O'Neill, prince of the country, 
marched to meet them, and defeated them at 
Donoughmore. Meanwhile, the English of 
Munster continued to devastate the country 
of Desmond from the river Shannon to the 
Eastern Sea. About the same period, a 
fortified castle was built at Granard, in the 
district of Aumale, in the county of Longford, 
by Richard Tuite, to check the O'Reillys 
and other Irish chieftains, who were carry- 
ing on a continual warfare against the Eng- 
lish, who had settled in that quarter. 

The abbey of Comerer, or Comber, in the 
county of Down, was founded this year, for 
Cistertian monks, by the Whites, who had 
settled in that country 4 This abbey was 
inconsiderable, and was a branch of that of 
Blancheland, in Wales, whence its first 
monks came over. 

King John was not less avaricious than 
his father : he drew money from all quarters, 
and it may be said that his reign was one 
continual tax.§ According to Hoveden, he 
sold to William, nephew of Philip de Braos, 
for four thousand marks of silver, the lands of 
the O'Carrols, the O'Kennedys, O'Maghers, 
O'Fogartys, O'Ryans, O'Hifferans, and oth- 
ers, which Henry his father had given to 
Philip de Worcester, and to Theobald Fitz- 
walter. But Worcester, who was then in 
England, returned to Ireland through Scot- 
land, and recovered his estates by open 
force. Fitzwalter, with the assistance of 
his brother De Hubert, archbishop of Can- 

* Westmonast. ibid, ad an. 1202. 

t Matth. Paris, Angli. Hist. Major, ad an. 1292. 
Baker, Chron. of Engl, on -the reign of John I. 

t Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 193. 

§ Baker, Chron. of Engl, on the reign of John I. 
War. de Annal. Hib. ad an. 1200. 



terbury, compounded with De Braos for his 
estates, by paying five hundred marks.* 
Those lands were Truoheked, Eile-y-Car- 
rol, Eile-y-Ogarthi, Orwon, Areth, and wny, 
Owny Hokathelan, and Owny Hiffernan. 
William de Braos gave up those lands to 
Fitzwalter, by a charter delivered at Lin- 
coln in presence of the king. Henry II. 
had already conferred on Fitzwalter the 
office of grand hereditary butler of Ireland, 
from whence is derived the name of Butler, 
which was afterwards taken by the de- 
scendants of that nobleman. 

William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, being 
in danger of shipwreck on his passage from 
England to Ireland, made a vow to build a 
religious house ;t in consequence of which 
he founded, a. d. 1199, the abbey called 
Little Tinterne, in Ireland, in a village of 
that name on the coast of Wexford. The 
abbey was so called to distinguish it from 
the great Tinterne, in Wales, where the 
Cistertian order was established, and of 
which it was a branch. This nobleman 
also founded two religious houses ; one at 
Kilrush, in the county of Kildare, for regular 
canons, and the other at Wexford, for hospi- 
tallers of St. John the Baptist of Jerusalem, 
and St. Bridget.J Besides the latter house, 
which was the grand priory, the order of 
Malta had nine commanderies in Ireland 
before the suppression of the Templars. 

About this time Donat, son of Donald 
O'Brien, king of Limerick, founded two 
abbeys, dedicated to the blessed Virgin ; 
one that of Corcumroe, or de Pctra Fertili, 
in the county of Clare, of the Cistertian 
order ; the other that of Kilcoul, or de Ar- 
vicampo, in the county of Tipperary, a 
branch of the abbey of Jeripont. 

We discover at the same time the founda- 
tion of two nunneries : one at Kilcreunata, 
in the county of Galway, called de Casta 
Sylva, founded by Cahal O'Connor, sur- 
named Crovderg, for Benedictines ; the 
other at Granary, county of Kildare, found- 
ed by Walter de Ridelesford, an English no- 
bleman, for monks of St. Augustin.^ Tins 
monastery is, perhaps, the same as Grane, 
a priory of Benedictines in the same county, 
founded by the same nobleman ; the act of 
its foundation is mentioned by the authors 
of the " Monasticum Anglicanum," to have 
been inserted in a bull of Pope Innocent 

* Introduction to the life of the duke of Ormond, 
vol. 1, p. 18. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. 

t Allem. Hist. Monast d'Irl. pages 24, 124. 

§ War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allem. ibid. p. 347. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



303 



III., in the year 1207, by which it appears 
that this English nobleman, its founder, and 
baron of Bre, lord of Tristeldermot and 
other places, granted it to the lands of 
Grane, Dolke, and others. 

At Nenagh, in the county of Tipperary, 
there was a priory or hospital called Teach- 
Eon, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, 
founded by Theobald Walter, the chief of 
the Butlers,* a. d. 1200. At Athassel, a 
small town in the same county, was the pri- 
ory of St. Edmond, king and martyr, found- 
ed for regular canons in 1200 by William 
de Burgo, from whom the Burkes are de- 
scended. 

At Kilbeggain, in Westmeath, there was 
an abbey of Cistertian monks, called De 
Flumine Dei, founded by the Daltons, bar- 
ons of Rathcomire.f It was a branch of 
the abbey of Mellifont, its first monks hav- 
ing come from that abbey. 

At Tristernach, in Westmeath, there was 
also a priory for regular canons of St. Aw 
gustin, called St. Mary's, founded about this 
time by Geoffry de Constantin, an English 
lord. Dugdale and Dodsworth mention the 
act of its foundation in the additions to the 
" Monasticum Anglicanum." 

In the neighborhood of the town of Wex 
ford, the priory of St. Peter and St. Paul 
was founded by the Roches, lords of Fer- 
moy, for regular canons of St. Augustin 
There was also a priory of the same order, 
under the title of St. John the Baptist, at 
Naas, in the county of Kildare, founded by 
a baron of Naas. 

The church of Ireland lost two celebrated 
prelates at this period, (a. d. 1201 ;) Thomas 
O'Connor, archbishop of Armagh, a noble 
and virtuous character, was one ; he was 
interred in the abbey of Mellifont.| The 
English wishing to make themselves mas- 
ters of the see, which had become vacant 
by his death, the king of England appointed 
Humfred de Tikhull to it ; but he was pre- 
vented from acting by the pope, who confer- 
red it on Eugene Mac-Gillevider, a native of 
Ireland. Eugene was a man of great virtue, 
" vir magna? honestatis et vitee laudabilis ;" 
he died at Rome in 1216, after having as- 
sisted at the fourth council of Lateran. 

Catholicus O'Dubhay, archbishop of Tuam, 
was the other prelate alluded to. He was a 
grave and learned man, and had made peace 
between Roderick O'Connor and Henry II. ; 
he was also one of the six Irish prelates that 



* Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 65. 

t War. de Antiq. ibid. Allemand, ibid. p. 171). 

X War. de Archiepise. Ardmach. 



had assisted at the council of Lateran. His 
death took place at Cong, at an advanced 
age,* and he was buried in the monastery of 
the regular canons of St. Augustin, and was 
succeeded by Felix O'Ruadan. 

There had always existed a jealousy and 
secret enmity between the Lacys and John 
de Courcy, which broke out openly in the 
beginning of the reign of king John.f This 
king was abhorred by all good men, not only 
for having deprived Arthur of the crown, 
who was legitimate heir to it, but also for 
having imbrued his own hands in the blood 
of that innocent prince. Every one ex- 
pressed his indignation openly, particularly 
John de Courcy, earl of Ulster, who was a 
violent and hasty man, and who, not con- 
tent with the mere abhorrence which so 
detestable an act excited, gave vent to im- 
precations, of which the king was soon in- 
formed. In order to punish De Courcy's 
imprudence, John sent orders to De La- 
cy, whom he had just appointed lord-jus- 
tice of Ireland, to have him arrested and 
brought to England in chains. Lacy was 
glad to receive these orders, so much in ac- 
cordance with his own wishes, and lost not 
a moment in using all his efforts to execute 
the commission. Courcy, informed of the 
danger which threatened him, withdrew to 
Ulster, where he placed himself on the 
defensive, and defeated the king's troops, 
whom De Lacy had sent in pursuit of him, 
near Down. The viceroy finding it impos- 
sible to reduce his enemy by force of arms, 
published a manifesto, in the king's name, 
declaring De Courcy a traitor to the king 
and a rebel to his commands, and offered a 
reward to whomsoever should take and 
bring him, dead or alive, to him. This re- 
ward some of De Courcy's own household 
were base enough to earn ; he was arrested 
on Good Friday by some of his own attend- 
ants, and brought to the viceroy, who, after 
giving those who delivered him up the prom- 
ised reward, had them all hanged. Lacy 
immediately set out with his prisoner for 
England, and presented him to the king, by 
whose orders he was confined in a dungeon. 
As a reward for this service, Lacy received 
from his royal master all the lands which 
belonged to De Courcy in Ulster and Con- 
naught, together with the title of earl of 
Ulster. 

The people of Tyrone deposed Hugh 
O'Neill this year, and placed Cornelius 
Mac-Laughlin in his stead, who was killed 



* War. de Archiepise. Tuamens. 

t Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. page 212. 



304 



HISTOKV OP IE ELAND. 



in battle a short time afterwards by Eignea- 
chain O'Donnel ; after which O'Neill was 
reinstated. 

The discord which prevailed between 
Philip de Worcester and William de Braos, 
to whom the king had sold the lands of 
Philip, as has been already observed, was 
productive of great troubles in Munster, 
particularly in the district of Moy-Femin, 
which was pillaged : but the year following, 
the castle of Knockgrassan, and other places 
which had been seized by Philip, were re- 
stored to William by order of the king. 

William Fitz-Adelm, or De Burgo, made 
some incursions into the country of Des- 
mond, and carried off considerable booty. 
The king gave him by charter five military 
fiefs in a place called Toth, where the cas- 
tle of Canic, now Castle-Connel, stands, 
which have remained in the hands of his 
descendants to the present time. 

Keating mentions an expedition which 
Fitz-Adelm made into Connaught, where he 
committed dreadful devastations.* Accord- 
ing to him, cruelty was the ruling passion of 
this nobleman ; he put the priests and peo- 
ple to the sword without distinction, and de- 
stroyed the religious houses and other holy 
places in this province, so that his tyrannical 
conduct drew upon him the censures of the 
clergy, and he was solemnly excommunica- 
ted by the church ; in which state he died 
of an extraordinary sickness, which caused 
frightful distortions. He gave no signs of 
repentance ; his body was carried to a vil- 
lage, the inhabitants of which he had put to 
death, and was thrown into a well, from 
whence it was never afterwards taken.f 

Stanihurst, following Cambrensis,J gives 
the following account of him. He was a 
man, he says, solely occupied in amassing 
riches, a mercenary governor, and detested 
both by prince and people ; the duties of his 
office he discharged in a shameful and sordid 
manner, and disregarded justice when his 

* History of Ireland, book 2. 

t Keating takes this fact from an authentic manu- 
script written three hundred years before his time, 
consequently in or about the thirteenth century. 
He calls this manuscript Leavar Breac, or the book 
of Mac-Eogain. 

t The honors which he conferred on any one 
were always but a mask of his treacherous inten- 
tions, concealing poison beneath the honey, and re- 
sembling a snake lurking in the grass. Liberal and 
mild in his aspect, but carrying more aloes than 
honey within — 

Pelliculam veterem retinens, vir fronte politus, 
Astutam vapido portans sub pectore vulpem ; 
Impia sub dulci melle venena ferens. 

Hibernia Expugnata, c. 16. 



own interest was in question. He concludes 
by saying it is not surprising that his memory 
should be held in abhorrence by the people : 
" ut non mirum fuerit, si incolis tristem horri- 
bilemque memoriam nominis sui reliquerit."* 

Although the historians of the times have 
represented William Fitz-Adelm as a wicked 
man, he left a posterity in Ireland who were 
worthy of a better ancestor, and who were 
always distinguished for their religion, vir- 
tue, and fidelity to their lawful princes. 

There were some religious houses found- 
ed about this time in Ireland. At Conol, a 
village on the river Liffey, in the county of 
Kildare, a rich priory was established for 
regular canons of St. Augustin, by Myler 
Fitzhenry.f This priory depended on the 
abbey of Anthoni, in England, and the 
original act for its establishment is in the 
Bodleian library. 

In a very pleasant situation on the right 
bank of the river Liffey, in the county of 
Kildare, there was a handsome priory of the 
order of St. Victor, dedicated to St. Wol- 
stan, who had been lately canonized by Pope 
Innocent III. This house was commonly 
called Scala Cadi, or the ladder of heaven. 
It was founded by Richard, the first abbot, 
and Adam de Hereford, both Englishmen, 
in 12354 

About this time Theobald Fitzwalter, first 
grand butler of Ireland, founded at Owny, 
or Wetheni, in the district of Limerick, an 
abbey for Cistertian monks ;§ it was a 
branch of the abbey of Lavigni, diocese of 
Avranche, in Normandy, from whence its 
first monks were brought. 

At Inistiock, in the county of Kilkenny, 
there was a priory for regular canons of St. 
Augustin, called after St. Columbanus, 
founded, according to Ware, in 1206, by 
Thomas, seneschal of Leinster, at the re- 
quest of Hugh, bishop of Ossory. 

Ware also mentions a religious house, 
founded in the neighborhood of Drogheda, 
which was called De Urso, having been 
founded by Ursus de Samuel ; it was a 
priory and hospital for the order of the 
Holy Cross, the monks of which were 
called cross-bearers. Some believe that it 
was a custodia, or hospital, belonging to the 
regular canons of St. Augustin. 

At Newtown, in the neighborhood of 
Trim, on the river Boyne, there was a rich 
and handsome priory, founded in 1206, for 

* De Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 4, p. 185. 
t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irl. page 22. 

t War. de Antiq. ibid, page 120. 
§ Allemand, ibid, page 184. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



305 



regular canons of St. Augustin, under the 
title of St. Peter and St. Paul, by Simon 
Rochford, bishop of Meath, who fixed his 
abode there .* This prelate having removed 
the episcopal see of Clonard to Trim, the 
bishops of that diocese were afterwards called 
Episcopi Trimenses, instead of Cluanar- 
denses ; but the diocese was commonly 
called the bishopric of Meath, taking its 
name from the county rather than from a 
city. 

In his annals of the same year, (1202,) 
Ware fixes the martyrdom of St. Manon, a 
native of Ireland, whom Molanus ranks 
among the saints of Flanders. This saint 
was a disciple of Saint Remulch and St. 
John Agnus, bishop of Utrecht. He was 
massacred in the forest of Ardenne, and 
buried in a church which he had founded at 
Nassoin, in Ardenne, where he is acknow- 
ledged as the patron saint. 

In the year 1207, a religious house was 
founded at Douske, in the county of Kilken- 
ny, by William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, 
for Cistertian monks. This abbey was 
called, " Valley of the Blessed Saviour." 
Another was founded at Atherdee, or De 
Atrio Dei, in the county of Louth, by Roger 
Pipard, a lord of that district, for monks 
called cross-bearers, under the title of St. 
John the Baptist. 

Geoffry M'Moris, or Morich, an Irish no- 
bleman, having caused a revolt against the 
English in the county of Tipperary, a. d. 

1208, Hugh de Lacy marched as viceroy 
towards Thurles, with all the troops he could 
collect, where he destroyed the castle called 
Castle Meiler ; but having lost several of 
bis men at the taking of this place, and in 
the various conflicts he had with the Irish, 
he was forced to abandon his enterprise. 

A tragical scene occurred in the year 

1209, which gave rise to what the English 
have since called " black Monday." It was 
as follows : — A contagious distemper raged in 
Dublin, by which it was almost depopulated, 
and being deserted by the inhabitants, an 
English colony was sent for to Bristol to 
replace them. These strangers, who had 
been accustomed to go to the country on 
festival days for their amusement, left the 
city in crowds on Easter Monday ; when 
approaching Cullin's Wood, (so called from 
the noble family of the O'Cullens, to whom 
it had formerly belonged,) they were attacked 
by the O'Byrnes and O'Tools, from the 
county of Wicklow, with their vassals, who 
massacred three hundred of them, sparing 

* Allemand, ibid, page 31. 



neither women nor children. At that time 
England was an inexhaustible source of 
men, particularly when to make a fortune in 
Ireland was in question, and the loss was 
soon repaired by a new colony from Bristol. 
The mayor, aldermen, and citizens of Dub- 
lin, celebrated for many ages the anniversary 
of this fatal day, in the place where the 
massacre was committed, by feasting and 
rejoicings. 

At Fermoy, in the county of Cork, on the 
river called Avoine Moer, there was an 
abbey called De Castro Dei, founded by the 
noble family of De Rupe, Roche, or De la 
Roche, lords of that place.* The monks 
of this abbey were of the Cistertian order, 
and came from the abbey of Suire ; several 
were brought afterwards from the abbey of 
Furnese, in England. Jungelinus says it 
was founded in 1 170, which does not accord 
with the period when the founder of it settled 
in Ireland. It should be fixed some years 
later, viz., about the beginning of the thir- 
teenth century. 

In the neighborhood of Waterford, there 
was also the priory of St. Catherine, of the 
order of St. Victor, founded by the Danes, 
or Ostmans, of that city, and confirmed by 
Innocent III. in 1210. 

At Lerha, near Granard, in the county of 
Longford, there was an abbey of Bernardins, 
founded by Richard Tuite, an Englishman, 
lord of Granard. The first monks of this 
abbey came from that of our Lady, of Dub- 
lin, of the order of the Clairvaux.f Some 
say that this house was founded in 1210, 
Jungelinus in 1211, and Flatzburi in 1212. 
The founder was killed the following year 
at Athlone, by the falling of a tower, and 
his body interred in this abbey. 

At Beaubec, a place so called from its 
being situated on a delightful peninsula, 
formed by the confluence of the rivers Boyne 
and Blackwater, in Meath, there was an 
abbey founded by Walter de Lacy, lord of 
that district. This abbey was of the Cis- 
tertian order, and a branch of that of Beau- 
bec in Normandy. It was afterwards united 
to that of Furnese in England. Ware men- 
tions in his annals a monastery which he 
calls Fort, founded by the above-mentioned 
nobleman. 

Courcy, whom we had left confined in 
England, found means to recover the king's 



* War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irl. page 181. 

t War. de Antiq. cap. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irl. page 180 



306 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



favor,* and was restored by him to both his 
liberty and fortune. This nobleman was 
particularly desirous of returning to Ireland, 
where he had such extensive possessions. 
He set sail fifteen times for that country, 
and was as often driven back by contrary 
winds, as if some invisible and avenging 
hand would deprive him of the pleasure of 
seeing a country in which he had committed 
so many and such flagrant crimes. He was 
at length cast upon the coast of France, 
where he died. Such was the end of this 
great tyrant, whom the English call a great 
general. According to Stanihurst, he left 
no posterity, like many other chiefs of the 
English colony. t However, Nichols, the 
author of the " Compendium," alleges that 
he had a son called Myles, who was deprived 
of his father's title and possessions, which 
the king conferred on De Lacy. By way of 
indemnification, he was created baron of 
Kingsale, where his descendants have sup- 
ported their dignity to the present time. 

John visited Ireland in the twelfth year of 
his reign. He landed at Waterford, at the 
head of a numerous and well-provided army, 
to put down the Irish who had rebelled, and 
were continually pillaging and destroying his 
English subjects. It is affirmed by some, 
that their rebellion was caused by an exor- 
bitant tax, which the king wished to lay on 
them in order to enable him to carry on the 
war against France, and that finding this 
tax too heavy to be borne, they determined 
to have recourse to arms rather than submit 
to it. 

The king having marched with his forces 
towards Dublin,^ the people, alarmed at his 
power, came from all quarters to submit to 
an oath of allegiance and to keep the peace. 
Twenty petty kings, called Reguli by the 
English authors, paid him homage in Dub- 
lin. § There were others, however, who 
disdained to bend beneath the yoke of Eng- 
land. " Pauci tamen ex Regulis superse 
derunt, qui ad regem venire contempserunt." 

It appears that the object of this prince's 
expedition was not only to quell the insur- 
rection of the Irish, but likewise to punish 
his English subjects who were oppressing 

* Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. p. S17. 

t " He was married to the daughter of the king of 
Man, but left no issue after him, like many of those 
who ruled over the Irish at that time ; whose fami- 
lies, from want of children, were quickly reduced 
to a small number." — Stanihurst, b. 4, p. 218. 

t Matth. Paris, Angl. Hist. Major, ad an. 1210, 

§ This is an exaggeration of those writers. There 
never were twenty kings at one time in Ireland. 
The title of king was given only to the monarch 
and the four provincial kings. 



them, and exercising an insupportable ty- 
ranny everywhere their authority extended. 
For this purpose he advanced into the 
country, and seized upon their castles and 
fortified places. All fled before him, and 
among others, William de Braos, his wife 
Matilda, his son William, and their whole 
retinue ; but they were seized, brought to 
England under a strong guard, and confined 
in Windsor castle, where, by order of the 
king, they were starved to death.* Others, 
however, say that William de Braos, having 
been banished the kingdom, died of grief in 
Paris, and was buried on the eve of St. 
Laurence's day, in the abbey of St. Victor, 
in that city.f 

The De Lacys were not more fortunate 
than De Braos. Walter, lord of Meath, and 
his brother Hugh, earl of Ulster and lord- 
justice of Ireland, goaded by remorse for 
their extortions and tyranny, and also for 
the murder of John de Courcy, lord of 
Ratheny and Kilbarrock, near Dublin, (who 
was natural son to the former earl of Ulster, 
and whose death was so justly attributed to 
them,) as well as pressed by the complaints 
which had been made of them to the king, 
resolved to quit the kingdom, and accord- 
ingly took refuge in Normandy. The king 
immediately appointed John Gray, bishop of 
Norwich, his deputy in Ireland, in place of 
Hugh de Lacy. 

In order to guard against every search 
which the king might make after them, the 
Lacys disguised themselves as laborers, and 
were admitted in that capacity into the abbey 
of St. Taurin of Evreux, where they lived 
by their labor during two or three years, 
cultivating the grounds of the abbey, and 
attending to the gardens. What a fall! 
The abbot being pleased with the two work- 
men, sent for them one day ; and either from 
a previous knowledge of their situation, or 
from discovering something superior to what 
they professed to be in their comportment 
and manner, questioned them concerning 
their origin, birth, and country. Having 
obtained a knowledge of their entire history, 
he felt a deep interest and pity for them, 
and promised to restore them to their prince's 
favor. In this he was successful ; the king 
gave them his pardon, and permitted them 
to ransom their estates. Walter paid two 
thousand five hundred marks in silver for 
Meath ; and his brother Hugh a much larger 
sum for his possessions in Ulster and Con- 
naught. These noblemen were so grateful 



* Matth. Paris, ibid. 

^ Westmonast. Flores Hist, ad an. 121 L 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



307 



for the services which the abbot of St. Tau- 
rin had rendered them, that they brought 
his nephew Alured with them to Ireland, 
and loaded him with riches. 

In the city of Kilkenny, a priory and hos- 
pital of the order of the regular canons of 
St. Augustin were founded at this time, by 
William Marshal, earl of Pembroke. The 
authors of the " Monasticum Anglicanum" 
mention, that this house, which was under 
the protection of St. John the Evangelist, 
was not founded till 1220. There was also 
a priory of the same order in the county of 
Kilkenny, founded by the Blanchfelds. 

The king of England having allayed the 
troubles in Ireland, thought of giving a form 
of government to his new subjects. He 
divided that part of the island which obeyed 
him, into twelve shires or counties ; and 
established sheriffs or provosts, and other 
officers of justice in those counties, to govern 
the people according to the laws of England. 
Lastly, he remodelled the coin, and decreed 
that the same should pass in England and in 
Ireland ; after which he embarked for Wales, 
where he appeased some troubles as he 
passed, and took with him twenty-eight 
children of the first rank, as hostages, to 
secure the fidelity of the people ;* but having 
heard some time afterwards that the Welsh 
were beginning to rebel again, he was so 
transported with rage that he had all these 
innocent victims hanged in his presence, as 
he was sitting to table, a. d. 1212.f 

About this time died John Comin, arch- 
bishop of Dublin, who had governed that 
church for thirty years. He was interred in 
the choir of Christ's Cathedral, a. d. 12134 
His successor was Henry Loundres, so called 
from the city in which he was born. The 
latter was likewise nominated lord-justice 
of Ireland, which office he filled till the year 
1215, when he was summoned to attend the 
fourth council of Lateran, and in his absence 
Geoffry de Mariscis performed the duties of 
lord-justice. He was appointed legate of 
Ireland two years afterwards, by Pope 
Honorius III. On his returning thither, he 
convened a synod at Dublin, in which useful 
regulations were made respectingthe govern- 
ment of the church. Geoffry de Mariscis 
having been recalled to England in 1219, 
Henry Loundres resumed the administration 
of affairs by order of the king, during which 
period he built the castle of Dublin, in which 
the viceroys hold their court. He erected 

* Matth. Paris, Angl. Hist. Major, 
t Baker, Chron. of England, on the reign of 
John. 

t War. de Archiepise. Dubliniens. 



the church of St. Patrick, which his prede- 
cessor had rebuilt, into a cathedral, and 
founded the dignities of chorister, chancel- 
lor, and treasurer. He increased the reve- 
nues of the monastery of De Gratici Dei. 
He removed the priory of Holm-Patrick, 
which had been founded by Sitrick in an 
island on the coast, for regular canons of 
St. Augustin, to a more convenient situa- 
tion inland. Lastly, the see of Glen-da- 
Loch, which had become vacant by the 
death of William Piro, was annexed to the 
see of Dublin under his episcopacy. 

The prelate of Dublin, though he governed 
the church and state with applause, was 
guilty of an act which left an indelible stain 
on his character. He sent orders to all the 
farmers to repair to him on a certain day, 
to show the leases and titles by which they 
held the lands of the archbishopric. These 
unsuspecting people obeyed his orders with- 
out hesitation ; and produced their papers 
to him, which he threw immediately into the 
fire, before their faces. This naturally caused 
consternation and tumult among the people. 
Some were struck with horror at the injus- 
tice of his conduct, while others, forgetting 
all respect towards him, loaded him with in- 
sults, calling him, in the Gothic English of 
those times, Schorch bill and Scorch villen* 
Others, still more indignant, ran to take up 
arms, and the prelate was too happy to es- 
cape through a back door, while his attend- 
ants were beaten, and some almost killed. 
This conduct of this prelate exasperated 
the king to such a degree, that he deprived 
him of all administration in the affairs of 
Ireland, and transferred them to Maurice 
Fitzgerald. 

Some abbeys for monks of the order of 
St. Augustin were founded about this time : 
the principal of which were that of Tuam, 
in Connaught, built in the twelfth century, 
by the Burkes ; that of Enachdune, in the 
county of Galway, called Our Lady of Portu 
Patrum, a branch of the abbey of Tuam ; 
one in the island of the Holy Trinity, in 
lake Ree, county of Roscommon, founded 
in 1215, by an archdeacon of Elphin, called 
Mac-Maylin, a native of Ireland ; and that 
of Goodborne, near Carrickfergus, in the 
county of Antrim, in Ulster. 

At Ballintobber, in the county of Mayo, 
also, there was the abbey of the Blessed 
Trinity, called De Fonte Sancti Patricii, 
from the fountain of St. Patrick.f It was 
founded in 1216 for regular canons of St. 

* A countryman. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 



308 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Augustin, by Charles O'Connor, otherwise 
Cahal-Crovedarg, king of Connaught, some 
time before his death. 

John Lackland was the most unfortunate 
of princes ; he was despised by foreigners, 
and hated by his subjects. Having put his 
nephew Arthur to death, he was summoned 
before the court of peers in France, to be 
tried for his crime ; but not appearing, he 
was declared a rebel, in consequence of 
which his possessions were confiscated and 
he himself condemned to death, as being 
guilty of the murder of his nephew, com- 
mitted within the jurisdiction of the govern- 
ment of France.* Philip Augustus seized 
upon Normandy, which he annexed to his 
crown, about three hundred years after it 
had been separated from it ; and likewise on 
Touraine, Anjou, and Maine, so that the 
king of England retained only the province 
of Guienne in France. 

This unhappy prince having opposed the 
election of cardinal Stephen Langton to the 
see of Canterbury, the pope put his king- 
dom under an interdict. 

After this, John, not content with confis- 
cating all the property in his kingdom which 
belonged to the church, drew upon himself 
the hatred of the lords, by refusing them 
the privileges and liberties which Henry I. 
had granted them by charter. Reiterated 
complaints of his conduct having been car- 
ried to the pope, he proceeded from the in- 
terdict to sentence of excommunication, ab- 
solving John's subjects from their oath of 
allegiance, and conferring his crown upon 
the king of France. John, finding himself 
abandoned by the whole nation, resolved to 
submit to the pope, and acknowledge his 
kingdom tributary to the holy see. This, 
however, did not reconcile his subjects to 
him ; for he had made them promises which 
he did not fulfil. He therefore assembled 
his forces ; the nobles raised troops, and 
were supported by the city of London, and 
hostilities began on both sides. The Eng- 
lish having no longer any regard for him, 
appealed to Louis, son of Philip Augustus, 
who thereupon entered England and was 
crowned in London. 

John, who was at Dover, thought it pru- 
dent not to wait for his rival, and having 
given the command of the place to Hubert 
Burgh, he marched with his army towards 
the north. Louis began his march also, took 
Norwich and Dover, and both armies com- 
mitted dreadful havoc. In the mean time, 

* Westmonast. Flores Hist, ad an. 1212, et seq. 
Matth. Paris, Angli. Hist. Major, ad an. 1212. 
Baker, Chron. on the reign of John 



John sent to implore the pope's protection, 
who excommunicated Louis and the English 
who had rebelled. This excommunication, 
however, did not better John's fortune, for 
his whole army, together with their baggage, 
were lost by the overflowing of the sea, on 
their march along the shore, near Walpoole, 
in the county of Norfolk. He died, after 
a few days, overwhelmed with grief and 
affliction, at Newark, and was buried at 
Worcester under the grand altar. With 
him died also the resentment of the Eng- 
lish, who declared now in favor of his son 
Henry, against Louis. 

About this time there were three com- 
manderies founded for knights Templars ; 
one at Kilclogan, in the county of Wexford, 
by the O'Morras, (Moore,) Irish lords ; one 
at Killergy, in the county of Carlow, by 
Philip Borard, and a third at Kilsaran, in 
the county of Louth, founded by Matilda, a 
lady of the family of the Lacys of Meath. 
These houses were given to the order of 
Malta, after the abolition of the Templars. 

The author of the first part of the annals 
of Innis-Faill lived in 1215. He first gave 
an abridgment of the general history, till 
the year 430 ; he then wrote with precision 
upon the affairs of Ireland down to his own 
time : this chronicle was continued then by 
another writer to the year 1320. 



CHAPTER XX 

Henry III., eldest son of John Lackland, 
succeeded him at the age of nine years, and 
was crowned at Gloucester, by Peter, bish- 
op of Winchester, and Jocelin, bishop of 
Bath, in presence of Guallo, the pope's le- 
gate, a. d. 1216. After taking the usual 
oath, to respect God and his holy church, 
and to do justice to all his subjects, this 
prince paid homage to the church of Rome, 
and to Pope Innocent, for his kingdom. By 
another oath, also, he engaged to pay the 
thousand marks punctually which his father 
had sworn to give to the church. 

Ambition and a desire of amassing wealth, 
which had at first united the English against 
the Irish, became afterwards incentives to 
discord among themselves. Unaccustomed 
to hold such extensive possessions at home, 
the spoils of the Irish served only to create 
jealousies among them, and a reciprocal 
dislike, which frequently led to the perpe- 
tration of dreadful excesses by them against 
each other, at the expense of the public 
peace. The wars of Hugh de Lacy the 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



309 



younger, and William Marshal, caused many- 
troubles in Meath.* The town of Trim was 
besieged, and reduced to the last extremity ; 
but the disturbances being quelled, Lacy 
built a strong castle in that town to secure 
it against future attacks. The provinces of 
Leinster and Munster were frequently de- 
vastated by the quarrels of Marshal with 
Meyler Fitzhenry.f According to Hanmer, 
William Marshal took possession of some 
lands that belonged to the bishop of Ferns, 
and on his refusing to restore them, Was ex- 
communicated by that prelate .J He died 
afterwards in his own country, while under 
this anathema. His wickedness drew on 
him the vengeance of heaven : not one of 
the five sons whom he had by Isabella, 
daughter of earl Strongbow, and heiress of 
Leinster, to whom he was married, having 
left any posterity. 

Meyler Fitzhenry, one of the first Eng- 
lish adventurers who came to Ireland, and 
whose father was natural son of king Henry 
I., died about this time, and was buried a. d. 
1220, in the monastery of Conal, of which 
he was the founder. He was naturally a 
cruel man. Independently of the tyranny 
which he practised against the people of 
his province,^ he attacked Cluan-Mac- 
Noisk, which he took by assault after a 
siege of twelve days, and put all whom he 
met to the sword. The houses were pil 
laged, the churches and monasteries, with 
their ornaments and sacred vessels, given 
up to plunder, and left a prey to his licen 
tious soldiery. It was thus that the English 
continued to reform the morals of Ireland. 

Henry Loundres, archbishop of Dublin, 
was succeeded by Lucas, dean of the church 
of St. Martin, in London, who was appointed 
through the influence of Hubert de Burgo, 
earl of Kent. 

Eugene, archbishop of Armagh, died 
some time before, and was succeeded by 
Lucas de Netterville. Donatus O'Lonar- 
gan succeeded another prelate of the same 
name in the archbishopric of Cashel. Fe- 
lix O'Ruadan then governed the metropoli- 
tan church of Tuam. Roger and William 
Peppard, successively lords of the Salmon 
Leap, died about this time. 

About the same period, too, the following- 
houses were founded for regular canons of 
the order of St. Augustin ; namely, Aghma- 
cart, in Clanmaltre, at present the Queen's 
county, by the O'Dempsys, lords of that 

* Keating, Hist, of Ireland, b. 2. 
t Keating, ibid. 
} War. de Epiac. Fernens. 
§ Keating, Hist, of Irel. b. 2. 



country ; one at Carrick-ne-Sure, on the 
river Suir, in the county of Tipperary, by 
William de Cantelo, (Cantwell ;) one at 
Aghrim, county of Galway, by the Butlers ; 
and one of the same order, called the mon- 
astery of O'Gormogan, or St. Mary, De 
Via Nova, in the county of Galway, by the 
O'Gormogans, Irish lords. About the same 
time the abbey of Tracton, or De Albo 
Tractu, was established in the county of 
Cork by the Mac-Cartys, Irish lords, for 
Cistertian monks. 

Although Ireland was already well stock- 
ed with religious establishments, the devo- 
tion of its inhabitants was not exhausted. 
They soon admitted the orders which had 
been recently instituted ; namely, those of 
St. Francis of Assissium and St. Dominick, 
and also the hermits of St. Augustin, and 
the Carmelites. 

The order of St. Dominick, says Alle- 
mand, is considered the first of the four 
mendicant orders, inasmuch as the bull by 
which the pope confirmed or established it 
is antecedent to those of the others.* How- 
ever, Pere Calmet alleges that the Francis- 
can friars were approved of in 1210 by Pope 
Innocent III., and places the confirmation 
of the order of Dominicans six years later, 
that is, in 1216, by Honorius IILt How- 
ever men may disagree on this point of 
chronology, it is quite certain the Domini- 
cans were the first who settled in Ireland. 

If we can attach belief to the writers of 
the hermits of Augustin and the Carmel- 
ites, those two orders are the most ancient, 
not only in Ireland, but in all Europe. The 
former attribute their establishment to St. 
Augustin himself, and the latter to the pro- 
phet Elias. Both one and the other assert 
that St. Patrick, St. Congal, and the other 
saints in the first ages of the Irish church 
were of their order, which we can scarcely 
credit at present. We must therefore place 
them in the list of mendicant friars, whose 
first establishment we discover to have been 
in the beginning of the thirteenth century, 
the time that they were sanctioned by bulls 
from the popes. 

The first foundation of the Dominicans in 
Ireland was in Dublin. We may judge of 
the extent and beauty of this convent, from 
its being at present the Westminster of Dub- 
lin,:): in which are held the four principal 

* Hist. Monast. p. 199. 

t Chron. Abr. 

t Westminster, in London, was formerly a cele- 
brated abbey, which has since become a public 
building, in which the meetings of the superior 
courts of law are held. 



310 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



courts of justice in Ireland ; namely, the 
court of chancery, king's bench, common 
pleas, and the exchequer ; on which account 
this extensive and splendid edifice is now- 
called the Four Courts.* This convent was 
one of the most ancient of the order, having 
been established in 1223. The authors of 
the order, however, observe that this house 
had previously belonged to Cistertian monks, 
but that it was granted to the Dominicans on 
condition that they should present a lighted 
wax taper every year, on Christmas day, to 
the abbey of St. Mary, of the Cistertian or- 
der, which was in the immediate vicinity, 
as a mark that they held their convent from 
that abbey. 

At Drogheda, in the county of Louth, 
there was a convent of Dominicans, found- 
ed in 1224 by Lucas de Netterville, arch- 
bishop of Armagh. It is mentioned in the 
registries of the order, and also by Ware. 

In the city of Kilkenny one of the finest 
and most extensive convents, of the order 
of St. Dominick, was founded in 1225 by 
William Marshal, earl of Pembroke. 

There was a convent of this order at 
Waterford, founded in 1226 by the citizens, 
called the convent of our Blessed Saviour. 
There was also one of the same order in 

Limerick, founded in 1227 by O'Brien, 

who was interred in it, and whose tomb, 
surmounted by his statue, is still to be seen 
there. Finally, at Aghavoe, in Ossory, the 
Fitzpatricks, whose descendants were bar- 
ons of Upper Ossory, founded a house for 
Dominican friars. 

Radulphus Petit, bishop of Meath, found- 
ed in 1227 the priory of St. Mary, which 
was formerly called Domus Dei de Molin- 
gare, in Mullingar, the chief town of West- 
meath, for regular canons of the order of 
St. Augustin. Lucas de Netterville, arch- 
deacon of Armagh, having been appointed 
bishop of that see by the chapter, in 1217, 
held it for ten years. He died a. d. 1227, 
and was, according to his request, buried in 
the abbey of Mellifont, and was succeeded 
by Donat O'Fidabra. 

During the lord-justiceship of Maurice 
Fitzgerald in Ireland, Pope Gregory IX. sent 
Stephen as nuncio, a. d. 1229, with an apos- 
tolical mandate, to require a tenth of the 
chattel property from the clergy and people 
of England, Ireland, and Wales, in order to 
enable him to carry on the war against the 

* The building here alluded to exists no longer. 
Its site was adjoining Christ's Church cathedral, 
and the courts of justice continued to be held there 
till the beginning of the present century. — Note 
by Ed. 



Emperor Frederick. The earls and barons 
in England rejected the demand, but the 
clergy, who dreaded his excommunication, 
submitted to it with reluctance. Though this 
tax was a burden to the Irish, many of them 
sold their furniture, and even the church 
utensils, to comply with the pope's request. 

Fitzgerald being engaged in war, the king, 
during his absence, conferred on Hubert de 
Burgo, brother of William Fitz-Adelm, (of 
whom we have frequently spoken,) the of- 
fice of lord-justice, with the lordship of Con- 
naught, and the title of earl of that prov- 
ince.* Hubert enjoyed a high reputation 
on account of the noble defence which he 
made against Prince Louis, when he com- 
manded the town of Dover. He was re- 
called some time afterwards to England, 
where he was appointed governor to the 
king, lord chief-justice of England, and earl 
of Kent. He fell into disgrace, however, 
subsequently with this monarch, who de- 
clared him to be an old traitor, and had 
him confined in the Tower of London. 

Geoffry March, otherwise Maurish, or De 
Maurisco, held the office of lord-justice of 
Ireland in place of Hubert de Burgo, Mau- 
rice Fitzgerald being still absent. 

During the administration of GeofTry,t 
the king of Connaught wishing to take ad- 
vantage of the absence of William Marshal 
and Maurice Fitzgerald, whom the king of 
England had brought with him to Gascony 
to make some efforts in favor of his country, 
collected his forces, and invaded the Eng- 
lish possessions. Geoffry, to whom was 
intrusted the protection of these provinces, 
sent for Walter de Lacy, lord of Meath, and 
Richard de Burgh, and with their united 
forces marched towards Connaught. On 
arriving at the entrance of a wood, they 
learned through their spies that the king of 
Connaught and his army were encamped at 
a short distance on the other side of the 
wood. Geoffry then divided his army into 
three parts ; to De Lacy and De Burgh he 
gave two divisions, with orders to conceal 
themselves in the wood, on the right and 
left of the road. With the third he crossed 
the wood himself, and drew up his men in 
order of battle opposite to the enemy, who 



* Nicholas, in his Rudiments of Honor, when 
speaking of the earls of Clanrickard, asserts that 
Richard, son of William Fitz-Adelm, was lord- 
justice of Ireland in 1227. I leave to others the 
trouble of reconciling this fact with the opinion of 
those who affirm that Hubert Fitz-Adelm 's brother 
had immediately succeeded Maurice Fitzgerald in 
1230, who filled that office since the year 1220. 

t Matt. Paris, Ang. Hist. Major, ad an,1238. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



311 



attacked him immediately ; but the English 
pretending to fly, retreated into the wood, 
drawing the Irish after them, who, being 
immediately surrounded by those that lay 
in ambush, were cut to pieces, and their 
king made prisoner. The English authors, 
from whom this account is taken, make no 
mention of the place where the battle was 
fought, nor of the name of the king of Con- 
naught ; with which they were probably 
unacquainted. They say that twenty thou- 
sand Irish were killed on the spot ; but they 
always exaggerate, and it is highly probable 
that the king of Connaught could not have 
brought half that number into the field. 

The more elevated a man's situation is, 
the more danger there is of his fall. Geoffry 
de Maurisco, after being raised to the highest 
honors, and loaded with riches in Ireland, 
fell into disgrace with the king. He was 
sent into exile, where he suffered many 
hardships ; and the disgraceful death of his 
son William, who was hanged and quartered 
for his crimes, shortened his career ; he died 
unregretted. The memory of the son was 
held in universal detestation ; particularly 
by the king, whom he had, in concert with 
his father, attempted to assassinate. 

Cornelius, a native of Ireland, surnamed 
Historicus, from his profound knowledge 
of antiquity, flourished about this time. Bale 
and Stanihurst have given us an abridgment 
of his life. It is said that he wrote a treatise 
entitled, " Multarum Rerum Chronicon, lib. 
1 ." Hector Boetius acknowledges himself 
to be indebted to this author for many things 
essential to his history of Scotland. As 
usual, Dempster asserts that this celebrated 
man was a native of Scotland, since the 
Scotch Highlanders, according to his ac- 
count, were called Irish. 

The following religious houses were 
founded about this time ; namely, a convent 
for Dominicans, at Cork, by the Barrys, 
noblemen of English extraction ;* and also 
a convent for Franciscans, in the same city, 
founded, according to Wadding, in 1231, 
or in 1240 according to Ware.t These 
two authors differ respecting the name of 
the founder of this latter house. Ware 
ascribes it to the Prendergasts, lords of 
English origin ; and Wadding to the M'Car- 
tys, who were Irish noblemen ; his reason 
for which opinion is, that in the centre of 
the choir was to be seen the tomb of M'Carty 
More, who had an apartment built for him- 
self in the convent, to which he retired 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irl. page 219. 
t Allem. ibid, page 249. 



during the great festivals of the year. The 
error might have arisen from this : that part 
of the possessions of the M'Cartys had been 
confiscated by the English, and given to the 
Prendergasts, which might have given rise 
to the opinion that the latter were the 
founders of this house. 

The convent of Franciscans, near Youg- 
hal, was built at this time by Maurice Fitz- 
gerald, who became a monk himself, and 
died in it, at an advanced age. The O'Mord- 
has, (Moores,) lords of Loise, Queen's 
county, founded in their domain at Strad- 
bally, a house for the same order. The 
foundation of another convent for Francis- 
cans at Trim, in Eastmeath, may be men- 
tioned here. Allemand, following Wadding, 
ascribes the merit of this establishment to 
King John ; but it is doubtful if the Fran- 
ciscans were known in Ireland in the time 
of this prince, who died in 1216. Others 
attribute it to the Plunkets, who had settled 
in that part of the country. 

At Carrickfergus, in the county of Antrim, 
there was a Franciscan convent, founded in 
1232, by Hugh de Lacy, earl of Ulster, who 
was buried there. It is believed by some 
that the O'Neills were the founders of it, 
as this place belonged to them, their tombs 
being in the church ; but others say that it 
was the Magennises of Yveach. At Kil- 
more, on the river Shannon, in the county 
of Roscommon, we discover the priory of St. 
Mary, founded in 1232 for regular canons 
of St. Augustin, by Cone O'Flanagan, a 
man of noble family, who was the first prior 
of it. 

Walter de Lacy, lord of Meath, died in 
1234. He had no male children, but left 
two daughters, co-heiresses of his extensive 
possessions : namely, Margaret, who was 
married to lord Theobald Verdon, and Ma- 
tilda, to Geoffry Geneville.* 

There was a convent for Franciscans 
built by order of Henry III., in 1236, on 
some land which Radulphus le Porter had 
given him for that purpose. Donel O'Fida- 
bra, bishop of Clogher, who was removed to 
the see of Armagh after the death of Lucas 
de Netterville, died in England in 1237, on 
his return from Rome. At Mullingar, the 
chief town of Westmeath, a fine convent 
was built in 1237, for Franciscans, by the 
Nugents, lords of Delvin. 

At Ballibeg, near Butevant, in the county 
of Cork, a priory was founded for regular 
canons of St. Augustin, by William Barry, 
in 1237, and endowed by his son David. 

* War. de Annal. Hib. on the reign of Henry III. 



312 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



About this time, the see of Armagh having 
become vacant by the death of Donald 
O'Fidabra, who succeeded Lucas de Net- 
terville, Albert, surnamed Coloniensis, was 
appointed archbishop, and consecrated at 
Westminster, in presence of the king, of 
Otho, the pope's legate, and several bishops, 
by Walter de Chanteloup, bishop of Wigorn, 
A. d. 1240.* 

Marianus O'Brien, bishop of Cork, suc- 
ceeded Donatus O'Lonargan in the arch- 
bishopric of Cashel. In the beginning of his 
episcopacy, Pope Honorius III. granted a 
bull, whereby he confirmed the number of 
twelve canons of the church of Cashel. 
Henry III., king of England, gave to this 
prelate the city of Cashel as an alms, to 
belong for ever to him and his successors, 
without tax or impost. The prelate gave 
up his right afterwards to the mayor and 
aldermen of that city, on condition of their 
paying some pensions to his church. He also 
granted leave to Davidle Latimer, knight and 
seneschal, to found in that city an hospital 
for the leprous. After this he undertook a 
voyage to Rome ; but falling ill upon his 
journey, and thinking his end approaching, 
he took the habit in the abbey of Citeaux. 
His health, however, being restored, and his 
affairs at Rome terminated, he returned to 
his see, and died five years afterwards in 
the monastery of Suire, or Innislaunaght. 
He was succeeded by David M'Kelly, 
(O'Kelly.) 

Felix O'Ruadan, having governed the 
metropolitan church of Tuam till 1235, then 
abdicated it, and withdrew to the monastery 
of the Blessed Virgin, near Dublin, where 
he died three years afterwards.f The chap- 
ter of Tuam appointed as his successor Ma- 
rianus O'Laghnan, a dean of the chapter 
who was well versed in canon law. 

Near Enniscorthy, in the county of Wex- 
ford, on the river Slaney, we find a priory of 
St. John the Evangelist. It belonged to the 
order of regular canons of St. Victor, and 
was founded by Girald de Prendergast, lord 
of the country, and John de St John, bishop 
of Ferns. They made a cell or convent of it, 
and it was annexed to the abbey called 
Thomas Court, in Dublin. 

Several houses were founded about this 
time for Franciscans : one at Kilkenny, one 
at Drogheda, and one at Down, by Hugh 
de Lacy, earl of Ulster ; one at Waterford, 
by Hugh Purcel ; and one at Innis Cluan- 
ruada, in the county of Clare, by Donal 
Carbrac O'Brien. 

* War. de Archiepisc. Ardmach. 
t War. de Archiepisc. Tuamens. 



There was also a nunnery for the order 
of St. Augustin, founded at Lismullen, in 
Eastmeath, by the sister of Richard de la 
Corner, bishop of Meath, who conferred 
upon it the lands of Dunsink and Bailli- 
Godman. 

The tyranny and continual injustice which 
the English practised against the Irish, were 
the cause of frequent insurrections. John 
de Burgo, (Burke,) son of Hubert, entered 
Connaught with an army. O'Connor, king 
of the province, finding himself unable to 
repel his attack, crossed over to England, 
and presented himself to the king, in London. 
He made a spirited remonstrance against 
the violence and tyranny of Burgo, and the 
ravages he incessantly committed ; and sup- 
plicated Henry III. to interpose his author- 
ity, and do him justice, by preventing his 
being trampled upon by an ignoble adven- 
turer, (as he termed him,) while he paid five 
thousand marks a year for his kingdom to 
the crown of England. Henry heard with 
attention the complaints of the king of Con- 
naught, and gave orders to Maurice Fitz- 
gerald, lord-justice of Ireland, who was then 
present, to destroy the hotbed of tyrants 
which had been planted by Hubert, earl of 
Kent, during his unlimited lust of power 
in that unhappy country. At the same time 
the king sent his orders to the other lords 
of Ireland, to expel John de Burgo, and 
leave the king of Connaught in peaceful 
possession of his kingdom.* 

Girald Fitzmaurice, Richard de Burgo, 
and Hugh de Lacy, earl of Ulster, died about 
this time. The two first ended their career 
in Gascony, where they were engaged in 
war ; De Lacy died in Ireland, and was in- 
terred at Carrickfergus. He left an only 
daughter heiress to his extensive posses- 
sions, who married Walter de Burgo, who, 
by this marriage, became earl of Ulster. 
We have already observed that Walter de 
Lacy, lord of Meath, and brother to Hugh, 
left only daughters. In this manner ended 
the male line of these two chiefs. 



* " A certain king of that part of Ireland called 
Connaught, came to London with heavy complaints 
to the king and parliament, that vast injuries had 
been inflicted on him by John de Burgh, who was 
devastating his estates by fire and sword. For all 
these grievances he sought redress, and prayed that 
such violent excesses should be curbed by the regal 
authority, and that the king would not suffer his 
faithful subject to be disinherited by an ignoble 
stranger, (as he called him ;) nor allow him, who 
paid the annual impost of 5,000 marks, to be driven 
from his inheritance, which King John had con- 
firmed to him, &c." — Matthew Paris, p. 365. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



313 



Peter, surnamed Hibernicus, a celebrated 
philosopher and theologian, flourished in 
1240.* The Emperor Frederick II. having 
re-established the university of Naples, in- 
vited him in pressing terms to go thither, 
as may be seen in a collection of letters of 
Peter de Vineis, chancellor and secretary to 
the emperor. f Peter presided over the phi- 
losophical department in that university, and 
had Thomas Aquinas as his disciple, who 
became afterwards so celebrated. It is said 
that he was the author of some tracts on 
theology. 

The Welsh, headed by their prince, David 
Ap-Llewelin, rebelled against the king of 
England, and defeated the royal army, which 
was reduced to the greatest hardships during 
the winter. Henry was obliged, from the 
state of his affairs, to send to Maurice Fitz- 
gerald, lord-justice of Ireland, for succor. 
After some delay, which caused the king un- 
easiness, which however he concealed, Mau- 
rice arrived with a body of troops, accom- 
panied by Phelim O'Connor, and having 
joined the king's army, they gained a com- 
plete victory over the Welsh. The king 
then renewed his garrisons in Wales, and 
having dismissed the Irish troops, returned 
to England. 

On his return to Ireland, Maurice found 
Ulster in a state of revolt. On the death of 
Hugh de Lacy, O'Donnel laid waste the 
parts of the country which were under the 
dominion of that nobleman, and attacked the 
English wherever he met them. In order to 
create a division among the Irish, Maurice 
formed an alliance with Cormac M'Dermot, 
MTJory, and other princes of the country. 
He then entered in a hostile manner the 
country of Tirconnel, where he destroyed 
all before him, and killed Maolseachlin O'- 
Donnel, Giolla Canvinelagh, O'Buhil, Mac- 
Surley, and other noblemen of the country. 
Several English of rank also lost their lives 
in this expedition, after which Maurice 
placed a garrison in the castle of Sligo, that 
he had built three years, before, and left there 
the hostages he had received from O'Neill 
as pledges for his keeping peace with the 
king. He bestowed on Cormac Mac-Dermod 
several estates in Connaught, as rewards for 
the services he had received from him. 

At Athenry, in the county of Galway, a 
convent for Dominicans wasfoundedin 1241 
by the Berminghams, who were originally 
English, and had settled in Ireland. In the 
church of this convent were to be seen the 

* Fleuri, Hist. Eccles. 

t Wad. Annal. Min. ad an. 1270, n. 28, lib. 3, 
cap. 10. 



tombs of several persons of distinction, par- 
ticularly that of William Bermingham, arch- 
bishop of Tuam, and son of the founder. 
The Fitzgeralds founded a convent for Do- 
minicans this year, also in the county of 
Kerry. The founder of it and his son were 
both killed by M'Carty, and buried in the 
convent. Another of this order was .estab- 
lished at the same date, in Cashel, by an 
archbishop of that see. There was likewise 
a convent for Dominicans at Newtown, on 
the coast in the peninsula of Ardes, in the 
county of Down ; it was built in 1244 by 
the Savages, a family of English extraction. 
Nothing could remove the suspicions which 
Henry III. had entertained of the fidelity of 
Maurice Fitzgerald in the war against the 
Welsh. He withheld his vengeance for a 
while, but it broke forth at length, a. d. 1245 ; 
when John Fitzjeffery de Maurisco was ap- 
pointed by the king lord-justice of Ireland, 
in place of Maurice. This nobleman after- 
wards took the monastic habit in a convent 
of Franciscans, which he had founded at 
Youghal ; and died in it after some time at 
an advanced age, having borne the reputation 
of a brave, able, and irreproachable man. 
He was accused, indeed, though perhaps 
unjustly, of the death of Richard, the earl 
marshal. 

There was an earthquake this year in 
England, Ireland, and the western parts of 
our hemisphere, which infected the air, and 
rendered it unwholesome, a. d. 1247. This 
phenomenon was followed by a cold, stormy, 
and damp winter, which lasted till the month 
of July, and caused considerable uneasiness 
about the harvest. 

Albert, archbishop of Armagh, gave up 
his see in 1247, and was succeeded by Re- 
inerius, a monk of theorderof St. Dominick. 
He united the county of Louth, which had 
long formed part of the bishopric of Clogher, 
to the archbishopric of Armagh. This prelate 
died at Rome in 1256, and was succeeded 
by Abraham O'Conellan. 

Ware places an abbey belonging to the 
order of St. Augustin, in an island called 
the Blessed Trinity, in lake Oughter, in the 
county of Cavan, where he says it was 
founded in 1249,* by Clarus Mac-Mailin, 
archdeacon of Elphin, and endowed by 
Charles O'Reilly, an Irish nobleman. It 
might be the same which we have already 
mentioned to have been founded in 1215, in 
an island in lake Rea, called the island of 
the Trinity, in the county of Roscommon, 
by the same archdeacon of Elphin. However, 

* De Antiq. cap. 28. 



314 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



as different places and times are given for 
their foundation, it is more probable that 
they were different houses. 

Henry III. began to think of marriage 
for his son, Prince Edward, a. d. 1252 ; and 
as it was necessary, for this purpose, to 
make settlements upon him, he gave him 
the sovereignty of Gascony, Ireland, Wales, 
&c. He then sent him to Spain, where he 
married Eleanor, sister of King Alphonso, 
and brought her, loaded with riches, to 
England. 

David O'Kelly having been appointed to 
the see of Cloyne, was afterwards removed 
to Cashel. It appears by the registry of the 
church in Dublin, called " Crede mihi" that 
this prelate had taken part in the disputes 
between the archbishops of Dublin and»Ar- 
magh, respecting the primacy, to which we 
have already alluded. He died in 1252, 
and was succeeded in the see of Cashel by 
David Mac-Carwel. 

During the period that Lucas was arch- 
bishop of Dublin, a controversy arose be- 
tween the cathedrals of that city, namely, 
Christ's Church and St. Patrick's. In order 
to effect a reconciliation, the prelate decreed 
that the election should be always held in 
Christ's Church, and that the dean and chap- 
ter, together with the prior and monks, 
should have the right of voting at the elec- 
tion. This prelate was deprived of his sight 
during some years, and at length died in 
1255. Both churches concurred in electing 
Randulphus de Norwic, a canon of the 
cathedral of St. Patrick's, but his appoint- 
ment being sent to the court of Rome it was 
rejected, and Fulck de Saunford, treasurer 
of the church of St. Paul, in London, was 
nominated by the pope to the archbishopric 
of Dublin. 

Three houses for Dominicans were found- 
ed at this time ; one at Strade, in the county 
of Mayo, by the Mac-Jordans ; another at 
Sligo, by Maurice Fitzgerald, who built a 
strong castle there ; and the third at Ros- 
common in 1253, by Feilim O'Connor, an 
Irish nobleman. The O'Connors built an- 
other house for the same order atTowemone. 
About this time a monk of the abbey of 
Boyle wrote the annals of Connaught, which 
he continued to his own time, that is, till 
1253. His manuscript is in the Cottonian 
library. 

Alanus de la Zouch was appointed lord- 
justice of Ireland in room of Fitz- Jeffrey, 
a. d. 1255. He afterwards became lord- 
justice of England, where he ended his days 
in a tragical manner. Some difference having 
arisen between some nobleman in England 



respecting the boundaries and limits of their 
estates, and the titles by which they held 
them, the king determined to call an assem- 
bly at Westminster, to decide upon the mat- 
ter. De la Zouch, as lord-justice, having 
asked Earl Warren by what right his lands 
belonged to him, the earl, drawing his 
sword, replied : "By this right my ancestors 
possessed them, and by the same do I intend 
to hold them," at the same time running his 
sword through his body. While endea- 
voring to escape, he wounded the son of 
the man whom he had just killed ; and then 
withdrew to his castle of Risgate, whitherhe 
was pursued by prince Edward, the king's 
eldest son, at the head of a few troops. He 
at length surrendered himself to the prince, 
and with the assistance of a sum of money, 
and the influence of his friends, obtained his 
pardon. 

a. d. 1256. Aboutthis time flourished the 
celebrated John, surnamed " De Sacro Bos- 
co." Bale and Leland, without any further 
proof than conjectures drawn fupmhis name, 
assert that he was a native of Halifax, in the 
county of York, in England,* which is not at 
all probable ; the word fax, according to 
Camden, signifying hair among the people 
beyond the river Trent. That author adds, 
too, that the place called Halifax is not 
very ancient^ He says that a few centuries 
before his time that place was called Horton, 
and that in 1443 it was a village containing 
but thirteen houses ; it therefore is clear 
that Halifax could not possibly have given 
its name to John a Sacro Bosco, since it 
was not known by that name at the time of 
that learned man's birth. Stanihurst and 
some others, say that he was a native of 
Holywood, in the district of Fingal, Ireland, 
about twelve miles from Dublin, as they dis- 
cover an analogy between his name, De Sacro 
Bosco, and Holywood.J However this be, 
that learned man went to Paris, where he 
taught the sciences with universal appro- 
bation ; he was partial to the philosophy of 
Aristotle, and surpassed all those of his own 
time in mathematical science. He wrote 
several treatises ; namely, one upon the 
globe, which was much esteemed, and read 
in the public schools during many years for 
the instruction of youth ; a tract on Al- 
gorithms, or calculations on the ecclesiastical 
year ; a breviary of law, and several other 
works. He died at Paris in 1256-57, and 
was buried in the cloister of the Mathurins, 

* War. de Annal. Hib. ad an. 1256. 
t Brit, in Brigant. page 564, Edit. Lond. 1607. 
t Harris, Hist, of Irish writers in the thirteenth 
century. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



315 



near the church, where his tomb is still to 
be seen, on which the following inscription 
and a globe are engraved : 

De Sacro Bosco qui computista Joannes ; 
Tempora discrevit, jacet hie a tempore raptus. 
Tempore qui sequiris, memoresto quod morieris, 
Si miser es, plora, miserans, pro me, precor, ora. 

Marian O'Laghnan, archbishop of Tuam, 
having received the pallium from Pope 
Gregory IX., made a voyage to Jerusalem, 
the particulars of which he has written. He 
died at Athlone in 1249, and was succeeded 
by Florence M' Flin, chancellor of the church 
of Tuam, who was celebrated for his learning 
and profound knowledge of the canon law. 
He went to Rome, and obtained the pope's 
sanction ; and upon his return to his dio- 
cese, convened a synod, in which regulations 
were made respecting ecclesiastical disci- 
pline, which were then published, but have 
been since lost. He established a school in 
the Dominican convent at Athenry, where 
he himself gave lessons to the students, and 
governed the church of Enaghdune while 
that see was vacant. This holy prelate at 
length died at Bristol, in England, in the 
year 1256. The pope appointed Walter de 
Salern, dean of St. Paul's, London, to this 
see, notwithstanding the election of James 
O'Laghnan by the chapter of Tuam. It 
seems that Walter never took possession of 
his diocese, having died on his return from 
Rome in 1258. Thomas, or Tomultach 
O'Connor, bishop of Elphiri, was elected in 
his stead, and his election confirmed by the 
pope, who honored him with the pallium. 

At Athy, a small town on the river Bar- 
row, in the county of Kildare, there was a 
handsome convent founded for Dominicans 
in 1257, by the Boiseles and Wogans, Eng- 
lish noblemen who had settled in Ireland. 

The earl of Salisbury, called Stephen de 
Longa Spada, " long sword," was sent to 
Ireland as lord-justice, a. d. 1258. He gave 
battle to the O'Neills and other rebels* of 
Ulster and Connaught, near Down, in which 
many lives were lost. Salisbury died two 



* English writers called the Irish rebels, who did 
not immediately surrender ; at a time, too, when, 
far from considering themselves subjects, more 
than half of Ireland, and particularly Ulster, which 
is here in question, refused to acknowledge the 
dominion of those foreigners. According to the 
maxims of every other nation, a rebel is a subject 
who resists the legal authority. But, of course, 
according to the system of that imperious people, 
the English, a man was looked upon as a rebel 
who was unwilling to submit at once to the most 
unjust oppression. 



years afterwards, and was succeeded in the 
government by William Denn. 

In 1259 a convent for the hermits of St. 
Augustin was founded in the eastern suburb 
of Dublin : the founders are unknown ; some 
say they were the Talbots. 

Munster was in a state of rebellion during 
the administration of the new lord-justice, 
a. d. 1260. Green Castle (Arx Viridis) 
was destroyed. The M'Cartys were the chief 
belligerents ; they brought terror and devas- 
tation into Desmond, their old patrimony, 
then in possession of the English, and be- 
came so formidable that their enemies dared 
not to appear in public. They killed several 
of them at Callan, the principal of whom 
were John Fitzthomas, who had founded the 
monastery of Tralee ; Maurice, his son ; 
eight barons, fifteen knights, and several 
others. The English at length found safety 
in the discord which arose between the 
M'Cartys, O'Driscols, O'Donavans, M'Ma- 
hons, and other tribes of Muskerry, who 
were so much weakened by civil war that 
they were unable to face the common enemy. 
In the mean time William Denn, lord-justice 
of Ireland, died, and was succeeded by 
Richard de Capella. 

Abraham O'Conellan, archpriest of Ar- 
magh, was elected archbishop of that city, 
and went to Rome, where he was confirmed 
by the holy father, who granted him the pal- 
lium. He then returned to Armagh, where 
he was solemnly received by the dean and 
chapter ; but he did not long enjoy his dig- 
nity, having died in 1260. He was succeeded 
by Patrick O'Scanlain. 

A religious house was founded this year 
at Kildare, for Franciscan friars, by Gerald 
Fitz-Maurice ; or according to some writers, 
by William de Vescy. 

Thomas Palmeran, or Palmerston, a na- 
tive of the county of Kildare, Ireland, was 
known to foreign authors by the name of 
Thomas Hibernicus. Having concluded his 
studies in the university of Paris, where he 
repeived the cap of doctor in theology, he 
went to Italy and shut himself up in the 
monastery of Aquila, on the confines of the 
kingdom of Naples, where he died and was 
buried about the year 1269. He was au- 
thor of the book entitled, " Flores omnium 
Doctorum illustrium ;" which is an alpha- 
betical summary of virtues and vices, with 
those passages from the fathers which 
were calculated to support the former and 
eradicate the latter. Our author was in- 
debted for the plan of his book to" a similar 
work, which had been begun by John Wal- 
ks, a Minorite, under the title of a " Bunch 



316 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of Flowers," but which he was prevented by 
death from continuing. The book of Tho- 
mas Hibernicus was printed at Paris in 1664. 
He also wrote treatises on the Christian re- 
ligion ; the illusions and temptations of the 
devil ; the remedies to be used against vice, 
and the beauties of the Bible. He was 
thought also to have been the author of a 
" Promptuarium Morale," or moral collec- 
tion of passages from the holy Scriptures, 
published at Rome, in 1624, according to a 
manuscript in the library of the Minor 
brothers, De Ara Cali, by Luke Wadding. 
Marianus de Florence says,* in his manu- 
script chronicle, that Thomas Hibernicus 
lived in 1270 in the monastery of Aquila, 
of the province of St. Bernardin, in high re- 
putation for his piety and learning. Lastly, 
John de Saxe, in his lives of the Preaching 
Brothers, speaks highly of " Master Thomas 
of Ireland, of the house of Sorbonne." 

The annals of the Minorites of Multifer- 
nan, by an anonymous writer, begin with 
the Christian era and end with the year 
1274, in which year the author lived, as ap- 
pears by the antiquity of the letters. Giolla, 
or Gelasius Mac-Firbissy, an historian and 
poet of some eminence, flourished towards 
the end of this century ; he wrote a chroni- 
cle of his times, and some poems. These 
works, as well as the annals of Multifernan, 
are still to be found in manuscript. 

Walter Burke, earl of Ulster, had a son 
called Walter, by his marriage with the 
heiress of Hugh de Lacy, who left one son 
and five daughters, a. d. 1261. Ellen, the 
eldest, married Robert Bruce, king of Scot- 
land ; Jane and Margaret married the two 
Fitzgeralds of Ophaly and Desmond ; and 
the others were also allied to noblemen. 
These alliances were, however, unable to 
allay the reciprocal hatred that had long 
prevailed, between the Fitzgeralds and 
Burkes, which ended in a civil war, in which 
many lives were sacrificed to their revenge. 
The Fitzgeralds carried their resentment so 
far as to arrest and confine, in the dungeons 
of Leix and Donamese, Richard de Capella, 
Theobald le Butler, and Miles Cogan, who 
had espoused the quarrel of the Burkes. 

A convent for Dominicans was founded 
about this time at Trim, on the river Boyne, 
in Eastmeath, by Galfridus de Genevil, who 
took the habit of the order, and another at 
Arklow, by Theobald Walter, high butler 
of Ireland, who was interred in it, and his 
tomb and statue erected there. t Allemand, 

. * Lib. 2, cap. 3. 

t War. de Antiq. cap. 26. Allemand, Hist. Mo- 
nast. d'Irl. pages 166, 210. 



however, makes no mention of an abbey for 
Bernardines, founded in that town by the 
same Theobald, probably confounding the 
Bernardines with the Dominicans. A house 
for Franciscan friars was founded about this 
time also at Armagh, according to some, by 
the O'Donnels, princes of Tyrconnel, but 
others say, by Patrick O'Scanlain, arch- 
bishop of Armagh. 

The king of England, informed of the 
troubles which prevailed among his subjects 
in Ireland, and the excesses they committed 
against each other, thought prudent to put a 
stop to them ; he therefore recalled Richard 
deCapella,and appointed David Barry as lord- 
justice of Ireland in his stead, who, by his pru- 
dence and moderation, quelled the fury of 
therivalhouses above mentioned, a. d. 1267. 

The convent of Rosse Ibarcan, on the 
river Barrow, in the county of Kilkenny, 
was founded at this time for Dominicans, by 
the Graces and Walshes, English noblemen 
who had settled in that country. 

David Barry having completed his mis- 
sion to Ireland, was succeeded the year fol- 
lowing, in his office of lord-justice, by Rob- 
ert Ufford, and the latter by Richard de 
Excester. 

Two convents for Dominicans were found- 
ed at this time, one at Youghal, in the county 
of Cork, by the Fitzgeralds ; the other at 
Lurchoe, in the county of Tipperary, by the 
Burkes. A convent was also built in the 
same county for Franciscans. 

Lord Audley was appointed lord-justice 
of Ireland in the place of Richard de Ex- 
cester, a. d. 1270. During his administra- 
tion, the Irish revolted against the English, 
fell upon them wherever they could be met, 
(not sparing their magistrates,) and plun- 
dered their habitations. The king of Con- 
naught defeated Walter Burke, earl of Ul- 
ster, in a pitched battle, and the earl with 
great difficulty saved his life by flight ; sev- 
eral noblemen of his retinue being killed. 
This war was followed by a plague and 
general famine throughout the island. 

Patrick O'Scanlan, of the order of St. 
Dominick, bishop of Raphoe, was elected 
by the chapter of Armagh as the successor 
of Abraham O'Connellan. His election was 
confirmed by a bull of Pope Urban IV., in 
the month of November, 1261. He con- 
vened a synod at Drogheda the year follow- 
ing, in which some statutes were enacted, 
which are to be discovered in the registry 
of Octavianus de Prelatio, afterwards arch- 
bishop of Armagh ; rebuilt St. Patrick's ca- 
thedral at Armagh, and founded a house in 
that city for Franciscan friars. He died in 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



317 



1270, in the monastery of St. Leonard at 
Dundalk, whence his body was taken to 
Drogheda, and buried in the Dominican con- 
vent. He was succeeded by Nicholas-Mac- 
Molisse. 

Fulck, archbishop of Dublin, died a. d. 

1271 . His body was interred in the chapel 
of the Blessed Virgin, in the cathedral 
church of St. Patrick. The see remained 
vacant for seven years after his death, on 
account of the disputes which arose between 
the monks of Christ's Church and the chap- 
ter of St. Patrick's, about the choice of his 
successor, which terminated in 1279, by the 
election of John de Derlington. 

An abbey for Bernardines, under the in- 
vocation of Our Lady, formerly called Hore 
Abbey, was founded at Cashel in 1272, by 
David O'Carroll, archbishop of that city. 
It is affirmed that he suppressed a convent 
of Benedictines to enrich this abbey. He 
also annexed to this house a lazaretto, which 
had been founded by a knight named Lati- 
mer, in the same city. 

In this year, 1272, is fixed the death of 
Henry III. Among the children this king 
had by Eleanor, daughter of Raymond, count 
of Provence, was Edward, his eldest son 
and successor. 

In the reign of Henry several religious 
houses were founded, the dates of which are 
unknown. The following were for Francis- 
can friars : one at Wicklow, founded by the 
O'Byrnes and O'Tools ; one at Cashel by 
the Hackets ; one at Nenagh, probably Ao- 
nagh Oroun, in the country of Ormond, by 
the O'Kennedys, the ancient owners of that 
district ; and one at Multifernan, in West- 
meath, by William Delamer. At Dundalk, 
in the county of Louth, a house for the same 
order was founded by John de Verdon. 
Lastly, there was one established at Limer- 
ick, but authors do not agree either upon the 
time of its establishment or the name of its 
founder. There was also a house founded 
at the same time in the town of Tipperary, 
for Augustin hermits, and one of the order 
of Templars, called Teach Temple, in the 
county of Sligo ; likewise one for Carmel- 
ites on the river Barrow, near Leighlin 
bridge, in the county of Carlow, by the Ca- 
rews, English lords who had settled in the 
country, and another at Kildare, by William 
de Vescy. 

A century had now elapsed since the Eng- 
lish began to rule in part of Ireland. Though 
the kings of England had taken the title of 
lords of Ireland, Dominus Hiberniai, their 
dominion did not extend to more than one 
third of the island, called, in their language, 



The English Pale, which signified the 
English province, or the province governed 
by the laws of England. Though some of 
the princes of the country had submitted to 
pay a tribute to the kings of England, still 
they governed their own immediate subjects 
according to the ancient laws and customs 
of the country, and the English laws were 
obeyed only within the English province. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Immediately after the death of Henry 
III., his son Edward, though absent, was pro- 
claimed king of England by the lords, who 
assembled in London, a. d. 1272. More than 
a year had passed since this prince had ar- 
rived in the Holy Land, where he had wrest- 
ed from the enemies of Christianity the city 
of Aeon, which was on the point of surren- 
dering, but the succors that were promised 
him having failed, he put a garrison into those 
places which were still in the power of the 
Christians, and returned to Europe with his 
wife Eleanor. Having landed in Sicily, he 
heard there of his father's death, and after 
sojourning there a short time, he continued 
his route for England, where he was 
crowned, together with his consort, at West- 
minster, by Robert Kilwarby, archbishop of 
Canterbury. To render this ceremony the 
more magnificent, five hundred untamed 
horses were let loose, which were to become 
the property of those who should succeed 
in catching them. 

In the first year of Edward's reign, Mau- 
rice Fitzmaurice, (Fitzgerald,) was named 
lord-justice of Ireland. In his time the Irish 
took up arms, devastated the lands of the 
Anglo-Irish, and destroyed the castles of 
Aldleek, Roscommon, Scheligath, and Ran- 
don. Maurice, however, being betrayed, 
according to Glynn, by his vassals, was ar- 
rested in the country of OfFaly, and sent to 
prison. He was succeeded the year follow- 
ing, in his capacity of lord-justice, by Wal- 
ter Genevil. During his government in Ire- 
land, the Scotch made a descent upon it, 
where they burned a great number of vil- 
lages, and put all whom they met to the 
sword, without distinction of age or sex. 
They then returned laden with spoil to their 
ships, before there was time to pursue them. 
The English colonists of Ulster and Con- 
naught, headed by Richard de Burgo and 
Sir Eustace le Poer, made an attack soon 



318 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



afterwards upon Scotland, and availed them- 
selves of the right of reprisal against the 
Scotch, even surpassing them in cruelty. 

Some houses belonging to the Dominican 
order were established about this time in 
Ireland, viz. ; in the cities of Derry and 
Coleraine by the O'Donnels, princes of Tir- 
connel ; by the M'Donoghs, lords of Tir- 
rereil, in the county of Sligo, at Ballindown, 
and at Rathbran, in the county of Mayo, by 
the M'Jordans. About this time also a beau- 
tiful convent for the Carmelites was founded 
in Dublin by Robert Bagot. 

Ireland was still agitated with troubles 
and domestic war. She enclosed for a cen- 
tury within her bosom, like Rebecca in her 
womb, two distinct people, whose interests 
would not suffer them to live together in 
peace. Their objects and their motives were 
different. On one'side they were influenced 
by feelings of just resistance ; on the other 
by tyranny and usurpation. The ancient 
inhabitants made frequent efforts to defend 
themselves, the only result of which was the 
shedding of much blood. The Irish took 
possession of the castle of Roscommon, a. d. 
1276, overthrew the English completely at 
Glynburry, and made many of them prison- 
ers, besides killing a great number. At the 
same period also O'Neill gave battle in the 
north to a body of English, who were 
commanded by Ralph Peppard and O'Han- 
lon. 

Walter Genevil, lord-justice of Ireland, 
was recalled, a. d. 1277, to England, and 
Robert Ufford appointed to succeed him ; the 
second time he was appointed to that com- 
mission. Murtagh, a celebrated rebel, (as 
the English call him,) was taken in arms at 
Noraght, by Walter de Fant, and executed. 
O'Brien Roe, prince of Thuomond, was 
killed by Thomas Clare, who was married, 
some time before, to the daughter of Maurice, 
son of Maurice Fitzgerald ; but he and his 
father-in-law Fitzmaurice, together with the 
whole of their troops, were surrounded after- 
wards by the Irish at Slieve-Bloema, and 
to save their lives, were forced to surrender 
After laying down his arms, Clare was forced 
to make atonement for the death of O'Brien 
and his followers, and to give up the castle 
of Roscommon, which the English had taken 
to secure the performance of which treaty 
he gave hostages. These conditions were 
very humiliating to the English, but they 
.were compelled to submit, in order to save 
their lives. 

The English were not the only enemies 
that the Irish had to contend with. They 
had more to fear from themselves even than 



from those foreigners, whenever their dis- 
union caused them to turn their arms against 
each other. Some difference having arisen, 
a. d. 1278, between O'Connor, prince of 
Connaught, and M'Dermot, of Moy-Lurg, 
the two at the head of their vassals entered 
the field, and a bloody engagement took 
place : many lives were lost on this occasion, 
and O'Connor himself was among the num- 
ber of slain. The news of these commotions 
among the Irish having reached the king of 
England, Robert Ufford was ordered to come 
to him and give an account of the disorders 
that had so often occurred under his admin- 
istration. Ufford, to justify himself with the 
king, represented to him that his majesty 
was badly informed, and that all which was 
advanced against him was but a calumny ; 
for that he considered.it only an act of good 
policy to shut his eyes while one rebel was 
cutting the throat of another. " By this 
means, sire," said he, " your treasures will 
be spared, and peace secured to Ireland." 
The plan suited the king's taste, and Ufford 
was sent back to rule the island as chief 
magistrate. 

Thomas O'Connor, archbishop of Tuam, 
died a. d. 1279, having governed that see 
and Enaghdune for twenty years. This pre- 
late was a learned man, and possessed all 
the virtues which form the apostolical char- 
acter. 

The see of Tuam continued vacant for 
some time, in consequence of a dispute that 
occurred at the election of a bishop ; but 
was filled at length by Stephen of Fulburn, 
bishop of Waterford. 

John Derlington governed the church of 
Dublin for five years, but died suddenly in 
London, a. d. 1284 ; and was buried among 
the Dominicans of that city. John of Saun- 
ford succeeded him in the see of Dublin. 

At Clane, a little village in the county of 
Kildare, distant some leagues from Dublin, 
a convent was, according to Ware, founded 
for Franciscans, in 1287. It is supposed 
that Gerald, son of Maurice Fitzgerald, 
baron of Offaly, was founder of this house, 
inasmuch as he was buried there, and his 
statue was seen upon his tomb, which was 
formed entirely of marble. There was a 
house of \hat order also at Tristle-Dermot, 
in the same county : but it is not known who 
were the founders of it. A convent of them 
was likewise founded at Ross, county of 
Wexford, by Sir John Devereux. 

Stephen of Fulburn, archbishop of Tuam, 
died about this time, and was succeeded by 
William of Birmingham, son of Meyler Bir- 
mingham, lord of Athenry. The see of 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



319 



Cashel continued vacant for a year by the 
death of David O'Carrol, who succeeded 
Stephen O'Brogan. 

It may be affirmed that since the arrival 
of the English in Ireland, it had been a 
theatre of tyranny where every species of 
cruelty was acted. If the ancient Irish some- 
times took up arms to oppose their usurpa- 
tion, (though nothing could be more natural 
or more just than to defend their property 
against those who strove to wrest it from 
them without any just title,) they were repre- 
sented as rebels at the tribunal of England, 
to which they had neither access nor the 
opportunity of defending their cause. 

The divisions that prevailed among the 
new. or Anglo-Irish, were also the cause of 
many misfortunes to their country, and every 
year was memorable* for some tragical oc- 
currence. The Fitzgeralds and the Burkes 
were always opposed to each other. The 
Butlers, Verdons, and Berminghams, took 
part in their quarrels according to their re- 
spective interests, and several of them lost 
their lives in the contest. Some of the Irish 
nobility were involved, likewise, in these 
misfortunes ; O'Connor Faly was killed by 
Jordan Comin, and his brother Charles was 
murdered in the house of Piers Bermingham, 
at Carrick. The lands which were usurp- 
ed by these new-comers, had belonged for 
many ages to the O'Connors, whose preten- 
sions became a source of misfortune to them, 
as it was thought fit by the usurpers that they 
should be exterminated. Mac-Coghlan was 
more successful than the O'Connors ; he 
gained a complete victory over William 
Burke and his adherents at Dealna. It 
may be readily imagined that the conse- 
quence of these troubles was the loss of 
many lives, the devastation of the provinces, 
and a total obstruction to agriculture. The 
passion for erecting religious houses still, 
however, prevailed. Jordan Comin, who 
had assassinated O'Connor Faly some time 
before, established a priory for regular can- 
ons under the invocation of the Blessed 
Trinity, called also De Laude Dei, at Balli- 
bogan, in Meath, on the left bank of the 
river Boyne, between Clonard and Castle- 
jordan. The Franciscans had a house at 
Ross-Pont, in the county of Wexford, found- 
ed at this time by the Devereuxes ; one at 
Killeigh, in Hy-Regan, founded, it is said, 
by one O'Connor, probably of the house of 
Offaly ; and one at Butavant, in the county 
of Cork, which was founded, some say, by 
the Prendergasts, and others by the Barrys. 
There was also one in an island near Gal- 
way, established by one of the Burkes, and 



another at Clare, in the same country, of 
which John de Cogan was the founder. 

Houses were founded for the Carmelites 
at Drogheda, Atherdee, in the county of 
Louth, and in the vicinity of lake Rea, in 
the county of Galway. The first was es- 
tablished by the citizens of the town ; the 
second by Radulphus Pippard, and the third 
by Richard de Harlay. A convent for Do- 
minicans was also founded during this reign, 
at Kilmaljock, or Killocie, in the county of 
Limerick, and another for the fathers of the 
Redemption of Captives, at Athdara, in the 
same county.* 

John de Saunford, archbishop of Dublin, 
was a favorite of Edward I., who appointed 
him lord-justice of Ireland on the death of 
Fulburn. The king recalled him afterwards 
to England, and sent him as ambassador to 
the emperor, winch commission he dis- 
charged to the satisfaction of his prince. 
Having died shortly afterwards in England, 
his body was brought to Dublin, and buried 
in the cathedral of St. Patrick. He had the 
reputation of a learned and prudent man. 
His successor in the see of Dublin was 
William de Hothum, who died the same 
year, and was replaced by Richard de Fer- 
ings. The office of lord-justice of Ireland 
was conferred on Sir William Vescy, and 
after him on William Dodinsell, who was 
succeeded by Thomas Fitzmaurice. The 
death of the latter put an end to the disputes 
which had long prevailed between the houses 
of the Fitzgeralds and Burkes ; and his son 
John Fitzthomas was reconciled to the earl 
of Ulster. During De Vescy's administra- 
tion in Ireland, there were violent quarrels 
between him and John,f son of Thomas 
Fitzgerald, the baron of Offaly, which, ac- 
cording to the chronicle of Hollingshead, de- 
generated into gross rebukes and sarcastic 
recriminations at an assembly where these 
noblemen met. They accused each other in 
turn of robbery, extortion, murder, &c. The 
baron having made some remarks on the 
birth of the viceroy, the latter replied that 
the De Vescys were noble before the Fitz- 
geralds were barons of Offaly ; " even (said 
he) before your bankrupt ancestor^ had 
made his fortune in Leinster." Their dis- 
pute did not even end in Ireland ; they went 
to England to plead their cause before the 
king and his court ; and in the presence of 
Majesty they continued their invectives and 
reproaches,which were apparently accordant 

* Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 35. 
t Con. Hib. Angl. page 78. 
t Maurice Fitzgerald, who came to Ireland with 
Strongbow. 



320 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



with the taste of the times and of the nation. 
Fitzgerald, at length wearied with these con- 
tentions, proposed to settle the quarrel by 
single combat, which was approved of by 
the assembly, and accepted at first with 
much boasting by De Vescy ; but the day 
being named, the latter embarked for France, 
leaving the baron without an antagonist.* 
Dugdale gives a different account of this 
transaction ; saying that Fitzgerald refused 
to fight. When the king was informed of 
the flight of De Vescy, he bestowed the 
lordships of Kildare and Rathangan on Fitz- 
gerald, which had till then belonged to the 
former, saying, that although he had carried 
his body to France, he had left his property 
in Ireland. The acquisition of the districts 
of Kildare and Rathangan raised consider- 
ably the fortunes of the Fitzgeralds, who 
had afterwards sufficient influence to have 
the title of earl bestowed on them. 

Stephen O'Brogan, a native of Ulster, 
from being archdeacon of Glendaloch be- 
came archbishop of Cashel, by a canonical 
election. He filled that see for the space 
of eleven years, and died in 1300. He was 
buried in his church of Cashel, and was 
succeeded by Maurice O'Carroll. 

In the year 1303, Nicholas M'Molisse, 
archbishop of Armagh, died. He had gov- 
erned this see for thirteen years, and was 
celebrated for his eloquence, prudence, and 
zeal in the worship of God. He ornament- 
ed and enriched his cathedral with books, or- 
naments, and every thing necessary for the 
divine service, and bequeathed to that church 
twenty marks of silver, charged upon his 
lands at Termo Feichan. He was succeeded 
by John Taaf. 

The manner in which the Welsh were 
.treated by the English, is an example of 
cruelty, and a subject of horror to all who 
have had the misfortune of falling beneath 
their dominion. The Welsh are descended 
from the ancient Britons, whom their allies, 
the Saxons, had expelled from England 
about the seventh century, and forced to 
seek safety in the country called Wales, on 
the western coast of Britain, and formed a 
distinct people from the English, governed 
by their own kings till the eleventh century. 
The English, equally treacherous with the 
Saxons, filled with an idea of the right of 
conquest, and unable to bear so small an in> 
dependent sovereignty near them, subjugated 
Wales, and put Rees, its last king, to death, 
in the eleventh century, under William Rufus 
The recollection of their former liberty, and 

* English Baronetcy, vol. 1, page 94. 



the tyranny of their new masters, often forc- 
ed the Welsh into rebellion. The superior 
power of England, however, always quelled 
these revolts, with the loss of many lives ; 
but it was the lot of Edward I. to complete 
their subjugation a. d. 1283. This king 
declared war against Llewelyn, a prince of 
Wales, of the royal race, who, having been 
betrayed, fell into the hands of a soldier, 
who cut off his head, and sent it to Edward, 
by whom it was ordered to be exposed on 
the tower of London.* David, the brother 
of Llewelyn, was taken prisoner some time 
afterwards, and condemned to an ignomi- 
nious death in England. He was first tied 
to the tail of a wild horse, and dragged 
through the city of Shrewsbury ; his head 
was cut off, sent to London, and placed 
upon the tower with his brother's ; his 
heart and entrails were then torn from his 
body and burned ; and the four limbs were 
exposed on the gates of four cities in Eng- 
land, namely, Bristol, Northampton, York, 
and Winchester. -In this unparalleled man- 
ner was the son of a prince treated, whose 
only crime was;ailesire to restore freedom 
to his country, and to rescue it from the yoke 
of England. Wales was then united to the 
crown of England ; the king, gave it a form 
of government in conformity with the laws 
of England, .and his eldest son has, since 
that time, assumed the title of prince of 
Wales. 

A convent for Dominicans was founded 
in this century, in the town of Carlingford, 
in the county of Louth ; another for Augus- 
tin hermits near Galway : a convent for 
Franciscans was founded in 1 300 at Cavan, 
by the O'Reillys ; and a house for Carmel- 
ites at Thurles, county Tipperary, by the 
Butlers. 

The English set no bounds to their pre- 
tensions over their neighbors ; the kings of 
England considered themselves as protectors 
of the kingdom of Scotland, and arbitrators 
of any difficulty that might arise respecting 
the succession to that crown. Alexander 
III., king of Scotland, having died without 
issue, the great number of pretenders to the 
throne gave rise to factions, and afforded 
a favorable opportunity for Edward I. to en- 
force his pretended jurisdiction. The two 
most powerful competitors were John Baliol, 
earl of Galloway, and Robert Bruce of 
Anandale. Edward set out for Scotland, 
and had an interview with Robert Bruce, 
whose claim was not so strong as Baliol's, 

* Baker, Chron. of Engl. Life of Edward I. page 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



321 



but who was possessed of more influence. He 
proposed to make him king of Scotland, on 
condition that he would take an oath of al- 
legiance to him, and do homage to the crown 
of England, a. d. 1291. This generous no- 
bleman replied, that he would not sacrifice 
the liberty of his country to the ambition of 
reigning. But Baliol, whose opinions were 
less honorable, accepted the terms, and was 
crowned king of Scotland at Scone, after 
which he paid homage to the king of Eng- 
land at Newcastle, as his sovereign lord. He 
afterwards retracted, which caused bloody 
wars between the two nations, that lasted 
for almost three centuries ; but were at 
length terminated, after much bloodshed, by 
the union of both crowns under James I. 
Edward having begun this war, was deter- 
mined to prosecute it with all his energies, 
for which purpose he marched an army 
towards Scotland, and created in one day 
threehundredyoungmen knights, a. d. 1291, 
in order to excite their emulation. John 
Wogan, who shared in this promotion, was 
sent to Ireland as lord-justice, in place of 
Thomas Fitzmaurice, who had just died. 

About this time more establishments were 
founded for Carmelites ; the monastery of 
Thurles, county of Tipperary, by the But- 
lers ', and that of Ardnecran, in the county 
of Westmeath, by the Dillons. There was 
also one near lake Reogh, in the county of 
Galway, founded, according to Ware, by 
Richard de Burgo, earl of Ulster. Allemand 
attributes this foundation to Richard de 
Harlay, and alleges that the Harlays of 
France are descended from him. 

Edward I., having gained some advantages 
overthe Scotch, was seized with a dysentery, 
of which he died, a. d 1306, regretting deeply 
that he had not been able to take full revenge 
upon them. When on his death-bed, he 
enjoined Edward, his son and successor, to 
have his remains carried with the army 
through Scotland, till he should have reduced 
that people ; but his last will was neglected 
in this particular, as well as in every other 
matter which he had imposed on that young 
prince. 

John Taaf, archbishop of Armagh, died 
this year, and was succeeded by Walter de 
Jorse, of the order of St. Dominick. He 
had six brothers, all in the same order, one 
of whom, called Thomas, was a cardinal, 
under the name of St. Sabina, and another 
named Roland, succeeded him in the see of 
Armagh, which he gave up in 1321. 

Richard de Ferings, archbishop 6f Dub- 
lin, who labored incessantly to establish 
peace between the two metropolitans in this 



city, died about this time. The articles 
of agreement between the two churches, 
Christ's and St. Patrick's, were, that each 
should enjoy the title of metropolitan ; that 
Christ's church, as being the larger and more 
ancient, should take precedence in ecclesias- 
tical matters ; that it should have the custody 
of the cross, mitre, and episcopal ring ; and 
that the prelates of the see should be buried 
alternately in both churches. This prelate 
founded three prebendaries in St. Patrick's 
church. He was succeeded by John Lech. 
John Duns Scotus, a Franciscan friar, 
flourished in the beginning of this century. 
The subtilty of his genius, and great pene- 
tration on learned subjects, gained him the 
name of " subtle doctor." He was educated 
at Oxford, under William de Wara, or Varro, 
where he wrote on the four books of Sen- 
tences. He also composed many scholastic 
works in Paris. He went afterwards to Co- 
logne, where he died suddenly in 1308. 
Three nations claim the honor of having 
given birth to this great man ; English 
authors maintain that he was born at. Dun- 
ston, a village in the parish of Emildune, 
in the county of Northumberland ; for which 
purpose they advance, as a proof, the con- 
clusion of the manuscript works of this great 
man, (which are at Oxford,) in the following 
terms : " Here ends the reading of the works 
of John Duns, a subtle doctor of the univer- 
sity of Paris, born in a certain village called 
Dunston, in the parish of Emildune, in Nor- 
thumberland, belonging to the college of 
Merton, in the university of Oxford ;" but 
as it is doubtful whether this conclusion is 
by Scot himself, or added by another, the 
proof drawn from it in favor of his being a 
native of England, seems insufficient. The 
Scotch say he was a native of Duns, in 
Scotland, a village about eight miles from 
the English frontiers. Finally, the Irish, 
seconded by Arthur a. Monasterio, and the 
martyrology of Cavellus, affirm that he was 
born at Down, (in Latin Dunum,) in Ulster. 
The Irish had not yet given up the name of 
Scoti, or Scots ; and it is therefore probable, 
that on this account Doctor John Dims has 
been surnamed Scotus. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Edward II., son of the late king, and 
Eleanor of Spain, succeeded his father, a. d. 
1307. Some time after he married Isabella, 



3-22 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



daughter of Philipthe Fair,king of France.* 
He recalled his favorite, Piers Gaveston, 
who had been expelled the kingdom by his 
father. This nobleman's influence over the 
king was so great, that every favor which 
was conferred was given through him. This 
drew upon him the hatred and envy of the 
English lords, who threatened to oppose the 
king's coronation, if he did not dismiss his 
favorite, to which the weak monarch con- 
sented ; but in order to mitigate this sup- 
posed disgrace, he sent him, invested with 
some authority, to Ireland, where he par- 
tially quelled the commotions, and labored 
with effect to secure the possessions of the 
Anglo-Irish in that country. The king, un- 
able to bear the absence of his favorite, and 
supposing that the resentment of the nobles 
had subsided in the interim, made him re- 
turn from Ireland, and sent Sir John Wo- 
gan as lord-justice in his stead ; and in order 
to procure him some influence among the 
nobles, he made him marry the daughter of 
the earl of Gloucester. This alliance of 
Gaveston with one of the first families in the 
kingdom, served only to exasperate the 
minds of the people against him. Another 
occurrence completed his downfall ; not con- 
tent with gaining the prize in a tournament 
at Wallingford, in which, by his skill and 
courage, he defeated the English nobles who 
measured their arms with him, he rallied 
them in the most sarcastic manner, which 
hurt them more severely than the victory he 
had just gained, so that they conspired 
unanimously against him, and represented 
in the strongest terms to the king, that no- 
thing less than the sacrifice of his favorite 
could appease them. Gaveston found him- 
self forced to yield to the tempest, and pro- 
ceeded to France, where he continued for 
some time ; but the desire of seeing his dear 
master again, induced him, at the peril of 
his life, to return secretly to England. In 
order to secure him against the rage of his 
enemies, the king gave him the castle of 
Scarborough, as a safe asylum ; where, 
however, he was besieged in it by the dis- 
contented barons, and forced to surrender 
himself prisoner, on condition of having his 
life spared. But these terms did not prevent 
his being taken by the earl of Warwick out 
of the hands of those who were guarding 
him. This nobleman had him beheaded, 
without trial or any formality of justice, 
in spite of the repeated entreaties which the 
king made to him, to spare the life of the 
unhappy man. Such was the tragical end 

* Baker, Chron. of England, on the reign of Ed- 
ward II. 



of Gaveston, one of the handsomest men of 
his time, and one of the most accomplished 
in Europe. He was a native of Gascony, 
and possessed all that delicacy of wit which 
is so peculiar to his countrymen, and his 
only crime seems to have been that of being 
too well beloved by his king. 

The conduct of the English on this occa- 
sion, clearly demonstrates the changeable 
and inconstant character of that people. We 
see a rude and brutal nobility treat their 
king with contempt and insolence, and de- 
ficient in the most indispensable duties to- 
wards a monarch whose only defect was a 
weak and effeminate disposition ; yet we 
also discover the same people to have bent 
frequently to tyrants. Though Edward was 
indignant at the conduct of his subjects, and 
their violation of his authority, he was too 
much intent upon the war in Scotland to 
chastise them. Robert Bruce, who was al- 
ready possessed of that throne, determined 
to take advantage of the disturbances in 
England ; he reduced under his dominion 
that part of Scotland which still adhered to 
the opposite party ; after which he invaded 
the northern parts of England. Edward 
saw the danger which threatened his king- 
dom, and marched at the head of one hun- 
dred thousand men to meet the king of Scot- 
land, who had but thirty thousand, a. d. 
1313. Both armies met at Bannockburn, 
where the English were completely defeated. 
This victory has been ascribed to stratagem ; 
the king of Scotland had no cavalry ; his 
army was very inferior in numbers to those 
of the enemy, and he was obliged to have 
recourse to it. He therefore caused trenches 
of three feet in depth to be dug in the road 
through which the enemy had to pass, and 
covered them with the branches of trees and 
other matters, to conceal them from their 
view. The English cavalry fell into the 
snare ; having advanced with impetuosity 
against the Scotch, the horsemen and their 
horses fell, which put the whole army in 
disorder. Scotch writers affirm that the loss 
of the English in this battle amounted to 
fifty thousand men ; the English allow their 
loss to have been but ten thousand. How- 
ever, it was the most fatal battle to them 
since the conquest. The defeat was so gen- 
eral, that King Edward had some difficulty 
to save himself by flight, with the nobles 
who accompanied him ; and the Scotch re- 
mained masters of the whole of the north of 
England, from Carlisle to York. The cour- 
age of the English, says Baker, was so bro- 
ken down by this defeat, that a hundred of 
them would fly before three Scotchmen. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



323 



John Lech, or De Leeke, archbishop of 
Dublin, died about this time. The claims 
of the two cathedrals in this city were always 
productive of some controversy respecting 
the choice of a prelate. The prior and con- 
vent of Christ's Church nominated Nicholas 
Butler, brother to Edmond Butler, after 
wards earl of Carrick, to fill the vacant see ; 
and the dean and chapter of St. Patrick's 
elected Richard Havering, the grand chor- 
ister of their church. However, the king's 
influence prevailed over these elections, and 
John Lech, his almoner, was appointed 
This prelate had a serious misunderstanding 
with Roland Jorse, archbishop of Armagh, 
respecting the right which the latter claimed 
of having the cross carried erect before him 
in the province of Dublin. At the solicita- 
tion of John Lech, Pope Clement V. granted 
a bull for the foundation of a university in 
Dublin. Some time previous to this pre- 
late's death, he was nominated high-treas- 
urer of Ireland. His successor in the see 
of Dublin was Alexander de Bicknor. 

An Irish Franciscan friar, named Malachi, 
after having lived for some time at Oxford, 
went to Naples, where he gained a high re- 
putation for piety and learning.* He wrote 
a treatise upon the poison of mortal sin, and 
the remedies to be used ; it was published 
in Paris, by Henry Stephens. Bale says he 
was the author of a book of sermons and 
other tracts. 

At Tully-Felim, or Tullagh-Felaghe, a 
small town on the river Slaney, in the dio- 
cese of Leghlin, county of Carlow, there 
was a convent founded in 1314, for Augus- 
tin hermits, by Simon Lombard and Hugh 
Talon. 

The Irish, discontented with their lot, see- 
ing the success of the king of Scotland, sent 
deputies to him, soliciting his alliance and 
assistance to deliver them from the insup- 
portable bondage into which they had fallen, 
by the haughty and cruel dominion of the 
English.! The king of Scotland considered 
this embassy a favorable opportunity, both 
to cause a diversion in England, and to make 
his brother, Edward Bruce, king of Ireland. 
Sir Edmond Butler, who had already re- 
turned to England, succeeded Sir Theobald 
de Verdon, who had filled the office of lord- 
justice during his absence, a. d. 1315. On 
the 25th of May following, Edward Bruce, 
brother to the king of Scotland, landed near 
Carrickfergus, in Ulster, with six thousand 
Scotchmen, where he was joined by a body 

* Anton. Possevin, Appar. Sacr. 
t Baker, Chron. Reign of Edward II. War. de 
Annal. Hib. Cos on the reign of Edward II. 



of Irish, and proclaimed king of Ireland by 
part of the nation.* In the month of June 
he took Dundalk, which he burned ; he then 
laid waste the district of Uriel, expelled the 
English from Ulster, and made himself mas- 
ter of that province. He bore the title of 
king of Ireland till his death, which took 
place three years afterwards. 

The Anglo-Irish collected their forces to 
check the progress of the new king. They 
met at Dundalk, but the lord-justice, on 
finding the generals disunited, left the care 
of carrying on the war against the Scotch 
to the earl of Ulster, and returned to Dub- 
lin. This nobleman acquitted himself very 
badly of his commission ; he was defeated 
by the Scotch, near Coleraine, on the tenth 
of September, with the loss of many lives, 
besides a great number of prisoners, among 
whom were Sir William Burke, Sir John 
Mandevill, Sir Alan Fitzwarren, and John 
Staunton. In order to follow up his victo- 
ries, Bruce laid siege to Carrickfergus, and 
dispatched his brother William to Scotland 
to seek further aid from the king, his bro- 
ther. He then led his victorious army out 
of the province of Ulster, and advanced to- 
wards Kells, in Meath, where he met the 
English under Roger Mortimer, and gave 
them battle, in which they were defeated. 
It is said that the Lacys deserted the Eng- 
lish on this occasion ; however this be, the 
victory was against them, and many of them 
fell in their retreat. After this Bruce burn- 
ed Kells, Granard, Finagh, and Newcastle, 
and spent the Christmas at Loghseudy, from 
whence he marched through the county of 
Kildare, to Rathangan, Kildare, Castleder- 
mot, Athy, Raban, and Sketheris, where 
Sir Edmond Butler, the lord-justice of Ire- 
land, accompanied by John Fitzthomas and 
other noblemen, were waiting to give him 
battle. The action took place on the 26th 
of January, but Bruce was again victorious 
and the English entirely routed. 

The king of England seeing the unhappy 
state of his affairs in Ireland, and fearing 
the defection of his subjects, sent Sir John 



" He sent ambassadors from Ireland, saying 
that he would surrender into his protection both 
himself and his possessions ; but if it was neces- 
sary for him to continue at home, they besought 
him to give them for a king his brother Edward, 
and not to suffer a kindred nation to be oppressed 
under the intolerable bondage of English rule. Ed- 
ward Bruce at length proceeded with an army, by 
the general consent of all, and was proclaimed king. 
In the first year of his arrival, after expelling the 
English, he brought the whole of Ulster under his 
authority, and traversed the entire kingdom with 
his victorious army." — Buchanan, b. 8, p. 277. 



324 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Hotbam thither, to make tbem renew their 
oath of allegiance, and receive hostages from 
them. These were given by John Fitzthomas, 
afterwards earl of Kildare, Richard de Clare, 
Maurice, afterwards called earl of Desmond, 
Thomas Fitzjohn le Poer, Arnold le Poer, 
Maurice Rochfort, David and Miler de la 
Roche, and many others. 

In the month of February both armies 
took the field. The place of meeting for the 
Scotch was at Geashil, in Offaly, and the 
English assembled at Kildare; but the country 
having been destroyed, and the Scotch army 
in want of provisions, Bruce determined to 
return to Ulster, where he gave himself up 
to his pleasures, having nothing to dread 
from his enemies. On the retreat of the 
Scotch, the lord-justice proceeded to Dublin, 
where he summoned a parliament, in which 
he endeavored to reconcile some noble- 
men whose disunion was prejudicial to the 
general cause ; and Walter de Lacy was 
acquitted of the crime of treason of which he 
had been suspected. They likewise dis- 
cussed the plan of prosecuting the war. 

In the mean time, the Irish who had 
espoused the interests of Edward Bruce 
were given up to the fury of his enemies. 
Several among the inhabitants of Leinster 
were put to the sword at Castledermot, by 
the English under Edmond Butler. The 
O'Mordhas, O'Byrnes, O'Tools, and M'Mor- 
roughs, soon afterwards shared the same 
fate : and the O'Connors Faly were mas- 
sacred at Balhbogan, on the river Boyne, 
by the English of Leinster and Meath. The 
Irish, on the other band, used the right of 
retaliation, by making some efforts to be re- 
venged for their lives and liberty, and the 
O'Nowlans of Leinster put Andrew Ber 
mingham, Sir Richard de la Londe, and their 
adherents to the sword, who had insulted 
them in their territories. 

In order to induce his Irish subjects to 
support his cause against the Scotch, the 
king of England began to distribute favors 
and confer titles of honor upon them, which 
were hitherto unknown in Ireland, a. d. 1316 
He accordingly created John Fitzgerald, 
son of Thomas, baron of Offaly, earl of Kil- 
dare. This lord was chief of the noble 
family of the Fitzgeralds, descended from 
Maurice, who derived his origin from the 
dukes of Tuscany, and was the first of the 
name that settled in Ireland under Henry II. 
To enable him to support this dignity, the 
king gave him the town and castle of Kildare, 
with their dependencies, and all the lands 
and lordships of William de Vescy, which 
had been confiscated in 1291, when the 



latter was lord-justice of Ireland. This il- 
lustrious house, which has been always re- 
markable for its virtue and noble alliances, 
still exists, with the title of premier earl of 
Ireland. 

Edward Bruce having returned from Scot- 
land, where he spent some time in recruiting 
his troops, summoned the town of Carrick- 
fergus to surrender. The inhabitants being 
destitute of every thing, eight vessels, laden 
with provisions, were sent from Drogheda 
to their relief; but these were not sufficient 
to enable tbem to hold out. The garrison 
had been reduced to live for some days on 
leather, and the flesh of eight Scotchmen, 
who were prisoners. They therefore surren- 
dered about the end of Axigust. At the same 
time, O'Connor and his followers defeated 
a body of English in Connaught ; Lord Ste- 
phen Exter, Milo Cogan, and eight of the 
Barrys and Lawlesses, having lost their lives 
in the engagement. O'Connor and his army 
were, however, defeated on the 4th of Au- 
gust, at Athenry, by a body of English, 
headed by William Burke and Richard de 
Bermingham. In Ulster, Richard O'Hanlon, 
followed by his vassals, in endeavoring to 
draw contributions from Dundalk and its 
vicinity, was repulsed with great loss by the 
inhabitants, under the command of Robert 
Verdon, who lost his bfe in the action. On 
the 14th of September, Burke and Berming- 
ham gained a complete victory over the 
people of Connaught, who lost five hundred 
men, with their chiefs, O'Connor and O'Kelly. 
About the end of October, in the same year, 
John Loggan and Hugh Bisset defeated a 
body of Scotch troops in Ulster ; about three 
hundred fell on the field of battle, and many 
prisoners were taken and sent to Dublin, 
among whom were Sir Allen Stewart and 
Sir John Sandal. The Lacys, who were 
suspected of having betrayed the state, by 
introducing the Scotch into the kingdom, 
presented a petition on the subject, and be- 
ing cleared of the charge, they renewed their 
oath of allegiance, and obtained a general 
amnesty from the king by charter. 

Maurice Mac-Carwil, or O'Carroll, arch- 
bishop of Cashel, died at this time. After 
his elevation to that see by the dean and 
chapter, with the consent of the king of Eng- 
land, he set out for Rome, where be received 
the pope's sanction, and was consecrated and 
honored with the pallium by the holy father. 
On his return to Ireland, he allowed Walter 
Multoc the privilege of founding a house 
at Fethard, in the county of Tipperary, for 
hermits of St. Augustin. He attended the 
parliament which was convened at Kilkenny, 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



325 



in 1309. It was composed of all the nobles 
of the country, whom he compelled to sub- 
mit to its decrees under pain of excommu- 
nication. Maurice was succeeded in the see 
of Cashel by William Fitzjohn, bishop of 
Ossory. 

Edward Bruce, at the head of twenty 
thousand men, composed of Scotch and Irish, 
marched during the Lent towards Slane, in 
Meath, pillaging the country as he passed. 
The earl of Ulster, who was at the time in 
the abbey of Our Lady, near Dublin, having 
had some dispute with the citizens, was ar- 
rested by order of Robert Nottingham, mayor 
of the city, and confined in the castle, which 
caused so great a tumult that the abbey was 
pillaged, and some domestics belonging to 
the earl were killed. In the mean time, 
Edward Bruce marched towards Dublin, and 
on his way took the castle of Knock, in 
which he found Hugh Tyrrel, the lord of 
the place, with his wife, who ransomed her- 
self for a sum of money. The inhabitants, 
terrified at the approach of so formidable an 
enemy, in order to defend the city, burned 
the suburbs, together with the churches, and 
among the number the cathedral of St. Pat- 
rick. Bruce, who knew that the walls of 
the city were in good order, and that the in- 
habitants would defend it to the last, thought 
fit (with the advice, it is said, of De Lacy, 
contrary to the oath of allegiance he had just 
taken) to proceed on his march towards 
Naas, where he spent two days, and con- 
tinued his route towards Limerick. He 
passed through Kenlis, in Ossory, to Cashel, 
and went from thence to Nenagh : having in 
his march laid 'Waste the lands of Edmond 
Butler, in the counties of Kilkenny and Tip- 
perary. All the English lords who were in 
the country, assembled at Cashel to deliberate 
on the means of checking his progress . They 
determined on sending the army, which 
amounted to 30,000 men, under the command 
of the lord-justice and the earl of Kildare, 
in pursuit of him ; but Roger Mortimer 
having landed at Youghal, as lord-justice, on 
Easter Thursday, a. d. 1317, attended by 
thirty knights, and other troops, he sent 
word to the English generals to wait for him 
to give battle to the Scotch. Edward Bruce, 
hearing of the arrival of Mortimer, and not 
thinking it prudent to wait for him, continued 
his route towards Ulster, where he arrived 
towards the beginning of the month of May. 

Mortimer, having no longer an enemy to 
contend with in Munster or Leinster, sent 
his troops into quarters until further orders. 
He then went to Dublin, and convened a 
parliament at Kilmainham, composed of more 



than thirty knights, among whom were Wo- 
gan and Warren. The principal subject of 
debate in this assembly was the liberation 
of the earl of Ulster, (who had been kept in 
prison by the mayor and citizens of Dublin,) 
which was effected in a second session at 
Whitsuntide. After this assembly, Mortimer 
repaired to Trim, in Meath, through Drogh- 
eda, from whence he sent orders to the Lacys 
to appear before him and give an account of 
their conduct. They were descended from 
Robert de Lacy, of Rathwer, which estate 
had been given him by Sir Hugh de Lacy. 
These noblemen, far from obeying his orders, 
killed Sir Hugh Crofts, who was the bearer 
of them. Mortimer, exasperated to find his 
authority compromised by so flagrant a con- 
tempt of his orders, caused their properties 
to be seized, confiscated their lands for the 
benefit of the English soldiery, and put all 
who declared in their favor to the sword. 
He then compelled them to withdraw into 
Connaught, having first declared them trai- 
tors to their country. It appears that they 
were the only English who sided with Bruce, 
whom they accompanied on his return to 
Scotland. 

A convent for Carmelites was founded this 
year at Athboy, in the county of Meath, by 
William Loundres, lord of that place. 

After the expedition into Meath, against the 
Lacys, Mortimer turned his attention to ap- 
pease some troubles caused by the O'Byrnes 
and other inhabitants of Omayle, in the coun- 
ty of Wicklow. It was at this time that Sir 
Hugh Canon, judge in the court of Common 
Pleas, was assassinated by Andrew Ber- 
mingham, between Naas and Castlemartin. 

Mortimer, as lord-justice, gave a magnifi- 
cent banquet on Quinquagesima Sunday, in 
the castle of Dublin, at which he conferred 
the honor of knighthood on John Mortimer, 
and four others. After Easter he was re- 
called to England ; having before his de- 
parture received intelligence of the death 
of Richard de Clare, Sir Henry Capel, Sir 
Thomas de Naas, the two Cantons, and 
eighty others, who were killed on the 5th of 
May, by the O'Briens and M'Cartys. On 
John Lacy's refusal to vindicate himself of 
the crime of which he was accused, he was 
smothered at Trim, by orders of Mortimer, 
who afterwards sailed for England, leaving 
the administration of affairs, during his ab- 
sence, to William Fitzjohn, archbishop of 
Cashel. According to the histories, however, 
Alexander Bicknor, archbishop of Dublin, 
was intrusted with the government in the 
month of October following, a. d. 1318. 

Edward Bruce now made preparations in 



•:> 



326 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Ulster for a new enterprise. He marched 
with his army, amounting to about three 
thousand men, as far as Fagher, two miles 
from Dundalk ; but the English being 
alarmed at his movements, collected their 
troops, to the. number of thirteen hundred 
and eighty men, and Sir John Bermingham 
was appointed by the lord-justice to com- 
mand them. 

This general, attended by several able 
captains, among whom were Richard Tuite 
and Miles Verdon, set out from Dublin at 
the head of his army. On approaching the 
enemy, the necessary preparations being 
made on both sides, the engagement began ; 
but victory, which had hitherto always fol- 
lowed the steps of Prince Edward, forsook 
him on this occasion ; he lost two thirds of 
his army, and was himself found among the 
slain. Bermingham caused the head of the 
unfortunate prince to be cut off, and pre- 
sented it to the king of England, who, to 
reward him for so signal a service, created 
him earl of Louth.* This title became ex- 
tinct with himself, as he died without issue ; 
but that of baron of Athenry has been pre- 
served in this noble family, who are de- 
scended from Robert de Bermingham. t The 
latter accompanied Earl Strongbow to Ire- 
land, and was one of the house of Berming- 
ham, in the county of Warwick, England. 
The barons of Athenry are considered to 
have been the first in Ireland.:): According 
to Cox, the first baron of Athenry was Rich- 
ard de Bermingham, who had distinguished 
himself in battle against the inhabitants of 
Connaught. 

Brace's overthrow is a proof of the un- 
certain fate of arms, and shows how trivial a 
thing may win or lose a battle. About five 
years previously, thirty thousand Scotchmen 
gained a complete victory over a hundred 
thousand English at Bannockburn ; at Dun- 
dalk, the Scotch, who were superior in num- 
bers, and headed by a prince accustomed to 
conquer, were vanquished by the English. 
Prince Edward may be ranked among the 
first captains of his age ; he would probably, 
says Abercromby, have remained master of 
Ireland, had his military ardor been modera- 
ted by the superior prudence of his brother. 

Historians mention a circumstance which 
seems to prove that the sudden death of the 
prince was the cause of losing the battle. 
John Maupas, captain in the English army, 
and a man of very determined character, 
threw himself between the ranks, resolved 

* He was brother to Richard, baron of Athenry. 
t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. 
X Lodge's Peerage, vol. iv. 



to kill him ; and it is affirmed that after the 
action both bodies were found dead, one ly- 
ing upon the other. However, according to 
Walsingham* and Baker, the prince was 
taken prisoner and then beheaded, which 
displays the treachery of Bermingham, who 
acted thereby contrary to the rights of war ; 
unless we can suppose that he merited his 
fate, by usurping a crown to which he had 
no right. Such a supposition concerning a 
prince called upon by a part of the nation 
that had a perfect right to choose their own 
king, is of no weight. This right is inherent 
in all people, even according to the spirit of 
the English laws, and his title was more 
lawful than that of Henry II., who added 
tyranny to usurpation. 

Roger Mortimer returned again from 
England in the beginning of November, a. d. 
1319, invested with the same power as be- 
fore. About this time the bridge of Kilcul- 
len, on the river Liffey, in the county of 
Kildare, and Leighlin bridge, on the Bar- 
row, county of Carlo w, were built, through 
the influence of Maurice Jake, a canon of 
Kildare. Ireland being then tranquil, Mor- 
timer returned to England, and Thomas 
Fitzgerald, son of John, earl of Kildare, was 
invested with the government, a. d. 1320. 
In his time Pope John XXII. granted a bull 
to Bicknor, archbishop of Dublin, confirm- 
ing that previously granted by Clement V., 
for the foundation of a university in Dublin ; 
St. Patrick's Church was the place intended 
for the schools. The same pope gave also 
to the king of England another bull, exon- 
erating him from the payment of Peter's 
pence, which the court of Rome exacted 
from the kingdoms of England and Ireland. 

It is remarkable that the king of England 
granted to the earl of Kildare the power of 
receiving under the protection of the English 
laws, all his Irish tenants who would submit 
to them : Quod possit recipere ad legem An- 
glicE omnes homines Hibernos tenentes suos, 
qui ad eandem venire voluerunt ; a proof that 
the Irish had not yet enjoyed that advantage ; 
the withholding which was the inexhausti- 
ble source of those usurpations, murders, 
and civil wars to which Ireland was a prey 
for some centuries. The English of Lein- 
ster and Meath made a general massacre 
of the O'Connors Faly, at Ballibogan, on 
the river Boyne ; but soon afterwards a re- 
taliation was inflicted by the O'Nowlans, 
who put Andrew Bermingham, Sir Richard 
de la Londe, and their followers to the 
sword, for having attacked them in their 
territories. 

* Walsuig. Ypodig. Neustria?, page 593. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



327 



According to "Ware, a convent was estab- 
lished in the reign of Edward III., for 
Augustin hermits, at Ross, or Rosspont, on 
the river Barrow, in the county of Wexford, 
which agrees with the registries of the Vati- 
can, according to which it was founded in 
1320, as Herrera observes. The same au- 
thor mentions a convent for this order, 
founded at Skrine, in the county of Meath, 
by Feipo, who was then lord of that place. 

John Bermingham, earl of Louth, was 
nominated lord-justice of Ireland, a. d. 1321. 
The king sent him orders to join him at 
Carlisle with seven or eight thousand men, 
to assist him in the war against the Scotch ; 
a. d. 1322 ; in obedience to which mandate, 
he set out with the earl of Ulster, who fur- 
nished three hundred men at his own ex- 
pense, and left the government of Ireland to 
Ralph de Gorges, to whom it was intrusted 
till the month of February following, when 
he was succeeded by Sir John Darcy. The 
hostilities against the Irish recommenced 
under his administration. Sir Henry Tra- 
herne having put M'Morrough into confine- 
ment, massacred O'Nowlan and twenty-four 
of his followers, a. d. 1323. Among the 
registries in the tower of London, a docu- 
ment was discovered, proving the aversion 
which prevailed in the fourteenth century 
between the Irish and English.* It was ex- 
pressly prohibited by it to admit any subject 
of English extraction into the abbey of Mel- 
lifont in Ireland : In abbatia Mellifontis talis 
inolevit error, quod nullus admittatur in 
domum proedictam, nisi primitus facta fide 
quod non sit de genere Anglorum. It appears 
that Edward II. had great influence with 
Pope John XXII., who imposed a tithe of 
two years in his favor, upon the clergy of 
Ireland, to be levied by the dean and chapter 
of Dublin. The prelates and clergy, how- 
ever, remonstrated against it, till they had 
seen the pope's bull. With the consent of 
his council, Edward enacted some laws on 
the 24th of November, at Nottingham, for 
the purpose of reforming the government of 
Ireland, which are given at full in the com- 
mentaries of Pryn, on the fourth institute. 

Monaster-Eoris, or Totmoy, situated in 
that part of Offaly which lies in the King's 
county, was a celebrated convent for Fran- 
ciscans, founded at this time by John Ber- 
mingham, lord of that country, which is still 
called Clan-Eoris.f 

A parliament was held at Kilkenny during 
the feast of Pentecost, which was attended 

* Cox's Hist, of Ireland, on the year 1323. 
t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irlande. 



by the earl of Ulster, and most of the nobil- 
ity in the country, a. d. 1326 ; but there is 
no mention of the laws passed in it, except 
that it decreed a large quantity of corn to 
be sent to Aquitaine for the king's use. The 
earl of Ulster gave a magnificent banquet to 
this assembly, shortly after which he died. 

Maurice M'Carwill, archbishop of Cashel, 
having died in 1316, the chapter assembled 
to appoint a successor.* The dean and 
majority of the canons elected John M'Car- 
will, bishop of Cork : the others gave their 
votes to Thomas O'Lonchi, archdeacon of 
the same church ; but the pope, either on 
account of their being divided in their votes, 
or to gratify the king of England, who was 
desirous that all the sees should be filled by 
Englishmen, excluded both candidates, and 
nominated to it William Fitzjohn, bishop of 
Ossory, a man of great merit, who the fol- 
lowingyear was appointed warden and chan- 
cellor of the kingdom. The city of Cashel 
was surrounded with walls during his epis- 
copacy. The prelate died about this time, 
and was succeeded by John O'Carrol. Ire- 
land claims as her own (as before stated) 
the celebrated John Duns Scot, of the order 
of St. Francis, known by the name of the 
subtle doctor, who flourished about this date. 

"Lord Mortimer," says Cox, "being obli- 
ged, either through necessity or inclination, 
to return to England, gave the superintend- 
ence of some lands of which he was the 
owner, in Leix, to an Irishman named 
O'Morra. In course of time this Irishman 
appropriated them to himself, and was in 
possession of them for a long time ; asserting 
even that he had a right to them, though his 
claim was founded only on perfidy and in- 
gratitude."! This observation of Cox is 
crafty and plausible, and might have influ- 
ence with those who are not aware of the 
venom which prevails throughout his whole 
history. The man is considered treacherous 
and ungrateful who appropriates to himself 
a property with which he was intrusted, 
through the good faith of the lawful owner ; 
but did not our historian know that the dis- 
trict of Leix was the patrimony of the 
O'Morras, from the first ages of Christianity 
to the end of the twelfth century, and the 
usurpation of the English 1 and that the 
O'Morra in question only availed himself of 
a 'favorable opportunity to recover a prop- 
erty of which his ancestors had been un- 
justly deprived some years before ? Res 
claniat Domino suo. If he was not ignorant 
of it, he affords to the public a proof of that 

* War. de Arehiepisc. Cassel. 
t Cox, ibid, on the year 1326. 



328 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



punic faith discoverable among the historians 
of his country. Our author forms the same 
opinion respecting the measures which Ca- 
vanagh adopted to recover the barony of 
Idrone, in the county of Carlow, from an 
Englishman named Carew. 

The war still continued between the Scotch 
and English ; the unfortunate catastrophe of 
Edward Bruce having tended only to pro- 
mote it. The Scotch invaded England, and 
extendedtheirconquestsasfar as York; they 
then laid siege to Berwick, which was surren- 
dered to them through the treachery of Spald- 
ing, the governor, and the other English who 
composed the garrison. The kingof Scotland, 
however, had them hanged for betraying their 
country: thus giving a lesson to posterity, 
that though treason be tolerated, the traitor 
should be detested. The Scotch having 
gained many advantages over the English, 
and Edward being unable to prosecute the 
war, a truce of two years, others say thirteen, 
was concluded between him and the lung of 
Scotland. 

Of all the kings who reigned over England, 
from the conquest of that kingdom by Wil- 
liam the Conqueror,EdwardII. was the most 
unfortunate and least guilty ; but he was not 
the last of that character. He never offended 
his subjects, nor encroached upon their privi- 
leges ; his ruling passion was an inordinate 
attachment to his favorites ; and he was 
tender-hearted and generous, a rare quality 
among the people whom he had the misfor- 
tune to rule over. Young Spencer, who had 
succeeded Gaveston in the prince's affection 
was quartered, after his father, who at the age 
of ninety years shared the same fate ; his only 
crime that of having been beloved by a mas- 
ter who was unable to protect him. The 
prince himself sunk under the weight of his 
misfortunes. Those who, by the ties of nature, 
blood, and honor, should have sacrificed their 
lives in his defence, were his most inveterate 
persecutors. The queenherself, seconded by 
a cruel and savage nobility, attacked him 
openly, and had him seized and thrown into 
a dungeon, where he was left destitute of com- 
mon necessaries. The parliament was then 
assembled in order to depose him, and he was 
forced to make a solemn abdication in favor 
of his son, a formality which was at that time 
deemed requisite in disposing of the crown, 
but which has been since then omitted on a 
similar occasion. When this ceremony was 
over, his first guards, who were considered 
to be partial to him, were removed ; he 
was placed under the care of two noted mis- 
creants, Sir Thomas de Gournay, and Sir 
John Mattrevers, who had sold their service 



to his enemies ; and who put him to death 
with the most excruciating torture, by forc- 
ing a red-hot iron into his body, and burning 
his intestines. Such was the character of the 
English at that period, and more than once 
has this disposition to cruelty manifested it- 
self among them. It is said, that in order to 
instigate those monsters to commit this regi- 
cide, Mortimer had a letter sent to them, in 
which was contained the following passage, 
composed by Adam Toleton, bishop of Here- 
ford : " Edwardum occidere nolite timere 
bonum est." Mortimer, after being created 
earl of March by Edward III., was con- 
demned to be hanged for having concluded 
a disgraceful peace with the Scotch, from 
whom he had received presents ; likewise 
for having caused the king's death ; for 
having lived in a shameful manner with the 
queen mother, Isabella ; and lastly, for 
having robbed the king and the people. He 
was executed at Tyburn in 1330, and was 
left hanging on a gibbet for two days and 
nights. Some of those who had been his 
accomplices in the king's death, were ex- 
ecuted along with him. The queen Isabella 
was deprived of her dowry, and confined in 
a castle, with a yearly pension of a thousand 
pounds sterling, where she spent the remain- 
der of her life, and died at the age of thirty 
years. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Edward of Windsor, so called from the 
place of his birth, was eldest son of Edward 
II. He was proclaimed king of England on 
the 24th of January, 1317, eight days after 
his father had resigned the crown ; received 
the honor of knighthood from Henry, earl 
of Lancaster, who presented him with the 
sword, and was crowned at Westminster on 
the 1st of February, by Walter Reginald, 
archbishop of Canterbury. He shortly after- 
wards married Philippa, daughter of the earl 
of Hainault.* 

This reign was more brilliant than the 
preceding one. The wars which Edward 
carried on against France, the battles of 
Cressy and Poitiers, the taking of Calais, and 
his expeditions against the Scotch, are well 
known to those who are acquainted with the 
history of the period ; but as they are sub- 



* Annales Christophori Walsingham, Ypodigm. 
NeustriiE. Baker's Chronicle on the reign of Edward 
III., and Higgins' Abridgment of the History of 
England. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



329 



jects unconnected with Ireland, we shall 
pass them over in silence, inasmuch as this 
prince should here be considered rather in 
his character of lord of Ireland, than as 
king of England. 

Thomas Fitzgerald, son of John, earl of 
Kildare, having been appointed lord-justice 
in place of Sir John Darcy, the court sent 
orders to the heads of the English colony in 
Ireland to take the usual oath of allegiance 
to the new king, as they had done to his 
predecessors. 

After the arrival of the English, and fall 
of the monarchy in Ireland, there was no na- 
tional army of regular troops united under 
one commander. The chief of each tribe, 
attended by the different branches of his 
family, commanded his vassals and made 
them march at his will, (like the clans of 
Scotland, who are under the control of their 
respective chieftains,) which gave rise to the 
opinion of English writers respecting the 
great number of petty kings they supposed 
to have existed in the country. Sometimes 
these chieftains joined against the common 
enemy, while they frequently went to war 
with one another. The same want of union 
prevailed among the Anglo-Irish, the chiefs 
of whom kept bodies of armed men under 
their immediate command, which they fre- 
quently employed against each other on the 
smallest provocation. We have already dis- 
covered instances of this under the preceding 
reigns ; and in the present we find several 
which proved almost fatal to the English 
interest in Ireland. 

Maurice, son of Thomas Fitzgerald, after- 
wards earl of Desmond, considering himself 
to have been insulted by Arnold Poer, who 
called him a rhymer, (he having a fondness 
for poetry,) resolved to take revenge by arms. 
He accordingly drew the Butlers and Ber- 
minghams into his quarrel, and declared war 
against the Poers and their allies, the Burkes ; 
several were killed, and the rest of them dis- 
persed and forced to fly into Connaught, 
while their lands were laid waste and their 
habitations burned. In vain did the earl of 
Kildare, as lord-justice, interpose his author- 
ity to allay those quarrels. He appointed 
a day to hear the cause of the parties ; but 
Arnold Poer, knowing himself to have been 
the aggressor, and averse to submit to such 
investigation, proceeded to Waterford, from 
which place he set sail for England. His 
flight did not put a stop to the troubles ; the 
confederate army continued their hostilities, 
spreading terror everywhere they went : the 
towns that had remained neuter during the 
disturbances, dreading the storm, were for- 



tified and put into a state of defence. While 
these preparations were going forward, the 
confederates dreaded lest they should be 
looked upon as rebels who desired to disturb 
the public peace, and accordingly sent word 
to the earl of Kildare that they had no hostile 
views against the king or his cities ; that they 
had collected their troops to take revenge on 
their enemies, and were ready to appear be- 
fore him at Kilkenny to vindicate their pro- 
ceedings. They accordingly did appear in 
the Lent,before the lord-justice and the king's 
council at Kilkenny, where, with great hu- 
mility, they solicited an amnesty and pardon. 
The lord-justice, however, put oft" the matter 
to another time, in order to deliberate upon it. 

The Irish in Leinster viewed with delight 
the dissensions that prevailed among their 
English rulers ; and seizing the opportunity, 
which they thought a favorable one, pro- 
claimed Donald, son of Art Mac-Morrough, 
king of Leinster. He was of the family of 
the Mac-Morroughs, the ancient kings of the 
province.* His reign, however, was of short 
duration, as he was taken prisoner by the 
English, near Dublin, in a battle in which he 
fought bravely at the head of his new subjects. 
Sir Henry Traherne, and Walter de Valle, 
who commanded the English army, received 
one hundred and ten pounds sterling as a 
reward for his capture, a considerable sum 
at that time. Mac-Morrough was confined 
in the castle of Dublin, from which he made 
his escape in the month of January, by means 
of a rope that he had been provided with by 
Adam de Nangle, whose life paid the forfeit 
of this generous act, for whichhe was hanged. 
Thomas Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, and lord- 
justice of Ireland, died at this time in his 
castle of Maynooth, and was succeeded in 
his office by Roger Outlaw, prior of Kil- 
mainham, and chancellor of Ireland. During 
his administration, David O'Toole,! who 
had been made prisoner in Lent, by John 
Wellesly, was condemned to death, and 
executed in Dublin. 

In the second year of the reign of Edward 
III., James Butler,! son of Edmond Butler, 
earl of Carrick, married a daughter of the 
earl of Hereford and of Elizabeth, who was 
seventh daughter of Edward I.$ He was 

* Cox, ibid, on the year 1327. 

t In English books he is styled a robber : all those 
who took up arms against them, even in the fairest 
cause, being denominated either rebels or robbers. 

t He was descended, in the tenth degree, from 
Gilbert, count of Brionne in Normandy, and in the 
eighth from Gilbert de Tonbridge, earl of Clare, in 
England, by Walter Fitz-Gilbert, his second son. 

§ Introduction to the Life of the Duke of Or- 
mond. 



330 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



afterwards created earl of Ormond by the I 
kins, in a parliament held at Northampton. 
The king also erected the county of Tippe- 
rary into a palatinate in his favor, granting 
him the royal rights, franchises, military fiefs, 
and other privileges in that county. William ' 
Burke and Arnold Poer, who had left Ire-j 
land to escape the fury of their enemies, j 
the Butlers, Fitzgeralds, and Berminghams, ' 
were reconciled to them in a parliament i 
held in Dublin for that purpose. 

Sir John Darcy was again nominated lord- 
justice of Ireland, a. d. 1329. Lord Thomas! 
Butler led a powerful armv into Westmeath 
this year, with the design of subduing that 
country. The day before the feast of St. 
Laurence, he was met by MGeoghegan at 
the head of his forces, near Alullingar.* They 
came to a bloody engagement, which proved 
fatal to Butler and his followers, he having 
lost his life in it, together with several of his 
principal officers. The names of some of 
those who fell we discoverinPembrige,viz.: 
John de Ledewiche, Roger Ledewiche, Tho- 
mas Ledewiche, JohnNangle, Meiler Petit, 
Simon Petit, David Nangle, John Waringer, 
James Tirrel, Nicholas White, Wm. Freyne, 
Peter Kent, John White, with a hundred 
and fortj - others whose names are not known. 
It seems, from the honors which were paid 
to his remains, that lord Butler was much 
regretted by his partisans. His body was 
removed to Dublin, to the convent of the 
Dominicans, where it remained till the Sun- 
day after the feast of the beheading of St. 
John the Baptist, when it was carried with 
great solemnity through the city, and back to 
the Dominicans, where it was interred.! 
O'Brien, of Thuomond, devastated the lands 
of the Anglo-Irish about this time, and 
burned the towns of Athessel and Tipperary. 

These advantages, gained by the Irish over 
the English, did not prevent the latter from 
destroying each other. John Bermingham, 
earl of Louth, his brother Peter, and Talbot 
de Malahide, with their retinue, to the num- 
ber of one hundred and sixty Englishmen, 
were massacred at Ballibraggan, in the ter- 
ritory of Uriel, by the treachery of the Sava- 
ges, Gernons, and others of their countrymen. 
James, son of Robert Keating, lord Philip 
Hodnet, Hugh Condon, and their followers, 
to the number of a hundred and fort}-, were 

* War. de Annal. Hib. ad an. 1329. 

t " The same year, on the eve of St. Laurence, 
lord Thomas Butler marched with a great army 
towards Ardnorwith, and met there lord Thomas 
M'Geoghegan. The lord Thomas Butler, and many 
besides, were killed, to the great loss of Ireland." — 
Pembrige, Annal. for the year 1329. 



killed in Munster by the Barrys and Roches. 
Lastly, the English of Meath, under the com- 
mand of Sir Simon Genevil, having made 
some incursions into the barony of Carbry, in 
the county of Kildare, were defeated with the 
loss of seventy-six men, by the Berminghams. 
The Irish were continually at war with the 
common enemy. Philip Staunton was killed, 
and Henry Traherne made prisoner in his 
house at Kilbeg, by Richard, son of Philip 
ONowlan ; but this action was revenged 
some time afterwards, on the lands of Fog- 
hird, in the county of Wexford, which were 
laid waste by orders of the earl of Ormond. 
In order to quell these disturbances, Sir 
John Darcy, lord-justice of Ireland, marched 
the same year at the head of some troops, 
towards Newcastle and Wicklow, against the 
O'Byrnes, who were ravaging the English 
settlements. This expedition was productive 
of little good, although several were killed 
and wounded on both sides. The governor 
therefore finding it impossible to oppose so 
many enemies on every side,ordered Maurice 
Fitzgerald, son of Thomas of Desmond, with 
the advice of his council, to take the com- 
mand of the troops, and march against the 
king's enemies ; a promise being made him 
that he shouldbe indemnifiedforthe expenses 
of the war. Maurice marched at the head 
of the English army, which amounted to ten 
thousand men, against the Irish, whom he 
subdued separately, with ease. He began 
by the O'Nowlans, whose country he burn- 
ed. He treated the O'Morroughs, (Mur- 
phys,) in the same manner, took hostages 
from them, and recovered the castle of Ley 
from the : Dempseys. The king's resources 
being inadequate to defray the expenses of the 
war, or maintain a standing army, Desmond 
renewed an old custom, by levying a tax, 
which was called by the Irish Bonaght, and 
Coyn and Livery by the English. It consist- 
ed in supplying food to men and horses, and 
also a money tax, which was arbitrarily laid 
on the people, in the same manner as contri- 
butions exacted in time of war from an ene- 
my's country. Necessity constrained the 
lord-justice to tolerate, on that occasion, an 
abuse which afterwards proved fatal to some 
of the members of the house of Desmond. 

The Irish seeing themselves without re- 
source, and a prey to their enemies, sent a 
petition to the king of England, begging that 
he would receive them under the protection 
of the laws, and grant them the privileges and 
liberty of loyal subjects . The king referred 
the decision of their prayer to his English 
parliament in Ireland, being desirous to try 
if that favor could be granted without affect- 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



331 



ingfhe interests of his Anglo-Irish subjects.* 
Nos igitur certiorari si sine alieno prtEJudicio 
prosmissis annuere valeamus,vobis mandamus 
quod voluntatem magnatum terra illius in 
proximo parliamento nostro ibidem tenendo 
super hoc cum diligentia perscrutari facias. 
But these politic senators gave the king to 
understand that such favor would be incom- 
patible with their interests, and those of his 
majesty. In the parliament of that year, the 
heads of the English colony were enjoined 
to preserve union with their king, and peace 
among themselves. 

The petition of the Irish having been re- 
jected by the court of London, they carried 
their complaints to the sovereign pontiff, 
John XXII. O'Neill, king of Ulster, wrote 
upon the subject to his holiness, in the name 
of the Irish nation, representing the tyranny 
which the English government exercised 
over them. The following copy of his 
letter is taken from the Scotic chronicle of 
John of Fordun, vol. 3, page 908, et seq. : 

" To our Most Holy Father, John, by 
the grace of God, sovereign pontiff, we, his 
faithful children in Christ Jesus, Donald 
O'Neill, king of Ulster, and lawful heir to 
the throne of Ireland ; the nobles and great 
men, with all the people of this kingdom, 
recommend and humbly cast ourselves at 
his feet, &c. 

" The calumnies and false representations 
which have been heaped upon us by the 
English, are too well known throughout the 
world, not to have reached the ears of your 
Holiness. We are persuaded, most Holy 
Father, that your intentions are most pure 
and upright ; but from not knowing the Irish 
except through the misrepresentation of their 
enemies, your Holiness might be induced to 
look upon as truths those falsehoods which 
have been circulated, and to form an opinion 
contrary to what we merit, which would be 
to us a great misfortune. It is, therefore, to 
save our country against such imputations, 
that we have come to the resolution of giv- 
ing to your Holiness, in this letter, a faith- 
ful description, and a true and precise idea 
of the real state at present of our monarchy, 
if this term can be still applied to the sad 
remains of a kingdom which has groaned 
so long beneath the tyranny of the kings of 
England, and that of their ministers and 
barons, some of whom, though born in our 
island, continue to exercise % over us the 
same extortions, rapine, and cruelties, as 
their ancestors before them have committed. 
We shall advance nothing but the truth, and 

* Davis, Relat Histor. 



we humbly hope, that, attentive to its voice, 
your Holiness will not delay to express your 
disapprobation against the authors of those 
crimes and outrages which shall be reveal- 
ed. The country in which we live was un- 
inhabited until the three sons of a Spanish 
prince, named Milesius, according to others 
Micelius. landed in it with a fleet of thirty 
ships. They came here from Cantabria, 
a city on the Ebro, from which river they 
called the country to which Providence 
guided them, Ibernia, where they founded 
a monarchy that embraced the entire of the 
island. Their descendants, who never sul- 
lied the purity of their blood by a foreign 
alliance, have furnished one hundred and 
thirty kings, who, during the space of three 
thousand five hundred years and upwards, 
have successively filled the throne of Ireland 
till the time of king Legarius, from whom 
he who has the honor of affirming these 
facts, is descended in a direct line. It was 
under the reign of this prince, in the year 
435, that our patron and chief apostle, St. 
Patrick, was sent to us by Pope Celestinus, 
one of your predecessors ; and since the con- 
version of the kingdom through the preach- 
ing of that great saint, we have had, till 
1170, an uninterrupted succession of sixty- 
one kings, descended from the purest blood 
of Milesius, who, well instructed in the du- 
ties of their religion, and faithful to their 
God, have proved themselves fathers of their 
people, and have shown by their conduct, 
that although they depended in a spiritual 
light upon the holy apostolical see of Rome, 
they never acknowledged any temporal 
master upon earth. It is to those Milesian 
princes, and not to the English, or any other 
foreigners, that the church of Ireland is in- 
debted for those lands, possessions, and high 
privileges with which the pious liberality of 
our monarchs enriched it, and of which it 
has been almost stripped through the sacri- 
legious cupidity of the English. During the 
course of so many centuries, our sovereigns, 
jealous of their independence, preserved it 
unimpaired. Attacked more than once by 
foreign powers, they were never wanting in 
either courage or strength to repel the in- 
vaders, and secure their inheritance from in- 
sult. But that which they effected against 
force, they failed to accomplish in opposition 
to the will of the sovereign pontiff. His 
holiness Pope Adrian, to whose other great 
qualities we bear testimony, was by birth an 
Englishman, but still more in heart and dis- 
position. The national prejudices he had 
early imbibed, blinded him to such a degree, 
lhat on a most false and unjust statement, 



332 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



he determined to transfer the sovereignty 
of our country to Henry, king of England, 
under whom, and perhaps by whom, St. 
Thomas of Canterbury had been murdered 
for his zeal in defending the interests of the 
church. Instead of punishing this prince as 
his crimes merited, and depriving him of his 
own territories, the complaisant pontiff has 
torn ours from us to gratify his countryman, 
Henry II., and without pretext or offence 
on our part, or any apparent motive on his 
own, has stripped us, by the most flagrant 
injustice, of the rights of our crown, and 
left us a prey to men, or rather to monsters, 
who are unparalleled in cruelty. More 
cunning than foxes, and more ravenous than 
wolves, they surprise and devour us ; and 
if sometimes we escape their fury, it is only 
| to drag on, in the most disgraceful slavery, 
the wretched remains of a life more intol- 
erable to us than death itself. When, in 
virtue of the donation which has been men- 
tioned, the English appeared for the first 
time in this country, they exhibited every 
mark of zeal and piety ; and excelling as 
they did in every species of hypocrisy, they 
neglected nothing to supplant and under- 
mine us imperceptibly. Emboldened from 
their first successes, they soon removed the 
mask ; and without any right but that of 
power, they obliged us by open force to give 
up to them our houses and our lands, and to 
seek shelter like wild beasts, upon the moun- 
tains, in woods, marshes, and caves. Even 
there we have not been secure against their 
fury ; they even envy us those dreary and 
terrible abodes ; they are incessant and un- 
remitting in their pursuits after us, endea- 
voring to chase us from among them ; they 
lay claim to every place in which they can 
discover us, with unwarranted audacity and 
injustice ; they allege that the whole king- 
dom belongs to them of right, and that an 
Irishman has no longer a right to remain in 
his own country. From these causes arise 
the implacable hatred and dreadful ani- 
mosity of the English and the Irish towards 
each other ; that continued hostility, those 
bloody retaliations and innumerable massa- 
cres, in which, from the invasion of the 
English to the present time, more than fifty 
thousand lives have been lost on both sides 
besides those who have fallen victims to 
hunger, to despair, and the rigors of captiv- 
ity. Hence also spring all the pillaging, 
robbery, treachery, treason, and other disor- 
ders which it is impossible for us to allay in 
the state of anarchy under which at present 
we live ; an anarchy fatal not only to the 
state, but likewise to the church of Ireland, 



whose members are now, more than ever, 
exposed to the danger of losing the blessings 
of eternity, after being first deprived of those 
of this world. Behold, most holy father, a 
brief description of all that has reference 
to onr origin, and the miserable condition 
to which your predecessor has brought us. 
We shall now inform your holiness of the 
manner in which we have been treated by 
the kings of England. The permission of 
entering this kingdom was granted by the 
holy see to Henry II. and his successors, 
only on certain conditions, which were 
clearly expressed in the bull which was 
given them. According to the tenor of it, 
Henry engaged to increase the church reve- 
nues in Ireland ; to maintain it in all its rights 
and privileges ; to labor, by enacting good 
laws, in reforming the morals of the people, 
eradicating vice, and encouraging virtue ; and 
finally, to pay to the successors of St. Peter 
an annual tribute of one penny for each house. 
Such were the conditions of the bull. But 
the kings of England, and their perfidious 
ministers, so far from observing them, have 
uniformly contrived to violate them in every 
way, and to act in direct opposition to them. 
First, as to the church lands, instead of ex- 
tending their boundaries, they have con- 
tracted, curtailed, and invaded them so gen- 
erally, and to such a degree, that some of our 
cathedrals have been deprived, by open force, 
of more than one half of their revenues. 
The persons of the clergy have been as little 
respected as their property. On every side 
we behold bishops and prelates summoned, 
arrested, and imprisoned by the commission- 
ers of the king of England ; and so great 
is the oppression exercised over them, that 
they dare not give information of it to your 
holiness. However, as they are so das- 
tardly as to conceal their misfortunes and 
those of the church, they do not merit that 
we should speak in their behalf. We once 
had our laws and institutions ; the Irish 
were remarkable for their candor and sim- 
plicity ; but the English have undertaken to 
reform us, and have been unfortunately but 
too successful. Instead of being, like our 
ancestors, simple and candid, we have be- 
come, through our intercourse with the 
English, and the contagion of their exam- 
ple, artful and designing as themselves. 
Our laws were written, and formed a body 
of right according to which our country was 
governed. However, with the exception of 
one alone, which they could not wrest from 
us, they have deprived us of those salutary 
laws, and have given us instead, a code of 
their own making. Great God ! such laws ! 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



333 



If inhumanity and injustice were leagued 
together, none could have been devised more 
deadly and fatal to the Irish. The follow- 
ing will give your holiness some idea of 
their new code. They are the fundamental 
rules of English jurisdiction established in 
this kingdom : 

1st — ■" Everyman who is not Irish, may, 
for any kind of crime, go to law with any 
Irishman, while neither layman nor eccle- 
siastic, who is Irish, (prelates excepted,) can, 
under any cause or provocation, resort to 
any legal measures against his English op- 
ponent. 

2d — " If an Englishman kill an Irishman 
perfidiously and falsely, as frequently occurs, 
of whatsoever rank or condition the Irish- 
man may be, noble or plebeian, innocent or 
guilty, clergyman or layman, secular or reg- 
ular, were he even a bishop, the crime is 
not punishable before our English tribunal ; 
but, on the contrary, the more the sufferer 
has been distinguished among his country- 
men, either for his virtue or his rank, the 
more the assassin is extolled and rewarded 
by the English, and that not only by the 
vulgar, but by the monks, bishops, and what 
is more incredible, by the very magistrates, 
whose duty it is to punish and repress crime. 

3d — "If any Irishwoman whosoever, whe- 
ther noble or plebeian, marry an English- 
man, on the death of her husband she be- 
comes deprived, from her being Irish, of a 
third of the property and possessions which 
he owned. 

4th — " If an Irishman fall beneath the 
blows of an Englishman, the latter can pre- 
vent the vanquished from making any testa- 
mentary deposition, and may likewise take 
possession of all his wealth. What can be 
more unjustifiable than a law which deprives 
the church of its rights, and reduces men, 
who had been free from time immemorial, to 
the rank of slaves 1 

5th — "The same tribunal, with the co- 
operation and connivance of some English 
bishops, at which the archbishop of Armagh 
presided, a man who was but little esteemed 
for his conduct, and still less for his learning, 
made the following regulations at Kilkenny, 
which are not less absurd in their import 
than in their form. The court, say they, 
after deliberating together, prohibits all re- 
ligious communities, in that part of Ireland 
of which the English are in peaceful pos- 
session, to admit any into them but a native 
of England, under the penalty of being treated 
by the king of England as having contemned 
his orders, and by the founders and admin- 
istrators of the said communities, as disobe- 



dient and refractory to the present regula- 
tion. This regulation was little needed ; 
before, as well as since its enactment, the 
English Dominicans, Franciscans, Bene- 
dictines, regular canons, and all the other 
communities of their countrymen, observed 
the spirit of it but too faithfully. In the 
choice of their inmates they have evinced a 
partiality, the more shameful, as the houses 
for Benedictines and canons, where the Irish 
are now denied admittance, were intended 
by their founders to be asylums open to peo- 
ple of every nation indiscriminately. Vice 
was to be eradicated from among us, and 
the seeds of virtue sown. Our reformers 
have acted diametrically the opposite char- 
acter ; they have deprived us of our vir- 
tues, and have implanted their vices among 
us," &c. &c. &c. 

The sovereign pontiff, moved by the re- 
monstrances of O'Neill and of the Irish 
people, respecting the tyranny and cruelties 
committed by the English government, ad- 
dressed the following letter, quoted by Pe- 
trus Lombardus, page 260, to Edward III., 
king of England, exhorting that prince to 
check the disorders and cruelty that were 
practised upon the Irish. 

" We, Pope John, servant of the servants 
of God, to our dear son in Christ, the illus- 
trious Edward, king of England, greeting, 
health and salvation. 

" Our unceasing entreaties to you, dear son, 
to maintain peace in your kingdom, justice 
in your decisions, the blessings of tranquil- 
lity among your subjects, and lastly, to omit 
nothing which can contribute to your hap- 
piness and glory, proceed from the paternal 
solicitude which we bear towards your ma- 
jesty : you ought, therefore, to devote yourself 
altogetherto these objects, and prove yourself 
eager and willing to promote them. We 
have a long time since received from the 
princes and people of Ireland, letters ad- 
dressed to our well beloved Anselmus, priest 
of the chapel of SS. Marcellus and Peter; 
to Lucas, dean of St. Mary ; to the cardinals 
and nuncios of the holy see ; and through 
them, letters enveloped with their own, ad- 
dressed to us. These we have read, and 
among other things which they contain, have 
particularly noted, that our predecessor, 
Pope Adrian, of happy memory, hath given 
to your illustrious progenitor, Henry II., 
king of England, the kingdom of Ireland, as 
specified in his apostolical letters to him. 
To the object of these letters neither Henry 
nor his successors have paid regard, but 
passing the bounds that were prescribed to 
them, have, without cause or provocation, 



334 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



heaped upon the Irish the most unheard of 
miseries and persecution, and have, during a 
long period, imposed upon them a yoke of 
slavery which cannot be borne. None have 
dared to stem the persecutions which have 
been practised against the Irish, nor has any 
person been found willing to remedy the 
cause of them : not one, I say, has been 
moved, through a holy compassion for their 
sufferings, although frequent appeals have 
been made to your goodness in their behalf, 
and the strong cries of the oppressed have 
reached the ears of your majesty. Thus no 
longer able to endure such tyranny, the un- 
happy Irish have been constrained to with- 
draw themselves from your dominion, and to 
seek another to rule over them in your stead. 
If these things be founded in truth, they are 
in direct opposition to our regards and con- 
sideration for your felicity. Our advice 
is, therefore, that your majesty will not lose 
sight of this important matter, and that you 
will carry into speedy effect the commands 
of your Creator, in order to avoid that 
which must draw down the vengeance of 
God upon you. The groans and sorrows of 
the afflicted have been heard by the Omni- 
potent, who can, as the holy Scriptures attest, 
change and transfer kingdoms to others, as 
he has abandoned his chosen people in pun- 
ishment for the crimes they had committed. 
Our most ardent wish is, that your majesty 
omit nothing, particularly during these revo- 
lutions, to conciliate by your goodness the 
hearts of the faithful Irish, and avoid every 
thing that can tend to estrange them from 
you. As it is, therefore, important to your 
interest to obviate the misfortunes which 
these troubles are capable of producing, 
they should not be neglected in the begin- 
ning, lest the evil increase by degrees, and 
the necessary remedies be applied too late : 
and having considered the matter maturely, 
we herein exhort your majesty, that you 
remove the cause of these misfortunes, and 
arrest, by honorable measures, their cause 
and consequences, that you may render him 
from whom you hold your crown, propi- 
tious to your views and government ; and 
that by fulfilling the duties of lord and mas- 
ter, you may afford no subject for complaint ; 
by which means the Irish, guided by a wise 
administration, may obey you as lord of Ire- 
land ; or if they (which heaven forbid) con- 
tinue in rebellion, which they describe before 
God and man to be innocent, that rebellion 
maybe deemed unjust. In order, therefore, 
that your majesty may become acquainted 
with the grievances of the Irish people, we 
send to you, enclosed, the letters they have 



sent to the above-named cardinals, with a 
copy of the bull which our predecessor 
Adrian, of happy memory, hath sent to the 
illustrious Henry, king of England, con- 
cerning the act of conferring on him the 
kingdom of Ireland. Given," &c. 

Ireland at this time produced several 
learned men. Maurice Gibellan, a canon of 
the church of Tuam, who died in 1327, was 
celebrated as a philosopher, and a good poet. 

Adam Godham, a monk of the order of St. 
Francis, having taken the degree of doctor in 
theology, at Oxford, wrote commentaries on 
the four books of Sentences, which were 
printed in Paris in 1512 ; he wrote likewise 
a book of philosophical directions.* Bale 
makes mention of this author, but calls him 
Adam Wodeham, for which he cites the au- 
thority of John Major, who, notwithstanding, 
calls him Adam Godhamen. The following 
are his words : " At the same time flourished 
Adam Godhamen, who had heard Ockam at 
Oxford ; he was a man of modesty, and not 
inferior to Ockam in learning."! Bale is also 
in error, according to Ware, in saying he was 
an Englishman ; John Major, he says, calls 
him, in another place, Adam of Ireland. Ox- 
ford, says Major, formerly produced some 
celebrated philosophers and theologians ; 
namely, Alexander Hales, Richard Middle- 
ton, John Duns, the subtle doctor, Ockam, 
Adamof Ireland, Robert Holkot, &c. Lastly, 
Ware supposes that Godham is the same as 
Gregory de Rimini, so often quoted under 
the name of Adam the Doctor, or the doc- 
tor of Ireland, in his treatise written on the 
" Sentences," 1344. 

William Ockam, a Franciscan friar, and 
disciple of John Scot, is ranked among the 
celebrated men of this time ; he was gen- 
erally called the invincible, apostolic, and 
prince of Nominalists : he died at Munich, in 
Bavaria, and was interred among the Fran- 
ciscans. Volateran thinks that he was an 
Irishman.^ " Ireland," says he, " had also 
her saints, particularly the prelates Malachi, 
Cataldus, and Patrick, who converted her 
people to the Christian religion ; and also a 
prelate called William Ockams, the celebra- 
ted logician, a Minorite and cardinal of Ar- 
magh, under the pontificate of John XXII., 
who lived in 1353, and was highly esteemed 
for his learning and writings. "fy Philip 0'- 
Sullivan, who calls him O'Cahan, and a few 

* War. de Script. Hib. 

t Cent. 5, cap. 98. De gestis Scotor. lib. 4, 
cap. 11. 

t Commentar. Urban, lib. 3. 

§ Hist. Catbol. Hib. Corapend. torn. 1, lib. 4, 
cap. 8. 



I 'III.IHTIAN IRELAND. 



335 



others, agree with Volateran respecting the 
country of Ockam ; but Ware, convinced by 
the reasons assigned by Wadding, thinks 
otherwise.* 

David Obugey, a monk of the Carmelite 
order, of the convent of Kildare, was re- 
markable for his learning, first at Oxford and 
afterwards at Treves. Having been nomi- 
nated provincial of his order, he returned to 
Ireland, where, according to Bale, he held 
chapters at Atherdee and Dublin. f He was 
considered a great philosopher, an elegant 
orator, a profound theologian, and one of the 
most learned in the law of his time. He 
wrote discourses for the clergy, epistles to 
various persons, propositions discussed, lec- 
tures, and rules of law ; also a treatise against 
Gerard de Bononia, and Commentaries on 
the Bible. This learned man died at Kil- 
dare, advanced in years, where he was 
buried in the convent of his own order. 

Gilbert Urgale, so called from the place of 
his birth, lived in 13304 He belonged to 
the order of Carmelites, and was author of 
two large volumes, one of which was a Sum- 
mary of Law, and the other on Theology. 
The compiler of the Annals of Ross lived in 
1346, at which time he concludes with observ- 
ing, that O'Carrouil was killed this year,in 
the district of Eile, by the people of Ossory. 

Roger Outlaw, prior of Kilmainham, was 
appointed deputy of Ireland, a. d. 1330. All 
was tranquil during the summer, and the 
severity of winter prevented the renewal of 
hostilities, which, however, began in Lent, in 
Meath, between the Mac-Geoghegans and 
the English. § The latter, supported by the 
united forces of the earls of Ulster and Or- 
mond, defeated the former at Loghynerthy, 
and killed one hundred and ten of their 
men, with three young noblemen, sons of 
their leading chiefs. 

A parliament was held this year at Kil- 
kenny, at which Alexander, archbishop of 
Dublin, the earls of Ulster and Ormond, 
were present, besides other noblemen, the 
chief of whom were William Bermingham 
and Walter Burke, of Connaught. Each of 
these came attended by his troops, in order 
to attack O'Brien, and expel him from Ur- 
kiffe, near Cashel, where he. was posted. 
With their combined army they marched to- 
wards Limerick, and on their route, the 
Burkes pillaged the lands of the Fitzgeralds, 



* Annal. Minor, ad an. 1323, n. 15, ad an. 1347, 
n. 32. 

t Cent. 14, tit. 92. 

t Bale, Cent. 14, n. 92. 

§ Pembrig. ad an. 1330. 



which produced a quarrel between these 
two families, and obliged the lord-justice to 
have the earl of Ulster, and Maurice, lord 
of Desmond, arrested, and committed into 
the hands of the marshal, at Limerick. 
Maurice, however, found means to escape, 
and the earl of Ulster was liberated, after 
which they both went to England, and their 
troops were disbanded without having per- 
formed any thing, according to an anony- 
mous writer, quod nihil perfecerunt. 

The following year, 1331, the English de- 
feated the Irish of Leinster, on the 21st of 
April, in the district of Kinseallagh ; and in 
the month of May, O'Brien was routed at 
Thurles with considerable loss. About the 
same time David O'Toole advanced with his 
forces towards Tulagh, whichbelonged to the 
archbishop of Dublin, and thence carried off 
several herds of cattle, and killed Richard 
White, and many others by whom he was 
opposed. The intelligence of these depre- 
dations having reached Dublin, O'Toole was 
pursued by Sir Philip Britt, Maurice Fitz- 
gerald, a knight of the hospital of St. John 
of Jerusalem, Hamon Archdekin, John Ca- 
merar, Robert Tyrrell, the two sons of Regi- 
nald Barnewall, and several others, all of 
whom lost their lives in an ambuscade which 
was laid for them by O'Toole, at Culiagh. 
Encouraged by this success, the O'Tooles 
besieged and took the cattle of Arklow ; but 
these disturbances were partly quelled by 
William Bermingham, at the head of a 
large body of forces. 

In the month of June, Sir Anthony Lucy, 
a man highly esteemed in England, was sent 
to Ireland as lord-justice ; he was the bearer 
of letters from the king to the earl of Ulster 
and other noblemen, in which he ordered 
them to give him assistance whenever he 
would require it. He was attended by Hugh 
de Lacy, who had just received a general 
pardon. The new lord-justice intended to 
put down the disturbances in Ireland by a 
severe mode of government ; but the under- 
taking was too difficult for one man, and re- 
quired more time than he could give to it. 
His administration, however, was favored 
by a victory gained over the Irish at Finagh, 
in Meath. He summoned a parliament for 
the month of June, in Dublin ; but the meet- 
ing being thinly attended, it was adjourned to 
Kilkenny, where it was to be held on the 7th 
of July. The earl of Kildare, and the no- 
blemen who had been absent from the parlia- 
ment in Dublin, attended that of Kilkenny, 
in which they apologized for their former 
absence, and were pardoned their past of- 



336 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



fences, on taking an oath not to violate the 
peace for the futnre. 

The viceroy being informed in the month 
of August, that the Irish had pillaged and 
burned the castle of Ferns, conceived strong 
suspicions of the fidelityof some of the noble- 
men who had not appeared at the meeting 
in Kilkenny, and believing them to act in 
conjunction with the Irish, had some of them 
arrested. Henry Mandevil was taken in the 
month of September ; Maurice Fitzgerald, of 
Desmond, was arrested in Limerick, in the 
beginning of October, and brought to Dublin ; 
Walter Burke and his brother were taken in 
November ; and, lastly, William and Walter 
Bermingham were removed from Clonmel 
to Dublin in the month of February follow- 
ing, where William was tried ; and notwith- 
standing the important services he had ren- 
dered to his king and country, was condemned 
to death, and executed on the 11th of July 
Walter, his son, was pardoned, having taken 
holy orders. Maurice, of Desmond, remained 
for eighteen months in prison, when, 
giving security, he was permitted to go and 
plead his cause before the king of England 

In the month of July, 1332, the Irish de- 
stroyed the castle of Bunratty. On the other 
hand, the Englishretookthe castle of Arklow, 
and had it rebuilt. In Munster they defeated 
the O'Briens, Mac-Cartys, and their allies, 
and took from them the castle of Coolmore. 
The hostages which the English hadreceived 
from the Irish some time before, having been 
kept in Limerick and Nenagh, undertook to 
surprise these places, and succeeded in ma- 
king themselves masters of them ; but the 
English having assembled their forces, they 
were retaken. The hostages of Limerick 
were put to death, but those of Nenagh were 
spared. In the mean time the O'Tooles, of 
Leinster, took Newcastle, in the county of 
Wicklow, and reduced it to ashes. 

The affairs of Ireland were the chief object 
of the parliament which was at this time as- 
sembled in England ; they determined that 
the king should visit that country in person, 
and that, in the mean time, reinforcements 
should be sent thither. The several Englisb 
noblemen who possessed estates there, re- 
ceived orders to reside on them, in order to 
assist in defending it :* and those who were 
appointed to serve as lords-justices in Ire- 
land, were forbidden to frame any pretext 
for avoiding it. William Burke and other 

* We discover in this place, that the conquest of 
Ireland was not completed in the fourteenth cen- 
tury, since the English who had been enriched with 
the spoils of its inhabitants were obliged to reside 
in it, to defend their unjustly acquired properties. 



noblemen then received orders to go to Eng- 
land, and prepare for the king's voyage, 
which was deferred on account of the ad- 
vanced period of the season. The lord-jus- 
tice was recalled in November, and in Feb- 
ruary Sir John Darcy was sent in his place. 

The king being desirous that the new 
governor should support the dignity of his 
office, conferred on him the lordships of 
Louth and Ballyoganny, which had been 
confiscated when Simon, Count d'Eu, to 
whom they belonged, withdrew from the 
service of the king of England, and attached 
himself to the French monarch. 

In the beginning of Darcy's administration, 
the Berminghams carried off large booty from 
the O'Connors of Sligo, a. d. 1333. William 
Burke, earl of Ulster, was assassinated on the 
6th of June in this year by his servants, on 
the road to Carrickfergus. His countess, 
alarmed by this outrage, set sail for England 
with her only daughter, who was afterwards 
married to Lionel, duke of Clarence, the 
king's son, by whom she had an only daughter, 
who married Roger Mortimer, earl of March 
and lord of Trim, in Meath. This was the 
reason why the titles of earl of Ulster and 
lord of Connaught were annexed to the crown. 
There were, however, two noblemen of the 
name of Burke, apparently of the family of 
the earls of Ulster, who took possession of 
some of the estates, which they kept for a 
length of time, contrary to the spirit of the 
law, and gave origin to different branches of 
this noble family, which is still in being, in 
Connaught. To supply the want of a legal 
title, they sought support from the friend- 
ship of the ancient Irish ; joined in their 
leagues ; adopted their language, manners, 
and customs ; and even went so far as to 
change their name, by placing the article 
Mac before it, like the Irish. From them 
is derived the name of Mac- William, &c. 

The assassination of the earl of Ulster 
caused a great sensation in Ireland, a. d.1 334. 
The viceroy being determined to take revenge 
on the murderers, and having consulted with 
his parliament, set sail on the 1st of July for 
Carrickfergus, where he put them to the 
sword. This done, he committed the govern- 
ment to the care of Thomas Burke, treasurer 
of Ireland, during his absence, and crossed 
over with his army to Scotland, to the as- 
sistance of the king his master. 

Stephen Segrave, archbishop of Armagh, 
died this year, ( 1 335 .) He was succeeded by 
David O'Hiraghty, otherwise Mac-Oreghty, 
who was consecrated at Avignon, and put in 
possession of his see in the month of March 
following;. 



UIUISTIAN IRELAND. 



337 



In the parliament of England, held on the 
fifteenth of March, it was determined that the 
king's presence being necessary in France, 
his voyage to Ireland should be delayed for 
another year, and in the mean time that suc- 
cor should be sent thither. But it appears 
that the war with Scotland prevented either 
voyage being undertaken at the time ; and 
though the king was advised by both cham- 
bers to send assistance in men and money 
to Ireland, and they voted a sixth and fif- 
teenth as aids for the purpose, it appears 
that instead of this assistance, inconsiderable 
in amount, a commission was sent to treat 
with the rebels, in other words, the Irish. 

John Darcy, having signalized himself 
against the Scotch, returned to Ireland and 
resumed the government, which he had con- 
fided to the treasurer in his absence. The 
first use he made of his authority was to 
release Walter Bermingham from prison. 
About this time Simon Archdekin and several 
of his retinue were killed in Leinster by the 
Irish. Roche, lord of Fermoy, was fined two 
hundred marks of silver for having neglected 
to attend two parliaments to which he had 
been summoned ; but his son prevailed on the 
king to reduce the fine to ten pounds sterling. 

Maurice Fitzgerald was prevented at this 
time, by an accident, from going to England ; 
his leg being broken by a fall from his horse, 
which obliged him to defer his voyage, a. d. 
1335. As soon as he recovered he set sail 
for that country, where he was well received 
by the king, who created him earl of Des- 
mond, a. d. 1336. Sir John Darcy was suc- 
ceeded the year following, in his office of 
lord-justice, by Sir John Charleton. 

On the right bank of the river Suire, county 
Waterford, opposite the town of Carrick, in 
the county of Tipperary, a convent called 
Carrick Bee was founded at this time, for 
Franciscan friars, by James Butler, first earl 
of Ormond, who gave the ground and a house 
for the purpose.* Both Ware and Wadding 
agree that Clinnus was the first warden of it. 
There was a large enclosure, besides beauti- 
ful meadows, belonging to this convent, but 
on the suppression of the monasteries, the 
earls of Ormond took back their house, and 
all that depended on it. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Sir John Charleton, who was nomina- 
ted lord-justice of Ireland, a. d. 1337, was at- 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26, et Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Jrlande. 



ed in his voyage thither by his brother Thom- 
as, bishop of Hereford, as chancellor, and 
John Rice (Ap Rees) as treasurer, and was 
followed by two hundred soldiers. On his 
arrival he summoned a parliament to meet 
in Dublin. The archbishop of Armagh was 
preparing to attend this meeting, but he 
found some opposition from the archbishop 
of Dublin, who would not permit him to 
enter his diocese with the cross raised. 
The king having been informed of the dif- 
ference between the prelates, prohibited the 
archbishop and citizens of Dublin from in- 
terfering with the primate. 

Charleton was deprived by the king, in 

1338, of the office of lord-justice, at the in- 
stigation of his brother, the bishop of Here- 
ford, who succeeded him. This new gov- 
ernor sent to Munster for Sir Eustace Poer, 
and John his uncle, and on some suspicion, 
had them confined in the castle of Dublin. 
The winter was very severe this year in 
Ireland ; snow fell frequently ; the frost 
lasted from the 2d of December till the 10th 
of February, and so frozen was the river 
Liffey, that the people played, danced, and 
dressed their food upon the ice. 

The disturbances continued in Ireland, 
particularly in Munster, where the Irish often 
took up arms ; but they were defeated in the 
county of Kerry, with the loss of twelve 
hundred men, by the earl of Desmond, a. d. 

1339. He caused Nicholas Fitzmaurice, 
lord of Kerry, who was of English origin, to 
be arrested, and imprisoned till his death, for 
having taken part with the Irish against him 
and the king. The earl of Kildare was not 
more lenient to the inhabitants of Leinster ; 
he pursued the O'Dempseys of Clanmalire 
so closely that several of them were drowned 
in the river Barrow. The lord-justice, about 
the same time, at the head of some English 
troops, carried away an immense booty from 
the territory of Idrone, in the county of Car- 
low. This prelate was recalled to England 
in the month of April following, and gave up 
his dignity to Roger Outlaw, prior of Kil- 
mainham, who did not enjoy it long, having 
died in the month of February, a. d. 1340. 

The king of England now appointed Sir 
John Darcy lord-justice of Ireland, during 
his life, of which office he granted him let- 
ters patent. This nobleman being unable 
to go in person, sent Sir John Morris as 
deputy in his place ; but the Anglo-Irish, 
who had become wealthy, and invested with 
titles of honor, would not submit to an au- 
thority delegated to a simple knight, and re- 
fused to pay him the respect which was 
due to his station. In order to punish their 



338 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



tend pride, the court decreed by a public act, 
addressed to the lord-justice, that all the 
gifts of lands, liberties, lordships, or juris- 
dictions, which had been bestowed in Ire- 
land, either by the reigning king or his pre- 
decessor, should be revoked, 1341, and that 
the said lands and lordships should be seized 
in the king's name, in order that investiga- 
tion might be made into the causes and con- 
ditions of those donations, and the merit of 
the persons on whom they had been con- 
ferred. 

This decree against the new proprietors 
of land in Ireland, gave rise to that distinc- 
tion between an Englishman by birth and 
an Englishman by descent, which became 
so injurious to the interests of the English in 
Ireland. By it we discover the facility with 
which the kings of England bestowed the 
lands of the ancient Irish on their English 
subjects ; and the artful misrepresentations 
and treachery resorted to by the latter to ob- 
tain the property of their neighbors. The 
meanest English subject, who was employed 
either in the militia or the magistracy, by 
representing an Irishman possessed of land 
to be a rebel, or suspected of being such, 
was certain of being rewarded by the Eng- 
lish tribunal at the expense of a man who 
was denied the means of justice to vindicate 
himself ; conduct which naturally kept up 
hatred and animosity between the two peo- 
ple, and gave rise to the murders and san 
guinary conflicts which were so frequent. 

The decree alluded to having caused 
considerable disturbances among the Anglo 
Irish, a parliament was summoned to meet 
in Dublin, in the month of October, to allay 
them ; but the earl of Desmond, and other 
lords of his faction, instead of attending it, 
formed a league with the corporations of 
towns, and others who were dissatisfied ; 
and without consulting the government, 
convened a general assembly at Kilkenny, 
for the month of November, where they 
met in spite of the lord-justice, who did 
not dare to appear among them. This was 
an obvious contempt of the royal authority. 
The result of the assembly was to send de- 
puties to the king, with complaints couched 
in form of the three following questions : 
1st. How could a state torn by wars be gov- 
erned by a man who had no experience in 
military affairs ? 2d. How could an officer 
without a fortune, and the king's represen- 
tative, amass more wealth in one year, than 
those with extensive possessions could do 
in many ? 3d. As they were all called 
lords of their estates, how was it that their 
sovereign was not the richest among them 1 



The king immediately understood the pur- 
port of these interrogatories ; but as he was 
resolved not to restore the lands which had 
been seized, he tried other means to reform 
the abuses which prevailed, and to satisfy 
the people. He recalled several judges 
and other officers whose administration was 
disliked, particularly Elias de Ashbourne, 
whose property had been seized ; Thomas 
Montpellier, and Henry Baggot, judges in 
the court of common pleas. He sent orders 
to the deputy to ascertain the rank, services, 
pay, number, and conduct of his officers in 
Ireland. He abolished all respite and for- 
giveness of debts due to the crown, which 
were granted by his officers, and ordered 
that they should be recovered. John Dar- 
cy, the king's chief-justice, and the deputy, 
were commanded to admit no Englishman, 
who was not possessed of landed property 
in England, to any of the high offices of 
the state ; and all who were already in office, 
not possessing such qualifications, were or- 
dered to be dismissed. They were prohib- 
ited to sell or confiscate the crown-lands 
without royal permission, and a perfect 
knowledge of the circumstances under which 
such confiscations or sales took place. The 
king abolished likewise some privileges to 
which the treasurer of the exchequer laid 
claim ; as, for instance, a right to use and 
pay any sum under five pounds that he 
thought proper, without being responsible 
for it. He also ordered him to give an ac- 
count of the past expenditure, and never to 
make any payment for the future without 
the sanction of the lord-justice, the chancel- 
lor, and the council. He likewise took from 
that officer the nomination of county sheriffs, 
and conferred it on the head magistrates, 
who were enjoined to choose fit persons for 
that office. The king's money being often 
lost through the avarice of the treasurer, 
who was bribed to allow delay to parties in 
the payment of it, he was not suffered to 
receive the revenue, except in the public 
office. Lastly, the king sent for a list of the 
individuals whose estates had been seized, 
and in order to reward John Darcy the elder 
for his services, he received liberty to claim 
his property, which had been confiscated. 
The lord-justice, deputy, and chancellor, 
were all commissioned to examine into, and 
regulate the exchequer. All this, however, 
did not put a stop to the disturbances, and 
the king was at length obliged to restore 
the lands which had been seized. 

At this time, John Larche, prior of the 
hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, in Ire- 
land, and Thomas Wogan, were sent to the 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



339 



king, by the prelates, earls, barons, and 
other lords, with a list of the grievances 
under which they labored. In Pryn's ani- 
madversions we discover what these griev- 
ances were, and the king's answer. It is 
not known whether these deputies were sent 
by the parliament in Dublin, or the meeting 
of the malecontents in Kilkenny ; but it is 
certain that the lord-justice was recalled 
soon after their embassy. 

Sir Ralph Ufford was sent to Ireland in 
quality of lord-justice, in 1343. He mar- 
ried the countess-dowager of Ulster. It is 
affirmed, that on his arrival in the country, 
the most severe and inclement season suc- 
ceeded very fine weather, and that rain and 
storms were frequent during his administra- 
tion. He was considered more severe and 
cruel than any one who had preceded him 
in the government of Ireland. He appro- 
priated the goods of others to his own use, 
and plundered without distinction the cler- 
gy, the laity, the rich, and the poor, assign- 
ing the public welfare as a pretext. He 
tyrannized over the inhabitants of the coun- 
try, and no one found justice at his hands. 
Such is the character which Ufford bore, 
both among the new and the old Irish ; he 
was so universally abhorred, that on his en- 
tering Ulster, he was robbed in the open day, 
at Emerdullan, by Maccartan and his fol- 
lowers, who seized upon his equipages in 
presence of the people, none of whom in- 
terfered to defend him. 

In the parliament which had met at Not- 
tingham, in November, laws were enacted 
for the reformation of the Irish government, 
which are the same, says Cox, as are men- 
tioned in the seventeenth year of the reign 
of Edward II. They are to be met with in 
full in Pryn's remarks on the fourth insti- 
tute. 

The following year, 1345, the lord-justice 
convened a parliament in Dublin in the 
month of June. The earl of Desmond, who 
refused to appear at it, called a meeting 
himself at Callan ; but many of the noble 
men who had promised to attend, absented 
themselves by orders of the king. The lord- 
justice, exasperated at the earl's conduct, 
sent, of his own accord, the king's standard 
to Munster, where he seized on his estates, 
and gave them in custodiam to whoever 
would take them. He seized upon the cas 
ties of Iniskilly and He by a stratagem, in 
the month of October, and three knights 
who were in command of them were order 
ed to be hanged ; namely, Eustace Poer, 
William Grant, and John Cotterell ; quia 
multas graves, extraneas, et intolerabiles, leges 



exercuissent ;* because they introduced many 
strange and intolerable laws. 

The earl of Desmond, humbled by the 
manner in which he had been treated by the 
lord-justice, was forced to submit, by pro- 
curing the earls of Ulster and Ormond, with 
twenty-four knights, to become his security ;f 
but dreading the governor's severity, he did 
not think prudent himself to appear. This 
cost those who had become his bail dearly ; 
the lord-justice confiscated the estates of 
eighteen knights, and reduced them to beg- 
gary ; but the other six, with the earls of 
Ulster and Ormond, found means to get 
clear of this embarrassment. 

John O'Grada, archbishop of Cashel, died 
at this time ; he was first the rector of Ogus- 
sin, in the diocese of Killaloe, then treasurer 
of Cashel, when he was appointed by the 
dean and chapter to this see, whose choice 
was confirmed by the pope. He was a dis- 
creet and clever man, according to the an- 
nals of Nenagh : Vir magna discretionis 
et industrial. Having enriched his church 
considerably, he died at Limerick, after 
taking the Dominican habit, and was inter- 
red in the church of that order. He was 
succeeded in the see of Cashel by Radulphus 
O'Kelly. 

Ufford, having settled his affairs in Mun- 
ster, returned to Dublin, where he had left 
his wife. Not satisfied with making war 
against the nobles, he persecuted the clergy 
also, and took large sums of money from 
them ; some he imprisoned, and confiscated 
the property of others. He also had the 
earl of Kildare arrested for treason, who 
was detained in the castle of Dublin till the 
month of May following, when he was lib- 
erated by the successor of this magistrate. 

Sir John Ufford having tyrannically ruled 
over his countrymen in Ireland during two 
years, died unregretted in Dublin, on Palm 
Sunday, the 9th of April, 1346. The coun- 
tess, his wife, who had been received in Ire- 
land like an empress, and lived in it as a 
queen, was obliged to leave the castle through 
a back gate, to avoid the insults of her ene- 
mies, and the demands of her creditors. 

Sir Roger Darcy was appointed, with the 
good will of all, to fill the vacant office of 
lord-justice. He took the oath on the 10th 
of April, but on the 25th of the following 
month he resigned it in favor of Sir John 
Morris, who had been appointed by the 
court ; the disastrous news of the O'Morras 
•having burned the castles of Ley and Kil- 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 13. 
t Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 121. 



310 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



mehide having arrived some time before. 
The first act of the administration of Morris 
was to set the earl of Kildare at liberty, 
who had been state prisoner. During his 
government, which was of a short duration, 
a bloody battle took place between the Irish 
of Ulster and the English of Uriel, in which 
the latter were defeated, with the loss of 
three hundred men. 

David O'Hiraghty, or according to others, 
Mac-Oreghty, was consecrated archbishop 
of Armagh, at Avignon, in 1334.* He was 
summoned to attend the parliament held in 
Dublin, in 1337, by Sir John Charleton, who 
was then lord-justice ; but the old difference 
which still continued between the sees of 
Armagh and Dublin, respecting the primacy, 
prevented his appearing. According to the 
annals of Nenagh, he died on the 16th of 
May, 1346. Pembridge is incorrect in pla- 
cing his death in the year 1337, since he 
was succeeded in the see of Armagh, in 
1347, by Richard, son of Ralph. 

Sir Walter Bermingham succeeded John 
Morris in the government of Ireland, and 
took the usual oath in the month of June. 
He then obtained leave for the earl of Des- 
mond to go to England to defend his cause, 
where the king received him kindly, allowing 
him twenty shillings a day to defray his 
expenses while he remained at court. He 
pleaded his cause with warmth, and de- 
manded reparation for the injustice which 
Ufford had done to him. 

The lord-justice and the earl of Kildare 
having united their forces, pursued the 
O'Morras closely, and forced them to sur- 
render, and give hostages, a. d. 1347. 
Through gratitude for the kindness his 
relative, the earl of Desmond, had met with 
in England, the earl of Kildare set out for 
Calais, which Edward was then besieging, 
where the king, as a reward for his services, 
conferred on him the honor of knighthood. 
The lord-justice having been obliged to go to 
England on some business about this time, 
appointed John Archer, prior of Kilmain- 
ham, deputy during his absence. The same 
year, Donald Oge Mac-Morrough, the heir 
of the ancient royal house of Leinster, was 
assassinated by his vassals, and the town 
of Nenagh was burned by the Irish. 

Christopher Pembridge, a native of Dub- 
lin, flourished at this period. He was au- 
thor of the greater part of the Irish annals, 
published by Camden in 1607, at the end of 
his Britannia, and which ended with 1347. 

On Sir Walter Bermingham's return to 

* War. de Archiep. Armach. 



Ireland, where he resumed the reins of 
government, a. d. 1348, the king rewarded 
him with the estate of Kenlis, in Ossory, 
which had belonged to Sir Eustace Poer, 
one of those whom Ufford had put to death 
for his attachment to the interests of the 
earl of Desmond. Usurpation, tyranny, and 
civil wars were not the only afflictions with 
which Ireland was visited. The climate, 
which, according to Cambrensis, was so 
temperate and healthy in the twelfth centu- 
ry that physicians were hardly needed,* be- 
came totally changed, and the provinces 
were desolated by a general plague. 

The house of commons of England pre- 
sented a petition to the king, praying him 
to appoint commissioners to examine into 
the causes why his majesty derived so small 
a revenue from Ireland, while his power in 
that country was more extended than that 
of any of his predecessors had been ; and 
to inquire into the conduct of the officers 
employed there, in order to punish or change 
them, in case of misdemeanor or bad gov- 
ernment on their part. It was also requested 
in the prayer of the petition, to establish a 
rule respecting the succession of the earl of 
Ulster, in order to prevent the collateral 
heirs of that nobleman, some of whom were 
but little attached to his majesty's interests, 
from aspiring to it, in case the duchess of 
Clarence, his daughter-in-law, should die 
without issue. 

The troubles in Ireland began now to 
subside. The favorable reception which 
the earls of Desmond and Kildare had met 
with in England and France, and the hopes 
of seeing the lands restored which had been 
seized upon for the king's use, were happy 
omens of peace and general tranquillity be- 
tween the king and his Irish subjects, so that 
this period presents nothing interesting, ex- 
cept the change of governors. 

Malachi Mac-Aed, archbishop of Tuam, 
died about this time. He was canon when 
raised to the see of Elphin, in 1,309, by a 
bull from the pope. Being elected shortly 
afterwards by the canons of Tuam to be 
archbishop of their see, his appointment was 
confirmed, in the beginning of 1313, by the 
sovereign pontiff. Malachi was a man of 
deep erudition ; he is thought to have been 
the author of a large volume, written in the 
Irish language, which was still extant in 
Ware's time, under the title of Leavas Mac- 
Aed, and which, among other things, con- 
tained a list of the kings of Ireland from 
Niall Noygiollach to Roderick O'Connor. 

* Topograph. Hib. distinct, cap. 25. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



341 



He also wrote the prophecy of St. Jarlath 
respecting his successors in the see of Tuam. 
This prelate renewed his claim to the see of 
Enaghdune, which had heen separated from 
Tuam twenty years before, though it had 
been previously united to that arch-diocese. 
Malachi died at an advanced age, on St. 
Laurence's day. He was interred in the 
cathedral church of Our Lady of Tuam, and 
was succeeded by Thomas O'Carrol. 

On the death of John Lech, archbishop 
of Dublin, the old disputes were renewed 
about the election of a prelate. The suf- 
frages were divided between Walter Thorn- 
bury, chorister of the church of St. Patrick, 
and chancellor of Ireland, and Alexander 
Bicknor, prebendary of Maynooth, and trea- 
surer of Ireland. Walter, in order to secure 
the pope's approbation, who was then in 
France, set sail for that country, and perished 
the night following in the waves, with a hun- 
dred and fifty-six others, who were in the 
same vessel. Bicknor having no longer a 
rival, and all the votes being united in his 
favor, set out for Lyons, where he was ap- 
pointed by Pope Clement V., of his own 
authority, without any reference to the elec- 
tion. He was afterwards consecrated at 
Avignon, by cardinal Ostium. The bulls 
confirming his election were read and pub- 
lished on the feast of the purification, in 
Christ's cathedral. This prelate, who was 
afterwards nominated lord-justice of Ireland, 
repaired to Dublin in the month of October, 
1318, where he was received with loud ac- 
clamations by the clergy and people, and 
installed in the archiepiscopal see. He 
founded a college two years afterwards, near 
St. Patrick's church, with the sanction of 
Pope John XXII. The undertaking was 
worthy of a great prelate, but the funds 
being insufficient, the establishment could 
not be supported. The statutes of this col- 
lege are quoted by Ware, in his 15th chap- 
ter on the Antiquities of Ireland. This 
prelate was sent by the English parliament, 
with Edmond de Woodstock, earl of Kent, 
brother to King Edward, as ambassador to 
the court of France, where his success was 
but moderate. He had warm debates with 
Richard, archbishop of Armagh, respecting 
the pre-eminence of the two sees. He held 
a synod, the rules of which are in the white 
book of the church of Ossory. A country- 
house was built by him at Taulaght, for him- 
self and his successors in the see of Dublin. 
This prelate, who equalled any of his pre- 
decessors in prudence and learning, having 
filled the see for nearly thirty-two years, died 
in the month of July, 1 349. He was interred 



in St. Patrick's church, and was succeeded 
in the archbishopric by John de St. Paul. 

Some religious houses were founded in 
this century, but the years of their founda- 
tion is not known.* At Balli-ne-Gall, in the 
county of Limerick, there was a convent 
established for Dominicans, according to 
Ware, by the Roches, but attributed by 
Allemand to the Clan- Gibbons. t There was 
another of the same order founded in the 
town of Galway, and one at Clonshanvil, in 
the county of Roscommon, by M'Dermot, 
lord of the country. 

The Franciscans of the third order had 
two houses in the county of Sligo,| one at 
Ballimot, the other at Court, both founded 
about the same time, by the M'Donoghs 
and the O'Haras, Irish lords of that coun- 
try. 

In this century also two convents were es- 
tablished for Carmelites ; one at little Hore- 
ton, in the county of Wexford, by the Fur- 
longs ; the other at Crevabane, in the county 
Galway, by the Burkes of Clanriccard. 
There was also a house of this order at 
Cluncurry, in the county of Kildare, founded 
in 1347, by the Roches. Two houses were 
also founded for Augustin nuns ; one at 
Killeigh, in the district of Geashill, by the 
Warrens ; the other at Moylag, in the county 
of Tipperary, by the Butlers of the house of 
Ormond. 

At Quinchi, in the county of Clare, there 
was a convent for Franciscan friars, founded 
by the M'Nemaras, lords of Clancully, or 
Claiicullane. Speed calls this place Quint, 
or Kint : according to Wadding, it is called 
Coinhe ; and Coinche by father Castet. It 
might, perhaps, with more propriety, be 
called Inchequin:^ there are various opinions 
respecting the time of its foundation ; Wad- 
ding places it in 1350. The tombs of the 
founders are to be seen in the church of this 
convent. Pope Eugene IV. allowed Mac- 
Con-More M'Nemara, who was chief of that 
noble family in 1433, to establish Observan- 
tine Franciscans in this convent. Wadding 
observes that it was the first of the Fran- 
ciscan order in Ireland, which received that 
particular rule. Allemand wrongs the pope, 
in saying that he gave the title of duke of 
Clancully to M'Nemara in his bull. He had, 
in fact, no thought of creating titles of dig- 
nity in Ireland ; the word dux, or duke, 



* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. 
t Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, p. 220. 
t War. de Antiq. ibid. 

§ War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 15. Allem. Hist. Mo- 
nast. d'Irlande. 



342 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



which he makes use of, signifying nothing 
more than chief or lord of Clancully.* 

Baron Carew succeeded Sir Walter Ber- 
mingham in the office of lord-justice of Ire- 
land. He was succeeded, after some time, 
by Sir Thomas Rokesby, who was invested 
with that authority in the month of Decem- 
ber, 1349 ; but being obliged to return to 
England after a year, he appointed Maurice 
de Rochford, bishop of Limerick, his deputy 
during his absence. Rokesby returned in a 
short time to Ireland, having obtained the 
king's permission to add to his usual guard 
of twenty horsemen, ten men-at-arms, and 
twenty archers, a. d. 1353. 

John Clynn, a Franciscan friar of the house 
belonging to their order at Kilkenny, and 
first warden of the Franciscans, at Carrick, 
wrote annals from the Christian era to 1 3 1 3 .f 
He continued them afterwards with consid- 
erable additions, to the year 1349, which 
was probably the time of his death. He 
also wrote annals of the kings of England, 
from Hengist to Edward III. ; likewise of 
the wardens of his order in Ireland and Eng- 
land, and a list of the bishoprics of the three 
kingdoms. His works were still extant in 
Ware's time, in the Franciscan convent at 
Kilkenny. Sir James Lee, chief-justice of 
the king's bench, afterwards treasurer of 
England, and earl of Marlborough, had the 
annals of Clynn, and other writings on the 
affairs of Ireland, transcribed, and given to 
Henry, earl of Bath, who undertook to have 
them printed. 

At this time, Robert Savage, a rich and 
powerful man in Ulster, declared war against 
the ancient proprietors of the lands he had 
usurped, and put many of them to the sword 
in the county of Antrim. 

Rokesby resigned his office of lord-justice 
in the month of July, 1355, and was suc- 
ceeded by Maurice Fitzgerald, earl of Des 
mond. This nobleman was now in so great 
favor at court, that the office was conferred 
on him for life. He was respected for his 
equity and love of justice, for which he was 

* The noble tribe of the M'Nemaras, of Thuo- 
mond, are descended from Oilioll Olum, king of 
Mimster in the second century, by his son Cormac 
Cas ; they owned a considerable territory in the 
baronies of Tulla and Bunratty, in the county of 
Clare for many ages. Gratianus Lucius, after the 
ancient poem of O'Douvegan, calls them Muighag 
hair. This tribe has been distinguished for thei: 
virtue and beneficence. In our time it has given 
birth to a man of great celebrity, viz., John M'Ne 
mara, who died in 1747, vice-admiral in the service 
of France, of the grand military order of St. Louis 
and governor of the port of Roehefort. 

t War de Script. Hib. 



so remarkable, that he did not spare even 
his own relatives, when guilty of anyoffence. 
The barons of the exchequer were reduced 
in his time to three. John de Pembrook, 
chancellor, was appointed third baron. The 
earl of Desmond having died on the 25th of 
January following, Sir Thomas Rokesby 
returned to Ireland as lord-justice. This 
magistrate convened a parliament at Kil- 
kenny, in which laws were enacted relative 
to the government of the state. The court 
sent orders to him, and to the chancellor of 
Ireland, to have the difficulties removed 
which some of the king's subjects met with 
in the recovery of their lands, which had 
been seized in his majesty's name. Rokesby 
died shortly afterwards at Kilkea, and was 
succeeded in the government of Ireland by 
Almaric de Saint Amand. 

About this time a house was founded for 
Carmelites at Ballinahinch, in the county of 
Galway, by the O'Flahertys, Irish lords of 
that country ; and another of the same order 
at Ballinsmale, in the county of Mayo, by 
the family of the Prendergasts.* There was 
also a house founded the same year for 
Dominicans in the town of Naas, county 
Kildare, by the Fitz-Eustaces. 

A warm debate arose between Richard, 
archbishop of Armagh, and the mendicant 
friars, a. d. 1357, concerning some animad- 
versions which that prelate made upon them 
in the sermons which he preached in Lon- 
don.! The superior of the minor brothers 
of Armagh, seconded by many of his own, 
and the Dominican order, had him summoned 
to Avignon, whither he repaired without 
delay ; but after spending three years at the 
court of the sovereign pontiff, he died with- 
out bringing his affairs to a conclusion. 

The king of England gave the lord-justice 
of Ireland a new proof of the confidence he 
reposed in him ; namely, the privilege, with 
the approval of the chancellor and treasurer, 
to pardon all the English and Irish whom he 
might consider worthy of it, for every crime 
except that of high treason. He, however, 
soon afterwards resigned his office, and was 
succeeded by the earl of Ormond. 

James Butler, commonly called the noble 
earl, from his being descended, by the female 
line, from Edward I., was intrusted with the 
government of Ireland, a. r>. 1359. In his 
time the king of England published an act 
prohibiting any of the old Irish from being 
admitted to hold the offices of mayor, bailiff, 
or any situation in a city within the English 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irl. page 337. 

t War. de Arctiiepisc. Ardmachan. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



343 



province ; and also from being appointed 
to any ecclesiastical dignity. The year fol- 
lowing, however, he mitigated this act in 
favor of some Irish prelates who had been 
attached to him. 

The earl of Ormond having been recall- 
ed, under some pretext, to England, Maurice 
Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, was appointed 
lord-justice during his absence, a. d. 1360, 
by a patent under the great seal of Ireland, 
with the usual salary of five hundred pounds 
sterling a year, on condition of supporting 
nineteen men-at-arms for his guard, and pro- 
tecting the English colony, with the castles 
and lands belonging to it. His government 
was of short duration, as he resigned it to 
the earl of Ormond on his return to Ireland. 

Richard, son of Ralph, a native of Dun- 
dalk, and archbishop of Armagh, died at 
this time at Avignon. Having taken the de- 
gree of doctor of theology in the university 
of Oxford, «f which he was chancellor in 
1333, he was appointed dean of Lichfield, 
and in 1 347, consecrated archbishop of Ar- 
magh, at Oxford, having been named to that 
see by Clement VI. Raphael Volateran, in 
his commentaries, calls him cardinal of Ar- 
magh ; but Alphonso Ciaconius and Onu- 
phrius Panvinius make no mention of him 
in their list of cardinals. This prelate was 
a learned theologian, and an able preacher. 
Ware mentions his having a collection, in 
manuscript, of sermons preached by him at 
Lichfield, London, and other places in Eng- 
land ; at Drogheda, Dundalk, Trim, and else 
where in the county of Armagh ; and also 
at Avignon, where he delivered a discourse 
in favor of bishops and parish priests, in 
presence of the pope, at a consistory held 
on the 5th of July, 1350. In the sermons 
which he preached in London, he drew the 
following inferences, for which he was sum- 
moned to Avignon : 1st, that our Lord Jesus 
Christ, as a man, was very poor, not that 
he loved poverty for itself ; 2d, that our 
Lord had never begged ; 3d, that he never 
taught men to beg ; 4th, that, on the contra- 
ry, he taught men not to beg ; 5th, that man 
cannot, with prudence and holiness, confine 
himself by vow to a life of constant mendi- 
city ; 6th, that minor brothers are not obliged 
by their rule to beg ; 7th, that the bull of 
Alexander IV., which condemns the Book 
of Masters, does not invalidate any of the 
aforesaid conclusions ; 8th, that by those 
who, wishing to confess, exclude certain 
churches, their parish one should be prefer- 
red to the oratories of monks ; and 9th, that, 
for auricular confession, the diocesan bishop 
should be chosen in preference to friars. 



Other works are ascribed also to this pre- 
late ; namely, a treatise on the questions of 
the Armenians respecting the four books of 
Sentences," and the Gospels ; one on the 
poverty of Jesus Christ ; one on the motives 
of the Jews ; a defence of parish priests ; 
answers to the objections made against the 
privileges given to mendicant brothers ; in- 
structions for judges, on the declaration to 
be made concerning the Extravagantes of 
Pope John XXII., beginning with the words: 
Vas electionis : a dissertation on mendicants 
in good health, in which it is questioned if 
they be entitled to relief ; a dialogue on sub- 
jects connected with the holy Scriptures, and 
a manuscript which is in Lincoln college, at 
Oxford. He is said to have written likewise 
the life of the abbot of St. Munchin, who liv- 
ed in 640 ; praises of the blessed Virgin ; the 
spiritual virtue of the passion of our Lord, 
&c. The body of this prelate was removed 
from Avignon to Dundalk in 1370, by Ste- 
phen de Valle, bishop of Meath ; and the 
great number of miracles attributed to him, 
induced Pope Boniface IX. to commit the 
examination of the body to John Colton, one 
of his successors in the see of Armagh, and 
Richard Young, the intended bishop of Ban- 
gor ; but this inquiry was brought to no con- 
clusion. The see of Armagh was filled, after 
the death of Richard, by Milo Sweetman. 

Some other writers flourished about the 
same time. Hugh of Ireland, belonging to 
the order of minor brothers, wrote his travels 
in different countries. Wadding believes that 
he was the same person as Hugh Bernard, 
a provincial of the minorites in Ireland. 

William, of Drogheda, so called from the 
place of his birth, lived at this period. He 
was educated at Oxford, where he became 
eminent for his knowledge of law, as well 
as of arithmetic and geometry, and was pub- 
lic professor of law in that university. He 
is said to have been author of a book called 
the Golden Summary, which is in the college 
of Caius and Gonville, at Cambridge ; and 
of a treatise on secrecy. Doctor Thomas 
James, in his catalogue of manuscripts at 
Oxford and Cambridge, places him among 
the number of writers on civil law. 

Geoffry O'Hogan, of the order of the 
minor brothers at Nenagh, in the county of 
Tipperary, wrote the annals of his time, 
from 1336 to 1370, which are to be met 
with in manuscript. 

The king of England wishing to send his 
son Lionel to Ireland, as his lieutenant, with 
forces sufficient to subdue that country, in 
order to render the expedition more brilliant, 
and the undertaking more successful, sum- 



344 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



moned the duchess of Norfolk, and all the 
English nobles who possessed estates in Ire- 
land, to appear before him and his council, 
in order to make arrangements for its defence. 
At this assembly they were enjoined to repair 
to Ireland without delay, with all the men 
they could collect capable of bearing arms, 
and assist his son. The king at the same 
time published a proclamation against the 
exportation of corn and other provisions from 
Ireland, under pain of confiscation. Lastly, 
he gave orders to confiscate all the lands 
which his officers had purchased there with- 
out his permission, and contrary to the de- 
cree of Edward II. 

Every thing being prepared for the expe- 
dition of Lionel, who was earl of Ulster and 
lord of Connaught, in virtue of his marriage 
with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of 
William de Burgo, this prince set sail for 
Ireland, a. d. 1361 ; and accompanied by 
his countess, landed in Dublin on the 15th 
of September, attended by fifteen hundred 
men, intending to complete the conquest of 
the kingdom. The arrangement made in this 
expedition respecting the command, and the 
levying and payment of the troops, will ap- 
pear curious and interesting ; as by it is 
shown the difference that prevailed between 
the mode of keeping up troops at that period 
and the present. The chiefs who command- 
ed under Prince Lionel, were Ralph, earl of 
Stafford, James, earl of Ormond, John Ca- 
rew, a knight Banneret, Sir William Win- 
sore, and a few others.* The pay of the 
prince was at first but six shillings and eight 
pence a day ; that of the five knights by 
whom he was attended, two shillings each ; 
of sixty-four squires, twelve pence a day 
each ; and of seventy archers, six pence a 
day each. Prince Lionel was created duke 
of Clarence soon afterwards, and the number 
of his attendants was increased ; his salary 
was then raised to thirteen shillings a day ; 
he had eighteen knights at two shillings, and 
three hundred and eighty archers, viz. ; three 
hundred and sixty horsemen at sixpence, and 
twenty-three infantry at two pence a day each. 

The pay of the earl of Stafford was six 
shillings and eight pence a day ; one Ban- 
neret, four shillings ; of seventeen knights, 
two shillings each ; of seventy-eight squires, 
twelve pence ; a hundred horse-archers, six 
pence each. Stafford had also the command 
of seventy archers from different provinces 
in England at four pence a day. 

The earl of Ormond had four shillings a 
day ; two knights who commanded under 

* Davis, Hist. Relat. 



him, two shillings each ; twenty-seven 
squires, twelve pence each ; twenty knights, 
called hoblers, from the hobbies or light 
horses which they rode, six pence ; and 
twenty unarmed hoblers, four pence a day. 

The pay of Sir John Carew was four 
shillings a day ; that of a knight who at- 
tended him, two shillings ; eight squires 
had twelve pence ; and ten horse-archers, 
six pence a day each. 

Sir William Winsore had two shillings a 
day, two other knights, two shillings each ; 
forty-nine squires, twelve pence ; and six 
horse-archers, six pence a day. 

The other knights and lords in this expe- 
dition, were paid in proportion to their rank 
and the number of men they furnished. The 
kings, at that period, levied no troops by 
commission as they- at present do ; but the 
lords severally undertook to raise a stipulated 
number for the service of the prince, accord- 
ing to their authority among the» people, for 
a stated sum of money. Good policy after- 
wards removed this abuse, which, by making 
the nobles too popular, enabled them to levy 
forces against their sovereigns. 

The preparations made by Prince Lionel 
were not attended with much success ; he 
revived the distinctions between Englishmen 
by descent and Englishmen by birth ; repo- 
sed all his confidence in the latter, with whom 
he thought himself equal to any enterprise, 
and refused the services of the former ; even 
forbidding them to approach his camp. He 
marched against the O'Briens, but was de- 
feated, with the loss of a hundred men. This 
check made him feel the want of the Anglo- 
Irish, who were better acquainted with the 
country, and the dispositions of the inhabit- 
ants, than the new recruits he had brought 
from England ; and he accordingly published 
an edict, in which the Englishmen by descent 
were enjoined to enlist under his banners, by 
which means he was enabled to continue the 
campaign. He confirmed the union of par- 
ties by conferring the honor of knighthood on 
several of the old and new English, the prin- 
cipal of whom were Robert Preston, Robert 
Holywood, Thomas Talbot, Walter Cusack, 
James de la Hyde, John Frene, Patrick and 
Robert Fresne, and several others. 

Lionel removed the exchequer from Dub- 
lin to Carlow, and gave five hundred pounds 
to have that town surrounded with walls. 
He made himself master of the maritime 
coasts of his country in Ulster, and kept so 
strict a discipline among his troops that they 
were no longer a burden to the people as 
before. All those distinguished acts influ- 
enced the clergy and Anglo-Irish lords to 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



345 



grant him two years value of their revenues 
to support the war ; but after his ostentatious 
campaigns, he returned to England in the 
month of April, without effecting the con- 
quest of Ireland, or extending the limits of 
the English province. 

At this period, a second plague visited 
Ireland, and the mortality was great, partic- 
ularly among the men. About this time, too. 
Radulphus, or Ralph O'Kelly, archbishop of 
Cashel, died. This prelate, who was a native 
of Drogheda, was educated by the Carmelites 
in Kildare, where he took the habit of their 
order. In 1336 he distinguished himself as 
an orator, was appointed attorney-general 
under Peter de Casa; in 1345 he was raised 
to the archbishopric of Cashel by Pope Cle- 
ment VI. After laboring to secure peace 
to his church, he died at Cashel in 1361, in 
the month of November, and was interred in 
the church of St. Patrick. He wrote a book 
of canon law, some epistles on friendship 
and other works which have been lost. An- 
f hony Possevinus makes mention, in his Sa- 
cred Compendium, of this learned prelate, 
but calls him Kullei, and adds that he was 
an Englishman ; but he is mistaken with 
regard to both his name and country. He 
was succeeded by George Roche, who lived 
only a short time, having been drowned on 
his return from Rome. His successor was 
Thomas O'Carrol. 

At this time died also John de St. Paul, 
archbishop of Dublin. He had been a canon 
of that city, and was promoted to the arch- 
bishopric in the month of September, 1349, 
by the pope. This prelate added greatly to 
the size of the. church of the Holy Trinity, 
and built, at his own expense, the episcopal 
palace. Some serious disputes occurred be- 
tween him and Richard, the learned prelate 
of Armagh, about the primacy. These differ- 
ences continued for a long time between the 
two sees, but were at length terminated by 
the college of cardinals, under Innocent VI. 
It was decided by this august tribunal, that 
each should take the title of primate ; that 
the archbishop of Armagh should be styled 
primate of all Ireland, and the archbishop of 
Dublin primate of Ireland, like the archbish- 
ops of Canterbury and York, the former of 
whom signs himself primate of all England, 
and the latter primate of England. The 
archbishop of Dublin was nominated chan- 
cellor of Ireland, by king Edward III. ; and 
having governed the church of Dublin for 
thirteenyears, he diedthe ninth of September, 
and was interred in the church of the Holy 
Trinity. He was succeeded by Thomas 
Minot. 



The vengeance of heaven seems to have 
visited Ireland at this period, from the plagues, 
hurricanes, and fires which took place. A 
third mortality was severely felt, and car- 
ried away numbers ; the storms too were so 
frequent and violent, that the strongest trees 
were torn up by the roots ; steeples, chim- 
neys, and houses were thrown down ; fires 
occurred frequently, by which many houses 
were reduced to ashes, and the beautiful 
church of St. Patrick, in Dublin, was totally 
consumed. 

The earl of Ormond was appointed deputy, 
in the absence of the duke of Clarence, a. d. 
1364. This nobleman obtained permission 
from the court to purchase lands to the value 
of sixty pounds sterling a year, notwith- 
standing the law or statute which prohibited 
the king's officers from purchasing land 
within the extent, of their jurisdiction. 

The archiepiscopal see of Tuam having 
become vacant in 1348, by the death of Ma- 
lachy Mac-Aodh, the canons nominated Ro- 
bert Bermingham as archbishop ; but his 
election was rejected by the pope, who ap- 
pointed Thomas O'Carrol, archdeacon of 
Cashel, (of the noble family of the O'Carrols 
of Eile,) who was consecrated at Avignon. 
The town of Tuam was plundered and burned 
during his administration, by one Charles or 
Cahal Oge, in concert with the son of Wil- 
liam de Burgo. This prelate was removed 
by the pope in 1 364, to the see of Cashel, and 
was succeeded at Tuam by John O'Grada. 

The duke of Clarence returned to Ireland 
in 1365, where he continued but for a short 
time ; remaining only to appoint Sir Thomas 
Dale his deputy, which done he went back to 
England. Serious disturbances broke out 
under the new governor, between the Ber- 
minghams of Carbry, county Kildare, and 
the English of Meath, who laid waste, in 
turn, each other's lands. Sir Robert Preston, 
first baron of the exchequer, who had married 
the heiress of Sir William Bermingham, was 
obliged to place a strong garrison in the 
castle of Carbry, to protect his estates. 

Lionel, duke of Clarence, returned a third 
time to Ireland. He convened a parliament 
at Kilkenny, in which a celebrated law, fre- 
quently quoted under the name of the Sta- 
tute of Kilkenny, was enacted. This law had 
no reference to the ancient Irish, who were 
not admitted as yet under the protection of 
the English laws, though they had frequently 
sought to obtain it : but were obliged to 
follow their own ancient laws till the reign 
of James I. The object of the act was a 
reformation in the manners and customs of 
the descendants of the first English, who had 



346 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



settled in Ireland since the twelfth century, 
and were called by their countrymen, the. 
degenerate English. In fact they considered 
themselves, with justice, as true Irish : they 
possessed property in the country ; and their 
interests had become different from those of 
the English by birth. They began to hold 
intercourse with the ancient inhabitants, 
whose manners, customs, and style of dress, 
they adopted ; and many of them placed the 
article Mac before their names, in conformity 
with the custom of the Irish. Some branches 
of the Burkes, of Connaught,suppressedtheir 
real names, and called themselves Mac-Wil- 
liam, Mac-Hubbard, Mac-David. The Ber- 
minghams took the name of Mac-Yoris ; 
Dexecester, that of Mac-Jordan ; Nangle, or 
de Angnlo, that of Mac-Costelloe. Like 
changes took place among some branches of 
the Fitzgeralds in Munster. The chief of the 
house of Lixnaw was called Mac-Maurice ; 
another was known by the name of Mac- 
Gibbon. These are at present called Fitzmau- 
rice and Fitzgibbon, the articles Mac and 
Fitz being of the same signification, namely, 
son of such a one. The Butlers, of Dunboyne, 
took the name of Mac-Pheris ; the Condons, 
of Waterford, were called Mac-Maioge ; and 
in the same way, many others. It appears 
that the new colonies, which were sent under 
different reigns from England to Ireland, 
were always careful to sow discord between 
the new and old Irish, who lived in perfect 
harmony with each other. This became a 
source of uneasiness to the English, and gave 
rise to the celebrated statute of Kilkenny, 
above alluded to, which is still preserved in 
French in the library of Lambeth, in Eng- 
land. By this law, the English by descent 
who had settled in Ireland, were prohibited 
under the penalties of high treason, to have 
any intercourse with the ancient Irish, to 
form alliances with them by marriage, to 
speak their language, to imitate their mode 
of dress, to adopt their names, to confer 
livings on them, or admit them into monas- 
teries or religious houses, &c* This law was 
revived afterwards, and confirmed in a parlia- 
ment held at Drogheda, under Henry VII. 
The duke of Clarence having terminated 
to his satisfaction the parliament of Kilkenny, 
returned to England, a. d. 1317, and Gerard 
Fitzmaurice, earl of Desmond, was appointed 
lord-justice of Ireland. This nobleman, 



* This act is in direct opposition to their pre- 
tended reformation of morals, of which the English 
hoasted, and which had been made a pretext for 
their usurpation. It was by frequent intercourse only 
that such reformation could have been effected. 



whose office obliged him to watch over the 
public peace, and maintain tranquillity among 
the king's subjects, commissioned Thomas 
Burley, prior of Kilmainham and chancellor 
of Ireland, John Reicher, sheriff of Meath, 
Robert Tyrrel, baron of Castleknock, and a 
few others, to make peace between the Ber- 
minghams of Carbry, and the English of 
Meath, who had been at war for some time. 
This negotiation did not, however, take 
place ; the commissioners being arrested, 
contrary to the rights of war, by the Ber- 
minghams, who found means thereby to pro- 
cure the liberty of James Bermingham,thena 
prisoner at Trim, by exchanging him for the 
chancellor. The others were obliged to pur- 
chase their liberty. About this time the duke 
of Clarence died at Pavia, in Piedmont, from 
whence his body was brought to England, and 
interred in the Augustin convent at Clare. 

Sir William de Windsor arrived in Ireland 
in the month of July, 1369, as lord-justice. 
He convened a parliament at Kilkenny, 
which granted him a subsidy of three thou- 
sand pounds sterling, for the necessities of 
the state. He held a second shortly after- 
wards at Ballydoil, by which two thousand 
pounds were ordered to be raised in order to 
carry on the war. The payment of these 
sums was suspended for a while, by com- 
mand of the king. They were subsequently 
raised, however, and placed at the disposal 
of the lord-justice. Ireland was visited at 
this time by a fourth plague, which carried 
off several persons of all ranks. 

The lord-justice carried on the war vigor- 
ously against the O'Tools and other inhab- 
itants of Leinster. The English in Munster 
were,however, defeated at the same time, near 
the monastery of Nenay, in the county of 
Limerick, by theO'Briens and Mac-Nemaras 
of Thuomond. The earl of Desmond, John 
Fitznicolas, lord of Kerry, Thomas Fitzjohn, 
and several other noblemen were made pris- 
oners in this engagement, and a considerable 
number slain. This reverse of fortune among 
the English created a change in the opera- 
tions of the lord-justice ; he collected his 
scattered forces, gave up his enterprises in 
Leinster, flew to the aid of his countrymen in 
Munster, and obliged M'Nemara, a powerful 
lord in Thuomond, to submit to him and give 
hostages. This viceroy was afterwards re- 
called to England ; he left Maurice Fitz- 
gerald in his stead as governor of Ireland, 
who, on his appointment, took the usual 
oath, a. d. 1371. 

After the translation of Thomas O'Carrol, 
John O'Grada, archdeacon of Cashel, was 
appointed to the archbishopric of Tuam in 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



347 



his place, and consecrated the same year at 
Avignon.* This prelate, who was respected 
for his liberality and other good qualities, 
died at Limerick on the 19th of September, 
1371, and was succeeded by Gregory, bish- 
op of Elphin. 

Sir Robert de Ashton was nominated 
lord-justice of Ireland, a. d. 1372. A de- 
structive war broke out about this time, be- 
tween the O'Ferralls of Longford, and the 
English of Meath, in which many lives 
were lost on both sides.f John Hussy, 
baron of Galtrim, John Fitzrichard, sheriff 
of Meath, and William Dalton, were killed, 
together with their retinues, in the month 
of May, by the M'Geoghegans of Kinalyach, 
who had taken part in the quarrel. 

Thomas O'Carrol, archbishop of Tuam, 
who was translated to the see of Cashel in 
1365, by a bull from the pope, governed this 
latter church for the space of eight years. 
He was greatly esteemed for his prudence 
and learning. He died at Cashel on the 8th 
of February, 1373, and was interred in the 
cathedral.^ His successor was Philip de 
Torrington. 

Sir William Windsor was at length ap- 
pointed the king of England's lieutenant in 
Ireland, a. d. 1374. He landed at Waterford 
on the 18th of April, and took the oath of 
office at Kilkenny on the 4th of May.§ He 
engaged to protect and govern the English 
province, on condition of receiving eleven 
thousand two hundred and thirteen pounds 
sterling a year, to defray his expenses. An 
order was obtained by him from the king 
and his council, to oblige all who possessed 
estates in Ireland to reside in the country, 
under pain of having their properties con 
fiscated, or else to send others in their place, 
capable of defending them ; but, notwith- 
standing all these precautions, he was so 
unsuccessful in subduing the Irish, that, as 
he has himself acknowledged, he never was 
able to get access to them, and therefore 
gave up the enterprise. 

Thomas Minot, prebendary of Malaghi- 
dert, and treasurer of Ireland, was appointed 
archbishop of Dublin by the pope, and con- 
secrated on Palm Sunday, 1363. The dis- 
pute relative to the carrying of the cross, 
was renewed once more between him and 
Milo, archbishop of Armagh. This prelate 
had the church of St. Patrick repaired, which 

* War. de Archiepisc. Tuamens. 

t Chron. manuscr. Henrie. de Marleburg. apud 
Camd. ad calcem Brit. 

} War. de Archiepisc. Cassel. 

§ War. de Annal. Hib. Cox, Hib. Engl, under 
Edward III. 



had been greatly injured by fire ; and also 
caused a handsome steeple to be added to 
it, built of cut stone. He died in London, 
in the month of July, 1375, and was suc- 
ceeded by Robert de Wikeford. 

James Butler, earl of Ormond, was ap- 
pointed lord-justice of Ireland, a. d. 1376. 
By this office the defence of the English 
province, its castles and dependencies, was 
confided to him during the king's pleasure. 
His guard consisted of twenty horsemen, 
well paid and mounted, he himself being 
the twentieth. The subjoined is a form of 
the commission he received, which is given 
for the gratification of our readers.* 

In the time of this lord-justice, the coun- 
ties, towns, and boroughs of the English pro- 
vince in Ireland sent commissioners to Eng- 
land to deliberate with the king on the state 
of affairs in that island, without making any 
mention of consulting the parliament. 

The king, by his letter patent, dated in 
August, empowered the earl of Ormond as 
lord-justice, with the concurrence of the 
council, to grant a general pardon to all 
accused persons ; the prelates, however, and 
earls, who were guilty of crimes which 
merited death, or the loss of a limb, or of 
their estates, were excluded from this am- 
nesty. At the same time, Alexander, bishop 
of Ossory, was appointed treasurer of Ire- 
land ; six men-at-arms, and twelve archers, 
who were maintained at the king's expense, 
being given to him as a guard. 

The reign of Edward III. was long and 
brilliant, but oppressive to his subjects, on 
account of the frequent taxes he was obliged 
to raise, to enable him to carry on the wars 
in which he was continually engaged with 
France and Scotland. As to his personal 
character, he was brave and successful, and 
appeared the more illustrious from his hav- 
ing been the successor and predecessor of 
two unhappy princes. 

The good qualities of Edward were tar- 
nished by the cruelty of which he had been 
guilty on three remarkable occasions. Be- 
sides the horrible catastrophe which befell 
his father, the enormity of which nothing 
can palliate, (he having been then of an age 

* " Rex omnibus ad quos, &c. Salutem. Sciatis 
quod commisimus dilecto consanguineo nostro Ja- 
cobo Le Bottiler Comiti de Ormond officium Justic. 
nostr. Hibern. et terram nostram Hibern. cum 
castris et aliis pertinentiis suis custodiend. quamdiu 
nobis placuerit, percipiend. per an. ad scac. nos- 
trum Hibern. (quamdiu in officio illo sic steterit) 
quingent. libras, pro quibus officium illud et terram 
custodiet, et erit se vicessimus de hominibus ad 
arma, cum tot equis coopertis, continuo durante 
commissione supra dicta," &c. 



348 



llli-TuRY OF IRELAND. 



susceptible of feeling its atrocity,) he suf- 
fered Edmond, earl of Kent, his paternal 
uncle, to be condemned by a parliament 
held at Winchester, and to be beheaded for 
having shown some marks of tenderness 
and humanity for his brother Edward II., 
who was put to death in the deplorable 
manner already described. 

In the beginning of his war with Scotland, 
Edward besieged the town of Berwick, of 
which Sir Alexander Seaton was commander, 
who, finding the place reduced to the last 
extremity, offered to capitulate. It was 
agreed between both parties, that if the 
town received no succor before the expira- 
tion of a fortnight, it would then surrender 
to the English. As a pledge for the fulfil- 
ment of this treaty, the governor gave his 
son as a hostage ; but the treacherous king 
seeing the Scotch army marching to the 
assistance of the place, a few days after- 
wards, sent word to the governor that if he 
did not immediately surrender he would 
not only hang the hostage, but likewise 
another of his sons who was prisoner of war 
in his camp. , The governor, surprised at so 
barbarous a determination, sent a person to 
represent to him that the time agreed upon 
for the surrender of the place had not yet 
expired ; but finding Edward inflexible, and 
ready to sacrifice every honorable feeling 
to revenge, he suffered dreadfully from the 
struggle between his natural affection as a 
father for his children, and the fidelity which 
he owed his prince and country : whereupon 
his wife, a woman worthy the admiration of 
all future ages, told him she was yet young, 
and might possibly have more children, but 
that the loss of Berwick would be irrepara- 
ble, and that the public welfare should be 
preferred to every other consideration. The 
governor, encouraged by so noble a resolu- 
tion on the part of his wife, sacrificed his 
tenderness as a father to his duty as a faith- 
ful citizen, and had the misery of beholding 
his children executed before him. All the 
virtues of Edward cannot efface the stain 
of this barbarous deed. 

At another period the town of Calais, 
which Edward was besieging, being reduced 
to the necessity of surrendering, proposals 
to that effect were sent to him : but the inex- 
orable conqueror answered haughtily, that 
six of the principal citizens should appear 
before him, bareheaded and barefooted, with 
ropes around their necks, with the keys of 
the town and castle in their hands, and sub- 
mit to his will. These severe conditions 
were not immediately accepted, but neces- 
sity at length forced the citizens to accede to 



them, and the six innocent victims appearing 
before him, he gave orders to have them 
strangled. He refused all the entreaties of 
his nobles to change this hard sentence ; but 
the queen, who was then pregnant, moved 
with pity, threw herself at his feet, and with 
great difficulty obtained pardon for the un- 
happy men. She even took the ropes from 
about their necks herself, and had them 
dressed, and sent them home, giving to each 
of them twenty shillings. Thus did her 
charity and goodness atone for the inhu- 
manity of the king her husband. 

Edward III. is said to have instituted the 
order of the garter on an occasion when the 
queen (others say the countess of Salisbury) 
dropped her garter while dancing, and the 
king taking it up, exclaimed, " Honi soit 
qui mal y pense ;" " Evil to him who evil 
thinks."* Perhaps, however, it was derived 
from garter, a watchword which this king 
made use of in a battle wherein he was vic- 
torious. Some affirm that the institution of 
this order was more ancient, and that it was 
re-established only by Edward, having been 
instituted by Richard I. Edward was the 
first monarch who introduced the title of 
duke into England, beginning with his 
eldest son Edward, whom he created duke 
of Cornwall. He afterwards conferred the 
title on two others, in parliament ; namely, 
his son Lionel, whom he made duke of 
Clarence, and John of Lancaster, whose 
earldom he converted into a dukedom. Si- 
mon Fleming, lord of Slane, in the county 
of Meath, Ireland, was created baron of 
Slane by this monarch.f 

Edward being now advanced in years, fell 
into all the infirmities which are incidental 
to old age ; he abandoned himself to the 
caresses of an infamous woman called Alicia 
Pierce, who possessed so great an influence 
over him that she became not only the mis- 
tress of his person, but also of the govern- 
ment of the kingdom. Her effrontery was 
such that she took a seat even in the courts 
of justice, and the great men of the kingdom 
were base enough to submit to her dominion.^ 
The subsidies, however, which the king ap- 
plied for in the parliament which was held at 
Windsor, were granted on condition only, 
that four persons, one of whom was Alicia 
Pierce, should be given up ; and he very 

* Selden, Tit. of Honor, part 2, chap. 5, sec. 40, 
page 550. 

t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. 

t Baker, Chron. of Engl, on the reign of Edward 
III. Higgin's Short View of the Hist, of England. 
Camd. Brit, de Ordin. Anglic. Selden, ibid. sec. 
22, page 506, et. seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



349 



reluctantly banished her from court, to satisfy 
the people.* The exiled persons were after- 
wards recalled, notwithstanding, and restor- 
ed to their places. t 

In a subsequent parliament dame Pierce 
had revenge on Sir Peter de la Moore, who 
had been principally instrumental to her dis- 
grace, by having him condemned to perpetual 
imprisonment. He was liberated, however, 
after two years, through the intercession of 
his friends .| 

Edward was at length overwhelmed with 
grief and sorrow, both by the death of his 
son the prince of Wales, and the loss of 
most of his conquests in France, of which 
Calais alone remained to him. Having sur- 
vived the best of wives, and the best son 
who was ever born to a king ; having, in a 
manner, outlived himself, as his latter years 
did not accord with the early part of his life ; 
when about to breathe his last, he found him- 
self forsaken by all, even by Alicia Pierce. 
She allowed none to speak to him on reli- 
gion, and stripped him of every thing, even 
of the rings on his fingers, his jewels, and 
all the valuables he possessed. Her exam- 
ple was imitated by his other attendants, 
who made the pillage complete ; so that the 
unhappy prince was left alone in a room, 
without any other assistance but that of a 
poor priest, who happened to be in the 
house preparing him for death. § 

The king had, by his marriage with Phi- 
lippa, daughter of the earl of Hainault, many 
children. His sons were, Edward, prince 

* " A general petition was presented that Alicia 
Pierce, who was a most petulant woman, confiding 
in the royal favor, and the cause of many evils to 
the country, should he removed from the lung's 
dwelling and familiarity. She strangely transgressed 
the bounds of female propriety, and had the effron- j 
tery to sit, at one time, with the king's justices, and j 
again, with the doctors of the consistorial court, I 
and in defence of her cause to persuade and dis- 1 
suade, and to demand, without a blush, her cause 
in opposition to justice, much to the king's scandal 
in foreign courts." — Walsingham on the year 1376. 

t " On which occasion all who had been banished, 
together with Lord Latimer, by the aforesaid concu- ' 
bine, Alicia Pierce, (who shamefully cohabited with 
him to the end of his life,) were restored." 

X Walsingham, Ibidem, p. 581. 

§ " During his entire illness, by his sick bed sat 
the wicked Alicia Pierce, who would suffer nothing 
to be done for his salvation. When she saw that 
his voice had failed him, this unblushing harlot took 
the rings from his fingers and deserted him. The 
only one who remained with the dying king was a 
priest, (all the others being intent on plunder,) who 
besought of him, he not being able to speak, to con- 
fess his sins in thought, to repent and implore par- 
don for them, giving him at the same time a cru- 
cifix to hold in his hand." — Walsingkam's Brief 
History, page 192. 



of Wales ; William, who died without chil- 
dren ; Lionel, born at Antwerp ; John, born 
at Ghent ; Edmond de Langly, and William 
de Windsor, his sixth, who died young ; 
his last was Thomas, surnamed Woodstock, 
from the place of his birth. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Richard II., surnamed Bourdeaux, from 
the place where he was born, was only son 
of Edward, prince of Wales, known by the 
name of the Black Prince, and grandson of 
Edward III., who nominated him his heir 
and successor to the throne. He was crown- 
ed at the age of eleven years, at Westmin- 
ster, on the 16th of July, 1377, by Simon 
Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury.* 

The merit of the father, whose memory 
was still dear to the English, and the prom- 
ising disposition of the son, should, one 
would suppose, make this prince a favorite 
with the people, and gain for him the affec- 
tions and confidence of his subjects. Still, 
notwithstanding these happy omens, his reign 
was unfortunate, and attended by all the 
troubles which seemed inseparable from the 
race of the Plantagenets. If we reflect that 
the most virtuous princes of another family, 
who have since reigned over that nation, 
have been equally ill-treated by their rebel- 
lious subjects, the misfortunes of the kings 
of England cannot be ascribed to any fatality, 
or the inauspicious influence of an unlucky 
star ; but to the turbulent disposition of a 
people who have been always too powerful 
and too unprincipled to be good subjects. 
The conduct of this prince cannot, it is true, 
be approved of ; his measures were too arbi- 
trary to render him agreeable to his subjects, 
but not to that extent which could justify 
their proceedings towards him. In fact, the 
result of the violent and unruly conduct of 
the people, when they endeavor to make 
their kings do them justice, is generally 
more fatal than the grievances which they 
pretend to redress. f 

Richard being incapable, on account of 
his youth, to govern alone, his uncles, the 
dukes of Lancaster and Cambridge, were 

* Walsing. Hist. Brevis. Baker's Chronicle. 

t It must be borne in mind by the reader, that 
the learned abbe 1 composed his history under one of 
the most despotic monarchies in Europe, and that 
his political notions are not always unexceptionable. 
—Note by Ed. 



350 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



appointed his guardians. In order to curb 
their ambition, a share in the government 
was given to other noblemen ; but this mul- 
tiplicity of governors having given birth to 
dissensions concerning their pre-eminence 
and power, (which each was desirous of as- 
suming,) the parliament thought prudent to 
appoint Thomas Beauchamp, earl of War- 
wick, to govern the king and the kingdom. 
The king's ministers having appointed 
the earl of Ormond lord-justice of Ireland, 
this nobleman governed the English prov- 
ince with moderation, and used every pre- 
caution to maintain peace and good order in 
those disturbed times, when the French and 
Scotch, taking advantage of the king's mi- 
nority, attacked England on every side. He 
held the court of common pleas as usual, 
and established the seat of justice in the town 
of Naas, county of Kildare. He then gave 
up his office to Alexander Balscot, bishop of 
Ossory, first treasurer and afterwards chan- 
cellor of Ireland, by whom it was filled till 
the month of November. This prelate was 
succeeded, as lord-justice, by John de Brom- 
wick, a. d. 1379, in whose time a law, found- 
ed on a petition sent from Ireland, was 
enacted by the lords and knights, assembled 
in parliament in England, against absentees. 
By this law, all who possessed estates or 
offices in Ireland, were obliged to return to 
that country ; all who were absent under 
legal causes, were compelled to send depu- 
ties to defend their castles and estates, or 
surrender two thirds of their revenues for 
that purpose ; all students and other absen- 
tees, should have an act of leave, signed 
with the great seal of England, whereupon 
they were exonerated by their giving up a 
third of their income : because, as the law 
expresses it, the loss of Ireland would be 
of vital importance to the king and crown of 
England. In virtue of this decree, which 
was afterwards confirmed under Edward IV., 
the estate of Ballymaclo, in the county of 
Meath, was seized for the king's use, in the 
absence of William Carew ; but that noble 
man having presented a petition to the throne, 
his property was restored to him the year 
following. A memorial was sent to the same 
parliament respecting the mines and mint 
of Ireland. The king, thereupon, granted 
permission, for six years, to each proprietor, 
to work the mines on his own estates, and 
to draw all kinds of metals from them, in- 
cluding both gold and silver, on the condi- 
tion of giving a ninth part to the crown 
and sending the rest to the mint in Dublin 
paying there the usual tax. It was prohib- 
ited, under pain of confiscation, to send 



any out of the kingdom, except to England, 
without special leave, under the king's great 
seal. A petition was also presented, pray- 
ing for leave to carry on a free trade with 
Portugal, which was agreed to by the king 
of England. 

The English government were continually 
devising means of extending their dominion 
in Ireland. Sir Nicholas Dagworth was 
commissioned to visit the lands which be- 
longed to the crown, and to get the accounts 
of those who had been intrusted to receive 
its revenues, a. d. 1380. At the same time, 
Edmond Mortimer, earl of March and Ul- 
ster, was sent as lieutenant or viceroy to that 
country.* Some time before his arrival, the 
French and Spanish galleys, having laid 
waste the coasts of the English province in 
Ireland, were attacked by the English fleet, 
which blockaded them in the bay of Kinsale, 
where they killed four hundred of their crews 
and made the rest prisoners. Mortimer's 
administration was tolerably tranquil till his 
death, which took place the following year 
at Cork. 

About this time the archbishops of Ar- 
magh and Cashel died.f Milo Sweetman, 
treasurer of the church of Kilkenny, a learn- 
ed and prudent man, having been elected 
bishop of Ossory, set out for Avignon to ob- 
tain the pope's sanction, but Innocent VI., 
who was then pope, having disposed of this 
see in favor of another before his arrival, in 
order to compensate Sweetman, nominated 
him to the archbishopric of Armagh, which 
was vacant at the time. Milo governed 
this church for about nineteen years, and 
died at his estate of Dromyskin, on the 
11th of August. He was succeeded by 
John Colton. 

Philip Torrington, an Englishman, and 
monk of the order of St. Francis, was ap- 
pointed to the archbishopric of Cashel by 
Pope Gregory XI . Walsingham| and Ware 
mention an embassy of his under Richard II. 
to Urban VI. ; and a sermon he preached in 
London, on his return from Rome, in which 
he announced that the king of France, and 
all those who had adhered to the anti-pope, 
had been excommunicated, and concluded 
by observing that it was a favorable time and 
opportunity to declare war against that coun- 
try. William, bishop of Emly, filled the of- 
fice of vicar-general of Cashel till the death 
of Torrington, which took place abroad. 
He was succeeded by Peter Hacket. 

* Walsing. Hist. Brevis. ad an. 1379. 

t War. de Archiepisc. Ardmaeh. et Casseliens. 

t Hist. Brevis. ad an. 1379. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



351 



Edmond Mortimer,the viceroy,having died 
in the month of December, 1381, John Col- 
ton, then dean of St. Patrick's, and chancellor 
of Ireland, and afterwards archbishop of Ar- 
magh, was appointed to succeed him. He 
immediately took the usual oath, in the con- 
vent of the preaching brothers. It appears 
that he filled the office but for a short time, 
inasmuch as we discover, in Pryn's remarks 
on the fourth institute, a mandate of the 29th 
March, addressed to Roger Mortimer, the 
king's lieutenant in Ireland, whereby he was 
commanded to convene a parliament to main- 
tain good order in the government, and pro- 
vide for the expenses of the war, a. d. 1382. 

In the course of this year, Richard, king 
of England, married the princess Ann, sister 
to the emperor Wenceslaus.* This princess 
having arrived at Calais, was conducted to 
London, and after her marriage, was solemn- 
ly crowned at Westminster, by the arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. 

Henry Crump, a Cistertian monk of Bal- 
tinglass, in Ireland, having taken the degree 
of doctor of theology at Oxford, in 1382, 
publicly maintained in that university that 
the institution of the four mendicant orders 
was not only not divine, but that it was also 
in opposition to the spirit of the general 
council of Lateran,held under Innocent III.;t 
and that those monks had made use of pre- 
tended dreams to obtain the sanction of Pope 
Honorius. He was obliged, however, to re- 
tract what he had said respecting them, in 
the Carmelite convent at Stamford, in pre- 
sence of William Courtney, archbishop of 
Canterbury. Crump was afterwards accused 
of heresy on the real presence, by William 
Andrew, a Dominican, who was first bishop 
of Achonry, and afterwards of Meath. Ac- 
cording to Bale, this doctor wrote several 
tracts, namely, the Determination of Schools, 
a discourse against mendicants, and " An- 
swers to Objections." He gave also a cata- 
logue of all the foundations of monasteries in 
England, from the time of Birin, first bishop 
of Dorchester, to that of Robert Grosted, 
bishop of Lincoln, who died in 1253. This 
latter work assisted the author of Rhymes on 
the Life of St. Edith, and is still preserved 
in the Cottonian library. 

About the end of this century, we dis- 
cover an author in Ireland, named Magraith 
M'Gawan, a regular canon of the abbey of St. 
Ruadan, of Lurchoe, in the county of Tippe- 
rary, who wrote, in the Irish language, the 
genealogies of the saints of Ireland, and the 

* Walsing. Ypodig. NeustriiE, ad an. 1382. 
t War. de Scrip. Hib. 



succession of the kings and nobles of the 
country, with a few cursory pieces. Ware 
mentions that he had this manuscript in his 
possession. 

Philip Courtney, a relative of the king,was 
appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland in place 
of Mortimer, a. d. 1383. He was considered 
particularly fitted for the government of the 
country, possessing as he did several estates 
in it ; but though he had letters patent au- 
thorizing him to retain that office for ten 
years, his unjust administration proved him 
most unfit for it. He was arrested while in 
office, and severely punished for peculation 
and many flagrant acts of injustice, which he 
had been guilty of. During his administra- 
tion the country was visited a fifth time by 
a plague. 

Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, the great 
favorite of the day, was appointed lord-lieu- 
tenant of Ireland in place of De Courtney, 
a. d. 1384.* In order to rid themselves of 
this nobleman, the English parliament made 
over to him a debt of thirty thousand marks, 
due by the king of France, on condition that 
he would go to Ireland, after Easter, to re- 
cover lands which hadbeen conferred on him 
by the king.f For this purpose the state un- 
dertook' to furnish him, for two years, with 
five hundred soldiers, at twelve pence a day 
each ; and a thousand archers, at six pence 
a day, for the conquest of those lands : " Su- 
per conquestum illius terrae per duos annos." 
The king moreover bestowed upon him, for 
his life, absolute authority in Ireland, without 
any obligation to account for his administra- 
tion, or the revenues of the country ; besides 
authority to pass all public acts in his own 
name, and to appoint and change all officers, 
at his pleasure, even the chancellor, treasurer, 
and admiral, and to appoint his deputy, and 
other ministers. The extent of his power will 
appear by the letters patent annexed. But 
what is most surprising, these letters patent, 
whereby this governor was invested with pri- 
vileges greater than any subject could aspire 
to, were sanctioned by the parliament of 
England : " Assensu praelatorum. ducum, et 
aliorum procerum et communitatis nostri An- 
gliae in parliamento." The man, however, on 
whom these favors were conferred, never 
set foot in Ireland. 

* " To govern the whole of Ireland, with the ad- 
jacent islands ; and all camps, counties, boroughs, 
towns, and seaports ; together with all places which 
pay homage, &c., as we have held and possess them, 
and which some of our predecessors have held and 
possessed, and we now continue possessed of, &c." 
— Wulsingham on the years 1385, 1386. 

t Walsingham, Ypodigmat. Neustrise, ad an. 
1385 et 1386. 



352 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Gregory, bishop of Elphin, was removed 
in 1372, to the archbishopric of Tuam.* 
Having failed to attend the parliament that 
was held at Tristledermot, in 1 377, he was 
fined one hundred pounds. He died soon 
afterwards, and was succeeded by Gregory 
O'Moghan. 

The earl of Oxford being appointed vice- 
roy of Ireland, if not willing to undertake the 
functions of viceroy of that country, desirous 
to evince at least a semblance of respect for 
that high office, to which the parliament had 
appointed him, proceeded on his journey as 
far as Wales, in company with the king. 
But the friends finding it impossible to sepa- 
rate, the earl sent Sir John Stanley to Ireland 
as his deputy, and set out with the king, on 
his return to England.! While Stanley was 
lord-deputy in Ireland, the bridge of Dublin 
gave way, a. d. 1385. 

A convent was founded at this time, at 
Clomin, in the county of Wexford, for Au- 
gustin hermits, by the Cavanaghs, who were 
descended from Dermod, the last king of 
Leinster, in the twelfth century. Some peo- 
ple affirm, according to Ware, that this house 
was given to the Dominicans. 

The king having no children to succeed 
him, Roger Mortimer, earl of March, was 
declared heir to the throne of England, by an 
act of the parliament held at Westmin- 
ster in 1386 ; as being the son of Edmond 
Mortimer and Philippa, daughter and heiress 
of Lionel, duke of Clarence, third son of 
Edward III .% 

Stanley was recalled on business to Eng- 
land, and Alexander Petit, bishop of Meath, 
was intrusted with the government of Ire- 
land during his absence. 

Gregory O'Moghan, who was appointed 
to the archbishopric of Tuam by Clement 
VII., in 1387, during the anti-papal schism, 
was afterwards superseded by Urban VI., 
who nominated William O'Cormacain to 
succeed him. According to the annals of 
Loghkee, Gregory was a truly religious and 
devout man. He is said to have died in 
consequence of his disgrace, in 1392. 

Robert Vere, earl of Oxford and marquis 
of Dublin, was created at this time duke of 
Ireland, by the parliament, which excited 
much jealousy among the English nobles. 
The elevation of Delapool, son of a mer- 
chant, to the rank of duke of Suffolk, and 
chancellor of England, gave them additional 
displeasure. 

The duke of Ireland was an accomplished 

* War. de Archiepisc. Tuam. 
t Walsingham, ibid. 
X Walsingham, ibid. 



man. His haughtiness, however, and his con- 
tempt for the nobles, raised for him many 
enemies. In 1388, he was accused of having 
exercised his influence with the king, to 
oppress the nobility and people. Remon- 
strances on this head being made to his 
majesty, and not meeting with attention, the 
nobles flew to arms and met the duke of 
Ireland at Radcott bridge. To avoid falling 
into their hands, he swam across the river : 
and afterwards effected his escape to Hol- 
land, and thence to Brabant, where he 
wandered as a fugitive for a few years, and 
subsequently ended his days in abject misery 
at Louvain.* Thus frequently end the gran- 
deur and elevation of the favorites of 
princes, of which no nation affords more 
examples than England. Stanley still re- 
mained as deputy in Ireland, while the king, 
who was continually in want of money, made 
new demands on every succeeding parlia- 
ment under pretext of carrying on the war 
in that country, a. d. 1389. 

At Ardart, or Ardfert, the chief town of 
the county Kerry, a convent was established, 
a. d. 1389, for Franciscans, by the M'Mau- 
rices, otherwise Fitzmaurices, who were 
lords of Kerry, or Lixnaw.f 

According to Ware, three convents be- 
longing to the same order, were founded in 
the county Tipperary ; but the precise 
period of their foundation is not mentioned 
by either him or Wadding. The first was 
at Galbally, by an O'Brien ; the second at 
Roscrea, by the widow of an O'Carrol ; and 
the third at Ardfirman, the founder of which 
is not known. J 

Robert Wikeford, archdeacon of Winton, 
in England, was appointed, in 1375, arch- 
bishop of Dublin, and consecrated the same 
year at Avignon, by Gregory IX. This 
prelate was twice chancellor of Ireland. 
Having governed the above see for fifteen 
years, he died in 1390, and was succeeded 
by Robert Waldby. 

The earl of Oxford, who was duke and 
viceroy of Ireland, having died at Louvain, 
in 1392, as we have already observed, 
James, earl of Ormond, was appointed lord- 
justice in his stead : Waldby, archbishop of 
Dublin, being at the same time made chancel- 
lor, and the bishop of Chichester, treasurer. 
The first expedition undertaken by. the earl 
of Ormond was against the M'Moyns, so 
called by Cox, who says that they were 
defeated at Tascoffin, in the county of 
Kildare, with a loss of six hundred men. 



* Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'lrlande. 
t Ibid. t Ibid. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



353 



The government of England began now 
to turn their thoughts seriously to the con- 
quest of Ireland ; but finding that the Eng- 
lish province was poor, and thinned of its 
inhabitants by the continual wars with the 
natives, and the great numbers of Anglo- 
Irish that had returned to England, where- 
by the king's revenues were diminished, and 
the power of the Irish rebels (such is the 
name given them by English writers) was 
increased ; it was thought prudent to put 
the law which was made against absentees 
in full force, and to publish a decree that 
all who possessed property in Ireland should 
live there. The parliament then began by 
sending assistance in men and money. The 
duke of Gloucester received the king's com- 
mands to go thither in person, in capacity of 
lord-lieutenant, at the head of an army which 
he had assembled, and was, in presence of 
the expedition, created duke of Ireland. His 
majesty, however, having changed his mind, 
wrote to the duke to dissuade him from this 
voyage, saying that he himself would take 
the command of the expedition. This deter- 
mination of the king is ascribed by some to 
a reply which the princes of Germany made 
to his ambassadors, when the imperial crown 
was sought by them for their master. The 
German princes answered them that they did 
not think him fit to be emperor, since he was 
not able to preserve the conquests of his 
predecessors in France ; to curb the inso- 
lence of his English subjects ; or to conquer 
his rebellious people in Ireland. So sensibly 
did he feel the rebuke, that he undertook the 
expedition himself to Ireland, at the head of 
four thousand regular troops, besides thirty 
thousand archers, under the banner of St 
Edward. He thus hoped to re-establish his 
reputation, and to banish his affliction for 
the death of his queen, Anne. 

Sir Thomas Scroop was sent to Ireland 
in 1394, in the capacity of lord-justice, to 
prepare the way for the expedition. He was 
followed by Richard, who landed at Water- 
ford with a powerful army, which, however, 
performed no great exploit under him.* H 
was satisfied with the feigned submissions of a 
few Irish lords of the English province ; and 
commissioned Thomas Mawbray,earl of Not- 
tingham and marshal of England, to receive 
the homage and oath of allegiance of the Irish 
in Leinster ; namely, O'Byrne, O'Nowlan, 
O'Morrough, O'Morra, M'Morrough, O'Con 
nor, and others. This homage was proposed 
and accepted on hard terms ; these noblemen 
being obliged, under pain of heavy fines, 

* Cox, Hib. AngI, 



payable to the apostolical chamber, (namely, 
O'Byrne twenty thousand marks, O'Nowlan 
ten thousand pounds, and the others in pro- 
portion,) not only to persevere in their sub- 
mission, but also, on an appointed day, to 
give up their lands and possessions in Lein- 
ster to the king, to belong thereafter to him 
and his successors ; and to enter his majes- 
ty's service, and assist him in the war against 
their countrymen. As a remuneration for 
the loss of their lands, and a reward for their 
services, the king's pay, and pensions to some 
of their chiefs, were proposed to be given 
them, and they were to be permitted to make 
incursions on the lands of their countrymen 
in the other provinces, and to apply to their 
own use all that they could obtain by force 
of arms. Here we behold estates, which 
for many ages belonged to their ancestors, 
converted into inconsiderable pensions du- 
ring life for the owners ; and robbery and 
usurpation of the lands of others sanctioned. 
Such was the reformation of morals which 
their new masters introduced among the 
Irish. We find that of the pensions, that of 
eighty marks, which had been granted to 
Arthur M'Morrough, chief of the Cava- 
naghs, was the most enduring, no doubt 
through gratitude for the services which the 
English had received from his ancestor 
Dermod, who had introduced them into the 
country. It was continued to his posterity 
till the time of Henry VIII., " although," 
says Cox, " they had done nothing to de- 
serve it ;" an observation equally untrue and 
malicious. The king, after this, received 
some complimentary letters from Neal O'- 
Neill, prince of Ulster ; and others on his 
arrival at Drogheda, from the O'Donnels, 
O'Hanlons, M'Mahons, and a few more Irish 
chiefs. 

The king of England was now able to 
enforce obedience ; having with him, inde- 
pendently of the English colony, by whom a 
third of the island was occupied, thirty-four 
thousand regular troops. The Irish had not 
raised their standards, or kept any body of 
organized troops under regular leaders, con- 
sequently they were without discipline: each 
chief easily collected those who were imme- 
diately dependent on himself, but they were 
inexperienced and badly provided with arms, 
and it was not easy to unite different bodies 
under one head, or to assemble an army 
sufficient to check the progress of a force so 
numerous and well provided. The danger, 
therefore, was considerable, and they were 
obliged to submit to superior numbers, 
which was the only alternative left them to 
avert the storm. 



354 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



Richard being satisfied with the apparent 
submission of the Irish, entertained them 
by banquets and feasting ; conferred the title 
of knighthood upon those who wished to 
ac^bpt of it, and disbanded his troops. In 
the month of February, he wrote a letter to 
his uncle, the duke of York, who was de- 
puty in England during his absence, in 
which he observed, that there were three 
kinds of people in Ireland ; namely, the 
wild or hostile Irish,* the rebel Irish, and 
his English subjects ; that the rebels had, 
perhaps, cause to revolt, and that he there- 
fore had pardoned them until Easter, and 
intended to grant them a general amnesty 
afterwards. He concluded by asking his 
advice on the subject. The duke, at the 
head of the council, answered the king, that 
their opinion had formerly been to pursue 
the rebels ; that, however, his majesty be- 
ing on the spot, he could observe matters 
more closely, and was therefore better able 
to judge of the measures which should be 
adopted ; and that his inclinations for cle- 
mency were laudable, provided the rebels 
were made to contribute towards defraying 
the expenses of the expedition, by obliging 
them to purchase his pardon within a given 
time. 

Satisfied with this brilliant campaign, and 
having regulated the affairs of his Irish pro- 
vince, and appointed men of experience to 
fill the places of trust, Richard returned to 
England, according to Davis and Froissart, 
with much honor and little advantage, a. d. 
1395. Although he had expended enormous 
sums in conveying his army to Ireland, he 
did not add a pound to his revenue, nor ex- 
tend the frontiers of his English province 
one acre. The courts of law even, were 
still confined within the boundaries of the 
colony, where they had been acknowledged 
before his arrival in Ireland. f 

Robert Waldby, a native of England, 
having been appointed by a bull from the 
pope to the see of 'Dublin, a predilection 
for his own country induced him to solicit 
his removal in 1395, to the bishopric of Chi- 
chester in England. He was succeeded in 
the see of Dublin by Richard Northall, 
bishop of Ossory. This prelate, who was a 
native of England, and of the Carmelite or- 
der, was famed for his erudition, preaching, 
and virtues, by which he attracted the ob- 
servation of Richard II., who first appointed 

* Such were the appellations which the English 
made use of towards the Irish who would not sub- 
mit to nor acknowledge their dominion, but kept 
themselves under arms and ready to oppose them, 

t Histor. Relat. 



him to the bishopric of Ossory, and after- 
wards to the archbishopric of Dublin. He 
enjoyed this dignity but a short time, having 
died in 1397. He was succeeded by Tho- 
mas Crawley. 

Roger Mortimer, earl of March, and heir- 
apparent to the crown of England, was sent 
to Ireland as lord-lieutenant after the king's 
return. The Irish, actuated by a principle 
that forced obedience is revocable, and that 
submission obtained by violence could not 
bind them under any law, human or divine, 
recommenced their hostilities.* War having 
broken out, the Anglo-Irish took up arms. 
Sir Thomas Burke and Sir Walter Ber- 
mingham, with their followers, surprised the 
Irish, and killed six hundred of them, with 
their chief M'Con. Mortimer, assisted by 
the earl of Ormond, laid waste the terri- 
tory of Wicklow, and made himself master 
of O'Byrne's castle. Seven knights were 
created on this occasion, namely, Christo- 
pher Preston, John Bedlow, Edmond Loun- 
dres, John Loundres, William Nugent, Wal- 
ter de la Hide, and Robert Caddel. These 
victories were, however, amply revenged by 
the death of forty English chiefs, who were 
slain, together with their attendants, on 
Ascension day, by the O'Tools. The prin- 
cipal characters that suffered were, John 
Fitzwilliam, Thomas Talbot, and Thomas 
Comyn. Mortimer met, soon afterwards, 
with the same fate at Kenlis, in the county 
of Kildare, where himself and the whole of 
his army were put to the sword by the 
O'Byrnes and other Irish. On the death of 
Mortimer, the administration of affairs de- 
volved upon Roger Gray, while waiting the 
arrival of Thomas Holland, duke of Surrey, 
who was named to succeed Mortimer. This 
viceroy landed in Dublin in the month of 
October, accompanied by Thomas Crawley, 
who was appointed archbishop of that city, 
a. d. 1398. 

As soon as the news of the death of Mor- 
timer reached England, every one was filled 
with consternation. Richard II., determined 
to revenge the death of his relative and heir, 
undertook a second voyage to Ireland with 
an army equally formidable as before, being 
resolved to make the conquest of it complete. 
He landed at Waterford, and in his march to 
Dublin his troops suffered greatly for want of 
provisions and carriages, in a country that 
had suffered so long by continual warfare. 
The only tiling memorable upon their march 
was, that they made the roads level in the 
territory of Idrone, county Carlow, which 
belonged to the Cavanaghs. The king cre- 

* Chron. Manusc. Hemic de Marleburgh. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



355 



ated also some knights, among whom was 
Henry, son of the duke of Lancaster, after- 
wards king of England, under the name of 
Henry V. Being arrived in Dublin, while 
conferring with the council upon the mea- 
sures which should be taken to reduce the 
country to subjection, he received an express 
from England, with the afflicting news that 
his kingdom was invaded by the duke of Lan- 
caster, whom he had sent into exile some time 
before. By advice of the council, the two 
sons of the dukes of Lancaster and Glouces- 
ter, who accompanied him to Ireland, were 
confined in the castle of Trim, county Meath, 
and he then dispatched the earl of Salisbury 
to Wales, in order to have an army raised 
against his arrival. But the unfortunate 
prince having delayed too long in Ireland, 
the army was scattered, by which his courage 
was quelled to such a degree that he suffered 
himself to be made prisoner, carried to Lon- 
don, and confined in the tower, and then sur- 
rendered the crown to his rival. His conduct 
gave rise to the remark, that no prince ever 
gave up a kingdom with so much weakness, 
which had been governed with so much se- 
verity. A parliament was summoned in his 
name, by which several indictments were 
found against the unhappy prince, where- 
upon he was dethroned ; the sentence being 
publicly pronounced by the bishop of Asaph, 
who had been commissioned for the purpose. 
Thus ended the reign of Richard II., through 
the ambition of his own family. He was re- 
moved from the tower of London to the cas- 
tle of Leeds, in Kent, and thence to Pomfret. 
In him we find verified an observation made 
by one of his wisest, but most unfortunate 
successors, viz., that the distance from the 
prison of a king to his tomb is but short. 
He died by a violent death, but as to its na- 
ture the opinions are many and various. 
Some say he was starved to death, others 
that he died of grief, and some again affirm 
that he fell by the sword of Sir Pierce Ex- 
ton, who entered his chamber, accompanied 
by eight other armed ruffians, and gave him 
the fatal blow. 

In the tragical end of Richard II., we see 
a peculiar example of the divine vengeance 
on the race of the Plantagenets ; this unhappy 
prince, although innocent, being destined to 
expiate the guilt of his fathers. The injus- 
tice and tyranny which were inflicted upon 
the Irish, by the English, under the orders 
of Richard and his progenitors, were not the 
only crimes that called for divine vengeance 
against them. The slaughter of Edward II., 
and usurpation of the crown by his son, Ed- 
ward III., were evidently punished in the 



person of Richard, grandson to the latter. 
After his death, the divisions of the two 
houses of York and Lancaster, embittered 
for near a century against each other, and 
exercising mutual cruelties, produced such 
desolation that the repose of the kingdom 
and many thousand lives were sacrificed to 
their implacable fury. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Henry, duke of Lancaster, eldest son of 
John of Ghent, who was fourth son of Ed- 
ward III., was proclaimed king of England, 
under the title of Henry IV., by the parlia- 
ment, which adjudged the crown to him and 
his descendants, a. d. 1399. This prince had 
some difficulty in giving color to his usurpa- 
tion. He was, it is true, descended from Ed- 
ward by John, fourth son of that monarch ; 
but the descendants of Lionel, his third son, 
took precedence of him, so that he had not a 
strict claim by birth. Neither could he avail 
himself of the right of conquest, as there had 
been no war. He was therefore obliged to 
found his pretensions on the concurrence and 
choice of the people, which was the plea made 
use of by his ambassadors at foreign courts. 
This want of strict title was the cause of the 
fatal wars between the houses of York and 
Lancaster, called the white and red roses. 

Henry having been crowned at Westmin- 
ster in the month of October, with the usual 
ceremonies, by the archbishop of Canterbury, 
turned his thoughts to the affairs of Ireland, 
and appointed Sir John Stanley lord-lieuten- 
ant of the country, whither he repaired in the 
month of December following ; he at the 
same time obtained supplies in England for 
three years, to support his interests in Ireland. 

The early part of Henry's reign was filled 
with troubles. The vacillating barons who 
had forsaken Richard, soon began to mani- 
fest dislike to him, though placed upon the 
throne by them, and to form conspiracies, 
which he suppressed by putting many of 
their number to death. He marched at the 
head of an army against the Scotch, who 
were making some hostile movements in 
the north. The Anglo-Irish, too, desirous 
of displaying their zeal, under the command 
of the constable of the castle of Dublin, at- 
tacked a Scotch fleet near Strangford in Ul- 
ster, a. d. 1400 ; but were unsuccessful, 
having been all either killed or drowned. 

About this time a handsome convent was 
established for the Dominicans, by Cornelius 
O'Ferral, bishop of Ardagh ; and descended 



356 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



from the noble tribe of the O'Ferrals of 
Annaly. This prelate was renowned for the 
extensive charities he bestowed, which pro- 
cured for him the name of the Almoner. 

Another convent for the same order was 
founded at Portumna, a small town on the 
river Shannon, in the county of Gal way, near 
Lough Derg, through which that river flows. 
It was built by an O'Maddin, a descendant 
of the ancient family of the O'Maddins of 
Siolanamchad ; who also established one 
for Franciscans at Milick, on the left bank 
of the Shannon. 

The lord-lieutenant having gone to Eng- 
land in the month of May, his brother, 
Thomas Stanley, was appointed deputy in 
the government of Ireland till the month of 
August, and the arrival of Stephen Scroop, 
deputy for Thomas, duke of Clarence, the 
king's son, who was appointed lord-lieutenant 
of Ireland, whither he repaired soon after- 
wards. In the month of July, John Drake, 
mayor of Dublin, and the citizens, made an 
excursion as far as Bray, on the borders of 
Wicklow, against the Irish rebels, and kill- 
ed about 400 of them. 

While the lord-lieutenant was holding his 
parliament in Dublin, in the month of Sep- 
tember, a. d. 1402, the Anglo-Irish were 
slaughtering one another. John Dowdal, 
sheriff of the county Louth, was murdered by 
Bartholomew Verdon, James White, Chris- 
topher White, and Stephen Gernon, who had 
committed robberies and other crimes, for 
which they were found guilty, and their lands 
confiscated. The king pardoned them after- 
wards, but restored their estates to them 
during their lives only.* In the month of 
October, Daniel O'Birne made peace with 
the lord-lieutenant, for himself and his tribe, 
and as a guarantee for the treaty, he surren- 
dered to the king the castle of Mackenigan, 
at present Newcastle, with all that belonged 
to it. M'Mahon, of Monaghan, and O'Reilly, 
of Cavan, did the same. The lord-lieutenant 
gave to M'Mahon, during his life, the lands 
of Ferny, for an annual rent of ten pounds. 
O'Reilly engaged to continue loyal, accord- 
ing to his promise to Roger Mortimer, earl 
of March and Ulster, which is mentioned in 
an act passed in the 18th year of Richard's 
reign, a. d. 1403. In the month of May, Sir 
Walter Betterly, the governor of that part 
of Ulster which obeyed the English, was 
killed, with thirty English lords, by the Irish. 
In the month of November, of this year, 
Thomas, duke of Clarence, returned to Eng- 
land, leaving the government of Ireland to 

* Davis, Hist. Relat. 



Stephen Scroop, whom he appointed his de- 
puty till the following October, a. d. 1404. 

The Irish were not the only people to 
whom the dominion of England was oppres- 
sive. The inhabitants of Wales bore with 
impatience the chains which that cruel na- 
tion had imposed upon them.* Owen Glen- 
dower, a Welsh nobleman, who was both 
active and enterprising, represented to his 
countrymen that the division and civil war 
that then raged in England, afforded a favor- 
able opportunity, which they ought not to 
lose, of shaking off her yoke and recovering 
their freedom. The project of Glendower 
met the warm approbation of his countrymen, 
who, influenced with a hope of succeeding, 
chose him for their king, and confided to 
him the entire management of this enterprise. 
He lost not a moment in assembling his 
troops, and began his operations against lord 
Gray, for whom he entertained a personal en- 
mity ; laying waste with fire and sword the 
country where that nobleman resided. Lord 
Gray, for the purpose of arresting this hos- 
tile movement of the Welsh, assembled his 
people and marched to meet them ; but his 
hopes of success were frustrated; he him- 
self taken prisoner, and a great number of 
his troops slain. These advantages were 
auspicious to the Welsh, and encouraged 
them to make bolder attempts : and accord- 
ingly they entered the county of Hereford 
with an army, where, being met by the inhab- 
itants, under Edmund Mortimer, they were 
again victorious. Mortimer was made pris- 
oner, and his troops entirely defeated, with a 
loss of one thousand slain, among whom were 
most of their chiefs. Walsinghamf narrates 
the conduct of the Welsh women, and their 
inhuman treatment of the English who had 
fallen. The gross and indecorous manner 
in which they acted will, however, hardly 
admit of being described ; suffice it to say 
that it was such as fully proves how deep a 
hatred of the English was engraven upon 
the hearts of the Welsh people.:): 

John Colton, dean of the chapter of St. 
Patrick's, Dublin,^ who was chancellor and 
chief-justice of Ireland, was appointed by the 
pope to the archbishopric of Armagh. He 
was sent afterwards to the court of Rome, 
with John Whitehead and Richard Moore, 
vicar of Thermon Feichan, on the affairs of 
Richard II. He died in the month of May, 
on his return, and was buried in the church 



* Walsingh. Hist. Brevis, page 364, et seq. 

t In Ypodig. Neustriffi, ad an. 1402. 

t Walsingham, page 557. 

§ In Ypodig. Neustriae, ad an. 1402. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



357 



of St. Peter at Drogheda. Nicholas Flem- 
ing succeeded him in the archbishopric. 

In the beginning of this century, Ireland 
produced several learned men.* Augustin 
Magraidan, a regular canon of the isle of All 
Saints, in the river Shannon, west of the 
county of Longford, was a prudent and 
learned man, and wrote the lives of all the 
saints of Ireland. He also continued a chro- 
nicle down to his own time, which had been 
already commenced by some brother of his 
house. Ware mentions his having had this 
work in his possession in manuscript, and that 
some additions were made to it after the death 
of Magraidan. Coll Deoran, a native of 
Leinster, who lived at this period, also wrote 
some annals that are still in manuscript. 
Patrick Barret, bishop of Ferns, has left us 
a catalogue of his predecessors in that see. 
James Youjig, notary of the city of Dublin, 
wrote some political maxims on government, 
which he dedicated to the earl of Ormond, 
then lord-lieutenant. He also gave in writing 
the voyage of Laurence Rathold, a lord of 
Hungary, to the purgatory of St. Patrick. 
Patrick Ragged, bishop of Cork, after as- 
sisting at the general council of Constance, 
wrote^the acts passed therein. An Irish 
-monk of the convent of St. James at Ratis- 
bon, wrote various tracts on Irish saints, 
and on the affairs of Charlemagne. 

James, earl of Ormond, having been ap- 
pointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, convened 
a parliament in Dublin in the month of 
April, a. d. 1405. The statutes of Dublin 
and Kilkenny were confirmed in it, together 
with the charter of Ireland. Some prizes 
were taken in May, from the Scotch ; two of 
their ships being captured, laden with mer- 
chandise, near Greencastle,t and a third 
near Dalky, together with Macgolagh, the 
commander. The merchants of Drogheda 
made incursions into Scotland also, and car- 
ried off some plunder with them. 

The inhabitants of Dublin, roused by the 
example of their fellow-countrymen of Drog- 
heda, fitted out some ships and committed 
several piracies against the Scotch. After 
this they plundered Wales, and carried away 
the shrine of St. Cubin, which they deposit- 
ed in Christ's cathedral, Dublin, proving by 
such conduct their zeal in the service of the 
king, who was then at war with both Scot- 
land and Wales. While the Anglo-Irish 
were thus engaged in plundering their neigh- 
bors, Oghgard was burned by the Irish. 

In the month of May, the deputy, accom- 

* War. de Script. Hib. lib. 1, cap. 11. 
t Chron. Manusc. de Marleburgh. 



panied by the earls of Ormond, Desmond, 
and the prior of Kilmainham, together with 
the English nobility of Meath, set out from 
Dublin, and invaded the estates of M'Mor- 
rough.* Both sides came to a bloody engage- 
ment, in which the Irish had, in the beginning, 
the advantage ; but the English forces and 
discipline at length prevailed, and the Irish 
were obliged to surrender. O'Nowlan, with 
his sons, and many others, were taken pris- 
oners. The deputy after this led his army 
towards Callan, county Kilkenny, routed a 
number of Irish who had collected in that 
district, and killed a great number of them. 
O'Carrol, their leader, was found among the 
slain. After this expedition, the deputy re- 
turned to England in the month of June, and 
James, earl of Ormond, was appointed lord- 
justice by the nobility and council. In his 
time, Patrick Savage, an Anglo-Irishman, 
who had great influence in Ulster, was made 
prisoner by M'Gilmory, a celebrated com- 
mander, who, after receiving two thousand 
marks for his ransom, put him and his brother 
Richard to death. This barbarous murderer 
was some time afterwards taken in a church 
belonging to the minor brothers at Carrick- 
fergus, by some of the family of Savages, 
who made him expiate his cruelty with the 
loss of his life. The earl of Ormond, lord- 
justice of Ireland, died at Gowran, in the 
county of Kilkenny. 

Girald, earl of Kildare, was chosen by the 
council to fill the office of lord-justice, a. d. 
1406. About this time the inhabitants of 
Dublin and their allies attacked, on the feast 
of Corpus Christi, some Irish troops who 
were ravaging the neighborhood and sub- 
urbs of the city, and put them to flight, ta- 
king from them three standards. They then 
carried in triumph through the city the heads 
of those whom they had killed. The prior 
of the regular canons of Conal, in the county 
of Kildare, signalized his zeal in his country's 
cause, having, at the head of twenty Eng- 
lishmen, surprised two hundred Irish, several 
of whom were killed. Stephen Scroop was 
made deputy, and held a parliament in Dub- 
lin, in the month of January, which was 
afterwards adjourned to Trim, in the county 
of Meath. About the end of February, 
Cahal O'Connor Faly was killed by Meiler 
Bermingham. After the death of Torring- 
ton, archbishop of Cashel, the see remained 
vacant for four years, and the revenues were 
applied to the king's use. Leave was after- 
wards given to elect a prelate, and the choice 
fell on Peter Hacket, archdeacon of that 

* Chron. Henr. de Marleburgh 



358 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



church, over which he presided as archbish- 
op for twenty -two years. He died in 1406, 
and was succeeded by Richard O'Hedian. 

Thomas, duke of Clarence, the king's lord- 
lieutenant in Ireland, landed at Carlingford 
in the month of August, 1408. This prince 
accepted the government on certain condi- 
tions, the principal of which were, that he 
should continue in office for seven years ; 
that he should be provided with five hundred 
soldiers and a thousand archers for three 
years ; that he should be paid one year in 
advance, and afterwards every six months ; 
that he should have the nomination of his 
deputy, and the conferring of benefices ; 
that the crown lands should be taken pos- 
session of again, and the law against ab- 
sentees put in force.* 

Lancaster repaired to Dublin after a few 
days, where he had the earl of Kildare and 
three of his family arrested for state reasons, 
and ordered that he should be confined in 
the castle of Dublin till he paid three hun 
dred marks for his ransom ; while in the 
mean time the furniture and other effects 
belonging to the earl were plundered by the 
creatures of the viceroy. 

History mentions that the duke of Lan- 
caster was dangerously wounded in a con 
flict at Kilmainham, but without saying how 
or by whom. It appears, however, that he 
was resolved on being revenged, as he is- 
sued an order obliging all who held lands 
on condition of military service to assemble 
at Ross ; and also convened a parliament at 
Kilkenny ; but the result of these meetings 
is unknown. The lord-lieutenant appointed 
Thomas Butler, prior of Kilmainham, his 
deputy, and returned to England in the 
month of March, 1409. 

In the time of this new deputy, the king 
granted the sword and certain privileges to 
the citizens of Dublin, and changed the title 
of provost for that of mayor. About the 
same time Jenico de Artois, a native of 
Gascony, at the head of some English 
troops, assumed the part of a ringleader in 
Ulster, and slew eighty of the inhabitants 
in one engagement. The parliament met 
in the month of May, 1410, in Dublin, and 
in it the exaction of Coyn and Livery was 
declared to be felonious. 

The deputy's first exploit was the taking 
of the castle of Mibraclide of Offerol ; in 
place of which he built that of Mare. He 
then attacked the lands of the O'Byrnes, 
but without success. Out of fifteen hundred 
Irish who were in his army, eight hundred 

* Chron. Henric. de Marleburgh. 



went over on the field of battle to the ene- 
my, so that, only for his Dublin troops he 
would have found it very difficult to escape 
from his embarrassment. John Derpatrick, 
a man of rank, was found among the slain. 

The see of Tuam was filled at this time 
by William O'Cormocain, who was suc- 
ceeded in 1411 by one Corneile. Nothing 
is known of these two prelates, but that the 
latter was succeeded by John Baterly, who 
governed the church in question till 1436. 

In the month of April, 1412, O'Connor 
Faly made incursions on the lands of the 
English in the county Meath, and carried 
off one hundred and sixty prisoners. At this 
period a single combat took place between 
O'Tool and Thomas Fitzmaurice, sheriff 
of Limerick ; and of so deadly a character 
was the animosity between the combatants, 
that both fell a sacrifice to its fury. 

Henry IV., king of England, after a reign 
of troubles, was beginning to enjoy the 
sweets of peace, when he was attacked by a 
fit of apoplexy, which terminated his life. If 
is said that during this attack he caused the 
crown to be placed on his pillow, and that 
the fits of apoplexy becoming so violent 
that every one present thought him dead, 
Prince Henry, his eldest son, entering the 
room, seized on the crown. His father, 
however, recovering from a swoon, and find- 
ing that it was taken, asked who did it ; 
being told that it was his son, he had him 
sent for, and asking why he acted so prema- 
ture a part, by taking what did not yet be- 
long to him, the prince replied, without the 
least emotion : " May you live, my lord and 
father, and wear it yourself for many years ; 
but having been told by all present, that you 
had gone to take possession of another 
crown, I took this, supposing that it belonged 
to me by right ; I now confess that it still 
belongs to you, and not to me :" at the same 
moment placing it where he had taken it 
from. " Oh, my son," said the father, 
" may God, who knows how I obtained it, 
forgive me my sins." " I do not question by 
what right it belongs to you," answered the 
son, " I will think only of holding and de- 
fending it by the sword, when it will be 
mine, that is, by the same means whereby 
you acquired it." This king had, in truth, 
discovered the secret of maintaining his un- 
just possession of the crown, by following 
the same course which guided him in the 
pursuit of it, namely, the effusion of blood. 
He had six children by Mary, daughter of 
Humfrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, Essex, 
and Northampton, four of whom were sons ; 
namely, Henry, the eldest, prince of Wales 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



359 



and duke of Lancaster, who left children 
after him ; Thomas, duke of Clarence ; John, 
duke of Bedford, and Humfrey, duke of 
Gloucester, who died without issue. Henry 
IV. died in London in the fourteenth year 
of his reign, and was interred at Canter- 
bury. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Henry V., eldest son of Henry IV., and 
surnamed Monmouth, from the place of his 
birth in Wales, succeeded to his father's 
throne, and received homage and oaths of 
allegiance from the lords before his coro- 
nation ; no example of which occurred be- 
fore this time in England. In the month of 
April he was crowned at Westminster with 
the usual ceremonies, by Thomas Arundel, 
archbishop of Canterbury. 

Although this prince had been wild and 
extravagant in his youth, he became a great 
king. He began his reign by checking the 
conduct of those who were the companions 
of his dissipation, and commanded that they 
should never approach him till they became 
reformed in their modes of living ; while, in 
order that they might not descend to acts 
of baseness from necessity, he allowed to 
each sufficient means of support. His coun- 
cil was composed of men of merit, and he pro- 
tected the clergy against the parliament, 
which contemplated depriving them of their 
possessions.* Henry was ambitious of 
glory, and his ruling passion was the desire 
of walking in the footsteps of his great 
grandfather, Edward III. ; with the view of 
doing which he declared war against France, 
and laid claim to the crown of that country 
So intent was he on this important object, 
that the affairs of Ireland were much neg- 
lected during his reign. Thomas, prior of 
Kilmainham, was intrusted with the govern- 
ment of the country, till John Stanley was 
appointed lord-lieutenant. He landed at 
Clontarf, near Dublin, in October, 1413, 
and died at Ardee in the month of January 
following. t The nobles then appointed 
Thomas Crawley, archbishop of Dublin, a 
pious and learned man, lord-justice. He 
had twice before this filled the office of 
chancellor. 

The new lord-justice held a parliament in 
Dublin in the month of February ; in which 



Baker'e Chron. of Engl, on the reign of Henry 



t Chron. Manuscr. Henr. de Marleburg. War, 
de Annal. Hib. 



V. 



a tax for the public welfare was proposed, 
but rejected. The Irish, in the mean time, 
laid waste the English province. Jenico de 
Artois, who commanded in Ulster, deter- 
mined to revenge the attacks which were 
made against the lands of Magennis ; but 
he was completely defeated at Inor, where 
several of his men were killed, A. D. 1414. 
The Irish being encouraged by these suc- 
cesses, the lord-lieutenant was obliged to 
take the field in person, and advanced 
towards Castledermod, where he held a 
religious procession, and offered prayers 
with his clergy for the success of his army, 
which was engaged with the O'Morras and 
O'Dempsys, near Kilkea, where the latter 
lost about a hundred men. This loss, how- 
ever, was made up by a victory which 
O'Connor gained over the English in Meath, 
on the 10th of May, when Thomas Maur- 
everar, baron of Skrine, with several others, 
were killed ; and Christopher Fleming and 
John Dardis made prisoners. 

The English now saw the necessity of 
giving the government of Ireland to a man 
experienced in the art of war ; and John 
Talbot, lord Furnival, was accordingly made 
lord-lieutenant in the month of September.* 
On landing at Dalkey, he collected the troops, 
and placing himself at their head, visited the 
English province. He directed his march 
through the country of the O'Byrnes.O'Tools, 
and Cavanaghs ; then passed through the 
possessions of the Morras, O'Connors Faly, 
O'Dempsys, O'Molloys, M'Geoghegans, 
O'Ferrals, and O'Reillys, and ended his 
route by going through those of the M'Ma- 
hons, O'Neills, and O'Hanlons in the north. 
This march produced but little good ; the 
viceroy had sufficient force to intimidate the 
Irish nobles, and oblige them to seek for 
peace with England, but not to reduce them 
to the condition of subjects, or extend the 
limits of the English dominion in the country. 
Notwithstanding this, the expedition was 
looked upon as having produced great benefit 
to the state, as was attested by the lords of 
the English province, in an address which 
they presented to the king on the subject. 
However true this may be, Talbot's army 
was badly paid and still worse governed, so 
that the English subjects suffered much 
from the licentiousness of the soldiery. 
The exaction of Coyn and Livery, which 
had been so frequently prohibited, began 
now to be imperceptibly renewed. 

A parliament was assembled in Dublin, 
in the month of August, a. d. 1415, and con- 

* Davis, Hist. Relat. 



360 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



tinued to sit for six weeks. The Irish still 
carried on their incursions on the posses- 
sions of the English ; and shot Thomas 
Ballymore, Balliquelan, and many others. 
The parliament stated to have been con- 
vened in Dublin was adjourned in the month 
of May, 1416, to Trim, where it sat for 
seven days, and granted to the king a sub- 
sidy of four hundred marks of silver. 

Nicholas Fleming was appointed to the 
archbishopric of Armagh by Pope Boniface 
IX., and consecrated on the 1st of May, 
1404.* He drew up some provincial sta- 
tutes, which are still extant. His death is 
said to have occurred about this time. He 
was interred in the church of St. Peter at 
Drogheda ; and was succeeded by John 
Swayn. 

Thomas Crawley died in 1417, at Farin- 
don, in England, aged eighty years ; and 
was buried at Oxford, in the new college, 
of which he had been the first warden.f 
According to Leland and Marleburgh, he 
was a man of singular merit. He was chan- 
cellor of Ireland under Henry IV., and lord- 
justice under Henry V. His successor in 
the see of Dublin was Richard Talbot. 

The king of England, who was still carry- 
ing on war with France, applied to his sub- 
jects in Ireland for assistance, and the prior 
of Kilmainham was dispatched with an 
army of 1600 men, who landed at Harfieur, 
in Normandy, where they rendered him 
important services. 

In the council of England it was decreed 
that the possessions of every archbishop, 
bishop, abbot, or prior in Ireland, should 
be seized, who would present to, or confer on 
the Irish rebels, any benefice, or would in- 
troduce them among the English at any 
parliament, council, or other assembly of the 
kingdom. All governors, too, were forbid- 
den to confirm such benefices, or to grant 
any dispensation for possessing them, under 
pain of having them annulled. 

Some complaints having been made to the 
lord-lieutenant against Henry Cruce and 
Henry Betagh, two noblemen of Meath, he 
caused their lands to be laid waste, and their 
tenantry plundered. The earl of Kildare, 
Sir Christopher Preston, and Sir John Bed- 
lew, were arrested at this time at Slane : they 
were removed to Trim, and confined in the 
castle of that town, on account of a misun- 
derstanding which had arisen between them 
and the prior of Kilmainham, a. d. 1418. 

The treaties which were so frequently made 

* War. de Praesul. Ardmach. 
t War. de Arch. Dub. 



between the Irish and English, were as often 
violated ; the desire of increasing their pos- 
sessions causing the latter constantly to en- 
croach upon the properties of their neigh- 
bors. The Irish, indeed, enjoyed no pro- 
tection from the laws, but were looked upon, 
not as subjects, but as strangers and enemies, 
in the land which had given them birth. They 
were continually exposed to the unjust ag- 
gression of their adversaries, and therefore 
forced to violate their engagements, and 
break out into rebellion ; their last and only 
resources being pillage and rapine. Under 
such circumstances it was that O'Tool en- 
tered the lands of Ballimore in 1419, where 
he obtained considerable booty, and carried 
oft" four hundred head of cattle. This enter- 
prise, which was looked upon by the Eng- 
lish as a breach of public faith, alarmed them 
greatly. Troops were marched ; M'Mor- 
rough, chief of the people of Leinster, was 
arrested ; and towards the end of May, the 
lord-lieutenant, accompanied by the arch- 
bishop and mayor of Dublin, had the castle 
of Kenini razed to the ground. William 
Burke, too, at the head of an English cohort 
in Connaught, put five hundred Irishmen to 
the sword, and made O'Kelly prisoner. After 
these expeditions, John Talbot, lord-lieu- 
tenant of Ireland, returned to England, load- 
ed with the curses of his creditors, to whom 
he was indebted for the common necessaries 
of life. His brother, Richard Talbot, arch- 
bishop of Dublin, was appointed deputy in 
his place.* 

The deputy convened a parliament at Naas, 
in the county of Kildare, which granted to 
the king a subsidy of three hundred marks. 
Thomas Butler, prior of Kilmainham, died in 
Normandy, whither he had been sent at the 
head of sixteen hundred men to the assistance 
of Henry. John Fitzhenry was nominated 
prior in his stead, who enjoyed the dignity 
for only a short time. He was succeeded by 
WilliamFitzthomas. The archbishop of Dub- 
lin made a sally on the Irish, thirty of whom 
he killed in an engagement at Rodiston. 

In the month of April, a. d. 1420, James 
Butler, earl of Ormond, landed at Waterford 
as lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He was the 
cause of a duel between two of his relatives, 
one of whom was killed upon the spot, and 
the other being dangerously wounded, was 
removed to Kilkenny. This earl held a coun- 
cil in Dublin, in the month of April, in which 
it was ordained that a parliament should be 
convened for the month of June. In the 
mean time, he exacted contributions from 
O'Reilly, M'Mahon, and Maguire. The par- 

* Davis, Hist. Relat. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



3G1 



liament met on the 7th of June, and sat for 
sixteen days ; when, having granted the king 
a subsidy of seven hundred marks, it was 
adjourned to the month of December. In 
this second session, which continued but for 
thirteen days, the king was allowed three 
hundred marks, and an arrangement was also 
made to pay the debts of John Talbot, late 
lord-lieutenant. The parliament was again 
prorogued to the month of April. 

James, earl of Desmond, had a convent 
built for Franciscan friars at Asketin, a small 
village on the river Delle, in the county of 
Limerick, where this earl had his castle. 
Wadding and Ware differ about the founda- 
tion of this convent ; the former says it was 
in 1589, and the latter affirms that it was 
in 1420. 

The castle of Colmolin surrendered to 
Thomas Fitzgerald on the 28th of October, 
1421. The parliament having met in the 
month of April, it was decreed that the arch- 
bishop of Armagh, Sir Christopher Preston, 
and others, should be deputed as an embassy 
to the king to solicit a reformation in the 
government of Ireland. John Gese, bishop 
of Lismore and Waterford, presented to this 
parliament several accusations against Rich- 
ard O'Hedian, archbishop of Cashel. They 
were reduced to thirty articles, the principal 
of which were, that this prelate directed all 
his attention to the Irish, that he disliked the 
English, that he conferred no livings on them, 
that he inspired the other bishops with the 
same sentiments, that he forged the seal and 
letters patent of the king of England, that he 
assumed the dignity of king of Munster, &c. 
It is, however, likely that the well-established 
reputation of the prelate of Cashel, who was 
considered an exemplary man, caused these 
accusations to be looked on as calumnies, as 
no further mention has been made of them. 
Another petition was sent before the parlia- 
ment, respecting Adam Payn, bishop of 
Cloyne, who wished to unite another see with 
his own : but that tribunal was too prudent 
to interfere with matters belonging to the 
church. It was forwarded therefore to the 
court of Rome, and the parliament continued 
their sitting for eighteen days more. The 
O'Morras attacked the people of the earl of 
Ormond, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, near the 
monastery of Leix ; and twenty-seven Eng- 
lishmen of distinction lost their lives in the en- 
counter, the chiefs of whom were Purcell and 
Grant ; eighteen others were made prisoners. 
The remainder of this little army, amounting 
to two hundred, fled into the abbey of Leix. 
M'Mahon, of Ulster, at the same time burn- 
ed and plundered the country of Orgiel. 



The earl of Ormond, in order to be re- 
venged for the murder of his people, entered 
the estates of Morra with a powerful army, in 
the month of June, and put all he met to the 
sword, without regard to either age or sex, 
and compelled the remainder to beg for peace. 
He retook also the castle of Ley, which 
O'Dempsy had taken from the earl of Kil- 
dare, and restored it to the latter.* 

Mention is made at this time of Henry of 
Marleburgh, an English priest and rector of 
the church of Ballyscaddan, in the diocese of 
Dublin. Posterity is indebted to this ecclesi- 
astic for the benefit he has conferred on them 
in leaving behind him a part of the annals of 
Ireland, brought down by him to 1 42 1 . Cam- 
den has subjoined to his Britannia an extract 
from them, at foot of the annals of Pembrige. 
The style of the extracts is not elegant ; but as 
history is available for authors of every age, 
and is important to their undertakings, those 
annals have largely benefited Hammer, Ware, 
Cox, and others who have written upon the af- 
fairs of Ireland from the middle of the twelfth 
to the beginning of the fifteenth century. t 

During all this period, Henry V. was vic- 
torious in France. Upon his marriage with 
Catherine of Valois, he was declared heir to 
its crown, and successor to Charles VI., to 
the prejudice of the dauphin, who, however, 
had afterwards the glory of retaking almost 
the whole of his kingdom from the English. 
Henry did not live long afterwards. He died 
at Vincennes, near Paris, a. d. 1422, and left 
the regency of France to his brother, the duke 
of Bedford, and the government of England 
to his second brother, Humphrey, duke of 
Gloucester. Among the good qualities as- 
cribed to this prince, it is said that he loved 
ecclesiastics as much as he did his soldiers, 
from which circumstance the name of prince 
of priests was given him,| a name which 
strengthens the opinion that historians give 
of his piety ; for the enemies of religion 
always strive to make the ministers of it ob- 
jects of contempt. It must be admitted, not- 
withstanding the good qualities which many 
of the kings of England possessed, that they 
ended generally with some act of barbarous 
inhumanity. An example of this kind is dis- 
covered in the conduct of Henry while he was 
besieging Montereau, that still held out for 
the dauphin. In order to inspire terror into 
the commander of the place, he caused to be 
hanged, in view of it, twelve French gentle- 
men of the first rank, who happened to be 



* Baker's Chronicles of England. 

t Ware's Annals of Ireland. 

t Baker's Chronicles of England. 



362 

prisoners in his camp, an action by which 
public faith was violated, and which would be 
unpardonable in the most barbarous princes. 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Henry VI., surnamed of Windsor, the 
place of his birth, was only son of Henry 
V. and of Catherine of Valois. He was but 
eight months old when he succeeded to the 
crown of his father, and was afterwards 
proclaimed at Paris as king of France ; but 
he lost both crowns in the end. 

The earl of Ormond was continued in 
quality of lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The 
House of Commons had a petition presented 
to the king, informing him of the tumults 
which the Irish were guilty of in England.* 
These were men of English origin who had 
been established in Ireland, and who, in or- 
der to get clear of the tyranny and oppression 
of their leaders, abandoned their possessions 
and returned to the land of their fathers, 
where necessity foreed them to commit mur- 
ders, robbery, and other crimes. In conse- 
quence of the above petition, it was decreed 
that all those who were born in Ireland 
should be obliged to quit England within a 
limited time, except the graduates of univer- 
sities, ecclesiastics who were provided with 
benefices, or such as possessed lands where 
they were established, and whose fathers and 
mothers were born in England. 

Edmund Mortimer, earl of March and 
Ulster, who succeeded the earl of Ormond 
in quality of lord-lieutenant, died soon after 
in his castle of Trim. He was succeeded 
by Lord John Talbot, a. d. 1425. In his time 
the Barretts, a considerable tribe near Cork, 
bound themselves by a legal covenant to 
yield obedience to the earl of Ormond, who 
was at the time a powerful lord in Munster. 

At Dunmore, in the county Galway, a 
monastery was founded by the Berming- 
hams, barons of Athenry, for hermits of St 
Augustin. The registries of their order 
mention it to have been built in 1425. 

Talbot's time of acting as lord-lieutenant 
having terminated, the government devolved 
on the earl of Ormond, 1426. At this period, 
the duke of Bedford appropriated to himself, 
by letters patent, all the gold and silver 
mines of Ireland, and the other domains 
belonging to the king, undertaking to pay a 
tenth part to the church, a fifteenth to the 

* Rot. Pari, iii Castro Dubliniens. 



king, and a fifteenth to the owners of the 
estates where they might be discovered. 

Sir John Gray was appointed lord-lieu- 
tenant of Ireland, a. d. 1427. He landed at 
Howth in the month of July, and took the 
oath of office the next day, but the particulars 
of his administration are not known. He re- 
turned to England in 1428, having appoint- 
ed Edward Dantzy, bishop of Meath, his 
deputy. This prelate, who was treasurer 
of Ireland at one time, died in the month of 
January. John Sutton, Lord Dudley, his 
successor as deputy, had a parliament called 
together, by which regulations for juries to 
investigate criminal prosecutions were es- 
tablished, a. d. 1429. ' After this he returned 
to England, having named Thomas Strange 
as his deputy, 1432. Sir Thomas Stanley 
was appointed lord-lieutenant after Sutton : 
and Sir Christopher Plunket, and Richard 
Talbot the archbishop of Dublin, were suc- 
cessively his deputies. The troops of Meath 
and Uriel were collected by Stanley, to im- 
pede the further incursions of the Irish upon 
the English province : and both armies met 
on Michaelmas day, 1435, when the Irish 
were defeated, with a loss of many lives, 
and Niall O'Donnell was made prisoner. 
John Batterley, an English theologian and 
Dominican, was bishop of Tuam till 1436 ; 
he was a learned man, and eminent for his 
preaching.* He is said to have been the 
writer of many works, which are now lost. 
Thomas O'Kelly succeeded him in the see 
of Tuam. This bishop, who had been in 
the see of Clonfert, gave the parish church 
of Clonkeen-Kerrill, county Galway, to the 
monks of the third order of Franciscans, 
where they became established. 

After Stanley, the government was given 
to Lion, lord Wells. The law which com- 
pelled the Irish to return to their own coun- 
try, was renewed in England ; and it was 
prohibited to all of the king's subjects in 
Ireland to emigrate to England, a. d. 1438. 

Robert Fitz-Geoffry Cogan having no 
heir to succeed him in his estates, which 
comprised half the kingdom of Cork, made 
them over to James, earl of Desmond, and 
gave him a letter of attorney to put him in 
possession, notwithstanding the pretensions 
of De Carew and De Courcy, who were 
unable to oppose that nobleman, he being 
too powerful for them at that time. 

John Swayn, rector of the church of Gal- 
trim, county Meath, was consecrated at Rome 
as archbishop of Armagh, in the month of 
February, 1417. He was sent, in 1421, by 

* War. de PrresuL Tuameus. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



363 



the parliament, with the Chevalier Preston 
to England, to inform Henry V. of the state 
of Ireland, and to seek a reform of the abuses 
that prevailed there. This prelate, broken 
down by age, resigned the see of Armagh 
in 1439, after governing it for twenty years, 
and retired to Drogheda, where he died soon 
afterwards. He was succeeded in the see of 
Armagh by John Prene. Richard Talbot, 
archbishop of Dublin, was appointed a second 
time lord-chief-justice of Ireland, a. d. 1440. 
He had a parliament convened, by which a 
law was made that neither purveyors nor 
victuallers should take provisions without 
paying for them, the proprietors, in such 
cases, being permitted to resist them. By 
the same parliament it was made high trea- 
son to harbor robbers, or impose the main- 
tenance of the troops upon any of the king's 
subjects without their consent ; and to ob- 
viate abuses that might arise from this enact- 
ment, the parliament made a law that pro- 
visions should be provided for the troops, 
and that every proprietor of land, who paid 
an annual rent of twenty pounds sterling, 
should furnish and maintain for the Icing's 
use an archer and his horse. 

Richard O'Hedian, archdeacon of Cashel, 
was consecrated archbishop of that see in 
1496, and was put in possession of its reve- 
nues two years afterwards. This prelate, 
finding no place where to lay his head, (as 
he expresses himself in the roll of the reve- 
nues of that church,*) demanded back the 
lands belonging to the archbishopric, which 
were neglected by his predecessor, and 
usurped by strangers. He had a house built 
for the vicars of the choir, and gave them 
the two small farms of Grange-Connel, and 
Baon-Thurlis-Beg, to increase their income. 
He also rebuilt some archiepiscopal houses, 
and re-established the cathedral church of 
St. Patrick. This prelate died at an ad- 
vanced age, in the month of July, 1440, 
and was succeeded, after a vacancy of ten 
years, by John Cantwell. A convent for 
Franciscan friars was founded at this time, 
at Irrialagh, on the borders of lake Lane, in 
the county of Kerry, by Domnal M'Carty, 
lord of that district. 

The see of Tuam was held in 1438, by 
Thomas O'Kelly, bishop of Clonfert, who 
was placed there by the authority of the 
pope. The annals of the monastery of the 
isle of All Saints, say he was as celebrated 
for his piety as his liberality. Having 
governed his see for three years, he died in 
1441. His successor's name was John. 



James, earl of Ormond, governed Ireland 
for some time as lord-lieutenant ; and was 
afterwards deputy in place of Lion, Lord 
Wells, who was appointed by the court of 
England to the office of lord-lieutenant. 
While this earl was in office, he obtained the 
revenues of the see of Cashel for ten years, 
after the death of the archbishop, Richard 
O'Hedian. Ware assigns no reason for the 
long vacancy of that see. It must have 
arisen from some division concerning the 
choice of a prelate, or from a desire to 
reward the earl with its revenues. However 
this be, the lord-lieutenant nominated his 
brother, William Wells, deputy, in room of 
Ormond, a. d. 1442. The new deputy held 
a parliament in Dublin, in which Richard 
Talbot, archbishop of that city, and John 
White, abbot of the abbey of St. Mary, 
were appointed commissioners to go and 
represent to the king the wretched state of 
affairs in Ireland : and that by an unwise 
administration, the expenses of preserving 
that country to the crown of England ex- 
ceeded its revenues by fourteen hundred 
and fifty-six pounds a year. 

James, earl of Ormond, was once more 
appointed lord-lieutenant, a. d. 1443. He 
obtained leave of absence from the court, 
without being subject to pay the fine decreed 
against absentees by a statute of Richard 
II. By the orders of the king he dismissed 
John Cornwalsh, who filled the office of 
chief-baron, and conferred it on Michael 
Griffin. 

John Prene, archbishop of Armagh, hav- 
ing governed that see for about four years, 
died in his house at Termon-Fechin, where 
he was interred in the church of St. Fechin, 
and succeeded in the diocese of Armagh by 
John Mey. 

At Kilcarbain, in the county of Galway, 
a convent for monks of the third order of 
St. Francis, was built by Thomas Burke, 
bishop of Clonfert, who granted to that 
order the chapel of Kilcarbain, which do- 
nation was confirmed by Pope Eugene IV. 
in 1444.* 

Opposite interests gave rise at this time 
to jealousy and mutual hatred between the 
Butlers and Talbots. They became incensed 
against each other to the highest pitch, and 
both public justice, and the public themselves, 
were affected by their discords. In the mean 
time, James, earl of Desmond, who had taken 
part with the Butlers, obtained the govern- 
ment of Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and 
Kerry, by letters patent. In order to reward 



* " On his arrival he had not a single place * War. de Antiq. Hib. Alleraand, Hist. Monast. 
where he could rest himself." I d'Irlande. 



364 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



his services for preserving peace in these 
districts, he got permission to absent himself 
from every subsequent parliament, by send- 
ing a proxy to represent him, and was per- 
mitted to purchase all the lands he should 
think proper, and of what quality soever they 
might be. The faction of the T abbots, how- 
ever, gained ground among the people, not- 
withstanding the influence of the Butlers ; 
and a petition, signed by several lords, was 
sent to the king, praying that the lord-lieu- 
tenant might be recalled. He was repre- 
sented as a man overcome with age and in- 
firmity, and incapable of preserving the royal 
possessions in Ireland, much more of increas- 
ing them. He was also accused of having con- 
ferred the title of knighthood on some Irish- 
men who had been attached to him, and who 
seconded his views ; of having exonerated 
certain noblemen, on paying sums of money, 
from attending their place in parliament ; 
and of having confined the king's subjects in 
the castle of O'Dempsy, in order to extort 
money from them for their ranson. 

It is probable that these complaints were 
attended to by the court, as the office of lord- 
lieutenant of Ireland was conferred on John 
Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, a. d. 1446. The 
king granted to this nobleman the town and 
county of Waterford, with the title of earl 
of Waterford, the royal franchises, and the 
droit d'.aubaine, (or right of inheriting the 
personal property of aliens at their death,) 
in the districts along the coast, as far as 
Youghal. 

The lord-lieutenant held a parliament at 
Trim, on the Friday after Epiphany, in 
1447, in which several laws were enacted, 
among others, that all officers might travel 
in Ireland, without meeting with any inter- 
ruption ; that no tax should be levied on 
merchandise or provisions, except in towns, 
under pain of paying twenty shillings for 
every penny ; that the men should shave the 
upper lip, under pain of being considered 
among the Irish enemy ; that an Irish homi- 
cide, or robber, though naturalized, might 
be looked upon as an enemy, and conse- 
quently, be put to death ; and that the sons 
of laborers should be forced to follow the 
profession of their fathers. A law was also 
made against false coin, and the coin of 
O'Reilly, (by which it would appear that 
this nobleman had money coined.) This 
law also referred to the gilding of harness 
and armor, the use of which was pro- 
hibited. 

The lord-lieutenant having settled his 
affairs in Ireland, appointed his brother, 
Richard Talbot, archbishop of Dublin, his 



deputy, and returned to England, where he 
accused the earl of Ormond of high treason, 
in presence of the duke of Bedford, constable 
of England ; but the king caused the accu- 
sation to be suppressed. At this time, the 
deputy published a tract in Latin, in Dublin, 
on the abuses of the government during the 
carl of Ormond's administration : " De abusu 
regiminis Jacobi Comitis OrmonditE, dum 
Hibernice esset locum tenens." It appears 
that Thomas Fitzthomas, prior of Kilmain- 
ham, was among the number of the earl of 
Ormond's enemies, being one of those who 
accused him of treason : and that, in conse- 
quence, a duel, which was the established 
mode of deciding quarrels at that time, was 
to have been fought between them at Smith- 
field, in London, but the king having inter- 
posed his authority, it did not take place. 

Hitherto the English had been acting on 
the defensive in Ireland, and only carried on 
war along their frontiers ; their army was 
poorly provided, and more a burden to their 
countrymen there, who were oppressed by 
maintaining them, than formidable to the 
enemy by their military achievements. It 
was therefore thought necessary to send 
over as a commander, a man of some ce- 
lebrity, and Richard, duke of York, earl of 
March and Rutland, and heir to the crown 
of England, whose son reigned afterwards 
under the name of Edward IV., was con- 
sidered the fittest person for this office. In- 
dependently of his great talents, he owned 
large estates in the country ; he was earl of 
Ulster and Cork, lord of Connaught, Clare, 
Trim, and a considerable part of the county 
Meath. It was an- act of policy too in the 
cardinal of Winchester, who was then at the 
head of affairs in England, to give the gov- 
ernment of Ireland to the duke of York, 
and thus to deprive him of the regency of 
France, as he had thereby an opportunity of 
gratifying his friend, the duke of Somerset. 
The duke being appointed lord-lieutenant, 
landed at Howth, near Dublin, in the month 
of July, 1449 ; but as he saw clearly into 
the views of those who had sent him to Ire- 
land, he accepted of it on flattering conditions 
only, viz., that he should continue in office 
for ten years ; that in order to support his 
dignity, he should have the receipt of all the 
revenues of his province, both regular and 
casual, without being obliged to render an 
account of them ; that he should be supplied 
with money from England, as follows : four 
thousand marks for the first year, two thou- 
sand pounds of which should be paid in ad- 
vance, and for the remainder of the time two 
thousand pounds a year ; that he should be 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



365 



permitted to let the king's lands as farms ; 
to appoint and dismiss all officers at his will ; 
to raise what number of troops he should 
think proper, and to appoint a deputy when 
he pleased, and return to England. 

It does not appear that the duke of York 
brought many troops with him from England, 
or that he supported any in Ireland, as the 
money which had been promised him was 
too trifling, and too irregularly paid, as may 
be inferred from his letters to the earl of 
Salisbury on this subject, and particularly 
from that which he wrote to the earl of 
Shrewsbury, quoted by Campion,* according 
to the original, which he obtained through 
Sir Henry Sidney, lord-deputy of Ireland 
under Queen Elizabeth. The style of this 
letter is very different from that of the pre- 
sent day, and merits well the attention of 
every reader, from its peculiar and very 
singular construction. The following copy 
is taken from Campion's history, in the 
Mazarine library in Paris, where it can be 
verified : 

" Right worshipful, and with all my heart, 
entirely beloved brother, I commend mee 
unto you as heartily as I can. 

" Ande like it you to wit, that sith I wrote 
last unto the king our soveraigne lord his 
highnes, the Irish enemy, that is to say, 
Macgeoghegan, and with him three or foure 
Irish captaines, associate with a great fel- 
lowship of English rebells, notwithstanding 
that they were within the king our Sove- 
raigne lord his power, of great malice, and 
against all truth, have maligned against their 
legiance, and vengeably have brent a great 
town of my inheritance, in Meth, called Ra- 
more, and other villages thereabouts, and 
murdered and burnt both men, women, and 
children without mercy, the which enemies 
be yet assembled in woods and forts, wayting 
to doe the hurt and grievance to the lung's 
subjects, that they can thinke or imagine, for 
which cause I write at this time to the king's 
highnes, and beseech his good grace for to 
hasten my payment for this land, according 
to his letters of warrant, now late directed 
unto the treasurer of England to the intent 
I may wage men in sufficient number, for 
to resist the malice of the same enemys, and 
punish them in such wyse, that other which 
would doe the same, for lack of resistance 
in time, may take example, for doubtlesse 
but if my payment be had, in all haste, for 
to have men of war in defence and safeguard 
of this lande, my power cannot stretch to 
keepe it in the king's obeysance, and very 
necessity will compell me to come into Eng- 

* History of Ireland, page 99. 



land to live there, upon my poore livelode, 
for I had lever be dead, than any inconve- 
nience should fall thereunto in my default, 
for it shall never be chronicled, nor remain 
in scripture, by the grace of God, thai Ire- 
land was lost by my negligence ; and there- 
fore I beseech you, right worshipful brother, 
that you will hold to your hands instantly, 
that my payment may be had at this time, 
in eschuing all inconveniences, for I have 
example in other places, more pity it is to 
dread shame, and for to acquite my truth 
unto the king's highnes, as my dutie is, and 
this I pray and exhort you, good brother, 
to shew unto his good grace, and that you 
will be so good, that this language may be 
enacted at this present parliament for my 
excuse in time to come, and that you will be 
good to my servant Roger Roe, the bearer 
hereof, &c. 

Written at Divelin, the 15th Juin. 
Your faithful true brother, 

Richard York." 

Richard Talbot, archbishop of Dublin, 
brother of John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, 
so well known in history for his military 
exploits, died this year, having held that see 
for thirty-two years, and was interred in the 
cathedral of St. Patrick. This prelate es- 
tablished six half prebendaries, and six cho- 
risters in that church,* and also a chantry 
in St. Michael's chapel, which he made a 
parish church. He was appointed to the 
archbishopric of Armagh by the dean and 
chapter, which he refused ; he belonged to 
the privy council of both Henry V. and VI. ; 
had been twice lord-justice of Ireland, and 
once chancellor. His successor in the see 
of Dublin was Michael Tregury. 

Although the duke of York, on coming 
to Ireland, found affairs there in a very bad 
condition, both from the wicked administra- 
tion of those in office, and the frequent at- 
tacks which the king's subjects met with 
from the Irish, as we have already seen by 
this prince's letter to the earl of Shrewsbury ; 
and though he was never able to force Mac- 
geoghegan and his followers into their en- 
trenchments ; still, by his skill, rather than 
by force of arms, this prince quelled, in a 
great measure, the disorders which existed 
in the country. He convened two parlia- 
ments ; one in Dublin in October, the other 
at Drogheda in April ; in which several laws 
were enacted relative to good order and the 
government of the state, and a fine was de- 
creed against the bishops of Leighlin,Ossory, 
Down, and Limerick, for not having attend- 
ed the parliament held in Dublin. 

* War. de Archiepisc. Dubliniens. 



366 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Campion, page 94, gives the copy of a 
letter oi' complaint from the inhabitants of 
the county of Cork to the earl of Rutland 
and York, in which they represent their mis- 
fortunes as the necessary consequence of the 
civil wars which were continually breaking 
out between the noblemen of the kingdom, 
whereby the king's subjects were in danger 
of losing their possessions, as the weaker 
party were obliged to call in to their assist- 
ance the Irish, who had been driven out. 
and the latter were becoming powerful in 
the country, of which they already owned 
the greater part. In this letter we find a 
list of the principal noblemen in the district, 
and their incomes ; they were as follows : 
Carew of Dorzy-Haven, Barnewall of Beer 
Haven, Uggan, Balram of Emforte, Courcy 
of Kilbrehon, Mandevil of Barnhely, Sley 
nie of Baltimore, Roche of Pool Castle, 
Barry, and others ; it also adds, that Cour- 
cy, Roche, and Barry alone still enjoyed 
some portion of the possessions of their an 
cestors.* This letter ends by entreating 
the viceroy to visit the country himself, or 
to send thither persons capable of checking 
these disorders ; as, if a remedy were not 
applied, the petitioners would be constrain- 
ed to lay their complaints at the foot of the 
throne. 

At this time the duke of York had a son 
born in Dublin, to whom the earls of Or 
mond and Desmond stood sponsors ; he was 
afterwards known by the name of George 
duke of Clarence. 

Many religious houses were founded in 
this century in Ireland, though the dates of 
their foundation are unknown. The con- 
vents built for the Franciscans were, Kil- 
michael, inWestmeath, by the Petits ; Bali- 
nesagard, in the district of Annaly, now 
Longford, by the O'Ferralls ; and Holy- 
Wood, or Sacro-Bosco, by the Audsleys. 
These three were of the third order. The 
O'Donnels, princes of Tirconnel, founded 
two houses for the same order : one at Kil- 
macrenan, near Donegal, for Franciscan 
friars ; the other at Magheri-Beg, in the 
same country, for the third order. Conn 
O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, built a house at 
Dungannon, for this order also. Ware men- 
tions a convent of Franciscans, founded 
at Ballimacsweeny, in Tirconnel, by one 
M'Sweeny, lord of the district. The Dowels 
founded a convent for Dominicans at Tuilsk, 
in Roscommon. A convent was founded at 
Morisk, at the foot of Mount St. Patrick, for 



* They might with more truth be called the 
usurpations of their ancestors. 



Augustin hermits, by the O'Maileys, lords 
of Umaille, in the county of Mayo. A con- 
vent for Carmelites was built at Rathmullian, 
in the district of Donegal, by M'Sweeny, 
lord of Fanid ; and another at Kaltragh, in 
the county of Galway, by the Berminghams, 
barons of Athenry. 

During the duke of York's administra- 
tion in Ireland, he was always mindful of 
the interests of the English in that country ; 
he quelled the disturbances that prevailed, 
and had castles built on the frontiers of 
Meath, Louth, and Kildare, to check the 
incursions of the Irish. So great was the 
esteem in which he was held by his coun- 
trymen in Ireland, that several followed him 
to England, to support his claims to the 
crown. 

The duke of York having returned to 
England in 1451, appointed the earl of Or- 
mond his deputy in Ireland, Sir John Talbot 
being made chancellor at the same time. 
Ormond was afterwards appointed lord-lieu- 
tenant, and went immediately to England, 
leaving the government of Ireland to John 
Mey, archbishop of Armagh, as deputy, a. d. 
1453, which displeased the court, and the 
earl was ordered to return, as the presence 
of a military governor was requisite in the 
country, to impede the progress of the rebel 
Irish, who were continually making inroads 
on the English province. Ormond's affairs, 
however, not allowing him to leave England, 
the earl of Kildare was intrusted with the 
government, a. d. 1454, till the arrival of 
Sir Edward Fitzeustace, who was made 
deputy to the duke of York. He held a 
parliament in Dublin, in which several laws 
were enacted respecting the abuses that 
were creeping into the government. 

The duke of York beheld with mortifica- 
tion his enemy, the duke of Somerset, in the 
highest favor at the court of England. He 
presented several petitions to the king, 
against him and Suffolk ; but his remon- 
strances made no impression on this weak 
prince, who was more fitted for the cloister 
than the throne, and who had given himself 
up to the control of his queen, Margaret, 
daughter of the titular kingof Naples and Sici- 
ly. Margaretwas a woman possessed of more 
resolution and of superior mind to her sex in 
general ; and finding the king imbecile and 
unfit to govern, aided by Somerset, and others 
of her party, she undertook the administra- 
tion of the kingdom. It was not the greatness 
of Somerset that gave umbrage to the duke 
of York. This prince, who was well aware 
of his own right to the throne, had already 
formed the design of restoring his family on 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



367 



the ruins of the house of Lancaster, to which 
Somerset was hound by the ties of blood and 
interest. In order to remove this obstacle, 
the duke consulted his friends, among whom 
were the earl of Warwick, and his son, the 
earl of Salisbury. These noblemen having 
formed their plans, thought proper to supply 
the deficiency of remonstrance by force of 
arms, in order to effect the removal of So- 
merset. The duke of York accordingly 
caused troops to be levied in Wales, and the 
north of England, with whom he marched 
towards London ; and was met by the king, 
queen, and Somerset, at the head of an army 
at St. Alban's, where the first blood was shed 
in the quarrel of the two Roses, a. d. 1455. 
Henry's army was defeated, and Somerset, 
who was the nominal cause of the war, with 
the earls of Northumberland and Stafford, 
found among the slain ; the number of whom 
amounted to five thousand men. Henry was 
made prisoner, but treated with every re- 
spect, and led in triumph to London, by 
York and Warwick. They there obliged 
him to convene a parliament, in which the 
duke of York was declared guardian and 
protector of the kingdom. 

Thomas, earl of Kildare, was at that time 
deputy for the duke of York in Ireland. This 
nobleman, zealous forthe public welfare, con- 
vened the parliament twice in the city of Dub- 
lin, and once at Naas, in which regulations 
appertaining to the government were enacted. 

John Mey, judge of the episcopal court of 
Meath, was nominated in 1444, by Pope 
Eugene IV., to the archbishopric of Armagh. 
Having held that see for about twelve years, 
he died in 1456, and was succeeded by John 
Bole. About this time, John, surnamed by 
some de Burgo, archbishop of Tuam, died. 
The year of his death is not exactly known ; 
but we find that Donat O'Murry succeeded 
him, a. d. 1458. 

The army of the duke of York was consid- 
erably weakened by the retreat of Andrew 
Trollop, who commanded the Calesians, on 
the eve of a battle with the king, for which 
the prince had collected all his forces. He 
was therefore obliged to seek an asylum in 
Ireland : where he continued for some time, 
and through his deputy, the earl of Kildare, 
had a parliament assembled in Dublin, and 
subsequently at Drogheda. In the interval 
a parliament was convened at Coventry in 
England, where the duke was declared a 
traitor, together with his son, Edward earl of 
March, Richard earl of Salisbury, Richard 
earl of Warwick, the lord Clifford, and the 
other confederates ; and their estates and 
goods were all confiscated for the king's use. 



The earl of March sailed soon after from 
Calais, to invade England. He landed at 
Sandwich,and on his march to Northampton, 
his forces were increased every step they 
advanced, by additional friends. An engage- 
ment took place between them and the king's 
army, which lasted for two hours, and in 
which ten thousand troops were slain on 
both sides. King Henry was taken prisoner 
a second time ; and the queen and her son, 
the prince of Wales, saved themselves with 
difficulty. This new success raised the cou- 
rage of the duke of York, who was still in 
Ireland : and he set out immediately for 
London, where he caused a parliament to be 
convened in the king's name. He then ad- 
vanced his claim to the crown, and expatiated 
upon all that his family had undergone for 
the house of Lancaster. It was then agreed 
that Henry should wear the crown during his 
life, and that the duke should be his successor. 
The prince, though he now believed that his 
right was well established, thought that other 
battles were necessary to render it the more 
secure. Parliamentary decrees seemed to him 
of little avail, when unsupported by an army. 
The queen and the new duke of Somerset, 
who had withdrawn to Scotland after the 
battle of Northampton, were already on their 
march with a formidable army, composed of 
Scotch and northern English, amounting to 
about eighteen thousand men, to renew the 
war. The duke of York therefore, having 
committed the king to the care of the duke 
of Norfolk and the earl of Warwick, ad- 
vanced to meet the queen with an army much 
inferior in numbers, consisting only of five 
thousand men ; but placing too much reli- 
ance on the valor of his troops, and his good 
fortune, which had never yet forsaken him, 
he fell into an ambuscade in the plain of 
Wakefield, where he lost the victory and his 
life. The young earl of Rutland, his son, 
who was only twelve years old, strove to 
excite the pity of lord Clifford, by imploring 
him on his knees to spare his life : but was 
stabbed in the most inhuman manner by this 
barbarian, without any regard for either his 
birth, age, or tears. The earl of Salisbury 
was made prisoner, and afterwards beheaded: 
the duke of York was insulted even in his 
grave. By orders of the queen a paper 
diadem was placed upon his head, and it was 
thus exposed on a pole upon the walls of the 
city from which he had taken his title. 

Four religious houses of the order of St. 
Francis, were founded at this time in Ire- 
land ; namely, three for Franciscan friars, 
and one for Observantines. At Enniscorthy, 
on the river Slaney, in the county of Wex- 



36S 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



ford, a convent for conventual Franciscans 
was founded by Dornnal Cavanagh, lord of 
the country. At Inishircan, that is, the isle 
of Hircan, in the bay of Baltimore, there was 
a convent for Franciscans built by Florence 
O'Driscol, lord of the town of Ross, the 
island of Baltimore and Inishircan.* At 
Bantry, in the county of Cork, a convent for 
Franciscans was founded by O'Sullivan 
Beare, lord of that place. Nehimie O'Dono- 
choe built a convent at Moyen, at the mouth 
of the river Moy, in the county of Mayo, for 
Observantine friars, in which he took the 
habit, and became vicar-general of the order. 
There was also a house founded for Do- 
minicans at Glanore, in the county of Cork, 
by the Roches. 

The public revenue was very moderate at 
this time in Ireland, the whole kingdom 
being still in possession of the Irish, except 
the English province, and some towns on the 
coast of Ulster ; and the English were even 
obliged to pay tributes to the Irish, to pre- 
serve peace with them. Cox gives a list of 
these payments, which he calls scandalous, 
and of the districts which contributed their 
portions. The barony of Lecale paid 
O'Neill, of Clanneboy, twenty pounds a 
year ; the county of Uriel forty pounds to 
O'Neill ; the county of Meath sixty pounds to 
O'Connor ; the county of Kildare twenty 
pounds to O'Connor ; the exchequer paid 
eighty marks a year to M'Morrough ; the 
counties of Kilkenny and Tipperary forty 
pounds to O'Carroll ; the county of Limerick 
forty pounds to O'Brien ; and lastly, the 
county of Cork paid forty pounds to M'Carty 
of Muskerry. Cox complains bitterly of 
the Irish for taking advantage of the dis- 
turbances in England, and usurping exten- 
sive estates, as they had previously done 
under Richard II., and also, as he further 
observes, for holding, without any right, the 
greater part of Ulster, and many districts in 
Munster and Connaught.f 



*' The very ancient and noble family of the 
O'Driseols derives its origin from Ith, paternal un- 
cle of Milesius. In the division of lands by the 
children of Milesius in Ireland, after the conquest 
of this island, a territory then called Corkaluigh 
forming part of the country since called Carbry, 
near Ross and Baltimore, was assigned to Lughaid, 
son of Ith. His descendants afterwards took the 
name of O'Driscol. They supported themselves 
honorably in Carbry till the revolutions which 
took place under Elizabeth, and the war which the 
Irish carried on against that princess, in which the 
O'Driseols distinguished themselves in their coun. 
try's cause, 

t If we adopted the notions of English authors, 
we should be led to believe that the Anglo-Irish were 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

After the battle of Wakefield, in which 
Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, lost his 
life, the house of York seemed to have fallen 
for ever ; but Edward earl of March, who 
inherited his father's great qualities, as well 
as his claims to the throne, having assembled 
an army of twenty-three thousand men on 
the frontiers of Wales, came to an engage- 
ment with the king's forces, commanded by 
the earls of Pembroke and Ormond, at a 
place called Mortimer's Cross, near Ludlow.* 
The battle was bloody, and the victory for 
some time doubtful ; but at length the roy- 
alists took to flight, leaving three thousand 
eight hundred men dead upon the field of bat- 
tle, besides several prisoners, among whom 
was Owen Tudor, a Welsh nobleman, who 
had married queen Catherine, widow of 
Henry V., and mother of Henry VI., and 
who, by orders of the earl of March, was 
sacrificed to the manes of his father, the duke 
of York. After this action, the earl marched 
directly to London,where he was proclaimed 
king, under the name of Edward IV., in con- 
sequence of the act of parliament by which 
his father Richard had been declared suc- 
cessor to the throne. He was, however, forced 
to make good his title by the sword. Henry 
and Margaret had still a considerable army 
in the north of England, which Edward 
thought necessary to conquer before he as- 
sumed the crown. He marched therefore 
against them, and defeated his rival in the 
famous battle of Towton. . This battle, which 
lasted two days,was remarkable for the num- 
ber of men of rank who fell on both sides. 
The loss sustained by the two armies is said 
to have amounted to thirty-six thousand seven 
hundred and seventy-six men killed upon the 
spot ; the cause of this fearful carnage being 
a prohibition which Edward had issued 
throughout his camp the day before the action, 
neither to give nor ask for quarter, a. d. 1461. 
After this victory, Edward was crowned with 
great solemnity, on the 28th of June, at 
Westminster, under the name of Edward IV., 
and in November following, King Henry and 
his son, Edward, were declared to have lost 
all right or claim to the crown. 

the aborigines of Ireland. It would seem that the 
usurpation of the lands of others, was looked on as 
a virtue among these strangers, and that it was held 
a flagrant act of injustice for the ancient Irish to 
recover by arms part of what they had been so un- 
justly deprived of two or three centuries before. 

* Baker, Chron. War. de Annal. Hib. Higgin's 
Short View. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



369 



Thomas, earl of Kildare, was appointed 
by the council in Ireland to fill the office of 
lord-justice till the court should nominate a 
lord-lieutenant. 

The king make several promotions this 
year ; in England he created his brothers 
George and Richard dukes, the former of 
Clarence, the latter of Gloucester ;* in Ire- 
land he raised two persons to the rank of 
barons : namely, William St. Lawrence, 
lord-baron of Howth, in the county of Dub- 
lin, and Robert Barnwall, lord-baron of 
Trimlestown, in the county of Meath.f St. 
Lawrence was descended from Almeric 
Tristram, who, in 1177, had changed his 
name from Tristram to St. Lawrence, on 
account of a battle he gained against the 
Danes on St. Lawrence's day, having made 
a vow to transmit that name to his descend- 
ants, should he be victorious. 

George, duke of Clarence, the king's 
brother, was appointed lord-lieutenant of 
Ireland for life, a. d. 1462. Sir Rowland 
Fitzeustace was his first deputy, but was 
replaced by the earl of Desmond. The earl 
of Ormond was beheaded at Newcastle, and 
his family fell into disgrace during this reign 
for their attachment to the house of Lancas- 
ter. Mints were established in Dublin, 
Trim, Drogheda, Waterford, and Galway, 
for coining four-penny and two-penny pieces, 
&c. ; and it was decreed that English mo- 
ney should increase a quarter in value in 
Ireland, that is, that nine pence should pass 
for twelve, and so in proportion. This was 
the first time that any difference was made 
between Irish and English money. 

A convent for Franciscan friars was 
founded at Monaghan, in Ulster, this year, 
by Felim M'Mahon, a lord of the country.^ 
Edward White, an English nobleman, and a 
Protestant, having obtained this house after- 
wards from Queen Elizabeth, had it pulled 
down, and built a fine castle for himself 
from the materials. § We find also another 
convent dedicated to St. Michael, at Athenry, 
in the county of Galway, belonging to the 
Observantine monks. It was begun by an 
earl of Kildare, but completed by some other 
benefactors. 

The lord-lieutenant held a parliament, 
a. d. 1463 ; which was adjourned several 
times. Previously to its dissolution, the 
privileges of the members of parliament, 
for forty days before, and forty days after 
each session, were established ; the salaries 
of officers of justice regulated, and the value 

* Baker, Chron. England. 

t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. 

t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. 

§ Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande. 



of coin that was clipped or broken. He 
held a parliament at Trim, a. d. 1465, in 
which several statutes were enacted ; among 
others, that the Irish residing in the English 
province should dress in the English man- 
ner ; that they should take English names, 
and the oath of allegiance, under pain of 
having their properties confiscated ; that 
they should make use of the bow and arrow 
like the English ; that an under officer, 
called a constable, should be appointed in 
every borough ; that foreign vessels should 
be prevented from fishing on the coasts of 
the rebels, under pain of confiscation, and 
that those who did so on the coast of the 
English province, should pay a tax. 

At Kilcrea, in the county Cork, a convent 
for Franciscan friars was built about this 
time, by Cormac, son of Thadeus M'Carty, 
lord of the country, who was buried in it. 
A convent for the third order of St. Francis, 
was also founded at Glancarm, on the sea- 
shore, in the county of Antrim, by Robert 
Bisset, a Scotch nobleman. 

The earl of Desmond finding his influ- 
ence diminished with the king, was obliged 
to resign his place to John Tiptoft, earl of 
Worcester, treasurer and constable of Eng-' 
land, a. d. 1467. This new deputy, a learned 
and eloquent man, convened a parliament at 
Drogheda, in which it was enacted that the 
governor should have the liberty of travelling 
into the adjacent islands ; that no bulls 
should be bought at the court of Rome for 
the possession of livings ; that the pardon 
granted by the king to purveyors should be 
considered void ; that the courts of exchequer 
and common pleas should be removable at 
the will of the governor, on giving twenty- 
eight days' notice ; and that the earls of 
Desmond and Kildare, together with Edward 
Plunket, should be attainted of high treason, 
for having formed alliances with the hostile 
Irish, and supported them against the king's 
subjects, by providing them with arms and 
horses, in violation of the laws of the prince, 
and the statutes of the kingdom. In con- 
sequence of this act, Thomas Fitzjohn Fitz- 
gerald, earl of Desmond, was beheaded at 
Drogheda on the 15th of February. 

There is a diversity of opinions respecting 
the nature of the crime which led to the 
tragical end of the earl of Desmond.* It 
was most generally ascribed to the hatred 
which the queen, Elizabeth, had conceived 
against this nobleman, the cause of which 
must be explained. Afterthe victories gained 
at Towton and other places, over the house 

* Relafc Giraldinorum. 



370 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of Lancaster, Edward IV. had reason to 
consider himself in peaceful possession of 
the throne. He was one of the handsomest 
princes in Europe, and not insensible to the 
charms of the female sex ; and being at the 
time twenty-three years of age, it was pro- 
posed to him to marry, as necessary, both to 
preserve the house of York from becoming 
extinct, and to secure the crown in his own 
family. Warwick was accordingly sent to 
France, to negotiate a marriage between 
him and the Princess Bona, sister to the 
queen, and daughter to the duke of Savoy. 
The embassy was successful, and the pro- 
posal accepted ; but in the meanwhile, Ed- 
ward, forgetful of the engagement which 
Warwick had contracted in his name, sacri- 
ficed his honor to love, by marrying Eliza- 
beth Grey, widow of Sir John Grey, who 
had fought against him, and was killed in the 
battle of St. Alban's. This alliance, which 
drew upon Edward the contempt of foreign 
princes, and the hatred of many of his own 
subjects, was the cause of his subsequent 
misfortunes. The attachment of the earl of 
Desmond to the house of York having in 
duced him to serve in all the wars against 
the house of Lancaster, he became a favorite 
with Edward, who asked him one day, what 
the people thought of his marriage ? The 
earl took the liberty of telling him that it 
was universally disapproved of, on account 
of the great inequality in rank between him 
and the queen ; that a young king who had 
gained a crown by his arms, should have 
allied himself to some sovereign prince, who 
might be powerful to assist him in any emer- 
gency, and, in fine, that it would be prudent 
to repudiate Elizabeth, and marry one of his 
own station. This advice, which was more 
in accordance with human policy than 
Christian principles, was soon communicated 
to the queen. She resolved to take revenge, 
and the anger of an injured woman is impla- 
cable. She had at first recourse to secret 
measures, to injure the earl in the king's 
esteem ; and at length found means to affix 
the king's private seal to an order, which she 
sent to the earl of Worcester, at that time 
deputy in Ireland, to have Desmond be- 
headed ; an order which was put into exe- 
cution, to the great surprise of every Irish 
nobleman. The revolt of the five sons of 
Desmond, who flew to arms to revenge their 
father's death, obliged the king to examine 
into the affair : Worcester was recalled to 
England, where he was tried, and though he 
produced in his own defence, the order he 
had received, sealed with the king's seal, he 
was sacrificed to the manes of Desmond. 



By this act the king put a stop to the revolt 
of Desmond's sons, and in addition to his 
forgiveness, he conferred the palatinate of 
Kerry on James Fitzthomas, the earl's 
eldest son. He afterwards gave him the 
town and castle of Dungarvan, with special 
privileges, which were enjoyed by his de- 
scendants till the reign of Elizabeth. 

Cox endeavors to throw a doubt on this 
history of the earl of Desmond,* by saying 
that it is founded on a vulgar tradition. The 
English usually try to turn things to their 
own advantage, a disposition which is par- 
ticularly manifest in the writings of Cox. 
Though the earl of Desmond was of Eng- 
lish origin, he was not sufficiently English 
for the notions of this historian ; being one 
of those degenerate Englishmen who began 
to feel compassion for an unjustly oppressed 
people, whose properties they had usurped 
and kept possession of. 

The earl was more interested than any 
other person, says this historian, in con- 
demning the king's marriage with Elizabeth ; 
since if he had approved of it, he should 
also have sanctioned the marriage of his 
nephew Thomas, fifth earl of Desmond, with 
Catherine Ni- William M'Cormock ; that is, 
Catherine, daughter of William M'Cormock, 
his doing which, it appears, would militate 
against the title of earl, with which the uncle 
was invested, only after the forced resigna- 
tion of it by his nephew ; the latter having 
yielded it to his uncle to stop the persecu- 
tion of his family, who were displeased with 
his marriage, which they considered de- 
grading. In order, therefore, to secure the 
earldom, Desmond, the uncle, according to 
Cox, was induced to condemn the king's 
marriage, and consequently that of his own 
nephew. We easily perceive the forced 
construction which Cox puts upon the earl's 
conduct ; but what analogy is there between 
the marriage of a king and that of a private 
individual ? The unequal alliance made by 
the king of England affected the entire 
state, while the public welfare was in no 
manner affected by the marriage of the earl 
of Desmond. This earl's highest title was 
that of nobleman, and he allied himself to 
M'Cormock, who was a M'Carty, the an- 
cient proprietor of part of the extensive es- 
tates, which were at that time in possession 
of Desmond ; and whose alliance, though he 
had become his vassalf by the dreadful rev- 

* Hib. Anglic, ad an. 14G7. 

t Both at that time and subsequently we see an- 
cient proprietors forced to become the farmers of 
their own lands, and pay an annual rent for them 
to those who had usurped them. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



371 



olution which deprived him of his property, 
was not unworthy of him who possessed it 
unjustly. However this be, Cox ascribes 
the earl of Desmond's misfortune to the 
exaction of Coyn and Livery ; but there is 
no mention of this in the statute of the par 
liament of Drogheda, quoted by this author, 
in virtue of which he was convicted of high 
treason, with the earl of Kildare and Ed- 
ward Plunket. As this nobleman's fate, too 
differed from that of the others, it must have 
proceeded from another cause. 

In the month of February, the court grant- 
ed ten pounds sterling a-year to Edmund 
Butler, lord of Dunboyne, out of the confis- 
cated estates of the earl of Ormond, together 
with certain privileges, and the estate of 
Castle Richard, in the county of Meath, 
during life, for having made Conn O'Connor 
prisoner, and given him up to the deputy, 
and other services rendered by bim to the 
state. 

A convent for Franciscan friars was built 
in 1414, at Kilconnel, in the county of Gal- 
way, by William O'Kelly, lord of that coun- 
try. Wadding says that this convent was 
reformed by the Observantines in 1467. 

Thomas, earl of Kildare, having cleared 
himself of the crimes of which he had been 
accused in the parliament of Drogheda, was 
first appointed lord-justice of Ireland, and 
afterwards deputy to the duke of Clarence, 
a. d. 1468. He convened two parliaments, 
one at Drogheda and the other at Naas, in 
the county of Kildare, which was adjourned 
to Dublin. Regulations for trade and vari- 
ous other purposes were made in them. 

John Bole, abbot of our Lady of Navan, 
in the county of Meath, was promoted to the 
see of Armagh, which he governed for about 
thirteen years. After his death, which took 
place in 1470, this see remained vacant for 
four years, during which the temporal affairs 
belonging to it were attended to by Richard 
Lang, bishop of Kildare. Charles O'Mel- 
lan, dean of the cathedral of Armagh, wrote 
a letter to Pope Sixtus IV., in the name of 
the chapter, in which he requested that 
Richa"rd might be appointed their arch- 
bishop ; but this was refused by the pope, 
who nominated John Foxalls to the see. 
He, however, died in England the year 
after his consecration, without having seen 
his diocese, and was succeeded by Edmund 
Connesburgh. 

In 1471, the death of Michael Tregury, 
archbishop of Dublin, also occurred ; he 
was a man of profound erudition, and left 
several works quoted by Bale and Pitseus. 
He died at an advanced age, at Tawlaght, 



a country residence belonging to the pre- 
lates of this see. His body was removed 
to Dublin, and buried near St. Stephen's 
altar, in the cathedral of St. Patrick, where 
his tomb may still be seen with an inscrip- 
tion upon it. He was succeeded by John 
Walton. 

Some houses were founded at this time 
for Augustin hermits : one at Callan, in the 
county of Kilkenny, by the earls of Ormond ; 
another at Athdare, county of Limerick, by 
an earl of Kildare ; and two in the cities of 
Cork and Limerick, the founders of which 
are not known. Father Lubin places a 
convent of this order at Clonmine, in the 
diocese and county of Cork, which was built 
near the river Avon-More, on the estate of 
the O'Kelleghes, (in case he does not con- 
found Clonmine with Clomin, in the county 
Wexford, where, as we have already re- 
marked, there was a convent belonging to 
this order.) Ware places in 1473 the foun- 
dation of a house at Donegal, for the Ob- 
servantine monks, by Hugh Roe O'Donnel, 
prince of that country. According to this 
author, there was formerly a very fine library 
attached to it. 

At this time a military society was insti- 
tuted in Ireland, by a decree of parliament, 
for the defence of the English province. 
It was composed of thirteen members, of 
acknowledged honor and loyalty, in the 
counties of Kildare, Dublin, Meath, and 
Louth ; namely, three for each of the other 
counties, and four for Meath. In the ap- 
pointment of this society, Thomas earl of 
Kildare, Rowland Eustace lord of Pontles- 
ter, and Sir Rowland Eustace, were nomi- 
nated for the county of Kildare ; Robert 
baron of Howth, the mayor of Dublin, and 
Sir Robert Dowdal, for the county of Dub- 
lin ; Preston lord of Gormanstown, in the 
county of Meath, Edward Plunket, senes- 
chal, Alexander Plunket, and Barnaby 
Barnwell, for that of Meath ; the mayor of 
Drogheda, Sir Lawrence Taaf, and Richard 
Bellew, for the county of Louth. According 
to their regulations, the members were to 
meet every year in Dublin, on St. George's 
day, to appoint one of their number captain 
for the following year ; this captain was to 
have one hundred and twenty horse-archers, 
at six pence a day each for their maintenance 
and pay, besides forty horsemen, and the 
same number of pages, at five pence a day, 
and four marks a year ; whose duty was to 
arrest rebels, and those against whom war- 
rants would be issued. In order to support 
this corps, which consisted of two hundred 
men, the parliament granted twelve pence 



372 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



in the pound, as an import and export duty 
on merchandise. They enjoyed likewise 
the privilege of making rules for the good 
government of their society, and the election 
of a new member in cases of death. This 
was the origin of St. George's fraternity, 
which was suppressed in the tenth year of 
the reign of Henry VII. 

William Sherwood, bishop of Meath, was 
appointed deputy to the duke of Clarence 
in 1475. He held a parliament in Dublin, 
by which it was prohibited, under pain of 
treason, to send for bulls to Rome. 

The nobles were commanded to attend 
parliament in their robes, under pain of be- 
ing fined, and the barons of the exchequer 
to appear in court in their dresses of cere- 
mony. It was decreed that an Englishman 
should be allowed the rightofreprisal against 
the family or sept of an Irishman who was 
not subject to the laws, from whom he might 
have sustained any injury ; but it was pro- 
hibited, under pain of felony, to take by 
force any pledges in opposition to the com- 
mon law. George Nevil, duke of Bedford, 
was deprived this year, in England, of the 
dignity of duke, for not possessing sufficient 
property to support the title. 

The title of viscount, till now unknown 
in Ireland, was conferred at this time by the 
king of England on Sir Robert Preston, 
who was first made knight of the Garter 
in 1470.* He was baron of Naas, in the 
county of Kildare, in virtue of the marriage 
of one of his ancestors with the heiress of 
William Loundres ; and was created vis- 
count Gormanstown, in the county of Meath, 
in 1477. Roche, otherwise De la Roche, 
or De Rupe, lord of Fermoy, in the county 
of Cork, was created Viscount Fermoy the 
same year. 

The duke of Clarence had his deputies 
still in Ireland, a. d. 1478. Sherwood was 
succeeded in that office by Henry Grey, 
lord of Ruthen, who was succeeded by 
Robert Preston, the viscount of Gormans- 
town, and the latter by Gerald, earl of Kil- 
dare, who held a parliament at Naas, in 
which some regulations were made relative 
to the government. 

Edmond Connesburgh, archbishop of Ar- 
magh, resigned his see in 1479, and was 
succeeded by his coadjutor Octavianus de 
Palatio. 

At this time a convent was founded at 
Lislaghtin, in the county Kerry ; in all like- 
lihood the same that Wadding places in an 
island of the Shannon. This house was 

* Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. 



founded by John O'Connor, of the noble 
family of the O'Connors Kerry, for Obser- 
vantine monks. 

Richard, duke of York, the king's son, 
being appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, 
after George duke of Clarence, the earl of 
Kildare was continued in the office of deputy 
for four years, by a patent from him, sealed 
with the king's privy seal. This earl under- 
took to maintain peace and loyalty through- 
out the English province, on condition of 
being provided with one hundred and twenty 
horsemen, and six hundred pounds sterling a 
year for their support ; and in case that the 
Irish revenues were not equal to this, the 
English government was bound to supply 
the deficiency. This deputy held a parlia- 
ment which prohibited the exportation of 
birds of prey without paying a duty ; a de- 
cree was also published, prohibiting the in- 
habitants of the English province to hold any 
intercourse with the Irish. It was a singu- 
lar occurrence, that Conn O'Neill, who had 
married the deputy's daughter, was natural- 
ized by this parliament, in a country which 
had given birth to him and his ancestors for 
many centuries before. 

About this time John Cantwell, archbishop 
of Cashel, died. This prelate was professor 
of law, and a graduate of the university of 
Oxford. He governed his diocese with wis- 
dom. He held a synod at Limerick in 1453, 
the canons of which are still extant, and con- 
vened a second in 1480, at Fethard, com- 
posed of the bishops of his province. He 
had the Dominican convent repaired, and 
increased the revenues of the vicars of the 
choir of Cashel, where he ended his days in 
1482, and was succeeded by David Creagh. 

Such was the state of Ireland during the 
reign of Edward IV. The intestine commo- 
tions by which England was torn, not allow- 
ing him to extend his views to that country, 
its affairs were to a great extent neglected 
and abandoned to the feeble protection of the 
society of St. George. He had gained his 
crown by the sword, and maintained it by 
the frequent battles which he fought with the 
partisans of Henry VI. ; and was sometimes 
compelled to yield to superior force, and seek 
an asylum in foreign countries. Henry was 
at one time restored, and Edward declared a 
usurper by the parliament. The latter prince, 
however, again returned, aided by the duke 
of Burgundy and two thousand Dutchmen ; 
and joined by his faithful subjects, marched 
immediately to London, where he seized upon 
the unfortunate Henry, and sent him back to 
the tower. His right was now once more ac- 
knowledged by that parliament which, but six 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



373 



months before, had declared him a usurper ; 
facts which prove the instability and incon- 
sistency of that tribunal. Even this did not 
terminate Edward's difficulties. He was 
again forced to take the field ; and defeated 
Warwick at the battle of Barnet, in which 
that earl lost his life. He was also victo- 
rious over Queen Margaret and her son Ed- 
ward, in the battle of Tewksbury, which 
was the last effort of the house of Lancas- 
ter. Young Edward, only son of Henry VI., 
having fallen into the hands of his enemies, 
was stabbed, in the most brutal manner, by 
the dukes of Gloucester and Clarence. The 
duke of Somerset and many other noblemen 
were also put to death. He was the third 
duke of his family who fell in the cause of 
the house of Lancaster. Soon after this 
the duke of Gloucester buried the dagger, 
still reeking with the blood of the son, in 
the bosom of the father, who was prisoner 
in the tower. Thus ended the unhappy life 
of Henry VI., whose innocence and piety 
could not preserve him from the punishment 
due to the crime of his grandfather, Henry 
IV., who had usurped the crown. 

Edward IV. did not long enjoy that tran- 
quillity which his last victories had gained 
him. He died in the forty-first year of his 
age, and was interred at Windsor, in the 
new chapel which he himself had caused to 
be built. George, duke of Clarence, was 
accused, some time before, of high treason, 
and sent to the tower, at the instigation of 
his brother, the duke of Gloucester, by whose 
orders he ended his days miserably, having 
been drowned in a butt of malmsy wine 

Edward IV. left two sons and seven 
daughters. The elder of his sons, named 
Edward, who was but eleven years old at his 
father's death, was to have succeeded him on 
the throne.* He was at that time at Ludlow, 
in Wales, under the guardianship of his ma- 
ternal uncle, Sir Anthony Woodville, and 
other friends of the queen ; whose wish it 
was that he should be brought to London, 
attended by a strong guard, in order to be 
crowned. Richard, duke of Gloucester, the 
late king's brother, was then in the north of 
England, and solely occupied with a design 
upon the throne. He had already effected 
the death of his brother George, duke of 
Clarence, in the tower of London, and being 
desirous of getting the young prince Edward, 
who was an obstacle to his ambition, into his 
power, he succeeded by his intrigues in re- 
moving all suspicion from the prince's mind, 
who set out for London, unguarded, and 

* Baker, Chron. on the year 1483. 



attended only by a few noblemen of his re- 
tinue. Gloucester repaired, with his favorite 
the duke of Buckingham, to Northampton 
and Stony- Stratford, through which places 
the prince should pass, and carried him away 
by force from those who were in care of him. 
He then seized on the persons of Lord Rich- 
ard Gray, Sir Thomas Vaughan, and Sir 
Richard Hall, in presence of the prince. He 
had Woodville, lord Rivers, arrested at Nor- 
thampton, and sent a prisoner to the north, 
with Lord Richard and Thomas Vaughan. 
He then brought young Edward to London, 
where, having assembled the great council, 
he had himself appointed protector of the 
young prince and of the kingdom. The 
queen foresaw the danger which threatened 
her family through the conduct and intrigues 
of Gloucester ; and fled precipitately, with 
her son Richard, and the princesses her 
daughters, to Westminster abbey ; but as no 
asylum can be secure against tyranny, Glou- 
cester found means to get young Richard 
also into his power, under the pretext of 
placing the two princes in a place of safety 
till all disturbances would have subsided. 
They were carried, in apparent triumph, 
through the city to the tower, which unfor- 
tunately was to them a prison instead of a 
palace, as they never left it more. Richard 
placed himself at the head of the government, 
and was crowned, together with his wife, in 
July, 1483, under the name of Richard III. 

This tyrant, intent upon securing to him- 
self the throne he had usurped, thought it 
prudent to make no change in the govern- 
ment of Ireland ; he left it, therefore, in pos- 
session of Gerald, earl of Kildare, who con- 
vened some parliaments, in which nothing 
interesting occurred. Gerald was afterwards 
appointed deputy to the earl of Lincoln, who 
was nominated lord-lieutenant, a. d. 1484 : 
and held a parliament in Dublin, which 
granted him a subsidy of thirteen shillings 
and four pence a year, upon every plough- 
land, to defray the expenses of his services 
against the Irish. O'Connor, it would appear, 
participated in these services, as he got part 
of the reward, viz., forty pence for every 
plough-land in the county of Meath. 

The archbishops of Dublin and Tuam both 
died this year. The former was John Wal- 
ton, who obtained, by order of parliament, 
the restitution of some lands which belonged 
to the archbishopric of Dublin, and which 
had been sold by his immediate predecessors, 
Talbot and Tregury. This prelate held the 
see for six years, but having lost his sight, 
and being reduced to a state of infirmity, he 
resigned it, reserving at Swords a competency 



374 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



for his support. He was succeeded by Wal- 
ter Fitz-Simmons. Donat O'Murray, a regu- 
lar canon of the order of St. Augustin, was 
nominated to the archbishopric of Tuam. 
John Bole, archbishop of Armagh, wrote a 
circular letter to this prelate and his suffra- 
gans, informing them that he would shortly 
visit the province of Tuam, inasmuch as the 
archbishops of Armagh, as primates, claimed 
at all times the right of visiting the other 
provinces every seven years. This prelate 
added some establishments to the church of 
St. Nicholas, in Galway; he was succeeded 
in the see of Tuam by William Shivy. 

Some writers appeared in Ireland during 
this century.* William, surnamed Water- 
ford, wrote a book on religion, which he dedi- 
cated to Cardinal Julian in 1433. A canon 
of the order of St. Augustin, at Loghkey, in 
the county Roscommon, left the annals of 
Ireland to his own time, written in Irish and 
Latin. Ware mentions having seen that part 
of his work which begins with the year 1249, 
and ends with 1408. John of Ireland flour- 
ished in 1460. According to Antonius Al- 
fonsus Fernandus, and Michael Plodius, he 
wrote a book called the Bunch of Flowers, 
having taken from the sacred writers the 
most valuable thoughts on each subject of his 
work. It is probable that these writers have 
confounded this John with Thomas of Ire- 
land, of whom we have already spoken, who 
wrote a book called the " Flowers of the 
Doctors," in the thirteenth century, which 
was printed in Paris in 1664. John of Ire- 
land, a Dominican, is said to have been the 
author of a book called " Scala Dei," or " the 
Ladder to Heaven." Philip Norris, having 
taken the degree of doctor in theology, at 
Oxford, returned to Ireland, his native coun- 
try, where he was made prebendary of Ya- 
gogstown, which depended on St. Patrick's 
church in Dublin. He was afterwards dean 
of that cathedral, in 1457. Like Richard 
of Armagh, he wrote against mendicants, 
and inveighed strongly against them in his 
sermons, which brought disgrace upon him 
According to Bale, he left many works, 
namely, declamations, lectures on the holy 
Scriptures, sermons to the people, a treatise 
against mendicants in health, &c. 

In England, the duke of Gloucester, not 
content with having deprived his nephews of 
their birthright to the crown, sacrificed them 
to his cruelty, and had them put to death. 
He also caused his favorite, the duke of 
Buckingham, who had taken up arms against 
him, to be executed. The only enemy that 

* Wad. Tom. 4, Annal. Min. ad an. 1395. 



Richard had now to fear, was the earl of 
Richmond, the last of the house of Lancaster, 
who was, in a manner, prisoner at the court 
of Brittany. This prince, however, had cor- 
respondents in England. Having received 
some assistance in money from Charles VIII. 
king of France, he sailed from Harfleurwith 
two thousand men, and, after seven days, 
landed at Milford, from which place he 
marched towards Hereford, where he was 
joined by the Welsh, and other friends, who 
flocked to his standard, and in a few days 
collected a considerable force. Richard 
having received intelligence of the success 
of Richmond, marched, at the head of a pow- 
erful army, to meet him, and gave him battle 
hi the plain of Bosworth, which proved fatal 
to Richard, who lost in it both the crown and 
his life. Lord Stanly, in the thick of the 
fight, having discovered the crown upon the 
ground, took it up and placed it on the head 
of Richmond ; which, together with the ac- 
clamations of the troops, shouting " Long 
live the king," gave to the earl an additional 
title, by a sort of military election. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



After the battle of Bosworth, Henry, 
earl of Richmond, was crowned at West- 
minster king of England, under the name of 
Henry VII.* He was of the house of Lan- 
caster, being great-grandson to John, earl 
of Somerset, who was bom before the mar- 
riage of John of Ghent, fourth son of Ed- 
ward III., with Catherine, his third wife, 
widow of Swinford ; but who, by an act of 
parliament under Richard II., t was made 
legitimate. In order to secure himself 
more firmly upon the throne, Henry added 
a third title to the right of conquest and the 
claims he derived from the house of Lan- 
caster, by marrying the Princess Elizabeth, 
eldest daughter of Edward IV., and conse- 
quent heiress to the house of York and the 
crown, a. d. 1485. This happy union put an 
end to the feuds of the two roses, which had 
cost England so much blood. This prince 
confined the earl of Warwick, called Ed- 
ward Plantagenet, only son and heir of 
George, duke of Clarence, and the last male 
child of the house of York, in the tower of 
London. He was the first king of England 

* Polyd. Virgil. Ang. Hist. lib. 26, page 1433. 
t Baker, Chron. Higgins' Short View. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



375 



who established a body guard, in imitation 
of the kings of France. He appointed a 
captain over them, and allowed them pay ; 
and the corps has been continued by his 
successors. 

The king having appointed the duke of 
Bedford lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Gerald, 
earl of Kildare, retained the office of de- 
puty.* Henry also allowed the chancellor, 
treasurer, and other officers, whom he knew 
to have favored the cause of the white 
rose, to continue in office ; he wished to 
make them feel that he reposed confidence 
in them, and at the same time, that he was 
above that weakness which generally arises 
from fear and suspicion. He was not, how- 
ever, unmindful of his friends. Thomas 
Butler, whose family had been long in dis- 
grace for their attachment to the house of 
Lancaster, was restored by an act of parlia- 
ment to his wealth and honors, and after 
taking the usual oath, was admitted into the 
privy council of the king. It appears that 
the Desmond family was restored at the 
same time, as it is mentioned that Thomas 
Coppinger, seneschal of St. James, earl of 
Desmond, in the liberties of Kerry, ad- 
ministered justice in his name. 

A dispute arose this year between James 
Keating and Marmeduke Lumley, respecting 
the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, called 
the priory of Kilmainham, near Dublin.f 
Keating having been accused to Peter d'Au- 
busson, grand master of the order, in the 
island of Rhodes, of having mortgaged or 
sold several ornaments belonging to the 
house, (among others, a bit of the true 
cross,) and of having made over, or encum- 
bered with pensions, the revenues of the 
priory, was deprived of his office by the 
grand, master, who nominated Lumley in his 
stead. The latter having arrived at Clontarf 
with the intention of taking possession of his 
new dignity, Keating and his attendants 
prevented him, by taking him prisoner, and 
obliging him to give up his credentials and 
every thing respecting his nomination ; to 
compensate him for which Keating gave him 
the commandery of Kilsaran, in the county 
of Louth. Lumley, indignant at this treat' 
ment, wrote to the king and grand master, 
and on his complaints Keating was excom- 
municated, by which he was so exasperated, 
that he deprived Lumley of his commandery, 
and confined him, contrary to the request of 
the archbishop of Armagh, in prison, where 
it is probable he ended his days. Keating 

* War. de Annal. Hib. ad an. 1485. 
t War. de Annal. Hib. 



kept forcible possession of his priory for 
nine years ; but was at length expelled with 
ignominy and disgrace. He was succeeded 
by James Vale. 

There was a convent of Franciscans in the 
large island of Arran, at the entrance of the 
bay of Galway.* Wadding states, that, 
according to the annals of Ireland, this con- 
vent was built in 1485, in the island of 
saints, which is the same as the isle of Arran. 

Wadding mentions likewise the convent 
of Kilcullen, built in 1486, for Observantine 
friars of the order of St. Francis, by Row- 
land Eustace, who was lord-justice and 
for some time chancellor and treasurer of 
Ireland.f He says there were tombs, not 
only of the founder, but of several other 
noblemen, in the church and chapels. At 
Dungarvan, a small seaport in the county of 
Waterford, a convent was built, according to 
Ware, by an earl of Desmond, for Augustin 
hermits. Father Lubin informs us that it is 
mentioned in the registries of the order,1448. 

Although Henry's strongest claim to the 
crown lay in his marriage with the heiress 
of the house of York, he did not treat 
the queen with the respect due to her ; 
but manifested his indifference towards her, 
by delaying the ceremony of her coronation, 
till he was compelled to have it performed 
by the murmurs of the people, who were 
always attached to the house of York. The 
number of malecontents increased, and pre- 
tenders to the crown were set up, who dis- 
turbed a great part of his reign. The im- 
postures of Lambert Simnel and Perkin 
Warbeck, both supported by Margaret, sis- 
ter of Edward IV., widow of Charles, duke 
of Burgundy, and the implacable enemy of 
the house of Lancaster, form some of the 
most peculiar features in the history of the 
English nation. 

The king having some suspicion of the 
earl of Kildare's loyalty, who was his deputy 
in Ireland, wrote to him to repair to Eng- 
land, under pretext of consulting him on 
some matters respecting the welfare of the 
state. The earl, who dreaded some dis- 
agreeable result from this order, showed the 
king's letter to the parliament that were as- 
sembled in Dublin : whereupon the nobles 
wrote to the king, representing to him that 
the presence of the deputy was necessary in 
some matters of importance, and entreating 
of his majesty to dispense with his voyage for 
the present. The ecclesiastics who signed 
this letter were the archbishops of Armagh 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. e. 26. 

t Alleraand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. p. 284. 



376 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



and Dublin, the bishop of Meath, four ab- 
bots and a prior, all ecclesiastical lords who 
sat in parliament ; the temporal lords were, 
viscount Gormanstown, and the barons of 
Slane, Delvin, Killeen, Howth, Trimles- 
town, and Dunsany. During this time, a 
faction was forming in favor of the White 
Rose. The person pitched upon to carry out 
its objects, was Lambert Simnel, son of a 
shoemaker, or baker, who had been educated 
at Oxford by a priest called Richard Symon, 
a man of learning. This young man had a 
prepossessing and noble aspect, and a lively 
understanding, and was to personate young 
Edward, earl of Warwick, son of George, 
duke of Clarence, in order to lay claim to 
the crown. This project, however, was for 
two reasons impracticable ; first, the real 
Edward was in the tower ; secondly, the 
right which Henry had acquired by his mar- 
riage with the heiress of Edward IV., ex- 
cluded every other claimant. These circum- 
stances did not prevent Simnel from acting 
the part of a prince. He was brought to 
Ireland, and presented to the deputy, the 
chancellor, the treasurer, and other noble- 
men of the English province, who received 
him with distinguished regard. He was 
acknowledged by all but the archbishop of 
Armagh, the bishop of Clogher, the Butlers, 
the baron of Howth, and the inhabitants of 
Waterford. The king being informed by 
the baron of Howth, of the triumphal entry 
of Simnel into Ireland, gave orders to have 
the real earl of Warwick taken from the 
tower, and led, under a strong guard, through 
the streets of the city to St. Paul's church, 
in order to undeceive the people. In the 
mean time, the duchess of Burgundy sent 
over two thousand men to Simnel, under 
the command of Colonel Swart. 

This army landed in Dublin in the month 
of May ; and the earl of Lincoln and Lord 
Lovel repaired thither also ; whereupon the 
supposed Warwick was solemnly crowned 
in the cathedral of the Trinity, called 
Christ's church, after a sermon preached by 
John Payne, bishop of Meath, who made 
known his right to the crown, in presence of 
the deputy, the chancellor, treasurer, the 
earl of Lincoln, lord Lovel, and several 
other noblemen, both spiritual and temporal, 
of the English province. A crown which 
had been found on a statue of the blessed 
Virgin, in a church bearing her name, was 
used for this ceremony. The new king was 
led through the city, followed by the accla- 
mations of the people, to the castle, where a 
magnificent banquet was prepared. The 
parliament, and courts of justice were holden, 



lawsuits carried on, statutes enacted, and all 
the acts of the council gone through in the 
name of this pretended prince. These acts 
were all, however, annulled in the time of 
Poynings, when deputy, in a parliament 
held at Drogheda, in 1494. 

In the month of June, 1487, Lord Thomas 
Fitzgerald, chancellor of Ireland, in order to 
unburden himself, resigned his office to 
Rowland Eustace, baron of Portlester. 
Shortly after this, a fleet was prepared, by 
order of the council, for the expedition to 
England, and the Pretender and his army, 
commanded by the earl of Lincoln, set sail, 
attended by Lord Lovel, the ex-chancellor 
Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, Colonel Swart, a 
German, and other noblemen. On their 
landing in Lancashire, they were joined by 
Sir Thomas Broughton, who commanded a 
body of troops. With this reinforcement 
they marched towards Newark, where they 
met the king at the head of his army, and 
having come to an engagement, the victory 
was undecided for three hours, but at length 
declared in favor of Henry. Several lives 
were lost on the Pretender's side ; the prin- 
cipal were those of John de la Pole, earl of 
Lincoln, Francis, viscount Lovel, Lord Tho- 
mas Fitzgerald, Maurice Fitzthomas Fitz- 
gerald, Sir Thomas Broughton, Plunket, 
son of Baron Killeen, and Colonel Swart, 
besides four thousand soldiers. Simnel was 
among the number of the prisoners : and 
having confessed his crime, the king, with 
unexampled clemency, granted him his life, 
and gave him a situation in his falconry, 
which he held till his death. After this 
victory, Henry marched towards the north, 
where he discovered more partisans of Sim- 
nel, among whom was the earl of Lincoln. 
Some of these he had put to death as an ex- 
ample ; others he made pay large sums of 
money, and pardoned the least guilty. He 
then returned to London, where he was 
joyfully received, and in the month of 
November, on St. Catherine's day, his 
queen, Elizabeth, was crowned with great 
pomp, at Westminster. 

In Ulster, Hugh M'Mahon taking advan- 
tage of the disturbances in the state, assem- 
bled his vassals, and committed dreadftd 
devastation on the lands of the Anglo-Irish 
in the county Louth, from which he carried 
off large herds of cattle, and other goods. 
It is said that twenty-eight villages were 
burned in this expedition. Some parts of 
the province were visited, at this time, by 
rains and storms, which tore up trees by 
their roots, and threw down churches and 
houses. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



377 



About this time, Henry VII. wrote to the 
mayor and citizens of Waterford, expressing 
to them his satisfaction for their loyalty to 
him, and exhorting them to persevere in it. 
He gave them permission to seize upon the 
vessels and merchandise belonging to the 
inhabitants of Dublin, and others who traded 
with them, and turn them to their own ad- 
vantage ; some time afterwards he granted 
them privileges and immunities, as a reward 
for their fidelity. 

The earl of Kildare, and other ministers 
of state who had abetted the cause of Sim- 
nel, being informed of his defeat, sent a de- 
putation to the king, avowing their crime, 
and imploring his forgiveness . The king, gra- 
tified with their submission, wrote to them, 
and reprimanding them slightly, granted 
them a pardon, of which their future conduct 
should be a guarantee ; while as a proof of 
his perfect reconciliation, he continued the 
earl in the government of Ireland, and gave 
him orders and instructions relative to the 
times. The king had indeed- cause to sus- 
pect the fidelity of the people, and to dread, 
that, on the first opportunity, some sparks 
of rebellion would burst forth ; but he did 
not deem it prudent either to employ rigor- 
ous measures, or send troops to Ireland to 
put down the remains of the York faction ;* 
and lest he shoidd weaken the colony, which 
was with difficulty maintained in a corner of 
the island, against the attacks of the old in- 
habitants, he confined himself to receive the 
submission of the guilty. For these purposes 
he sent Sir Richard Edgcombe with a com- 
mission to make his subjects renew their 
oath of allegiance, and to secure their fidelity 
for the future, by announcing to them his 
forgiveness. This minister, accompanied by 
a guard of five hundred men, arrived with 
five vessels, in the harbor of Kinsale, in the 
month of June, and as he was averse to come 
on shore, Lord Thomas Barry went on board 
bis ship, paid him homage for himself and 
his barony, and took the oath of allegiance. 
At the solicitation, however, of Lord Courcy 
and the inhabitants, Edgcombe entered the 
town the day following, where Courcy did 
him homage in the church of St. Meltock ; 
and with the inhabitants, took the oath' of 
allegiance. After dining, he set sail for 
Waterford, the citizens of which he com- 
plimented for their fidelity to their king, of 
whose protection he assured them. He then 
sailed for Dublin, where he arrived on the 
5th of July, and was honorably received 
by the mayor and citizens, at the gate of the 

* Hib. Anglic, on the reign of Henry VII. 



Dominican convent, whichhadbeen assigned 
for his residence during his stay. The earl 
of Kildare was absent at the time, on an ex- 
pedition against the Irish ; but having re- 
turned after a few days, Edgcombe, attended 
by the bishop of Meath, the baron of Slane, 
and other lords, waited upon him in the 
abbey of Thomas-court, where he resided. 
He there presented to him his letters from 
the king, his master, with manifestations of 
displeasure, and after a private conference, 
they separated without coming to any con- 
clusive arrangement. The lord-deputy went 
to his castle of Maynooth, and Edgcombe 
returned home. 

In the beginning of these disturbances, 
the king obtained a bull from the pope to 
excommunicate the rebels ; and by a similar 
authority, Edgcombe caused a general abso- 
lution to be proclaimed in Christ's cathedral 
on the following Sunday, for all those who 
should continue in their obedience to his 
majesty. The lord-deputy having returned 
to Dublin, was absolved from his excom- 
munication, during the divine service, and 
paid his homage to Edgcombe in the large 
hall of the abbey of Thomas-court ; the 
king's commissioner then announced his 
majesty's pardon, by putting a gold chain 
around the neck of the deputy, on the part 
of the king, in token of his perfect recon- 
ciliation. The form of an oath of allegiance 
was then drawn up, to be taken by the 
nobility and clergy ; it was signed by Walter 
Fitzsimons, archbishop of Dublin, and his 
predecessor John Walton, John Payne, 
bishop of Meath, Edmond Lane, bishop of 
Kildare, John Purcel, abbot of Thomas- 
court, near Dublin, Walter Champfiour, 
abbot of our Lady's, and John Cogan, prior 
of Holm Patrick. Every thing having been 
settled to Edgcombe's satisfaction, he gave a 
magnificent banquet to the earl, and all the 
nobility, in the Dominican convent, and next 
day received in the Toulsel, the oath of alle- 
giance from Thomas Meyler, mayor of Dub- 
lin, and all the citizens, of which he took a 
copy, sealed with the seal of the city. He 
went afterwards to Drogheda, and from that 
place to Trim, where he received the sub- 
mission and oaths of the inhabitants. Their 
example was followed by Nicholas Herbert, 
prior of St. Peter's of Newtown, near Trim, 
Richard Nangle, abbot of Navan, and 
James, abbot of Castlemartin, of the order 
of Bectiff. On Edgcombe's return to Dub- 
lin, he received the submission of Octavia- 
nus, archbishop of Armagh, Philip Ber- 
mingham, chief-justice of the king's bench, 
and Thomas Dowdal, master of the rolls. 



378 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



There were two persons not included in 
the pardon granted by Edgcombe to the 
king's subjects in Ireland ; Keating, prior of 
Kilmainham, of whom we have already 
spoken, and Thomas Plunket, chief-justice 
of the court of common pleas ; they being 
considered as the instigators of Simnel's 
rebellion. The lord-deputy and nobles so- 
licited pardon for them from the commis- 
sioner. It was, however, granted only to 
the latter : Keating, so far from obtaining 
forgiveness, was deprived of the office of 
governor of the castle of Dublin, which he 
had taken by force, and Richard Archbold, 
the old governor, was restored. Edgcombe 
having terminated his commission, returned 
to England to give an account of his suc- 
cess to the king. 

The lord-deputy and council deputed the 
bishop of Meath to express to his majesty 
their gratitude for the favors he had just 
granted to his people in Ireland, and to con- 
vince him of their submission, in order to re- 
move every imputation which their enemies 
might cast upon their conduct. This prelate 
acquitted himself so ably in this undertaking, 
that he prevented the archbishop of Armagh, 
though the king's favorite, from obtaining 
the office of chancellor, lest the jealousy 
which subsisted between him and the deputy 
might be renewed, and thus disturb that 
tranquillity so lately restored to the state 

Some time afterwards the deputy marched 
at the head of his troops towards Kinalyach, 
in Westmeath, to check the incursions of 
Magheoghegan upon the English province 
and surprised the castle of Bileragh. He 
laid waste the district of Moycashel, and 
carried away considerable booty, a. d. 1385 
but was repulsed some time afterwards, by 
the Magheoghegans, and pursued to his castle 
of Maynooth, where he escaped their fuiy. 

Henry VII., suspecting the loyalty of his 
subjects in Ireland, whom he knew to be 
attached to the house of York, made several 
of them come to England ; namely, the earl 
of Kildare, the viscounts Gormanstown,Fer- 
moy, and Buttevant, the barons of Athenry, 
Kinsale, Delvin, Howth,Trimlestown,Slane, 
Killeen, and Dunsany . These noblemen were 
presented to the king at Greenwich. Having 
given to each a reprimand in private, he was 
reconciled to them, and entertained them at 
a banquet. In order, however, to mortify 
their pride, Lambert Simnel, whom they had 
crowned some time before, performed to them 
the office of cup-bearer. After this they had 
the honor of accompanying the king to a 
solemn procession at Greenwich. They then 
tookleave of his majesty, who dismissed them 



with presents, and other demonstrations of 
his protection and friendship. It is mentioned 
that he made a present of three hundred 
pounds sterling to the baron of Howth. 

While these noblemen were at court in 
England, Maurice Bockagh, (the lame,) earl 
of Desmond, was making war against his 
neighbors : he gained a victory over Mor- 
rough O'Carrol, who was killed in the action, 
with Moel-Murry, his brother ; and a second 
over Dermod M'Carty, son of Thadeus, who 
was also killed. It is said that this earl 
was no loser by his troubles, as he added 
the estates of those with whom he made war 
to his own possessions. It was thus that 
these new-comers raised themselves at the 
expense of their neighbors. 

Octavianus, archbishop of Armagh, con- 
vened a synod in the month of July, in the 
church of our Lady, at Atherdee, at which 
John Payne, bishop of Meath, Edward 
Courcy, bishop of Clogher, William O'Fer- 
rall, bishop of Ardagh, George, bishop of 
Dromore, Donald O'Fallon, bishop of Derry, 
Menelaus M'Cornycan, bishop of Raphoe, 
and Walter Blake, bishop of Clonmacnoisk, 
attended. A difference arose at this synod, 
between Thomas M'Brady and one Cor- 
mock, respecting the jurisdiction of the 
bishopric of Kilmore, which was left to the 
decision of the bishops of Meath, Clogher, 
and Ardagh ; but their opinion is not re- 
corded. They both, however, appeared six 
years afterwards, at the synod of Drogheda, 
each with the title of bishop of Kilmore. 

It does not appear that the bishopric of 
Kilmore is very ancient.* It is not mentioned 
in the division of the bishoprics of Ireland 
which took place in 1 1 52, at the synod where 
Cardinal Paparo presided. The first bishop 
of this district, who is to be met with in his- 
tory,was FlanusO'Conacty,who died in 1231 . 
This prelate and his successors were some- 
times called bishops of Brefny, the ancient 
name of the district, and sometimes bishops 
of Triburna, an obscure village where they 
resided. Towards the middle of the fifteenth 
century, Andrew M'Brady was appointed to 
this bishopric ; and dissatisfied with finding 
the episcopal see established in so inconve- 
nient a place, he removed it, with the consent 
of Pope Nicholas V ., to the parish church of 
St. Felim,in a village called Kilmore, a short 
distance from Cavan. He erected this church 
into a cathedral, with thirteen canons and a 
dean : whichestablishmentwas confirmed the 
year following by Pope Calixtus III., so that 
since the above period, the diocese and the 

* War. de Episc. cop. Kilraor. 



CHRISTIAN IKIILAND. 



379 



bishops who governed it, have taken the 
name of Kilmore.* 

Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII., 
born in 1487, was declared prince of Wales 
in 1490. This year was remarkable in Ire- 
land for tempests and frequent rains, which 
continued during the summer and autumn, 
and produced sickness, to which many fell 
victims. 

At this time six muskets were sent from 
Germany to the earl of Kildare, and were 
made use of by his guard while they stood 
sentinel in his apartments. They were con 
sidered a rare present at that time, since it 
is said that fire-arms were not then known 
in Ireland, (a. d. 1491.) Baker asserts, 
however, that Edward III. had them at the 
siege of Calais. t 

Warm disputes, which ultimately led to a 
war, arose about this time between Conn- 
More O'Neill and Hugh Roe O'Donnel, two 
powerful princes in Ulster, — one in Tyrone, 
the other in Tirconnel. These disputes were 
caused by a tribute which O'Neill demanded 
from O'Donnel, as if the latter held his 
estates under him. O'Neill first sent a letter 
written in the Irish language, which, from its 
singularity, and its being too laconic to tire 
the reader, may be introduced here : " Cuir 
hogom me kiesse, no mar a cuirhuir — ;" 
that is, " Send me my rent, or if not — ." 
To this O'Donnel replied in the same style, 
saying, " Neel kiesse a gut orm, agus da 
rneh — ;" that is, " I owe you no rent, and 
if I did — ." O'Neill was irritated by this 
reply, and hostilities began on both sides. 
Although the earl of Kildare strove to act as 
mediator between the two princes, they came 



* Andrew M'Brady, first bishop of Kilmore, was 
of the noble family of the M'Bradys of Lochtee. 
The sept of the M'Bradys is a branch of the tribes 
of the Hy Brunes of Connaught, of which O'Connor 
was chief. They were anciently known by the 
name of Carbhuillis, and, according to Gratianus 
Lucius, owned the territory of Cabria, in Brefny, 
now the county of Cavan, as we have seen in the 
previous part of this history. It was in the thir- 
teenth century that this family changed the name 
of Carbhuillis for that of M'Brada, or Brady, from 
one of the chiefs ; and that the name of Cabria was 
changed to Lochtee, at present a barony in the 
county of Cavan, the patrimony of this noble family 
till the revolution caused by the tyrant Cromwell. 
This family gave several bishops to the church ; 
Ware reckons five of Brefny, one of Ardagh, and 
one of Meath. It is probable that the latter em- 
braced the reformed religion, as he was nominated 
by Queen Elizabeth to replace William Walsh, 
bishop of Meath, who was dispossessed, thrown 
into prison, and subsequently banished from the 
kingdom, for his attachment to the old religion. 

t Chron. Engl, page 126. 



to an engagement, and many lives were lost 
on both sides. O'Neill had the advantage ; 
but his death, which took place soon after- 
wards, and the advanced age of O'Donnel, 
which obliged him to give up the principality 
to his son Conn, put an end to this war. 

The duchess of Burgundy, an intriguing- 
woman, and the implacable enemy of the 
house of Lancaster, was still intent on her 
endeavors to disturb the reign of Henry VII. 
She first caused a report to be spread that 
Richard, duke of York, brother and heir of 
Edward V., had not been put to death, but 
that, having escaped from the tower, he was 
still alive. She then sought for a young man 
who might be capable to act his part ; and 
discovered one Peter Osbeck, afterwards 
known by the name of Perkin Warbeck, a 
native of Tournay, and son of John Osbeck, 
who filled the office of controller in that city, 
and Catherine de Faro, who was acquainted 
with the English language, and had, perhaps, 
taught it to her son. The duchess looked 
upon this young man as perfectly qualified 
for her views. She kept him with her some 
months, in order to initiate him into the 
manners of the court, and make him ac- 
quainted with every thing relative to the 
house of York ; and taught him to assume 
the manners and svfpport the dignity of a 
prince, the part of which he was about to act. 
It is asserted, too, that he really resembled 
the prince whom he was to personate. The 
better to conceal her designs, the duchess 
sent him afterwards to Portugal, well equip- 
ped, and attended by persons to watch all 
his actions, till she should think fit to send 
him to Ireland. 

Henry VII ., who was well acquainted with 
Margaret of Burgundy's proceedings, thought 
prudent to change his ministers in Ireland, 
and put persons attached to his interests into 
office. He therefore nominated Gaspar duke 
of Bedford, lord-lieutenant, in place of the 
earl of Kildare ; and Walter Fitzsimons, 
archbishop of Dublin, his deputy. Sir 
James Ormond, natural son of John earl of 
Ormond, was appointed treasurer in place 
of Eustace, lord of Portlester, who had filled 
that office for thirty-eight years, (a. d. 1492.) 
The new treasurer arrived in Ireland in the 
month of June, attended by a cohort of Eng- 
lish troops. He had an altercation imme- 
diately with the earl of Kildare, which was 
followed by a battle disastrous to the families 
of the Butlers and Fitzgeralds, and to the 
colony in general ; as the Irish took advan- 
tage of it to lay waste the frontiers of the 
English province. 

On the 22d of June, the same year, is 



380 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



fixed the birth of Henry, second son of 
Henry VII. , and his successor on the throne 
under the name of Henry VIII., so well 
known in history for his debaucheries, and 
the changes he effected in religion. 

In the month of September, some of the 
state officers in Ireland were again changed ; 
Alexander Plunket was nominated chancel- 
lor, Thomas Butler was appointed master 
of the rolls, and Nicholas Turner chief- 
justice of the court of common pleas. About 
this time the earl of Ormond and the prior 
of Canterbury were sent on an embassy to 
the court of France ; but were, however, 
recalled as soon as their master heard that 
Charles VIII. was about to form an alliance 
with Anne of Brittany. 

The drought in Ireland this summer was 
so great, that the cattle died for want of 
water. It also caused contagious disorders, 
by which many lives were lost. 

It was now time to bring forward Perlrin 
Warbeck, (whom we left in Portugal,) to 
perform the part of Richard, duke of York, 
for which he was intended ; and so well did 
he acquit himself, that it was doubted for 
some time whether he was in reality Richard, 
or an impostor. The duchess of Burgundy 
gave orders that Perkin should sail from 
Lisbon, for Cork, in Ireland, where he was 
honorably received by the citizens, and par- 
ticularly by John Waters, an eminent mer- 
chant, and mayor of the city, in whose house, 
it is said, he was instructed how to act. The 
young pretender wrote immediately to the 
earls of Kildare and Desmond to assist him 
against King Henry ; but before their answer 
could be received, Charles VIII. invited 
him to go to France, where he was received 
in the kindest manner. He remained there 
till peace was concluded between that prince 
and the king of England, at the siege of 
Botdogne, after which Perkin withdrew to 
Flanders, where he was likewise well re- 
ceived by his supposed aunt, the duchess of 
Burgundy. This year was remarkable for 
the voyage of Christopher Columbus, and his 
discovery of the new world, which Seneca 
seems to have predicted in his Medea.* 

Henry VII., to whom Columbus first ap- 
plied, neglected, it appears, both his own 
interest and glory, by refusing the offer which 
this great man made to him in his projected 
voyage, and which Ferdinand of Castile con- 
trived to turn to his own advantage. 

* " Ages will arise in after years, when the 
ocean will loose her chains, and the great globe 
will open ; when the sea will develope new orbs, 
and that Thule will not be the extreme region of 
the earth." 



The deputy of Ireland held a parliament in 
Dublin, in the month of June, 1493, in which 
some laws that had been enacted at the in- 
stance of Eustace of Portlester, were repeal- 
ed. Matters having taken a change, and the 
partisans of the house of Lancaster being in 
office, Portlester himself was commanded to 
appear before the court of exchequer, and ren- 
der an account of his bad government while 
he filled the office of treasurer. The city of 
Waterford was restored to its ancient privi- 
leges and freedom, of which it had been de- 
prived, and the crown lands were ordered 
to be recovered, which had been sold after 
the first year of Henry VI. 's reign. This 
parliament being dissolved in the month of 
August, the lord-deputy resigned his com- 
mission to Robert Preston, viscount of Gor- 
manstown. The new deputy summoned a 
meeting of the nobility and leading persons 
of the counties of Dublin, Meath, and Kil- 
dare, to Trim. On this occasion the chan- 
cellor, with the earl of Kildare, the bishops 
of Meath and Kildare, the barons of Slane, 
Delvin, Killeen, Howth, Trimlestown, Dun- 
sany, &c, were assembled. Articles for pre- 
serving the peace and welfare of the state 
were signed : among others, that no indi- 
vidual should make war unless authorized by 
the king or his deputy ; that the extortions 
and taxes with which the people had been 
burdened, should be abolished ; and that all 
vagrants, robbers, and murderers should be 
brought to condign punishment. Robert 
Preston then convened a parliament at 
Drogheda, the statutes of which were, how- 
ever, declared null and void by a subsequent 
parliament, which was held the year follow- 
ing in the same city, by the deputy Poyn- 
ings, for the following reasons, viz. : that 
the duke of Bedford, lord-lieutenant of Ire- 
land, to whom Preston was deputy, had re- 
signed his office before this parliament had 
been convened ; that the parliament was not 
composed of members from the whole pro- 
vince, but from four counties only ; and last- 
ly, that, in the letters patent which the king- 
had granted to the deputy, no mention was 
made of any power to convene parliaments. 

In the month of October, Fitzsimons, arch- 
bishop of Dublin, ex-deputy in Ireland, went 
over to England to give the king an ac- 
count, not only of his own administration 
while deputy, but also of the state of affairs 
in Ireland at the time. The earl of Kildare 
having learned that his enemies in England 
were injuring him in the king's opinion, went 
over also in November, to clear himself of 
the crimes which had been imputed to him. 
He was followed by the deputy, who con- 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



381 



fided the care of government to his son dur- 
ing his absence, and by Ormond, the trea- 
surer, who prevented his vindication from 
being received, and had him sent back to 
Ireland a prisoner, to be tried. 

Sir Edward Poynings was at this time, 
a. d. 1494, appointed lord-deputy of Ireland. 
His principal business was to suppress the 
revolt of Perkin Warbeck's partisans. He 
arrived there in the month of September, 
effected great changes among the state min- 
isters, and put Englishmen by birth in their 
places ; he nominated Henry Dean, bishop 
of Bangor, chancellor of Ireland ; Sir Hugh 
Conway, treasurer ; Thomas Bowring, chief- 
justice of the king's bench ; John Topcliff, 
chief-justice of the common pleas, and 
Walter Ever, chief-baron of the exchequer. 
This deputy brought a thousand men with 
him to Ireland, with whom, and the other 
troops of the English province, he entered 
Ulster, under pretext that some of Perkin's 
adherents had taken refuge among them. It 
appears extraordinary that he should have 
been attended in this expedition by the earl 
of Kildare and Sir James Ormond, who had 
been deprived of the office of treasurer. He 
laid waste the districts of O'Hanlon, Ma- 
gennis, and others. The earl of Kildare 
was suspected and accused of having con- 
spired secretly with O'Hanlon, to destroy 
the deputy, but was afterwards declared in- 
nocent. The earl of Kildare's brother hav- 
ing, in the mean time, taken possession of 
the castle of Carlow, the deputy was obliged 
to give up what he had seized on in Ulster, 
to bring assistance to that place. For this 
purpose he made peace with O'Hanlon and 
Magennis, and marched direct to Carlow, 
which he besieged, and made himself mas- 
ter of in ten days. 

The king, who kept a continual watch 
over the duchess of Burgundy, and the sup- 
posititious duke of York, sent his spies to 
Flanders, by which means the whole secret 
of the party was discovered, and several of 
the conspirators executed in England. 

The archbishop of Dublin being at court, 
the king, who confided in him, frequently 
interrogated him respecting the state of af- 
fairs in Ireland. This prelate was one day 
present at a discourse delivered before the 
king ; who having asked him what he thought 
of it, the prelate answered, with a freedom 
worthy of the ancient philosophers, that " if 
his highness was satisfied, he was so like- 
wise, but that, at the same time, he thought 
his highness was too much flattered." " In 
good faith, father of Dublin," replied the 
king, " I think so too." 



Poynings convened the celebrated parlia- 
ment of Drogheda, in November, in which 
many statutes were enacted which are quoted 
by Ware, Cox, and others. Among them 
was one against the exaction of Coyn and 
Livery, and one against those who protected 
traitors ; it was also expressly forbidden to all 
persons, under pain of high treason, to excite 
the ancient Irish to make war upon the Eng- 
lish, but the most celebrated statute, which 
was called Poyning's law, made it illegal to 
convene any parliament in Ireland without 
informing the king, and apprizing him of the 
motives for the meeting, and the laws which 
were to be passed in it ; and further receiv- 
ing the approbation of his majesty and coun- 
cil, obtained under the great seal of Eng- 
land, for such meeting, and that every par- 
liament convened otherwise than on these 
conditions, should be null and without effect. 

This statute was not favorable to the 
Anglo-Irish, whose interests had already 
become different from those of the English. 
It was passed by a parliament, the chief men 
of which were the deputy, chancellor, trea- 
surer, and other influential ministers, them- 
selves Englishmen by birth. The statute, 
however, was not always carried into effect, 
but was frequently suspended in the suc- 
ceeding reigns. 

Many other regulations that have not been 
printed were made in this parliament. Sub- 
sidies were granted to the king, and power 
given to the treasurer to govern the province 
in case of the death or resignation of the 
governor, till the king's pleasure should be 
made known. The knights of St. John of 
Jerusalem were allowed to recover the lands 
which had been disposed of by Keating, or 
his predecessor, Thomas Talbot, and the 
grants which had been made by the kings 
subsequent to Edward II. were ordered to 
be revoked. By another act of this parlia- 
ment, the earl of Kildare and his brother 
James were accused of high treason, on ac- 
count of their intercourse with O'Hanlon ; 
their having seized upon the castle of Car- 
low, and exacted Coyn and Livery ; and 
lastly, for having entered into a secret treaty 
with the king of Scotland : the earl, how- 
ever, cleared himself in England of all these 
crimes, and was restored to favor. The 
military society of St. George, which had 
been established in 1479, by an act of par- 
liament under Edward IV., was now sup- 
pressed. 

Perkin Warbeck, who withdrew to Flan- 
ders with the duchess of Burgundy, a. d. 
1495, filled with the extravagant notion of 
his assumed greatness, and instigated by 



382 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



his patroness, set sail for England with near 
six hundred men. On his arrival upon the 
coast of Kent he was badly received, and 
lost more than a hundred and sixty of his 
followers, who were made prisoners, and 
afterwards executed. He then sailed for 
Ireland, in hopes of meeting with a more 
favorable reception. Having remained some 
time at Cork and the neighborhood, and find- 
ing it impossible that his adherents could 
support him against the superior forces of 
the deputy and other English ministers, he 
went over to Scotland, where he was honor- 
ably received, and with the consent of James 
IV., who was then king, married Catherine, 
daughter of Alexander, earl of Huntly, who 
was allied to the crown. 

The king of Scotland, who had some 
cause of displeasure against Henry VII., 
availed himself of this opportunity to declare 
war against him. It is said that he was en- 
couraged by letters which he received from 
the Emperor Maximilian, Charles VIII., and 
Margaret of Burgundy, in favor of the im- 
postor. However this was, he entered Eng- 
land in a hostile manner ; but not finding 
among the English any partisans of the pre- 
tended prince, he laid waste the county of 
Northumberland, and returned to Scotland. 

Poynings, having governed the English 
province in Ireland with prudence, and en- 
acted wise laws, which were not, however, 
obeyed beyond the limits of the province, 
was recalled in the month of January, to re- 
ceive the reward of his labors. The king, 
who was pleased with the services he had 
rendered him, made him a knight of the or- 
der of the Garter. 

Henry Dean, bishop of Bangor, chancel- 
lor of Ireland, and afterwards archbishop 
of Canterbury, was appointed in the month 
of April, 1496, lord-justice of Ireland, in 
place of Poynings ; William Eatcliff, vice- 
treasurer ; and John Pimpe, secretary of war ; 
and in the month of June following, Richard 
Nugent, baron of Delvin, was appointed 
general of the troops and commander-in- 
chief, for the defence of the counties of 
Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Uriel, or Louth. 

Octavianus, archbishop of Armagh, con- 
vened a synod in the month of July, at 
Drogheda, the acts of which have been lost. 

On the return of Hugh O'Donnell from 
Scotland, he attacked and defeated O'Con- 
nor near Sligo. He then laid siege to the 
castle, but was forced to raise it on the ap- 
proach of the Burkes of Clanrickard, who 
laid waste the frontiers of Tyrconnel. 

New accusations were preferred against 
the earl of Kildare in England, where he 



was arrested and thrown into prison, which 
caused the death of his wife Alicia, daugh- 
ter of Rowland Eustace, baron of Portlester. 
He was accused, in presence of the king, of 
having burned the church of Cashel, but was 
saved by the ingenuousness of his answers. 
His enemies then said that all Ireland was 
not able to govern him. " Is it so 1" said 
the king, " he is then the fittest person to 
rule Ireland," and he immediately appointed 
him lord-lieutenant by letters patent, dated 
6th of August, and restored him to his 
dignities and possessions. He, however, 
detained Gerald, eldest son of the earl, as a 
hostage, to secure the loyalty of the father, 
who proved himself afterwards a faithful 
subject. 

The earl having returned to Ireland with 
Elizabeth St. John, whom he had just mar- 
ried, and having received, according to cus- 
tom, the sword of his predecessor, march- 
ed towards Thuomond against O'Brien, 
passed through Limerick, and took the cas- 
tle of Felyback, which belonged to Finin- 
Mac-Nemara. He next took the castle of 
Ballynice, and other fortified places ; after 
which expeditions he returned to Dublin, 
and was reconciled to Octavianus, arch- 
bishop of Armagh. 

Dean, bishop of Bangor, having been 
recalled to England, Walter, archbishop of 
Dublin, was appointed chancellor in his 
stead. The king, by the advice of the lord- 
lieutenant, resolved to grant a general par- 
don to all the noblemen who had been en- 
gaged in the affair of Perkin Warbeck, lest 
despair might instigate them to excite new 
disturbances ; he therefore granted a general 
amnesty to the earl of Desmond, the arch- 
bishop of Cashel, the bishops of Cork and 
Waterford, and several of the principal men 
of Munster. He also had the liberties and 
charters of Youghal restored and confirmed, 
and extended its privileges. 

The Icing of Scotland having made some 
efforts in favor of Perkin Warbeck, was 
forced to beg a peace from Henry VII. 
That king, however, would listen to no over- 
tures till the king of Scotland would first 
give up the impostor from under his protec- 
tion. Under this gloomy state of things, 
Perkin saw that he must leave Scotland. 
The king, who was too generous to deliver 
him over to his enemies, supplied him with 
money to enable him to do so. He accord- 
ingly embarked with his wife and family for 
Ireland, a. d. 1497, and having arrived in 
Cork, found some friends there, who, how- 
ever, were unable to render him any impor- 
tant services. In the mean time, an invita- 



CIIKISTIAN IRELAND. 



383 



tion was sent to him by the people of Corn- 
wall in England, who were ready to sacrifice 
every thing in his cause. He accordingly 
set sail, in the month of September, with his 
family, and about one hundred and twenty 
soldiers, and arrived at Whitesandbay, in 
Cornwall, although the inhabitants of Water- 
ford dispatched four vessels in pursuit of 
him. On his landing, he assumed the name 
and title of Richard IV., king of England, 
and was joined at Bodmin by a few thou- 
sand men, with whom he besieged Exeter. 

The defence which the inhabitants made 
being equal to the courage of the assailants, 
and Perkin seeing that the bravery and good- 
will of his men were superior to their 
strength, and that the king's army was on 
its march, resolved to withdraw, and seek 
an asylum at Beaulieu, in Hampshire. He 
afterwards, however, surrendered him- 
self a prisoner, and was brought to the 
tower, from which he escaped ; but having 
been retaken and arrested in an attempt to 
escape a second time, he was hanged at Ty- 
burn, with his friend John Waters, mayor of 
Cork. 

The earl of Kildare was continually occu- 
pied in discharging the duties of his office. 
He convened a parliament at Trim, in the 
month of August, 1498, in which it was de- 
creed, among other things, that all the 
custom-house laws which were enacted in 
England, should be adopted in Ireland. 

A dispute happened at this time between 
Henry O'Neill and his two nephews, Tyr- 
logh and Conn, respecting the principality 
of Tyrone, which the former, in opposition 
to their interest, usurped, after killing their 
father, Conn O'Neill. The earl of Kildare, 
who was the maternal uncle of these young 
noblemen, espoused their cause, and at the 
head of an army, entered Ulster, where he 
was joined by O'Donnel, Maguire, and other 
allies of Tyrlogh O'Neill. With this com- 
bined force he laid siege to Dungannon, 
forced Niall M'Art O'Neill, who was the 
commander, to surrender the castle, and set 
the prisoners at liberty, as well as to give 
hostages. Henry O'Neill having been killed, 
young Conn took possession of Tyrone, the 
patrimony of his ancestors, and the earl of 
Tyrone took the castle of Omey. 

After the expedition to Ulster, the earl 
marched in October towards Cork, where 
he placed a garrison, as he had reason to 
suspect the loyalty of its inhabitants. He 
obliged them and the citizens of Kinsale to 
take the usual oath, and made them give 
hostages. It appears that young Henry, 
second son of Henry VII., was appointed to 



the office of lord-lieutenant of Ireland, since, 
on the earl's return from Cork, he convened 
a parliament in Dublin in the month of 
March, and assumed the title of lord-deputy 
to that young prince. Richard Talbot, who 
had governed the priory of St. John of 
Jerusalem in Ireland for some time, was 
recalled, and Robert Evers, an Englishman, 
was nominated prior by the grand master 
of Rhodes. 

Some religious houses were founded at 
this time in Ireland. Ware mentions the 
convent of Rosserelly to have been estab- 
lished in the county of Galway, in 1498, 
for Observantine monks, by an English lord 
called Gannard. At Invert, in the county 
of Antrim, there was a convent founded for 
the third order of Franciscans, by a Scotch 
nobleman. One also for the same order 
was founded at Dungannon in Tyrone, by 
Conn O'Neill, prince of that district. A 
house was established for them about the 
same time, at Clonrahan, in the county of 
Roscommon, by O'Connor Roe, an Irish 
nobleman, of the illustrious tribe of the 
O'Connors of Connaught. 

Ireland produced some writers about this 
period. Philip Higgins, a Franciscan, wrote 
some sacred poems : he died in 1487. Pan- 
derus, who is thought to have been the 
author of a book called " Salus Populi," 
flourished at the same time. He treats in it on' 
the cause of the miseries with which Ireland 
was afflicted, and points out a mode by 
which they might be remedied. Charles 
Maguire, a native of the county Fermanagh, 
and canon of Armagh, flourished at this 
time also. He was a learned philosopher, 
a deep theologian, and well versed in 
history. He wrote the annals of Ireland 
down to his own time, and died in 1495, at 
the age of sixty years. Donald O'Fihely, 
a native of the county Cork, wrote also the 
annals of his country to his own time, in the 
Irish language, which he dedicated to Flor- 
ence O'Mahony. Ware mentions having 
seen them in manuscript in London. 

The lord-deputy undertook an expedition 
into Connaught, a. d. 1499, and seized upon 
the castles of Athleagh, Roscommon, Tuilsk, 
and Castlereagh, in which he placed a gar- 
rison. About this time, Tirlogh O'Brien, 
prince of Thuomond, after the death of Gil- 
duff, had a dispute with Sir Pierce Butler, 
respecting the boundaries of their estates. 
It was terminated by a sanguinary conflict, 
in which Butler and his men were put to 
flight, leaving several dead upon the field of 
battle. 

The lord-deputy held a parliament at 



364 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Castledermod, in the month of August, which 
granted to the king and his successors a tax 
of twelve pence in the pound, on all kinds of 
merchandise that were imported, except wine 
and oil. In this parliament it was enacted, 
that the nobility, when riding, should, like 
the English, make use of saddles, and attend 
parliament in their robes. Subsidies, too, 
were permitted to be levied upon the people 
and clergy for the king's use. 

The adherents of the house of York being 
still dissatisfied, sought means, after the 
death of Perkin, to rescue the natural son of 
Richard III. from prison, and make him 
undertake a similar part as Perkin ; but the 
conspirators were discovered, and their at- 
tempts tended only to shorten the days of 
that young man. 

The lord-deputy returned to Ulster this 
year, to quell some sedition which had been 
raised against his nephew, Tyrlogh O'Neill. 
He took the castle of Kinard, in which he 
placed a garrison, and gave the command of 
it to Tyrlogh, a. d. 1500. The king, who 
was always inclined to mercy, pardoned the 
inhabitants of Cork, in the month of August, 
and extended their privileges by a new 
charter. This generous act was followed by 
one equally barbarous and cruel on the part 
of David Barry, archdeacon of Cork and 
Cloyne. He assassinated his brother, Wil- 
liam Barry ; but his crime did not long es- 
cape punishment ; he was arrested, and put 
to death by Thomas Barry, and his body, 
after having lain twenty days in the earth, 
was taken up and publicly burned, by order 
of the earl of Desmond. 

Domnal O'Fallon, of the order of St. 
Francis, and bishop of Deny, died at this 
time, having governed that see for fifteen 
years ; he was the most celebrated prelate 
of the church of Ireland in his time, for his 
erudition and preaching. He particularly 
excelled in the latter, which he exercised 
with applause, throughout the island, for 
thirty years. 

A general peace prevailed in 1501, in the 
provinces of Leinster and Munster, while 
Connaught and Ulster became a prey to 
sedition. The fort of Sligo, in Connaught, 
was scaled and taken by the troops of Rory, 
son of Tirlogh O'Connor, surnamed Cur- 
ragh. The discord which prevailed between 
the nobility of Ulster, caused several of them 
to perish by the sword. The O'Neills gave 
battle to the Scotch, by whom they were at- 
tacked. It was fatal to the latter, who lost 
four of their captains, of the tribe of the 
M'Donnels, and about sixty soldiers. 

William Shioy, or Joy, who was appointed 



to the see of Tuam by the pope, in 1485, 
governed it for sixteen years and a few 
months. He died a. d. 1501, and was suc- 
ceeded by Philip Pinson. 

This year was remarkable for two mar- 
riages that were celebrated in England. Ar- 
thur, the lung's eldest son, and prince of 
Wales, married, at the age of fifteen, the 
princess Catherine, daughter of Ferdinand, 
king of Spain, on the fourteenth of Novem- 
ber ; and on the 25th of January following, 
Margaret, the king's eldest daughter, and 
sister to Arthur, was given in marriage to 
James IV. of Scotland. 

Prince Arthur died on the 2d of April, 
having lived but four months and a half after 
his marriage, which was never consumma- 
ted.* His young widow was given, six 
months afterwards, with the mutual consent 
of their parents, to his brother Henry, who 
was then but twelve years old ; a dispensa- 
tion being sought for their marriage. The 
death of Arthur was soon followed by that 
of Ms mother, queen Elizabeth, whose 
virtues made her an ornament to her sex, 
and the age in which she lived. 

About this time there was a great mortality 
among the cattle in Ireland, and frequent 
seditions broke out in Ulster, which were 
accompanied by murders. In the month of 
April, 1503, the earl of Kildare was ordered 
to repair to England, both to give an account 
of the state of affairs in Ireland, and to re- 
ceive fresh instructions relative to the govern- 
ment of the country. The earl having ended 
his business at court, was sent back with 
honor, and continued in his rank of deputy. 
He resumed on his return the reins of govern- 
ment, which he had confided in his absence 
to William Fitzsimons, archbishop of Dublin. 

Towards the end of autumn, the lord- 
deputy undertook an expedition into Ulster, 
where he destroyed the castle of Belfast. 
He next entered Carrickfergus, and placed 
a garrison in the castle ; the command of 
which he confided to one Staunton, and 
then returned to Dublin. 

At this time, Theobald Burke, lord of 
Muskry Cuirk, in Munster, was killed in a 
skirmish by Donagh O'Carrol, and Cornelius 
O'Dwyer. About the same time, Malachy 
O'Kelly, and some of the Burkes, who had 

* Caeterum Henrieus Septimus de medicorum 
concilio caveret ut gravis quaedam Matrona in eodem 
cum illis thalamo sociata, videret, ne carne conjun- 
gerentur, eo quod Arthurus decimum quintum retatis 
annum vix dum attingens, ex lento praeterea morbo 
laboraret, cuius tabe post quintum mensem eonfec- 
tus, ex hac migravit. Sanderus de Schis. Anglic, 
lib. 1, page 2. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



385 



taken his part, were defeated in Connaught 
by Ulysses Burke. 

On the 18th of February following, after 
the death of his brother Arthur, Henry, 
duke of York, was created, according to 
custom, prince of Wales and earl of Ches- 
ter. Ten days afterwards, Gerald, son of 
the earl of Kildare, was appointed treasurer 
of Ireland, and took the oath in presence of 
the deputy and council, in Dublin. 

David Creagh, a native of Limerick, and 
archbishop of Cashel, died at this time, and 
was succeededbyMaurice Fitzgerald. During 
the episcopacy of David, the earl of Kildare 
caused St. Patrick's cathedral, in Cashel, to 
be burned ; but it is a strange fact, that the 
complaint which the bishop made of it to the 
king was rejected, although the earl acknow- 
ledged himself guilty. When asked why he 
had committed so great a sacrilege, he re- 
plied, swearing by his God, that he had done 
so, thinking that the prelate was in the 
church. The king, it seems, found sufficient 
merit in his answer, not only to grant him 
his pardon, but likewise to repose confidence 
in him, by appointing him deputy of Ireland. 
Philip Pinson, an Englishman, of the order 
of St. Francis, and lecturer in theology, was 
appointed to the archbishopric of Tuam by 
the pope, at the solicitation of Henry VII.* 
This prelate never went thither, having died 
of the plague at Rome, three days after his 
election. Two years after the death of Philip, 
the archbishopric of Tuam was given to 
Maurice O'Fihely, or Mauritius de Porter, a 
man celebrated for his learning. He is men- 
tioned by John Camus, in the following 
words : — " Maurice a. Porter," says he, " a 
native of Ireland, of the order of St. Francis, 
was celebrated for his profound knowledge in 
theology ,logic, philosophy, and metaphysics. 
It is impossible to give an idea of his polite, 
and at the same time holy and religious con- 
versation. Having taught the sciences with 
general approbation during many years, in 
the university of Padua, he was nominated 
by Pope Julian II. to the archbishopric of 
Tuam, whither he repaired, Italy being at 
the time a prey to the calamities of war. He 
died, however, soon after his arrival, deeply 
regretted by the learned world, having just 
attained his fiftieth year. Heleftmanymonu- 
ments of his learning, in manuscript, which 
were not published, on account of his prema- 
ture death." Francis Gonzaga also makes 
mention of him.f " Maurice, an Irishman," 
says he, " revived the doctrine of John Scot, 

* War. de Arehiepisc. Tuam. War. de Script. 
Hib. in 35, cap. Solini. 

t De Origin. Francise. part 1, p. 88. 



by his commentaries on ' Universality.' He 
published also a dictionary of the holy scrip- 
tures." Possevinus speaks of him in the fol- 
lowing manner :* — " Maurice, an Irishman, 
a minorite and archbishop of Tuam, com- 
posed a dictionary of the holy scriptures, 
which was first printed at Venice, in 1603, 
by John Anthony and James Francis, by 
order of the most illustrious Matthew Zane, 
patriarch of Venice ; but what remains of it 
at present does not go beyond the letter E. 
inclusive. Besides this, he explains, by com- 
mentaries, the whole doctrine of Scot, part 
of which was printed at Venice, by Simon de 
Luere, in 1500. In his exposition of Scot, 
the theorems were published at Venice, in 
1514, by Lazare Soard. His ' Enchiridion 
of the Faith,' was published 1509, by Octa- 
vianus Scotus." John Grace also published 
a work of this author, entitled " Reportata." 
It is said that he wrote the " Life of John 
Scot," with a book of distinctions, which be- 
longs to the Franciscans at Ravenna. He is 
thought to have been author of an abridgment 
of truth, in verse, and a work on Porphyrius, 
published at Venice, in 1519. Nicholas 
Maguire, bishop of Leighlin, wrote a chro- 
nicle at this time, which was of much benefit 
to Thadeus Dowling in composing his An- 
nals. He also wrote the life of his prede- 
cessor, Milo, and began other works, which 
his death prevented him from completing. 

Some houses were founded at this time for 
the third order of Franciscans. The convent 
of Kil O'Donnel was built in the beginning 
of this century by O'Donnel, prince of Tyr- 
connel. There were two other convents 
belonging to this order, in the same district ; 
one at Killybeg, a seaport, built by M'Swee- 
ny Banach ; the other at Fanegara, by 
M'Sweeny Panid, both Irish noblemen.f 

Ulysses Burke, commonly called M' Wil- 
liam, lord of Clanricard, in Connaught, made 
great preparations this year for some expedi- 
tion, the object of which could not be discov- 
ered. He made a league with other lords 
of his name, with Tirlagh O'Brien, prince of 
Thuomond, Mebrony O'Carrol, of Eile, and 
other noblemen in the south, with whom he 
began his campaign. Intelligence having 
been sent to the deputy, he collected all his 
forces and advanced towards Connaught, 
attended by several of the nobles of Meath ; 
namely, Viscount Gormanstown, the barons 
of Slane, Delvin, Killeen, Howth, Trimles- 
town, and Dunsany. John Blake, mayor of 
Dublin, with his archers, and the inhabitants 



* In Apparat. Sacro. 
t War. de Antiq. Hib. C. 26. 
Monast. d'Irlande. 



Allemand, Hist. 



386 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of Drogheda ; O'Donnel, O'Reilly, O'Ferral, 
bishop of Ardagh and lord of Annaly, (Long- 
ford,) besides other chiefs, also joined the 
deputy. Both armies having met, on the 
19th of August, a. d. 1504, within a few miles 
of Galway, at a place called Knock To, or 
Knock Tuah, which implies the " Mount of 
Axes," the action began, and the ground was 
disputed for some hours, with equal loss on 
both sides ; but the Connaught army having 
at length lost ground, were routed, with the 
loss of two thousand men ; and the deputy 
was victorious. His loss is not known. Ac- 
cording to the book of Howth, says Ware, 
that of the vanquished amounted to nine 
thousand men ; and in the white book of the 
exchequer, it is alleged that not one Eng- 
lishman was wounded in the deputy's army. 
Ware, however, rejects both statements as 
incredible. After this victory the deputy laid 
the country waste, and made himself master 
of the towns of Galway and Athenry, and 
carried off considerable booty. He also took 
the two sons of Ulysses prisoners ; but the 
father escaped by flight. On his return, the 
earl distributed thirty barrels of wine among 
the soldiers who fought with him. It is 
affirmed by some, that this battle, in which 
so many lives were lost, was caused by a 
private dispute that occurred between the 
deputy and Clanricard. However this may 
be, the king rewarded the deputy, by making 
him a knight of the garter. 

Fitzsimons, archbishop of Dublin, was 
sent over to England, some time after this, 
by the deputy and council, to give to the 
king an account of his success, and on other 
matters of state. This prelate acquitted 
himself in the discharge of his commission, 
to the satisfaction of all parties. 

A plague raged in Ireland during this 
year, and was particularly malignant in Ul- 
ster. It interrupted the synod which the 
archbishop of Armagh had convened, first at. 
Drogheda, and afterwards at Ardee. The 
plague was followed by a famine, caused by 
continued rains in the summer and autumn of 
1505. The year following, a disastrous fire, 
caused by lightning, consumed the town of 
Trim, at that time the most considerable in 
Meath. In October, 1508, the lord-deputy 
convened a parliament in Dublin, in which 
subsidies were granted to the king, by taxing 
the lands according to their produce. 

The deputy proceeded on another expedi 
tion into Ulster, at the solicitation of his ie- 
lations,the O'Neills, to assist them in recov- 
ering the forts of Dungannon and Omey, 
which had been seized upon by their ene- 
mies, a. d. 1509. The fort of Dungannon 



surrendered before his arrival in Tyrone. He 
proceeded then against Omey, which he took 
by assault, and had it razed to the ground, after 
restoring Arthur, son of Conn O'Neill, to 
liberty, who had been a prisoner in the fort. 

At this time, a convent for Observantine 
Franciscans was founded at Cruleagh, or 
Balli-Rourk, in the district of Leitrim, for- 
merly Brefny, by O'Rourk, lord of that 
country.* 

This was the last year of the reign and 
life of Henry VII. He was first attacked 
by the gout, and afterwards by a cold and 
disease of his lungs ; and died at Richmond 
palace on the 22d of April, in the fifty-second 
year of his age, and twenty-fourth of his 
reign. He was interred with pomp at West- 
minster. This prince was considered wise 
and valiant, and ranked among the best kings 
that have ruled over England. If we except 
a few acts of cruelty, which he had, perhaps, 
thought necessary to maintain himself upon 
the throne, he was naturally inclined to cle- 
mency. For the fair sex he manifested in- 
difference, and for every bodily pleasure, to 
which persons in his station too generally 
think themselves entitled. His respect for 
religion appears from the confidence which 
he placed in the clergy, whose advice he fol- 
lowed in his most important undertakings. 
He was, from his youth, frugal without ava- 
rice ; though this vice gained strength in his 
latter years, to the injury of his subjects, 
which must be ascribed to his weakness. 
Finding his death approach, however, he 
ordered by his will, that all the money which 
his officers had raised unjustly in his name, 
should be restored. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Henry VII . being dead,his only son,Henry, 
in whose person were united the claims of 
the houses of York and Lancaster, succeeded 
to the throne of his ancestors on the 22d of 
April, 1509, at the age of eighteen years. f 
Having performed the funeral ceremonies of 
his father, he married Catherine of Aragon, 
his brother Arthur's widow, on the 3d of 
June following, (a dispensation being ob- 
tained from Pope Julian II.,) and was so- 
lemnly crowned with her, on the 24th of 
the same month, in St. Peter's church, West- 
minster, by William Warham, archbishop 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irlande. 

t Polydor. Virgil. Anglic. Hist. lib. 27. 



ntHlSTIAN IRKI.ANl). 



387 



of Canterbury, to the great satisfaction of 
the whole kingdom.* 

Henry applied himself so assiduously to 
study in his youth, that he was considered 
the most learned prince in Europe. On 
coming to the throne, he chose the most 
grave and wise among the nobles to be his 
counsellors ; by whose aid he matured still 
more his capability for government, and sub- 
mitted his authority to their prudence on 
many occasions. The greatness of this 
prince's mind, the beauty of his person, his 
munificence, courage, and other great quali- 
ties, seemed to promise a happier and more 
brilliant reign than that of which he has left 
so awful and disgusting a picture to posterity. 
The beginning of his reign, when kings 
generally display their best qualities, by per- 
forming acts of clemency, in order to make 
favorable impressions upon their people, was, 
however, stained by the death of Delapool, 
earl of Suffolk : that nobleman, who was 
detained a prisoner for a considerable time 
under the preceding reign, having died on 
the scaffold by order of the new king. His 
treasures soon became exhausted in tourna- 
ments, balls, masquerades, and other amuse- 
ments suited to a young prince who wished 
to immortalize himself by the splendor of 
his court ; and finding himself forced to 
supply the deficiency of his finances, sacri- 
lege, and usurpation of the goods of others, 
were, ere long, resorted to by him. 

On his accession to the throne, Henry 
found the earl of Kildare intrusted with the 
government of Ireland, as deputy. Not 
wishing to make any change in this country, 
that prince appointed him, by letters patent, 
to exercise the functions of lord-justice ; 
having informed him of the death of his 
father, Henry VII., and his own succession 
to the crown. All the other state officers 
he likewise confirmed in their respective 
posts, in consequence of which Henry VIII. 
was proclaimed in Dublin, and all the other 
towns in the English province, king of Eng- 
land and France, and lord of Ireland. 

The earl of Kildare undertook an expe- 
dition this year, a. d. 1510, into Munster, in 
which he was unsuccessful.! Having col- 
lected the troops of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, 
and Louth, and being joined by Hugh 
O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel, he directed 
his march towards that province, where he 
took some strong places in the district of 
Desmond, and laid the whole country waste, 
without meeting any opposition ; but his 

* Baker, Chron. on the reign of Henry VII. 
War. de Annal. Hib. reg. Henry VIII., cap. 1. 
t Higgins' Short View. 



army being loaded with their spoils and 
plunder, he was attacked in his retreat, at 
Monetrar, in the county of Limerick, by the 
enemy, headed by James, eldest son of 
Maurice earl of Desmond, Tirlagh O'Brien, 
prince of Thuomond, and M'William of the 
family of the Burkes. The action was 
bloody, and the loss was very considerable, 
particularly on the side of the royalists, who 
owed their safety to the darkness of the 
night, which concealed them from their pur- 
suers. 

Robert Evers, prior of St. John of Jeru- 
salem, in Ireland, after an administration of 
thirteen years, was recalled at this time, a. d. 
1511,* by order of the grand master, resi- 
dent in the island of Rhodes, for which no 
cause is given by historians. They merely 
mention that he was appointed to the com- 
mandery of Slebich, in the county of Pem- 
broke, in Wales, and that he was succeeded 
in the priory of Ireland by John Rawson, 
an Englishman, who was afterwards made 
a member of the king's privy council. 

At this time Walter Fitzsimons, arch- 
bishop of Dublin, died. He was a graduate 
in canon and civil law, a subtle philosopher, 
and profound theologian.! He had been 
grand chorister of St. Patrick's cathedral, 
from which situation he was raised by Pope 
Sixtus IV. to the arcbiepiscopal dignity ; 
had held the office of deputy under the duke 
of Bedford, viceroy of Ireland, and was 
afterwards chancellor. This prelate having 
governed the church of Dublin for twenty- 
seven years, died at Finglass, two miles from 
the city, and was interred in St. Patrick's 
cathedral. After the death of this prelate, 
Richard Skerrett, prior of Christ's cathedral, 
took, according to custom, possession of the 
crosier, of which he was the guardian in 
virtue of his benefice, to give to his succes- 
sor, whose name was William Rokeby. 

Caher, or Charles O'Connor, prince of 
OfTaly, was assassinated at this time, near 
the Franciscan convent of Monaster-Feoris, 
in the district of OfTaly. A son was born 
this year to Henry VIII. and Catherine of 
Aragon. He was called Henry. His death, 
which took place a few days after his birth, 
was the cause of great sorrow, particularly 
to his parents. 

The earl of Kildare marched at the head 
of his army into Ulster-, a. d. 1512, where 
he took, and razed to the ground, the castle 
of Belfast, which had been recently rebuilt. 
History makes no mention of the earl's hav- 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 3. 

t War. de Archiepisc. Dubliniens. 



388 



HrSTORY OP IRELAND. 



ing met. with resistance in this expedition ; 
he therefore burned and pillaged the coun- 
try with impunity, and carried away con- 
siderable booty, which he distributed among 
his soldiers. 

We must mention in this place the names 
of two great writers : Thomas Brown, a 
secular priest, who wrote the life of Nicho- 
las Maguire, bishop of Leighlin, to whom 
he was chaplain ;* and Thomas Fich, a 
regular, and sub-prior of Christ's church, 
Dublin, who wrote a book on the affairs of 
that church, called the " White Book." 

There were other writers also at this time. 
Philip Flatisbury, of John's-town, near 
Naas, in the county of Kildare, according 
to Stanihurst,f wrote some chronicles at the 
request of Gerald, earl of Kildare. Ware, 
who has compared these chronicles with 
those written by Pembrige, alleges that they 
are the same, and that Flatisbury made only 
a transcript of them with some additions. 
George Cogley, notary and register of the 
bishopric of Meath, wrote a catalogue of the 
prelates of that see, from Simon Rochford, 
who was the first English bishop of it, to 
the time of Hugh Inge, of whom this author 
was contemporary. 

A monk of the Cistertian order, belonging 
to the abbey of Duiske, in the county of 
Kilkenny, wrote the Annals of Ireland, by 
order of his abbot, Charles Cavenagh, which 
he continued till the time of the suppression 
of monasteries. He inserted them after- 
wards in the registry of the charters of this 
abbey. 

Two convents for the third order of St. 
Francis, were founded this year in Ireland : 
one at Slane, in the county of Meath, by 
Christopher Fleming, baron of Slane, and 
his wife Elizabeth Stukely ; the other at 
Bunamargy, in the county of Antrim, by a 
M'Donnel, of the house of Antrim.! 

Jealousy, the certain and usual source of 
discord, still prevailed between the Fitz- 
geralds of Kildare and the Butlers of Or- 
mond. These noblemen having embraced 
opposite parties in the wars between York 
and Lancaster, their greatness depended on 
the success of those rival houses. § Ormond 
beheld with displeasure the government of 
Ireland vested in the house of Kildare ; of 
which feeling the deputy was aware, but 
yet was not sufficiently guarded against his 
artifice. Ormorid wrote a polite letter to 

* War. ibid. cap. 4. 
t War. de Scrip. Hib. cap. 7. 
t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. 
Monast. d'Irlande. 

§ Cox, Hib. Anglic, p. 232. 



him, representing that the public having ac- 
cused him of being opposed to his govern- 
ment, he was desirous of coming to an ex- 
planation upon the subject. For this pur- 
pose he proposed to meet him in Dublin, in 
order to clear himself in his presence, at a 
public assembly, of these false imputations. 
Kildare readily acceded to it. Ormond set 
out on his march, at the head of an army, 
for Dublin, and took up his quarters in the 
abbey of Thomas-court, one of the suburbs 
of the city. The deputy and council were 
not less alarmed than the inhabitants of 
Dublin, at the approach of these troops, 
who committed dreadful excesses upon their 
march. Ormond, however, appearing to 
have nothing hostile in view, sent to inform 
the deputy of his arrival ; told him he was 
ready to perform all that he had promised 
in his letter, and that no uneasiness need be 
apprehended on account of the troops. He 
knew, he said, that evil-minded persons had 
cast imputations on his conduct ; but he 
trusted to be able to exculpate himself on 
the first opportunity, in the opinion of his 
highness. The earl of Kildare, who was 
flattered by this communication, sent word 
to the earl of Ormond to repair, on a day 
appointed, to St. Patrick's cathedral, that 
they might treat together ; but instead of 
seeking measures of reconciliation, the earls 
began their conference by reciprocal abuse, 
and their example was followed by the 
people. The citizens had an altercation 
with the troops of Ormond, respecting the 
tyranny and oppression they exercised in 
the city and the suburbs. In the mean time, 
a company of armed archers entered, who 
increased the confusion, by endeavoring to 
kill the earl of Ormond, as the principal 
cause of the disturbance. The earl, seeing 
the danger he was in, hastened into the 
chapter-house, and shut himself up, by clos- 
ing the door after him. He was pursued 
by the earl of Kildare, who promised, on his 
word of honor, that nothing mischievous 
should occur to him. Ormond, however, 
having asked him for his hand, as a security 
for his life, a hole was cut in the door, and 
the two noblemen shook hands through it, 
as a token of being reconciled. This ludi- 
crous scene is mentioned by Cox, and Hol- 
ingshed, an English writer. The church 
having been profaned in this sedition by the 
blood of some persons who had been killed, 
and disrespect manifested for the images, 
which were pierced with arrows, a legate 
was deputed by the pope to have the whole 
affair investigated. As a penance, and to 
expiate the sacrilege thus committed, he 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



389 



commanded that the lord-mayor should walk 
barefooted through the city, preceded by the 
holy sacrament, carried in procession, on 
Corpus Christi day, which penance was 
duly performed by that magistrate. 

The earl of Kildare, who was continually 
intent on great designs against the Irish, 
collected all his forces, and began his march 
in August, 1513, towards Eile, the country 
of the O'Carrols ;* but having fallen sick 
at Athy, he was removed to Kildare, where 
he died on the 3d of September. His body 
was brought to Dublin, and honorably in- 
terred in Christ's cathedral, to which he 
had been a benefactor. The army being 
disheartened by the death of their general, 
dispersed immediately ; and thus ended the 
projects of this great man, in the midst of 
his career, at a time he promised himself 
most glory and success. 

Gerald, son of the deceased earl of Kil- 
dare, being treasurer at that time, was ap- 
pointed lord-justice by the council, in place 
of his father, in virtue of the law enacted by 
parliament in the preceding reign. He was 
afterwards appointed deputy by letters pa- 
tent from the king. Crompton was made 
chancellor, and Christopher Fleming, baron 
of Slane, treasurer. The other offices were 
filled up with all possible dispatch. 

While the lords of the English province 
were regulating their affairs of state, the 
Irish were making incursions on their lands : 
the O'Morras and O'Reillys were up in 
arms, and Donald M'Guillin took the fort 
of Dunluse, in Ulster, by assault. 

This year was remarkable for the death 
of two celebrated members of the church of 
Ireland, namely, the archbishops of Tuam 
and Armagh. 

Maurice O'Fihely, or De Portu, was born 
near Baltimore, in the county of Cork.j- He 
embraced the order of the Minor Francis- 
cans, and was educated at Padua, in Italy, 
where he became celebrated for his erudition, 
and took the degree of doctor in theology. 
He was promoted to the see of Tuam by 
Pope Julian II., J in which character he at- 
tended the two first sessions of the council 
of Lateran. He came to Ireland the year 
following, and having fallen sick on his ar- 
rival in Galway, he died in the month of 
May, at the age of fifty years, and was in- 
terred in the convent of his order. We have 
already spoken of his learning and literary 
productions. He was succeeded in the see 
of Tuam by Thomas O'Mullaly, or Lally. 

* War. ibid, cap. 5. 

t War. de Archiepisc. Tuamens. 

t Biny, Concil. 1. 9., 



Octavianus de Palatio, a native of Flor- 
ence, and doctor in canon law, was nomi- 
nated to the archbishopric of Armagh in 
1480, by Pope Sixtus IV.* He governed 
that church, and held several synods, during 
thirty-three years. His death took place at 
an advanced age, and he was interred in the 
church of Drogheda. His successor was 
John Kite. 

In order to check the inroads which the 
Irish were making on the English province, 
the earl of Kildare advanced with his army 
into the district of Leix, and defeated the 
O'Morras, a. d. 1514; he then passed through 
Brefney, where he attacked the O'Reillys, 
killed Hugh their chief, and razed the castle 
of Cavan to the ground ; after which he 
burned the surrounding country, and return- 
ed home loaded with spoil. 

Kildare having been obliged to go to 
England on some affairs of moment, a. d. 
1515, William Preston, viscount Gormans- 
town, was appointed lord-justice during his 
absence. f On his return, he convened, by 
orders of the king, a parliament in Dublin, 
in which the liberties and prerogatives of 
the church and kingdom were confirmed, 
and subsidies were granted to the crown. 
The custom was then abolished which au- 
thorized an appeal in suits of law from Ire- 
land to England, in virtue of the privy seal, 
unless the plaintiff became responsible to the 
court of chancery in Ireland for the costs 
and expenses of the lawsuit, in the event 
of a verdict being granted in favor of the 
defendant. 

William Rokeby, archbishop of Dublin, 
was appointed chancellor of Ireland by let- 
ters patent from the king ; which office he 
held till his death. 

Thomas Butler, earl of Ormond, died in 
London in the month of August. He had 
been ambassador to France, and member of 
the privy council ; and took his seat in the 
English parliament in precedence of the 
barons. He was the richest of all the king's 
subjects : and besides his plate and jewels, 
left forty thousand pounds sterling in ready 
money. Having no male children, he be- 
queathed all the property he possessed in 
England, amounting to thirty thousand 
pounds sterling per annum, to his two 
daughters, Ann and Margaret, the elder of 
whom had been married to Sir James St. 
Leger, and the second to Sir William Bollen, 
son of Geoffry Bollen, mayor of London, 
by whom she had Sir Thomas Bollen, so 



* War. de Archiepisc. Ardraach. 
t War. ibid. c. 7. 



390 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



well known under Henry VIII. The earl's 
property in Ireland, with the Ormond title, 
reverted to Pierce Butler of Carrick, his heir 
in a collateral line ; but the king, some time 
afterwards, made him resign it in favor of 
Sir Thomas Bollen, and created him earl of 
Ossory. Bollen having died without an heir, 
the title of Ormond was restored to Butler, 
who thereupon resigned that of Ossory. 

The lord-deputy was continually intent on 
conquering the Irish. In 1516 he entered 
the district of Imayle in the county of Wick- 
low, at the head of his troops, where he killed 
Shane O'Tool in battle, and sent his head 
to the mayor of Dublin.* He then marched 
into the territory of Eile against O'Carrol, 
where he was joined by such of the nobility 
of Leinster and Munster as were of English 
descent ; among whom were Pierce Butler, 
earl of Ormond, and James, eldest son of 
the earl of Desmond. With these reinforce- 
ments he penetrated still further, and laid 
siege to the castle of Lemevan, which he 
took after a siege of ten days, the garrison 
having abandoned and dismantled it. In- 
flated with pride and confidence from these 
successes, he marched with all possible dili- 
gence towards the town of Clonmel, situated 
on the river Suire ; the inhabitants of which, 
terrified at his approach, surrendered on cer- 
tain conditions. The campaign being thus 
ended, he returned home with hostages and 
prisoners. The following year, 1517, Kil- 
dare carried the war into Ulster. He enter- 
ed the district of Lecale, and surprised the 
fort of Dundrum, from which the English 
had been driven by the Irish some time be- 
fore.! He took Phelim M'Gennis prisoner 
in an engagement in which he lost several 
of his men, and burned the neighboring vil- 
lages. He then marched to Tyrone, which 
he laid waste, and burned the fort of Dun- 
gannon ; and having enriched himself with 
booty in this expedition, returned to Dublin. 

A desire for plunder induced the inhabi- 
tants of Dublin to collect in bodies at this 
time. They went out of the city well armed 
to ravage the territory of Imale, in the county 
of Wicklow, but were soon put to flight, with 
considerable loss, by the sept of the O'Tools, 
who pursued them to their very gates. The 
coldness of the weather caused hostilities 
to cease for some time ; the frost being so 
intense that the rivers were frozen over, and 
supported the heaviest carriages, a circum- 
stance which seldom occurs in Ireland. 

Henry VIII. had three sons by Catherine 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 88. 
t War. ibid. cap. 9. 



of Aragon, who died in their infancy ; and 
likewise a daughter called Mary, born at 
Greenwich, a. d. 1517, who afterwards be- 
came queen of England.* The education of 
this princess was confided to Margaret, niece 
of Edward IV., a virtuous lady, and mother 
of Reginald, afterwards Cardinal Pole. Ma- 
ry was declared princess of Wales, and heir- 
ess to the crown, by the king her father, who 
sent her, attended by a brilliant court, to 
Wales, to assume the government of that 
principality. She was sought for in marriage 
by many of the neighboring kings and princes 
a.d. 1518. Oneof the conditions of the peace 
concluded by Henry with France, after the 
battle of the spurs, and the taking of The- 
rouane and Tournay, was, that the dauphin 
of France should marry the princess Mary, 
who was then only two years old, so soon 
as she should be marriageable. 

The inheritance of Thomas Butler, earl 
of Ormond, was warmly disputed between 
Pierce Butler of Carrick and Sir James Or- 
mond, each of whom declared himself his 
heir. Although the right of Pierce was in- 
disputable, his grandfather, Edmond Butler, 
having been cousin-german to the deceased 
earl Thomas ; still, James Ormond, natural 
son of John Butler, brother to the last earl, 
and a popular character, who had held for 
some time the office of treasurer of Ireland, 
took possession of the entire property, leav- 
ing nothing to the lawful heir, who had 
married Margaret, sister of the earl of Kil- 
dare. The dispute was at length terminated 
by the death of James Ormond, who was 
killed between Dromore and Kilkenny by 
his opponent, who by this means recovered 
his right. 

Rokeby, archbishop of Dublin and chan- 
cellor of Ireland, convened a provincial sy- 
nod in Dublin, the canons of which are to 
be met with in the registry of the bishopric 
of Ossory. Some differences having arisen 
between Arthur O'Neill, a prince of the 
house of Tyrone, and O'Dogharty, O'Neill 
marched into the peninsula of Inis-Owen, 
the country of O'Dogharty, where he put 
all to fire and sword. 

The great authority of the earl of Kildare, 
who was still deputy in Ireland, created ene- 
mies for him, who left nothing undone to 
render him suspected by the court of London . 
He was accused, a. d. 1519, of having gov- 
erned unjustly, and particularly of having 
enriched himself by appropriating the reve- 
nues and lands of the crown to his own use, 

* Sander, de Schis. Anglic. Edit. Ingolstad. 
lib. 1, p. 4, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



391 



and of having tried to conciliate the friend- 
ship of the Irish, so as to attach them to his 
interests. The influence of Cardinal Wolsey 
was made, use of, to oblige him to go to 
England, in order to clear himself of these 
charges . Previous, however, to his departure, 
he substituted in his place, with the king's 
permission, Maurice, son of Thomas Fitz- 
gerald of Lackagh, his relative, with the title 
of lord-justice. The earl having presented 
himself at court, his case was examined into 
before the council : during which investiga- 
tion he married Elizabeth Grey, daughter of 
the marquis of Dorset. This alliance having 
procured him friends in England, he was 
restored to the king's favor, whom he accom- 
panied to France, and was present at the 
interview between the kings of France and 
England, which took place near Calais, be- 
tween Ardres and Guisnes, at a place called 
the field of the Cloth of Gold, from the 
splendor of the meeting of the two princes. 
At this time Cardinal Wolsey possessed 
the unbounded confidence of the king :* 
having from being a man of obscure origin, 
become the most powerful subject in the 
kingdom. This prelate, called Thomas at 
his baptism, was the son of a butcher at 
Ipswich in Suffolk. He was educated at Ox- 
ford, in Magdalen college, where he evinced 
a particular fondness for study. His fortune 
was first raised by the marquis of Dorset, 
who gave him a living. His second patron 
was John Naphant, treasurer of Calais, who 
presented him to Henry VII ., which monarch 
having a matter of importance to negotiate 
with the Emperor Maximilian, intrusted Wol- 
sey, who was then his chaplain, with his 
dispatches. So promptly was this commission 
performed, that Wolsey had returned to 
England, when it was supposed he could 
scarcely have arrived at the imperial court. 
The king was so pleased with the success of 
his envoy, that he conferred upon him the 
deanery of Lincoln, and subsequently made 
him his almoner, which office he held on the 
accession of Henry VIII. to the throne. 
The favor of this prince he secured to him- 
self so well that he was appointed a member 
of his council, and successively bishop of 
Tournay, Lincoln, archbishop of York, and 
lastly, cardinal and legate, chancellor of Eng- 
land, and bishop of Winchester. He was 
abbot of the convent of St. Alban's, and pos- 
sessed likewise the revenues of the episcopal 
sees of Bath, Worcester, and Hereford,whieh 
he held like farms from foreign titular bishops, 
who did not reside in the kingdom ; besides 

* Baker's Chron. on the Reign of Henry VIII. 



several priories and other benefices. So 
great was the splendor to which he attained, 
that he kept an almost incredible number of 
officers and servants in his household ; and 
when sent by the king as an ambassador to 
the court of France, he brought with him, 
in his train, twelve hundred horses, eighty 
chariots, sixty mules, and other parts of his 
retinue in proportion. Splendor cannot be 
supported without wealth, and Wolsey was 
insatiable in his pursuit of it. Man generally 
possesses many passions, but one usually pre- 
ponderates, in which the others seem to cen- 
tre. The cardinal's ruling passion was am- 
bition. He aspired to nothing less than the 
papal chair, for which object he sought to 
obtain the friendship and influence of Charles 
V.* This emperor, who looked upon him 
as necessary to aid him in carrying his plans 
into effect, began to display much regard 
towards him by a frequent correspondence, 
and in the letters which he wrote, he signed 
himself, " Charles your son and relation." 
The emperor gave him cause to hope that he 
would use his influence to have him elected 
to the see of St. Peter, on the death of Leo 
X., provided, however, that he would influ- 
ence the king of England to unite with him 
in a war, offensive and defensive, against 
France. The cardinal endeavored to fulfil 
these conditions, but finding his hopes frus- 
trated upon the death of Pope Leo, by the 
election of Adrian VI., at the recommenda- 
tion of Charles, whose preceptor he had been, 
he thought it prudent to dissemble for a 
while, and await the death of Adrian. He 
then discovered that this prince had no longer 
the same regard for him, and that, after 
Francis I. had been taken at the battle of 
Pavia, he wrote to him but seldom, and in a 
hand different from his own, subscribing 
himself simply, "Charles." He accordingly 
formed a plan of being revenged, by espous- 
ing the cause of France ; which was the real 
motive for the pains which Wolsey took to 
procure the divorce of Catherine of Aragon, 
queen of England, and maternal aunt of 
Charles V. As we shall have frequent occa- 
sion to speak of the cardinal, we havethought 
this digression necessary, in order to eluci- 
date his character, and make it known. In 
the sequel we shall witness his fall and ruin. 
Wolsey having represented to the king 
that his affairs in Ireland were too much 
neglected, and that it was of absolute neces- 
sity to confide the government of it to a man 
of impartiality, wholly unconnected with the 
factions by which that country was torn, and 

* Sanderus, ibid. lib. 1, page 8. 



392 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



which caused so much blood to flow, recom- 
mended and caused Thomas Howard, earl of 
Surrey, to be appointed, less, however, it is 
said, through love for this nobleman, than 
hatred for the earl of Kildare. 

The earl of Surrey, lord-admiral of Eng- 
land and Ireland, and knight of the garter, 
having been nominated lord-lieutenant of 
Ireland, a. d . 1 520, landed in Dublin the week 
before Pentecost, with his wife, daughter of 
Edward duke of Buckingham.* He was 
escorted by one hundred men as a guard, and 
a thousand soldiers, cavalry and infantry. 
This viceroy had no sooner assumed the reins 
of government, than he received intelligence 
that Conn Backagh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, 
was advancing at the head of an army, to 
devastate the county of Meath, which was 
not in a state to defend itself.f Hoping to 
signalize the beginning of his administration 
by a victory, the governor collected the pro- 
vincial troops, with those he had brought 
from England, and marched towards Slane ; 
but O'Neill had already returned to Ulster. 
Paulus Jovius asserts that the prince of Ulster 
had four thousand cavalry and twelve thou- 
sand infantry, and that the viceroy, not deem- 
ing it prudent to attack him, endeavored to 
conciliate him by presents. The truth is, 
that O'Neill made his peace with the king 
by letters, and was restored to favor. 

Surrey wrote to Wolsey in the month of 
September, to inform him that some soldiers 
who were taken as pirates upon the coasts, 
were thrown into prison ; but complained to 
him that his commission did not authorize 
him to have them put to death. In order to 
make the cardinal his friend, he informed him 
that the earl of Kildare was fomenting a re- 
bellion in Ireland, and that he had written 
for that end some letters to O'Carroll ; and 
that the country would be lost if he were 
permitted to return. He added, that so great 
was the scarcity of provisions in Ireland, that 
a soldier could not subsist himself on four 
pence a day, and asked that a penny might 
be added to their pay. 

This address from the deputy to Wolsey, 
was, perhaps, the cause of a letter which the 
king wrote to him in the month of October 
following.:): This prince, who began to dis- 
cover that it was imprudent, and even unjust, 
to endeavor to make the Irish pass for ene- 
mies in their own country, informed him that 
in order to keep peace with them, and intro 
duce a form of government among them, it 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 12. 
t Cox, History of Ireland, on the reign of Henry 
VIII. 

t Cox, History of Ireland, page 209. 



was necessary to grant them the privileges of 
the law. He then sent him a more extended 
commission, with the power of creating 
knights, and ordered him to confer the degree 
of knighthood upon O'Neill and other Irish 
noblemen ; and also to propose a marriage 
between the son of the earl of Ormond, and 
the daughter of Sir Thomas Bollen. Lastly, 
the king sent O'Neill a gold collar, as a pledge 
of his friendship, and wrote to the deputy to 
endeavor to induce him to go to court. 

Maurice, son of Thomas Fitzgerald of 
Lackagh, of whom we have already spoken, 
was killed in an engagement, by the O'Morras 
of Leix ; the cause of which is not mentioned 
by historians. Maurice, earl of Desmond, 
having died, James, his son and successor, 
repaired to Waterford to the lord-deputy, 
who labored with success to effect a recon- 
ciliation between the houses of Desmond and 
Ormond. 

Two convents were founded at this time 
in the county of Antrim, for friars of the 
third order of St. Francis ; one at Masserin, 
by O'Neill, another at Limbeg, by M'Don- 
nel of Antrim.* 

The O'Byrnes, of Wicklow, having taken 
up arms, the earl of Surrey marched against 
them with a formidable army, a. d. 1521; 
but he had no difficulty in reducing a light- 
armed, and inexperienced soldiery, his army 
being superior both in numbers and mili- 
tary discipline. He disbanded the company 
of Buhner, consisting of fifty horsemen, for 
having shown marks of cowardice in this 
expedition. 

The deputy cbhvened a parliament in 
Dublin, in the month of June, in which laws 
were made relative to the state of affairs at 
that time.f It was enacted that the burning of 
houses or ricks of corn, either through design 
or premeditated malice, should be subject to 
the same punishment as felony. The export- 
ation of flocks and of wool was prohibited, 
under the penalty of a fine and confiscation. 
It was enacted, likewise, that from the small 
number of subjects in the counties subject to 
the laws of England, a man worth ten marks 
a year might be appointed a juror on public 
trials. This parliament, which was several 
times prorogued, terminated its sittings in 
the month of May following. 

The deputy having received intelligence 
in Dublin, that the O'Morras, O'Connors 
Faly, O'Carrolls, and other Irish chieftains, 
were threatening the frontiers of the English 
province, gave orders to have his forces col- 

* War. de Antiq. Hib. Allemand, Hist. Monast. 
d'Irlande. 

t War. ibid. cap. 13. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



393 



lected. He intended both to repel the enemy 
and revenge at the same time the death of 
Maurice, son of Thomas Fitzgerald, who 
had been killed the preceding year by the 
O'Morras. The deputy was soon joined by 
the militia of Dublin and Drogheda, under 
the command of the mayors of those cities, 
and several noblemen followed by their vas- 
sals, to whom a few Irish nobles, with their 
light cavalry, were also added. All these 
troops being joined to the forces which the 
deputy had brought from England, and sup- 
ported with some pieces of cannon, which 
were not at that time made use of by the 
Irish, formed an army that was more than 
equal to put down men that were badly armed. 
Notwithstanding this, the English make a 
boast of their victories. All things being 
prepared, the deputy marched at the head 
of his army towards the district of Leix. 
The Irish troops were divided into compa- 
nies, headed by their respective chiefs. 
This was done apparently with a view of 
harassing the enemy, as they were not strong- 
enough to face them in a body. One of these 
detachments made a vigorous attack upon the 
baggage of the enemy, and put a body of 
English who were guarding it to flight ; but 
being promptly relieved by the enemy, the 
Irish lost the glory of this action, and the 
hope of a rich spoil. An accident which oc- 
curred to the deputy, proved the danger he 
would incur by penetrating the district of 
Leix. As he was passing a defile at the 
head of his army, a musket-shot was fired at 
him, which, but for his helmet, must have 
been fatal. The man who fired it was put 
to death upon the spot. The deputy not find- 
ing himself secure, turned his arms towards 
Offaly, and laid siege to a monastery called 
Monaster-Feoris, where O'Connor kept a 
garrison. The walls of the convent could not 
long withstand the batteringof three pieces of 
cannon, and the garrison, alarmed at this new 
mode of carrying on a siege, escaped dur- 
ing the night, and abandoned the place to the 
deputy, who left a detachment to guard it. 
With the rest of the troops he laid the neigh- 
boring country waste. Little booty, however, 
was found in it, as O'Connor took care to have 
all the corn, cattle, and everything necessary 
for the subsistence of an army, carried away. 
In the mean time O'Connor, with O'Car- 
rol, and other allies, made incursions into 
Meath, either to create a diversion or to be 
revenged for the tyranny that was exercised 
over them, and thereby prevent the English 
in that country from uniting with the deputy. 
However this may have been, they found 
themselves, on their return, in front of the 



English army, whose superior numbers were 
a just cause of alarm. They resolved there- 
fore to act on the defensive, and to fight re- 
treating ; by which both parties sustained 
considerable loss. Among the English, 
Edward Plunket, lord of Dunsany, in that 
county, whose descendants have since borne 
the title of barons of Dunsany, was found 
among the slain. 

About this time, Aodh, or Hugh O'Don- 
nel, prince Tyrconnel, returned from a pil- 
grimage to Rome, and made a truce with the 
king of England. He wrote some letters on 
this occasion to the deputy, promising to as- 
sist him against his enemies. The deputy 
received his proposal gladly, calculating 
upon his alliance, and that of O'Neill, who 
provided him with four hundred horse, and 
twelve hundred light-armed troops. An ex- 
pedition was now undertaken against O'Ma- 
laghlin of Clonlolan, a powerful nobleman, 
descended from the kings of Meath.* O'Neill 
and O'Donnel were the chiefs of two rival 
houses in Ulster, as M'Carty and O'Brien 
were in Munster. These noblemen were 
often known to sacrifice every thing, even 
the welfare of their country, to their private 
resentments. O'Donnel, finding his neigh- 
bor and friend ready to fall, under the united 
efforts of the deputy and Tyrone, thought 
it prudent, notwithstanding the peace he 
had lately concluded with the former, to 
cause a diversion in favor of O'Malaghlin ; 
and for this purpose he invaded Tyrone, 
whereby O'Neill was forced to abandon his 
ally, in order to defend his own patrimony, 
by which means the enterprise against 
O'Malaghlin proved abortive. 

A war broke out at the same time in Mun- 
ster, between Cormac Mac-Carthy of Mus- 
kerry, commonly called Cormac Oge Lader, 
and James, earl of Desmond.f William 
Rokeby, archbishop of Dublin, and other 
commissioners, were deputed to settle their 
differences, and repaired for that purpose to 
Waterford, but their efforts failed, as Des- 
mond would hear of no settlement, but con- 
tinued to pillage and lay waste the lands of 
M'Carty. The latter was a brave and pow- 
erful nobleman ; and being joined by Mac- 
Carty Riagh, the O'Mahonys, and other lords 
of Carbry, he met the earl near the monas- 
tery of Morn, otherwise More, or Ballina- 
mony, which was a commandery belonging 
to the order of Malta, between Mallow and 
Cork. A sanguinary engagement took place 
in September, between these noblemen and 



* Camd. Brit, page 754. 
t Ware, ibid. c. 13. 



:ii)i 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the earl, which was fatal to him ; his uncles 
John and Gerald were made prisoners, and 
more than a thousand of his men fell on the 
field of battle ; the earl, however, saved 
himself by flight. 

John Kite, a native of London, having 
held the commission of legate or ambassador 
for Henry VIII., in Spain, was appointed to 
the archbishopric of Armagh in 1513, by 
Pope Leo X.* This prelate, says our au- 
thor, was celebrated for his hospitality and 
the goodness of his table. He resigned the 
see of Armagh in 1581, and was succeeded 
by George Cromer. 

About this time William Rokeby, the arch- 
bishop of Dublin, died.f He was first nomi- 
nated to the bishopric of Meath in 1507, by 
Julian II., and admitted the same year into 
the council of Henry VII. In 1511 he was 
removed to the archbishopric of Dublin by 
the same pope, and was afterwards made 
chancellor of Ireland. He convened a pro- 
vincial synod, the statutes of which are in the 
Red Book of the church of Ossory. His 
body was interred in St. Patrick's cathedral, 
and his heart brought to England, and depos- 
ited in the tomb of his ancestors. His suc- 
cessor in the see of Dublin was Hugh Inge 
The earl of Surrey, lord-deputy of Ireland, 
finding it impossible to reduce the Irish, or 
support himself honorably in the government 
of the country for want of money, (the trea- 
sury in England being exhausted,) solicited 
Cardinal Wolsey to have him recalled, which 
request was granted him. He returned to 
England with all his family, and the troops 
he had taken with him. By order of the king, 
Piers, or Peter Butler, earl of Ormond, his 
friend, was appointed deputy in his stead. 
Surrey was kindly received, on his return, by 
the king, and appointed to the command of 
his fleet in the war against France. Ormond, 
finding that the Irish forces were considera- 
bly weakened by the departure of the Eng- 
lish troops, and dreading an invasion from the 
Scotch, requested the cardinal to order that 
six ships of war should cruize between Ire 
land and Scotland, to act as a check upon 
that Deople. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
We have now arrived at the period of the 
fall of religion in many of the states of Eu 
rope, and of the glory of Henry VIII. king 
of England. If it be painful to behold an 
ambitious and profligate monk oppose him- 

* War de Archiep. Ardmach. 
t Idem, de Archiep. Dubliniens. 



self to a religion which he should, from his 
station, have supported even with the loss of 
life ; it is, on the other hand, edifying to see a 
king acting the part of a divine in its defence. 
Before the beginning of the fifth century, 
all the nations of Europe were united in the 
same worship, the same sacrifice, the same 
sacraments, and in subordination to the same 
head in matters of religion. Though there 
were a few sects who differed in some points 
from the common faith, such as the Vaudois 
in the valleys of Piedmont, the Lollards in 
England, and the disciples of John Huss in 
Bohemia ; still they were but obscure charac- 
ters,whose influence could make little impres- 
sion against the unity in religion, and submis- 
sion to the legitimate authority of the church, 
which prevailed at the time. Martin Luther, 
of Wirtemberg in Saxony, and a friar of the 
order of St. Augustin, was more successful. 
Being jealous of the preference which Leo 
X. had given to the Dominicans, by allowing 
them to preach certain indulgences, he began 
in 1517 to excite controversies, and refute 
those indulgences, together with other points 
of the Catholic tenets in religion. Being con- 
demned in a bull issued by the pope in 1520, 
he no longer kept any terms with the holy 
see. He was, as he himself acknowledges 
in the preface to his works at Wirtemberg, 
alone in the beginning, and diffident of suc- 
ceeding, but finding himself supported by 
Andrew Carlostad, archdeacon of Wirtem- 
berg, and Philip Melancthon, professor of 
Greek in that university, who embraced his 
doctrine, and protected by his sovereign, the 
elector of Saxony, he removed the mask, and 
used his pen in publishing the most heinous 
and calumnious attacks upon the spouse of 
Jesus Christ, and the pope, whom he termed 
Antichrist. In 1525 he married Catherine 
Boren, a nun, who found means to escape 
from her convent, in defiance of the solemn 
vows of chastity they had both made when 
embracing the monastic life ; imitating there- 
in Carlostad, who had married some time 
previously. Their example was followed, 
in this respect, by most of the early preach- 
ers of the Protestant religion. These new 
reformers first took the name of Evangeli- 
cals ; as heretics always boast of the author- 
ity of the Scriptures and the holy fathers, 
and, by forced interpretations, make them 
appear to favor their own views. They 
were afterwards called Protestants in 1529, 
from the protest made by six princes of the 
empire, and fourteen towns, when the diet of 
Spires had published a decree against them.* 

* Sleidan, lib. 6. Osiander. lib. 2, cap. 9. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



395 



Luther was specially protected by Philip, 
landgrave of Hesse, to whom this false apos- 
tle gave permission to keep two wives at the 
same time : and his doctrine spread itself 
through the north of Germany, the king- 
doms of Denmark and Sweden, and a part 
of Poland. Avarice and cupidity had a con- 
siderable share in their sudden conversion.* 
Frederick I. having dethroned his nephew 
Christiem II., began his reign in Denmark 
in 1522, and introduced Lutheranism into 
that kingdom, through the ministry of Bu- 
genhage, a Lutheran of Pomerania. All 
the bishops who would not subscribe to the 
reformed tenets, were dispossessed, and 
others nominated in their stead, whose 
power and revenues were considerably less- 
ened. The same system took place in Swe- 
den in 1523. King Christiern was expelled 
by Gustavus Eric, through the influence of 
Peter Nevicius, a Lutheran.! The Lutheran 
religion was established in the country by 
the new king, with the intention of appro- 
priating the revenues of the church to his 
own purposes. They were therefore siezed 
upon, and a law enacted by which the pro- 
perties of bishops became dependent on the 
king's will. Dantzic was the first city in 
Poland which received the doctrine of Lu- 
ther ; and in so tumultuous a manner was 
this effected, that the common council was 
suddenly changed by the patrons of the new 
religion. The churches were profaned and 
stripped of their ornaments, the priests and 
other religious persons shamefully abused, 
the mass abolished, and every thing changed 
through the fury of these innovators. It 
was thus they had their gospel preached by 
the populace in other towns of Germany. 

In this manner did the doctrine of Luther 
spread itself in the north, while Zuingle, a 
priest of Zurich, CEcolampadius, a monk 
of Basle, in Switzerland, and a few others, 
preached a different doctrine, which drew 
upon them the censures of Luther, who 
termed them fanatics, heretics, and blasphe- 
mers, men possessed by the devil, and who 
sinned against the Holy Ghost, &c. John 
Calvin, a priest, and native of Noyon in 
Picardy, came to their assistance. He em- 
braced the doctrine of Zuingle, which he 
reformed by the addition of some articles 
respecting the real presence, predestination, 
free will, &c. " While the Lutherans," 
says Heylin, an English Protestant writer,^ 
" were acting their part in Germany, another 
party began to appear in Switzerland, headed 

* Heylin. Cosmog. edit. 5, page 106. 
t Idem. Cosmog. page 140. 
t Cosmog. lib. 2, page 36. 



by Zuingle. They did not consult together, 
and all pursued different ways, particularly 
in what related to transubstantiation and the 
real presence : on these points neither they 
nor their disciples could agree. Calvin hav- 
ing got precedence to Zuingle, added some 
articles to the doctrine of the latter, respect- 
ing predestination and freedom of the will, 
&c. ; so that their differences having in- 
creased, the breach became irreparable, and 
the cause was followed up on both sides so 
warmly, that they sought less after the truth 
than the victory. The religion having been 
again changed in 1528," continues Heylin,* 
" in the canton of Berne, by Viret and Farel- 
lus, two Zuinglian preachers, the same thing 
was attempted in Geneva, where they in- 
sinuated themselves into the minds of the 
people to such a degree, that the bishop and 
clergy, who were opposed to their proceed- 
ings, were forced, by a rising of the people, 
to leave the city." A few fanatics, under 
the name of reformers, are generally suffi- 
cient to impose upon the populace, and 
drive them to acts of outrage ; as they are 
easily seduced by appearances, and are not 
upon their guard against that spirit of am- 
bition and revolt against legal authority, by 
which these false teachers are actuated and 
urged on. " They changed," says Heylin, 
" the doctrine and discipline established in 
the church, overthrew the government of the 
state, and renounced, under the pretext of 
liberty, that allegiance which they had pro- 
mised to their prince. Their conduct was, 
however, approved of by Calvin, who after- 
wards came to settle among them." Our 
author speaks in the same place, of the eccle- 
siastical discipline of Presbyterianism, intro- 
duced by Calvin into the church of Geneva, 
and thence extended to wherever Calvinism 
was received ; " a discipline, (says he,) which 
was engendered in rebellion, born in sedition, 
and nurtured by faction." He says again, 
speaking of these reformers,t " Rather than 
see their discipline rejected, and episcopacy 
left unannihilated in all Christian churches, 
they determined to depose kings, to destroy 
kingdoms, and overthrow the fundamental 
constitution of states. Their ambition led 
them to commit these excesses, by affecting 
a sort of supremacy in their parishes, and 
creating lords in the inheritance of God, 
under pretence of placing Jesus Christ upon 
his throne. This passion for pre-eminence 
induced them to use violent invectives against 
the bishops, whom they not only refused to 

* Cosmog. lib. 2, page 136. 
t Cosmog. lib. 1, page 137. 



396 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



receive, but expelled all those who acknow- 
ledged them from their churches. This am- 
bition in the ordinary ministers of parishes, 
was artfully fomented by some of the higher 
clergy, and the lay patrons, who all had their 
own respective interests in view ; some to 
increase their fortunes by despoiling the 
bishops, and others to apply to their own use 
the tenth of the benefices, of which they 
were only the depositaries. Such was the 
artifice made use of to spread the doctrine 
of Calvin. 

This new doctrine, which, from its author, 
was called Calvinism, was received into 
Switzerland, and some provinces of France, 
parts of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and 
Poland, the united provinces of Holland, 
and Scotland, where it was introduced by 
John Knox and his associates. 

The Catholic theologians testified their 
zeal in refuting these new teachers. The 
first and principal writers against Luther, 
were Eckius, Cochlaeus, and Faber, in Ger- 
many ; Silvester de Prieris, general of the 
Dominicans in Italy ; the theologians of 
Paris and Louvain, in France and Flanders ; 
Fisher, bishop of Salisbury, and Sir Thomas 
More, in England. But the most celebrated 
antagonist of this heresiarch was Henry 
VIII., who wrote a book against the Baby- 
lonian captivity, entitled the " Assertion of 
the Seven Sacraments," which he dedicated 
to Pope Leo X. This work gained him the 
glorious title of Defender of the Faith, which 
his holiness conferred on him by a bull, 
dated St. Peter's, Rome, the 11th of Octo- 
ber, and signed by twenty-seven cardinals 
and bishops. 

Leo X. died in the December following. 
He was succeeded by Adrian VI., a native 
of Holland, who had been preceptor of 
Charles V., and was elected while viceroy 
in Spain, before the arrival of Richard 
Pacey, dean of St. Paul's, London, whom 
Wolsey had sent to interfere in his own 
behalf. 

Though the earl of Surrey brought back 
his troops to England, tranquillity prevailed 
in the English province, a. d. 1522. It was 
not so in the north of Ireland, where two 
powerful and rival princes, O'Neill and 
O'Donnel, were continually at war. After 
some engagements, O'Neill invaded the 
district of Tirconnel, where he committed 
dreadful devastations, and burned Ballyshan- 
non castle, the principal place in that dis- 
trict, situated at the mouth of Lough Earne, 
while O'Donnel was desolating Tyrone, from 
which he carried away many prisoners. 

The English who had settled in Ireland, 



not content with their first usurpations, 
sought incessantly the opportunity of ex- 
tending their possessions, at the expense of 
their neighbors. M'Giolla Phadruig, or 
Fitzpatrick, lord of Ossory, and neighbor to 
the Butlers, having had some cause of dis- 
pleasure against Peter Butler, earl of Or- 
mond, who was then deputy, sent his com- 
plaint to the king of England, threatening 
to declare war against him in case he should 
refuse to punish Red Peter. The faithful 
messenger, meeting the king on his way to 
mass, spoke to him in the following words, 
which are mentioned in the book of Howth, 
and are too remarkable to be omitted : " Stop, 
my lord king," said he ; " my lord M'Giolla 
Phadruig has sent me to tell you, that if you 
do not chastise Red Peter, he will declare 
war against you." 

At this time the plague depopulated Lim- 
erick and its environs ;* David Comin, mayor 
of the city, was among the number of those 
who fell victims to it. ,-He was succeeded 
in office by Nicholas Arthur. This year 
was remarkable for the taking of the island 
of Rhodes, which surrendered on Christinas 
day, to Soliman XL, emperor of the Turks, 
after a vigorous defence of some months, by 
the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. 

The earl of Kildare having returned from 
England, a. d. 1523, invaded, by the permis- 
sion of the earl of Ormond, who was deputy, 
the territory of Leix, attended by his troops, 
and the inhabitants of Dublin, under the 
command of John Fitzsimon, mayor of the 
city. Having burned a few villages, he fell 
into an ambuscade, which had been pre- 
pared for him by the O'Morras, in which he 
sustained a heavy loss, but considered him- 
self fortunate in having escaped with a por- 
tion of his army. 

The old enmities which formerly prevailed 
between the earl of Kildare and Ormond, 
his brother-in-law, broke out anew about 
this time. James Fitzgerald had not a little 
contributed to this. He was the favorite 
of Kildare, and having met, near Ballymore, 
with Robert Talbot of Belgard, who was 
going to spend the Christmas at Kilkenny 
with the deputy, of whom he was suspected 
to have been the spy, he murdered him. 
Ormond, who was justly incensed by this 
cruel act, committed through hatred towards 
himself, sent his complaints to court against 
Kildare, whom he accused of various crimes. 

Maurice Fitzgerald, archbishop of Cashel, 
died this year.f He was nominated to that 



* Ware, ibid. cap. 14. 
t Ware, de Arch. Cassill. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



397 



see in 1504, by Pope Julian II. He con- 
vened a synod at Limerick, the statutes of 
which were inserted in the registry of Thomas 
Purcel, formerly bishop of Lismore and Wa- 
terford. His successor was Edmond Butler. 
In this year also Gerald Cavanagh died. He 
was chief of his tribe, and descended from 
the kings of Leinster ; and was much es- 
teemed among the Irish. His heir, Mau- 
rice Cavanagh, succeeded him in his estates ; 
who having died with his two sons, Dermod 
and Donogh, Charles Cavanagh succeeded 
to their inheritance. 

The court of London did not forget the 
accusations that were made, the preceding 
year, by the deputy against the earl of Kil- 
dare, a. d. 1524.* It is said that, at the 
solicitation of the marquis of Dorset, Kil- 
dare's father-in-law, the king appointed com- 
missioners, with full power to examine into 
the affair. The commissioners were, Sir 
Kalph Egerton, Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, 
and James Denton, dean of Lichfield ; who 
arrived in Dublin in the month of June, and 
having heard the case of both earls, Ormond 
was superseded, and Kildare appointed to 
succeed him. The earl having taken the 
oath usual on these occasions, the sword of 
state was carried before him by his relative, 
Conn O'Neill. They then repaired to the 
abbey of St. Thomas, after which the com- 
missioners, with many noblemen, were 
sumptuously entertained by Kildare. 

After this the commissioners returned to 
England, bringing James Fitzgerald, whom 
we have already mentioned, a prisoner with 
them. This nobleman was given up to Car- 
dinal Wolsey, the implacable enemy of the 
Fitzgeralds. In order to load him with still 
greater ignominy, he was brought to prison 
through the streets of London, with a rope 
around his neck. Fitzgerald, however, after 
a short time, obtained, through the inter- 
ference of Denton, dean of Lichfield, the 
king's pardon, and was set at liberty, in op- 
position to the cardinal. 

The Emperor Charles V., and Henry VIII., 
king of England, having entered into a league 
against Francis I., resolved to attack him on 
all sides. To defend himself, Francis made 
all the alliances he could against them. The 
duke of Albania was sent to Scotland to 
create a diversion in that quarter ;t and be- 
ing aware too, that the Irish had long and 
reluctantly borne the dominion of the Eng- 
lish, and that they supported a vigorous and 
just warfare against them, Francis proposed 

* Ware, de Annal. cap. 16. 
t Baker, Chron. Engl. p. 271. 



a treaty of alliance with some of their chiefs.* 
James Fitzgerald, earl of Desmond, was then 
a powerful lord in Munster. From the situa- 
tion of his estates in the south of the island, 
he was more contiguous to France than the 
others, and although a natural subject of the 
king of England, either through an ambition 
of reigning, or a spirit of revenge for the 
death of his ancestor, who had been unjustly 
beheaded at Drogheda, he was the first to 
express his dissatisfaction towards the Eng- 
lish government. He entered into the views 
of the French monarch, who concluded a 
confederacy with him on the 20th of June, 
1523 ; the original act is in the " Chambre 
des Comptes" in Paris, wherein he is styled 
James, earl of Munster, and prince of Ire- 
land. Terdelach O'Brien, hereditary prince 
of Thuomond, was included in this treaty, by 
which Francis bound himself, among other 
things, to make no peace or truce with Henry 
VIII ., without including the earl of Desmond 
and Lord Theodore, or Terdelach O'Brien 
and his family. This treaty, however, was 
not observed afterwards. Many princes and 
noblemen in Ireland would willingly have 
joined in it, but there was not time. Francis 
I. was taken prisoner at Pavia, and a peace 
concluded the year following between France 
and England, in which the earl of Desmond 
was not included, since Henry VIII. had 
orders dispatched to the earl of Kildare, who 
was deputy, to have him arrested for high 
treason. 

The earl of Desmond had no legitimate 
son ; and but one daughter called Jane, who 
was married to the earl of Ormond, and was 
mother to Earl Thomas Butler, a knight of 
the order of the garter, and a favorite of 
Queen Elizabeth.! The earl of Desmond 
was suspected, according to the author of 
the account of the Geraldines, of keeping up 
a secret correspondence with the Emperor 
Charles V., king of Spain. He flattered 
himself that this emperor would give him his 
daughter in marriage, which would enable 
him to have Ireland invaded by foreign 
troops. There appears to be an error in 
this account, and that the author has substi- 
tuted Charles V. for Francis I., who had 
concluded a treaty with the earl, in 1523. 
Through the intrigues of Cardinal Wolsey, 
the avowed enemy of the nobility, and par- 
ticularly opposed to the Fitzgeralds, Des- 
mond was summoned to appear, and give an 
account of his conduct. The cardinal's power 
caused diffidence in the earl, and being afraid 

* Ware, de Annal. Hib. cap. 16. 
t Relat. Giraldis. traduc. Francoise de l'Abbe 
Joubert, p. 16, et. seq. 



398 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



to submit to the order, he objected to the 
trial. The king therefore sent his commands 
to the earl of Kildare, viceroy of Ireland, to 
have Desmond arrested, and immediately 
sent to England. The non-execution of the 
royal mandate was, as we shall presently 
see, the cause of Kildare's disgrace. 

In obedience to the king's commands, the 
deputy marched at the head of his troops 
towards Munster, without meeting Desmond, 
which circumstance gave rise to a suspicion 
of his being partial to the earl, who was his 
kinsman. It is even asserted that Kildare 
had enlisted the O'Byrnes of Wicklow in 
Desmond's interest, and that he wrote to the 
latter, proposing an interview with him in 
the district of Ossory, which letter was in- 
tercepted by the intrigues of Wolsey. 

The earl of Kildare and Conn O'Neill, 
prince of Tyrone, with their united forces, 
entered the country of Tirconnel, deter- 
mined on makingwar against Manus O'Don- 
nel, prince of that district ; but receiving 
intelligence that Hugh O'Neill, Conn's rival, 
was levying troops in Tyrone during their 
absence, they made a truce with O'Donnel, 
marched against Hugh O'Neill, and gave 
him battle, which he lost, together with his 
life. John Barnwell, baron of Trimlestown, 
was at this time appointed vice-treasurer of 
Ireland. 

The continual rains in the autumn of 1525 
caused a great scarcity of provisions that 
year in Ireland, and the drought of the sum- 
mer was followed by a plague which carried 
off numbers, particularly in the neighbor- 
hood of Dublin. 

At this time Cardinal Wolsey set the first 
example of suppressing monasteries in Eng- 
land.* This ambitious prelate, wishing to 
immortalize his name by some public monu- 
ment, obtained permission from the king to 
establish two colleges, one at Oxford and the 
other at Ipswich, and likewise to suppress 
forty monasteries, the wealth and revenues 
of which were afterwards applied to the 
building and support of these colleges ; a 
pernicious example, says Baker, though a 
Protestant, which the king imitated, by sup- 
pressing all religious houses in the kingdom. 
Discord still prevailed between Conn 
O'Neill of Tyrone, and Manus O'Donnel of 
Tirconnel, a. d. 1526. Those two princes 
wishing to make the earl of Kildare the ar- 
bitrator of their differences, repaired to him. 
Each, however, being resolved on establish- 
ing his own claim, they separated without 
coming to any arrangement. 

* Bakei, Chron. of England, page 273. 



The earl of Kildare was summoned this 
year to appear before the council in England, 
to render an account of his administration, 
and answer to the several charges of which 
he stood accused ;* the principal were, 1st, 
having neglected the orders which the king 
had given him to arrest the earl of Desmond ; 
2d, having made an alliance with the hostile 
Irish ; 3d, having caused many good and 
faithful subjects to be hanged, whose only 
crime was having been favored by the family 
of the Butlers ; 4th, holding a secret corre- 
spondence with O'Neill, O'Connor, and other 
enemies, and of having excited them to make 
incursions on the lands of the earl of Or- 
mond, when he was deputy. 

Before his departure for England, Kildare 
nominated his brother, Thomas Fitzgerald 
of Leixlip, deputy in his place. Kildare's 
chief adversaries were Cardinal Wolsey and 
the earl of Ormond, who possessed sufficient 
authority to send him a prisoner to the tower, 
from whence he was afterwards brought be- 
fore the council to be heard. The cardinal 
performed the part of a lawyer, and pleaded 
against him ; but the earl was a man of great 
discernment, and was beloved by several of 
the lords who composed the council, so that 
the cardinal, finding it impossible to have 
him condemned, adjourned the matter to 
another day, and in the mean time the earl 
was sent back to the tower. The cardinal, 
who only sought the opportunity of destroy- 
ing him, having received fresh informations 
respecting the secret understanding of the 
earl with O'Neill and O'Connor, sent orders 
to the lieutenant of the tower to have him 
executed. This officer, who was greatly 
attached to the earl, did not fail to commu- 
nicate to him the order he had just received 
from the cardinal : on which the earl pre- 
vailed on him to go immediately and learn 
the king's will in the affair. The monarch 
was both surprised and indignant at such 
conduct ; he forbid all further proceedings 
against the earl ; and as a proof of it he 
gave his ring to the lieutenant of the tower, 
with orders to show it to the cardinal. The 
earl was then set at liberty on bail of several 
of the nobles, and was reinstated in the 
king's favor, who soon afterwards restored 
him to his former dignities. 

Thomas Fitzgerald, of Leixlip, who had 
exercised the functions of deputy during the 
earl's absence, was replaced by Richard Nu- 
gent, baron of Delvin, a. d. 1527. The earls 
of Kildare and Ormond, whose private quar- 
rels were frequently fatal to Ireland, being 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 18. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



399 



still in England, it might be imagined that 
their absence would produce tranquillity to 
the former country ; but matters were in too 
disordered a state, and private interests too 
much at variance, to admit of it. 

This year was remarkable for the taking 
of the capital of Hungary, and the greater 
part of that kingdom by the Turks, to the 
disgrace of the Christian princes by whose 
disunion it was caused. 

Peter Butler, who had till this time borne 
the title of earl of Ormond, was solemnly 
created at Windsor, earl of Ossory.* In 
order to please the king, he resigned the 
earldom of Ormond, in favor of Sir Thomas 
Bollen, viscount of Rochfort, who was after- 
wards created earl of Wiltshire and Ormond. 

We have already seen, in the reign of 
Henry VI., that the English who had been 
settled in Ireland, were obliged, in order to 
preserve peace, to pay a tribute to some of 
the Irish chieftains. t Either on account of 
this tribute being paid, or on some other 
ground, O'Connor attacked the frontiers of 
the English province, from whence he car- 
ried off considerable booty, a. d. 1528. The 
deputy not being sufficiently strong to take 
revenge for this insult, gave orders to dis- 
continue the tribute which had been paid to 
that nobleman. O'Connor, who was but lit- 
tle pleased with this order, having met the 
deputy at the castle of Sir William Darcy, 
near Ruthen, surprised him in an ambus- 
cade, made him his prisoner, with several of 
his followers, and put the rest to the sword. 

The baron of Delvin being a prisoner, 
the council of the king appointed Peter But- 
ler, earl of Ossory, to succeed him. On the 
arrival of the new deputy in Dublin, he was 
joined by O'Morra, O'Carrol, and one of 
the O'Connors ; and having taken the usual 
oath, in the abbey of the Blessed Virgin, he 
sent Walter Wellesley, prior of Conally, 
and Sir Walter de la Hide, to O'Connor, 
to solicit the liberty of Delvin. Their mis- 
sion, however, Was unsuccessful ; whereupon 
the deputy and council issued a proclama- 
tion, dated the 25th of February following, 
for the continuance of O'Connor's pension. 
This deed was signed by the earl of Ossory, 
who was lord-deputy, the barons of Howth, 
Killeen, Trimleston, and Dunsany, the judges 
of the courts, and the lord chief baron. The 
clergy by whom it was signed were, John 
Allen, the intended archbishop of Dublin, 
and chancellor of Ireland, Edmond, abbot 
of Baltinglass, and James Cotterell, abbot 

* Nichol's Rudiments of Honor, respecting the 
earls of Arran. 
t War. ibid. c. 20. 



of St. Thomas's, near Dublin. It is not 
known whether Delvin obtained his liberty ; 
but a law was afterwards enacted, to abolish 
these contributions which the English col- 
onists had to pay to the Irish. 

A contagious disorder, called Sudor An- 
glicus, broke out this year in Ireland, and 
proved fatal to many ; Hugh Inge, arch- 
bishop of Dublin, and chancellor of Ireland, 
having among others fallen a victim to it.* 
This prelate was celebrated for his probity 
and morals ; he was succeeded by John Al- 
len, chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey, and one 
of those who had abetted him in the sup- 
pression of the forty monasteries. The 
cardinal had him raised to this dignity, in 
order to make an instrument of him, to 
destroy the earl of Kildare. 

The vindictive and turbulent disposition 
of the earl was the ultimate cause of his ruin. 
He could not bring himself to forgive the 
earl of Ossory, between whom and himself 
the old enmities still existed. Kildare sent 
his daughter Alicia, wife of the baron of 
Slane, who was then at Newington, to Ire- 
land, to influence his brothers and his friends 
the O'Neills, O'Connors, and others, secretly 
to oppose the deputy. She unfortunately 
succeeded in her mission ; the possessions of 
the deputy and his adherents were laid waste 
and pillaged without mercy ; conduct which 
principally produced the dreadful disasters 
which afterwards befell her father and his 
family. 

Terdelach O'Brien, prince of Thuomond, 
died this year, greatly regretted by his coun- 
trymen. He was succeeded by Concovar, 
or Cornelius, his son, from whom Donat, or 
Donough O'Brien, who was created earl of 
Thuomond, was descended. 

Henry VIII., (who was at one time the 
friend of the emperor, and at another of the 
king of France,) having at this time made 
peace with Francis I . ,quarrelled with Charles 
V. The political grounds assigned for this 
rupture were, the cruelties practised by 
the imperial army in Rome, against the 
pope and his cardinals; the severe conditions 
which were imposed on Francis by Charles, 
as a ransom for his freedom ; and lastly, the 
repugnance which the emperor began to 
evince for the marriage he was to have con- 
tracted with the princess Mary, Henry's 
daughter.! Other secret reasons, however, 
are also assigned for it, viz. — the rising great- 
ness of the emperor, and his haughtiness 
after his conquests in Italy, conduct which 
generally gives umbrage to neighboring 

* War. de Archiepisc. Dubliniens. 
t Baker, Chron. of Engl. p. 275. 



400 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



princes. The hatred also oi" Cardinal Wol- 
sey for the emperor, who had refused him the 
archbishopric of Toledo, might have had a 
share in it. However this might have been, 
the emperor sent Gonzaga Fernandez to 
Ireland, to the earl of Desmond, to stir up a 
rebellion against Henry.* The instructions 
of this ambassador, dated Toledo, the 24th 
February, were to treat on certain condi- 
tions, with these words — " Ulustrissi7no el 
condc de Desmond;" but this negotiation 
ended without any result, in consequence of 
the death of the earl, which took place at 
Dingle on the 18th of June following. 

Two religious houses were founded about 
this time in Ireland, which are perhaps the 
last that were established in this country, as 
the suppression of monasteries, not only in 
England, but also in Ireland, took place soon 
after. 

According to Herrera and Father Lubin, 
there was a convent founded in Waterford 
in 1629, dedicated to St. Catherine, for her- 
mits of St. Augustin.f Both are, however, 
in error in this statement. There was no 
mention in 1629 of building convents in Ire- 
land, but rather of destroying them, as this 
was the commencement of Charles I.'s reign, 
who succeeded three or four kings or queens 
under whom all the convents were destroyed. 
The schismatic Henry VIII. was the first to 
put them down, but his son Edward, who 
was a Protestant, continued the destruction ; 
his sister Mary's reign was too short to re- 
store them : Elizabeth and James I. expelled 
both monks and friars from every house in 
which they were established throughout the 
three kingdoms. The like persecution con- 
tinued under Charles I., which makes it pro- 
bable that the date of the above foundation 
should have been 1529 instead of 1629. 

Ware mentions a house for Franciscans 
to have been founded in 1530 at Lisgavail, 
on the banks of lake Earne, in the county 
of Fermanagh, but does not say who was 
its founder.| 

Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond and 
Somerset, the king's natural son, was ap- 
pointed viceroy of Ireland, a. d. 1529. He 
sent Sir W. Skeffington thither as his deputy, 
who arrived in Dublin in the month of An 
gust, with a large sum of money and two 
hundred horsemen, accompanied by the earl 
of Kildare, who was freed from his embar- 
rassments. The new deputy was received 
with every demonstration of joy by the citi 
zens of Dublin. He had received instruc 

* Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 221. 

t Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande. 

X Ware, de Antiq. Hibern. 



tions to maintain peace between the earls of 
Kildare, Desmond, and Ossory, in order that 
they might support the common cause against 
the Irish ; to act always on thd defensive, 
and undertake nothing without the advice of 
the council ; to assist the earl of Kildare in 
his enterprises against the natives ; to di- 
minish the exactions for the army ; to tax 
the church lands in order to defray part of 
the public expenses ; and lastly, to convene 
a parliament, and procure subsidies for the 
king. 

Edmond Butler, archbishop of Cashel, 
convened about this time, a provincial synod 
in Limerick, at which Nicholas Comine, 
bishop of Lismore and Waterford, John 
Coin, bishop of Limerick, and James O'Cor- 
rin, bishop of Killaloe, were present. By 
this synod the magistracy of Limerick were 
invested with power to arrest ecclesiastics 
for debt, without incurring excommunica- 
tion. The inferior clergy, who looked 
upon this decree as injurious to them, and 
contrary to ecclesiastical privileges, pro- 
tested strongly against it. 

The lord-deputy began his expedition in 
the district of Leix, against O'Morra ; laid 
the country waste, and carried away consid- 
erable booty.* He then turned his arms 
against Ulster, accompanied by the earl of 
Kildare, notwithstanding that jealousies had 
already begun to arise between them. He 
destroyed the castle of Kinard, laid the 
neighboring districts waste, and burned 
several villages, after which he returned 
loaded with booty. The pretended reforma- 
tion of the morals of the Irish, was a spe- 
cious pretext made use of by these new 
comers to satisfy their rapacity after wealth. 
The succors which they received from 
England from time to time in men and money, 
enabled them to extend their possessions at 
the expense of the Irish, and the private in- 
terest of their chiefs was always held in 
more consideration than the public good. 

Hugh O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel, 
alarmed at the devastations which the Eng- 
lish were committing around him, and find- 
ing himself incapacitated by sickness from 
taking the command of his troops, to defend 
his frontiers, sent Conn O'Fraghill, abbot of 
Derry, and Richard O'Grayhan of Drogheda, 
to the deputy, to sue for peace, on condition 
of their making a form of submission in his 
name, a. d. 1531.1 

An English vessel having taken about this 
time, a Spanish ship that was fishing near 
the Dursy islands, on the coasts of Beare and 

* Ware, de Annal. c. 21. 
t Ware, ibid. cap. 22, 23. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



401 



Bantry, in Munster, Dermod O'Sullivan, 
who was lord of that country, considering 
it an act of hostility against the rights of na- 
tions, put to sea with some vessels in order 
to assist the Spaniard.* Having taken both 
ships, he had the Englishman hanged, and 
set the Spaniard at liberty. Cox, as usual, 
attacks the conduct of O'Sullivan. " We 
may," he says, " discover herein how those 
men have been disposed towards the Eng- 
lish, and how loyal to their king, when they 
murder his subjects and assist his enemies." 
But what could the English calculate upon 
from a people whom they never ceased to 
pursue with fire and sword 1 Could they 
venture to rely upon a promise of allegiance 
which was tyrannically extorted from them? 
The ancestors of this nobleman, robbed of 
their possessions by the English, found 
themselves under the harsh necessity of 
committing a dreadful massacre to regain 
their properties ; and can it surprise us 
that hatred for the name of an Englishman 
should have been retained during many gen 
erations in the family of the O'Sullivans 1 

Discord still continued to prevail be 
tween Sir William Skeffington and Fitzger 
aid, earl of Kildare ; they were continually 
forwarding complaints against each other to 
court. The deputy accused Kildare of enor- 
mous crimes ; while the latter reproached 
the deputy with mal-administration, and sue 
ceeded in having himself nominated to that 
office by the king, instead of his opponent. 
Fortune, which seemed to favor Kildare at 
this juncture, soon afterwards forsook him, 
as the Teader will discover in the sequel. 

About this time some writers appeared in 
Ireland.! Theobald Anguilbert, a medical 
doctor of the university of Paris, is said to 
have written a book entitled " Mensa Phi- 
losophica," or the philosophical table. It is 
a treatise on table-talk, filled with jests and 
humorous wit. This book was printed in 
Paris in 1530, by John de Haisy, and the 
author avows himself an Irishman in his de- 
dicatory epistle. The work has been falsely 
ascribed to Michael Scott, a physician, and 
was printed with his name at Leipsic, in 
1603, with the tales of Othomar Luscinius. 

Magnus, or Manus, son of Hugh O'Don- 
nel, prince of Tyrconnel, wrote the life of 
St. Columb-Kill, in three books in the Irish 
language, about the year 1520 .J The first 
gives a history of the actions and miracles of 
this saint previous to his voyage into Bri- 
tain ; the second treats of his mission in Bri- 

* Cox, Hib. Anglic, page 223. 

t Ware, de Script. Hib. 

X Colg. Trias. Thaum. Vit. 5, S. Columb. 



tain, and return to Ireland to the assembly 
of Drumkeat ; the third contains an account 
of the remaining part of his life. This work, 
which was composed by the author from 
the ancient monuments of the country, was 
abridged and translated into Latin by John 
Colgan. 

Patrick O'Cullen, of the order of St. Au- 
gustin, and afterwards bishop of Clogher, 
assisted by Roderick Cassidy, archdeacon of 
his church, wrote a registry of its antiquities, 
a. d. 1525, with a catalogue of his prede- 
cessors. He also composed a hymn in 
honor of St. M'Cartin, first bishop of Clo- 
gher, which w _ as generally sung upon his 
festival ; the beginning of it is subjoined.* 

Cassidy, the archdeacon, was a theolo- 
gian, canonist, and philosopher, and was 
well versed in the antiquities of his country ; 
he corrected and made considerable addi- 
tions to the annals of Ulster. He died at 
an advanced age in 1541. 

Patrick Finglas, an able legislator, was 
nominated chief-baron of the exchequer by 
Henry VIII., and chief-justice of the king's 
bench in 1534. He wrote a treatise on the 
causes of the miseries of Ireland, and the 
manner in which they might be remedied. 

Sir William Darcy, a native of Plattin, in 
the county of Louth, and vice-treasurer of 
Ireland, was a wise and learned man. He 
had been particularly instrumental in for- 
warding the English interest in Ireland. He 
wrote a book entitled " the fall of Ireland, 
and the causes that produced it ;" and died 
at an advanced age, in the year 1540. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

We have now come to the beginning of 
the schism of Henry VIII. with the church 
of Rome, which was attended with the sub- 
version of religion in England. This prince, 
who in the opening of his reign held out 
such flattering hopes for the happiness of his 
people, turned to a bad purpose those admira- 
ble qualities with which God had endowed 
him. His irregularities, and the manner 
in which he was blinded by his unhappy 
amours ; the blood which he caused to be 
shed, and the dreadful consequences of his 
marriages,which proved fatal to almost all his 
wives, are subjects well known to the world. 
The motive is likewise well understood 

" Hear us, O Trinity, celebrating this worthy 
festival, and venerating and praising this holy man 
Maccartinus." 



402 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



which induced him to become the author of 
a new sect, equally detested by Catholics, 
Lutherans, and Sacramentarians. His di- 
vorce, after a lapse of twenty years, from 
Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his 
brother Arthur, and the marriage which he 
contracted with Anne Bollen, or Bullen, be- 
ing condemned by the holy see, he not only 
declared against that authority which con- 
demned him, but by a procedure hitherto 
unheard of among Christians, proclaimed 
himself both spiritual and temporal head of 
the church of England. It was thus that the 
English reformation commenced, of which 
Burnet has written so ingenious a history, 
and one at the same time so replete with 
calumnies against the Catholic church. 

As events generally follow from a chain of 
circumstances and secondary causes, which 
have a mutual influence one upon the other, 
the source of the changes which took place 
in England will be discovered in the situa- 
tion of affairs in Europe at that period, and 
the opposite interests of its princes. About 
the end of the preceding century, the king- 
doms of Castille and Aragon were united, 
and the Moors driven out of Spain. Mary, 
the only daughter and heiress of Charles, 
duke of Burgundy, brought her extensive 
possessions to the house of Austria. Louis 
XL, king of France, having instituted pro- 
ceedings for felony against the memory of 
the duke of Burgundy, confiscated the duchy 
and the county of Artois, belonging to his 
heiress. Charles d'Anjou, count du Maine, 
(to whom his uncle, Rene d'Anjou, had given 
Provence,) bequeathed that country, and his 
right over Naples and Sicily, to Louis XL 
and his son, Charles VIII. , (at the instance, 
it is said, of John de Cosse, seneschal of 
Provence, and Palamede de Forbin, whom 
this king appointed constable of it.) And 
lastly, Charles VIIL, by marrying the heir- 
ess of Brittany, united that province to his 
crown, from which it had been separated 
for so many centuries. 

France, which had thus acquired, without 
any loss of blood, so many provinces, which 
had frequently before borne arms against 
her, became formidable to her neighbors. 
A league was formed between her, England, 
and Austria, in confirmation of which, Fer- 
dinand of Aragon gave Jane, his second 
daughter, in marriage to Philip of Austria, 
son of Maximilian, and another of his daugh- 
ters, called Catherine, to Arthur, son of 
Henry VII., king of England. These alli- 
ances proved unfortunate. The love of Jane 
for her husband was so excessive that she 
lost her reason. Catherine was scarcely 



married when she became a widow. Her 
husband, Arthur, had been prematurely born, 
and the physicians were of opinion that, in 
consequence, he could not be long-lived. 
His appearance was always delicate and in- 
firm, notwithstanding what Protestant wri- 
ters assert ; among others, Chancellor Ba- 
con, who says that it was never known with 
certainty whether the young prince had con- 
summated his marriage, and that on this mat- 
ter various opinions were put forward, accord- 
ing to the prejudices of the different reigns. 

The same motives which influenced Fer- 
dinand and Henry to make this alliance still 
existed, and gave rise to the idea of forming 
a second, by giving Arthur's widow to his 
brother Henry, who was then the only son 
of Henry VII. Rome was applied to for a 
dispensation, which was granted by Julius 
II. But Henry, who was an avaricious 
prince, demanded an increase of dowry with 
Catherine, on this, her second marriage, 
while Ferdinand insisted that it was already 
sufficiently great, and as he was resolved to 
give no more money, he demanded back his 
daughter, and required that her dowry, which 
had been paid, should be restored to him.- 
In the mean time, Henry, who could dis- 
cover no more suitable match for his son, 
resolved on making the most of the new alli- 
ance ; and in order to draw Ferdinand into 
his views, he obliged his son to protest against 
the intended marriage, without, however, in- 
tending to push matters further ; as he, in 
fact, never communicated this protest to 
either Ferdinand or Catherine. 

Such was the state in which matters stood 
on the demise of Henry VII. The council 
of the new king took into their consideration 
whether the marriage would be advantageous 
for England ; whether it was contrary to the 
law of God ; and also, whether the pope 
could grant a dispensation, and whether any 
regard should be paid to the protest of the 
intended husband. All things having been 
duly considered, the marriage of Henry and 
Catherine was celebrated in the month of 
June, with all possible pomp and magnifi- 
cence.* 

The new queen possessed in an eminent 
degree all those private virtues which are 
the solid and chief ornaments of her sex.f 
In her piety and attention to her husband she 
was exemplary : a love of seclusion and em- 
ployment were manifest in her whole de- 

* Polyd. Virgil. Aug. Hist. lib. 27. Sander, de 
Schis. Anglic, edit. Ingoldstad, p. 2, et seq. Baker's 
Chron. on the reign of Henry VIII. 

t Hist, of the Divorce of Henry VIII. and Cath- 
erine of Aragon, by Joachim le Grand, torn. 1. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



403 



portment, and she was looked upon as a 
model of wisdom by all. Her virtue, how- 
ever, had nothing of harshness in it, and she 
possessed a greatness of soul, and an eleva- 
tion of mind, which, even more than her 
birth, gained for her universal respect. 
Henry himself, even in withdrawing his af- 
fections, still preserved a high esteem for her. 

This princess had three children of her 
marriage with Henry ; two sons, who died 
very young, and a daughter called Mary, 
who was afterwards queen. She had also 
some miscarriages, which caused her much 
infirm health, and which probably produced 
displeasure to a husband so abandoned to 
his passions. 

The debaucheries of Henry were generally 
well known. Having already seduced some 
of the maids of honor belonging to the 
queen, he fell in love with Anne Bullen, 
daughter to Thomas Bullen, and a sister of 
the duke of Norfolk, who had gone with 
Queen Mary, wife of Louis XII., to France, 
where she was educated. She afterwards 
became maid of honor to the Queen Claude, 
and after the death of this princess was taken 
into the household of the Duchess d'Alencon, 
sister of Francis I., where, it is said, she first 
imbibed the principles of Luther's heresy. 

We do not here vouch for the truth of the 
scandalous narrative which is given by San- 
ders, concerning the birth and conduct of 
Anne Bullen, before Henry became enamor- 
ed of her,* namely, that she was the off- 
spring of Henry's own intercourse with the 
wife of Thomas Bullen, during the absence 
of that nobleman ; that she had a sister who 
was seduced by that monarch ; that she be- 
came a prostitute almost from her infancy, 
to the master of the household, and the al- 
moner of Thomas Bullen, who was sup- 
posed to be her father ; and that having 
gone to the court of France, she was so 
dishonored by Francis I., and his courtiers, 
that the most infamous names were pub- 
licly attached to her, and she was called, 
u La hacquenee Anglaise." 

There is no reason, however, for denying 
all credence to this historian. He was an 
Englishman by birth, and a cotemporary 
witness of someof the facts which he relates. 
He was also a man of erudition, having made 
his studies at Oxford, where he became a 
bachelor of arts, and was afterwards deemed 
worthy to fill the chair of professor of law in 
that university. At the time of the persecu- 
tion of Catholics by Elizabeth, he was forced 
to quit his occupation and country. He 
went to Rome, where he received the order 

* De Sehismat. Anglic, lib. 1, p. 14-16. 



of priesthood, and the degree of doctor. He 
attached himself to Cardinal Hosius,whomhe 
accompanied to Trent, Prussia, Poland, and 
Lithuania. On his return he taught theology 
at Louvain. Several of his works have been 
published ; among others, one which has for 
its title, "Dc Visibili Monorchia Ecclesm" 
that is, "the Visible Monarchy of the Church." 
He attached himself afterwards to Cardinal 
Commendon, and to Sega, bishop of Pla- 
centia, who was afterwards a cardinal. The 
latter brought him to Augsburg, and from 
that to Spain, where he left him in the quality 
of nuncio. Sanders labored during these 
voyages, and it was while nuncio in Spain, 
that he wrote his history of the schism in 
England. After this he went, by orders of 
Pope Gregory III., to Ireland, to console the 
persecuted Catholics of that country, where 
he died. In fine, Sanders lived in England 
during the troubles that were caused by the 
divorce ; where, besides his own knowledge 
of facts, he had the opportunity of conversing 
with many who were equally well informed 
as himself on what had been passing. We 
may therefore suppose that he wrote what 
he had seen and heard from people worthy 
of belief, and it is highly improbable that a 
man of his character and talents would have 
ventured to impose upon the world by un- 
founded calumnies, and havepublishedifalse- 
hoods, at a time that many who were living 
and interested might have refuted him. 

Protestant writers all exclaim against every 
thing alleged by Sanders disgraceful to the 
supposed reformation. Some wrote refuta- 
tions of his history of the schism, among 
whomwere Doctor Burnet,who appeared one 
hundred years after him, but who was, how- 
ever, confuted altogether by Joachim le 
Grand, a learned Frenchman, who undertook 
the defence of Sanders against him, and by 
the celebrated bishop of Meaux, in his 
" Variations." Burnet's partiality, and the 
inaccuracy of his works on the revolution, 
says Higgins, an English Protestant author, 
have made him discredited, even by the 
honorable men of his own party.* 

However this be, on Anne's return to 
England she appeared at court, with all the 
advantages arising from her youth, and her 
being niece of one of the prime ministers.! 
It does not appear that she was one of those 
regular beauties without defect, but she was 
very young, and of an agreeable figure ; 
lively in her manners ; sung and played on 
many instruments, and danced still better ; 

* Short View, pages 186, 187. 
t Heylin, Hist, of the Reformation, on the reign 
of Elizabeth, page 257, et seq. 



404 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



so that she easily procured the same rank 
with Catherine, as she had enjoyed with 
Queen Claude in France. She was not long 
at court when she attracted general admira- 
tion. Several noblemen fell in love with 
her. The monarch himself became enam- 
ored, and had a marriage broken off that 
was about to take place between her and 
Percy, son of the earl of Northumberland. 

The divorce of Henry VIII. from Cathe- 
rine of Aragon, after a marriage of twenty 
years, began now to be spoken of.* Cardinal 
Wolsey gave the first hints of it. The am- 
bition of this prelate, or rather his desire of 
revenge against a powerful prince by whom 
he had been disappointed in his hopes, was 
the cause of ruin to himself, danger to his 
master, and the fall of religion in his country.! 
He had been filled with the idea of becoming 
pope. Charles V. flattered him with this 
hope, in order to interest him in his cause, 
and thereby conciliate the friendship of Eng- 
land towards him ; and in spite of Wolsey's 
intelligence, he became a dupe to that prince, 
who was equally clever as himself.f Two 
popes died without any mention having been 
made of the English cardinal in the conclave, 
in which Charles possessed sufficient influ- 
ence to have his preceptor appointed to the 
papal chair. Thenceforward Wolsey turned 
his thoughts upon revenge. He first gave his 
master to understand that policy required 
he should unite with Francis I., for his own 
safety against a prince who had become 
haughty from Ids conquests in Italy, and 
aspired to universal dominion, to which he 
was advancing with rapid strides. Henry 
was influenced to listen to the advice of his 
minister the more willingly, since having 
written to Charles V., after the battle of 
Pavia, to know how he should act, that 
prince, dazzled by his own good fortune, 
replied that, " he might remain tranquil, as 
the stag being secured in his toils, he had to 
hope only for a share of the skin." By this 
answer, Henry perceived that the emperor 
began already to disregard his alliance, and 
he therefore declared himself in favor of the 
holy league which had been made between 
Pope Clement VII., Francis I., and all the 
princes of Italy, the object of which was to 
prevent the emperor from getting possession 
of the duchy of Milan, and to check his pro- 
gress in Italy. 

* Sander, de Schis. Angl. lib. 1, p. 7, et seq. 

t Joach. le Grand, ibid. torn. 1, p. 15, et seq. 
Abridg. of the Hist, of England, by an anonymous 
author at the Hague, in 1695. Higgins' Short 
View. 

t Hist, of the Revolutions of England, reign of 
Henry VIII. Hist, of the Variations, book 7. 



Wolsey was still dissatisfied. Not content 
with having gained his point respecting the 
interest of the crowned heads, he undertook 
a measure which he thought likely to give 
more personal uneasiness to the emperor. 
This was the celebrated divorce between 
Henry and his queen, (who was the maternal 
aunt of Charles,) under the pretext that this 
princess should not have been married to the 
two brothers ; that ihe marriage was an in- 
cestuous one, and the dispensation which had 
been obtained was mdl and of no effect. He 
first brought over to his views Longland, 
bishop of Lincoln, the king's confessor, whom 
he found ready to believe all he wished upon 
that subject. He was indeed precisely the 
kind of character whom the cardinal should 
desire for forwarding his designs ; being 
simple, scrupulous, and possessed of fa.r more 
piety than penetration. He accompanied 
Wolsey to the king, and said to him, " that 
his marriage with Catherine gave universal 
scandal ; that he considered himself, as his 
confessor, bound in conscience to apprize 
him of it, and to beg that he would have the 
subject investigated by the learned ; that it 
was a duty he owed to himself, and to that 
love of justice which he had always testified." 
This discourse produced some impression on 
the king's mind. Wolsey, delighted that 
Longland had broached the matter, proposed 
to Henry to break off his alliance with Ca- 
therine, and marry the duchess dowager 
d'Alencon, sister to Francis I. It was thus 
the cardinal, unintentionally, laid the foun- 
dation of the greatness of a girl who was to 
be one day the cause of his downfall. Anne 
Bullen was not ignorant of the king's passion 
for her. She counterfeited a virtuous cha- 
racter, and gave him no hope, but that of 
marrying her, should he succeed in the di- 
vorce proposed to him by the cardinal. 

Henry was unable to resist the solicitations 
of his minister, the remonstrances of his con- 
fessor, and the pretended remorse of his own 
conscience, which reproached him with a 
marriage contrary to the laws of God. He 
commissioned some of his counsellors to ex- 
amine its validity, and also a passage in Le- 
viticus, wherein it is forbidden to marry the 
wife of a brother. These counsellors an- 
swered that Leviticus should be expounded 
by Deuteronomy. He then had recourse to 
some of, the learned theologians in his own 
kingdom, and afterwards to those of other 
universities of Europe, some of whom were 
favorable to him. Lastly, he sent to Rome, 
begging very humbly that the pope would 
send him a judge competent to bring this 
important matter to an end. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



405 



Clement VII., who at the time filled the 
papal chair, had just escaped from the hands 
of Charles V., by whom he had been detain- 
ed a prisoner. The holy see was already 
indebted to the zeal of the king of England, 
against the heresies that were springing up, 
and the pope in particular, to whom this 
monarch had rendered services during his 
captivity, was desirous of obliging him. 
Besides, the king of France supported 
Henry, by strong solicitations to the holy 
see. The pope had promised, that as soon 
as he should be free with the emperor, he 
would give to his benefactor all the satis- 
faction in his power ; and he accordingly 
sent over Cardinal Campegio to investigate 
the matter with Cardinal Wolsey. 

Before the plan of Henry's divorce was 
generally known, Francis I. sent Gabriel de 
Gramond, bishop of Tarbres, the Viscount 
de Turenne, and Le Viste, first president of 
Paris and Brittany, as ambassadors to Eng- 
land.* They had orders to conclude a lasting 
peace between the two crowns, and to ask 
the Princess Mary, only daughter and heiress 
of Henry VIII., in marriage, either for the 
King Francis I., or the duke of Orleans, his 
second son. The basis of a peace and an 
alliance with the Princess Mary were agreed 
upon. The treaty was signed in the month 
of April ; and on Sunday the 5th of May the 
ambassadors had a farewell audience at 
Hampton court, where they were magnifi- 
cently entertained. It is affirmed that on 
that day the bishop of Tarbes, urged on, no 
doubt, by the importunate Wolsey, said to 
the king, that learned men condemned his 
marriage with Catherine, and that his con- 
science and salvation required that it should 
be examined into ; but it may be supposed 
that Protestant writers had their own views 
in speaking thus of that prelate. 

Cardinal Campegio, whom the pope had 
nominated, in conjunction with Cardinal 
Wolsey, to investigate the project of the 
divorce, having received his instructions 
from his holiness, arrived in England in the 
beginning of October. 

The king appointed, by letters patent, 
Richard Sampson, the dean of his chapel, 
and John Bell, a doctor of law, as his advo- 
cates and pleaders ; to whom are also added 
Peter and Trigonel. The queen had already 
chosen William Warham, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, Nicholas West, bishop of Ely, and 
some doctors of law, besides John Fisher, 
bishop of Rochester, and Henry Standish, 
bishop of St. Asaph, and doctor in theology, 
and others, according to the permission 

* Le Grand, ibid, page 17. 



which had been previously granted to her. 
On the 18th of the same month, Sampson 
and Bell presented the commission which 
the king had given them to act in his name ; 
but the queen herself appearing, declared 
that she could not acknowledge the legates 
to be her judges, and demanded the act of 
her protest. Campegio then adjourned their 
sitting to the 21st, on which day the king 
and queen both appeared. When they were 
called, the king answered ; but the queen, 
not wishing to reply, threw herself at the- 
king's feet, and said in the presence of the 
people by whom he was surrounded, " that 
she besought him to have mercy on her ; 
that she only asked for justice ; that she was 
a poor stranger, far from her relatives and 
friends ; that she dared not follow either her 
own judgment or the advice of her lawyers ; 
that she took God to be her witness, whether 
she were not his real wife ; that she had been 
always faithful to him ; that during more than 
twenty years of marriage she had been as 
attached to him as woman could be to her 
husband ; that she knew not how she could 
have merited his displeasure ; that he knew 
well, if he would but speak according to his 
conscience, that he had found her a virgin at 
her marriage ; that she consented to be ex- 
pelled with infamy, if what she advanced 
were not true ; that their parents, who were 
wise princes, had not concluded on their 
marriage without proper investigation ; that 
among all the able characters by whom they 
were surrounded, none had noticed the pro- 
tests which were now sought after ; that as 
to herself, she could not discover how her 
marriage could be called into doubt ; that 
indeed she had been permitted to have coun- 
sel, but she could repose no confidence in 
them ; that her lawyers and judges were the 
king's subjects ; that she could not acknow- 
ledge the authority of the legates ; that, in 
fine, every thing was to her an object of sus- 
picion : she therefore besought the king that 
he would postpone the proceedings till she 
would hear from Spain ;. and that if he re- 
fused her that favor, he might act as he 
thought proper." She then arose, and re- 
spectfully retired. She was again called, but 
would not return. The whole assembly was 
moved by her discourse. The king himself 
appeared affected, and when she had with- 
drawn, said, " that he had no complaints to 
advance against her ; that he was satisfied 
with her conduct ; and that her virtue could 
not be sufficiently admired. He declared, 
likewise, that he would continue willingly 
to live with her, if his conscience would 
permit him." 



406 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



The divorce question was frequently de- 
bated without anything being concluded on. 
The king, therefore, sent for the two cardi- 
nals, in order that they may induce the queen 
to leave the matter to his own decision. 
They immediately repaired to her, and found 
her working with her female attendants. 
When she heard Wolsey addressing her, 
and continuing to speak, " I see clearly," 
said she, " that you have come here to de- 
bate on matters which surpass my capacity." 
Then showing a skein of silk which hung 
upon her neck, " Behold," she continued, 
" what I am capable of, and what is my sole 
occupation." Wolsey entreated her, through 
kindness for the king, not to await the result 
of a lawsuit, the issue of which could not be 
favorable to her. " I do not know (replied 
the queen) who has advised the king to act 
as he is now doing. I confess, cardinal, that 
it is you whom I blame for it. Our parents, 
who were wise princes, had our marriage 
previously investigated, and obtained from 
the pope a dispensation for it, of which I 
hold the original. The king and I have 
lived for almost eighteen years together, 
during which no censure has been cast upon 
us. Your pride, however, I cannot approve 
of ; your debaucheries, your tyranny, and 
insolence, I have spoken of. Through the 
influence of my nephew, the emperor, you 
have failed in being appointed pope, which 
is the source of all my misfortunes ; since 
in order to be revenged, you have not been 
content with kindling a war throughout all 
Europe, but have been likewise the secret 
spring and cause of all my misfortunes. 
Every thing that I suffer, cardinal, from this 
disgrace, is known to God, who will be your 
judge and mine." Wolsey wished to reply, 
but she would not hear him. Campegio she 
treated with politeness, but protested that 
she never would acknowledge either one or 
the other as her judges, and would continue 
in the line of conduct she had adopted. 
After the sitting of the 21st of June, she 
refused to appear before the legates. A 
judgment by default was obtained against 
her on the 25th, and the examination of the 
witnesses was commenced. 

During the taking of the informations, 
the sittings were not discontinued, but were, 
however, frequently adjourned. The minis- 
ters of Charles V. and of Ferdinand de- 
manded that the matter should be brought 
to a higher tribunal. The pope, who still 
feared to irritate Henry, postponed the sub- 
ject as long as it was possible ; but being at 
length unable to refuse any longer a request 
that was so just, he informed that prince, in 



a letter dated the 9th of July, of his inten- 
tions, and without waiting for an answer, 
signed the evocation, of which he informed 
him and Cardinal Wolsey on the 19th. 

As soon as intelligence was received from 
Rome that the cause had been transferred 
to another tribunal, the king went to Grafton 
with Anne Bullen, where Campegio had an 
audience previous to his departure. 

Wolsey began already to feel the effects 
of his impending disgrace. There were 
different cabals in the court, all of which 
tended to his downfall. Those who were 
attached to the queen, considered him as the 
author of her ruin. The relatives and par- 
tisans of Anne Bullen were convinced that 
his presence at court was inauspicious to 
their advancement. The courtiers them- 
selves, who had neither God nor any other 
object in view than the will of their prince, 
appeared to be the cardinal's most deter- 
mined opposers ; and even his own creatures 
for the most part abandoned him, and ad- 
mitted his guilt, when they found that his 
downfall had commenced. Anne Bullen 
was minutely informed of every crime he had 
committed during the fifteen years that he 
ruled the state with absolute power ; all 
which she communicated to the king, who 
listened to her with pleasure. Orders were 
dispatched on the 22d of October to Wolsey, 
to quit York palace, at present called White- 
hall, and the usual residence of the kings 
of England. He was sent eight leagues from 
London, to a place called Asher. All his 
furniture and papers were also seized, by 
which conduct his enemies deprived him of 
the means of defending himself. The dukes 
of Norfolk and Suffolk, who were at that 
time heads of the council, went to him to 
demand the great seal ; but this he refused 
to surrender without an express order from 
the king. As there was no difficulty in ob- 
taining this, the cardinal only deferred his 
resignation of it for a day or two. Sir 
Thomas More, who was, both in principle 
and integrity of life, the first man then in 
England, was raised to the dignity of lord 
chancellor. 

The parliament met in London, on the 
third of November, and was immediately 
adjourned to Westminster. It seemed as if 
it were convened only for the destruction 
of Wolsey, so determined were his enemies 
against him. They presented a petition to 
the king, containing many points of accusa- 
tion, and threatened to condemn him as 
guilty of high treason ; but his cause was 
ably defended by his servant, Thomas Crom- 
well, a member of the parliament. They 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



407 



then dismissed the accusations of high trea- 
son against him, but he was arraigned under 
the law of prcemunirc, and declared to be 
out of the king's protection. His property 
was confiscated, and his arrest was even 
spoken of. 

Several members of parliament were at- 
tached to the new doctrine, and laws were 
enacted against the clergy, under pretext 
of their exactions, which were considerably 
exaggerated, in order to make them appear 
contemptible in the eyes of the people, whose 
minds were thus prepared by degrees for the 
supposed reformation that had been already 
projected. 

The cardinal experienced very severe 
treatment in the place to which he had re- 
tired ; being left without clothes, linen, plate, 
or money, and so destitute of every thing, 
that were it not for the bishop of Carlisle, 
he must have perished from hunger and dis- 
tress. Having fallen sick at Asher, the king, 
who had still some consideration for him, 
permitted him to go to Richmond for change 
of air ; but his enemies, who were jealous of 
his being so near the court, importuned 
Henry so strongly, that he gave orders to 
have him removed to his archbishopric of 
York. Fresh complaints being made to the 
king, who was accustomed to yield to his 
flatterers, he ordered Sir Walter Walsh, his 
private chaplain, and the earl of Northum- 
berland, to arrest him. This last stroke 
was too heavy for Wolsey to bear. The 
shock and surprise were so powerful, that a 
dysentery ensued, by which his constitution 
was soon shattered. He however set out. 
but his disease increasing, he was forced to 
stop at Leicester abbey, where he died, and 
was interred the week after his arrival, a. d. 
1531. 

The cardinal's death was the commence- 
ment of a violent persecution against the 
clergy. The parliament, which had been 
so frequently prorogued, met in the month 
of January. The clergy were accused of 
having incurred the penalty of the law of 
prcemunire, and immediate submission to 
the king, together with the payment of one 
hundred thousand pounds sterling, were 
made the sole conditions on which he granted 
them his pardon. 

When Campegio arrived in England with 
the pope's sanction for having the subject of 
the divorce investigated, no means were left 
untried to obtain the decision of the several 
universities, or the learned men in France 
and England, in its favor.* It is well known 
what bribes, threats, and sums of money 
* Joachim le Grand, p. 17, et seq. 



were lavished by Fox, Henry's almoner, and 
Gardiner, secretary of state, in both the 
English universities, namely, Cambridge and 
Oxford, to gain their approval of the divorce. 
The English began now to murmur loudly,and 
it was publicly declared, that in spite of what- 
ever might be decided upon, he who married 
the princess Mary should be king of England. 
Similar sentiments were entertained by the 
nobles, who, though they did not express 
themselves so freely, did not think the less 
on that account. The theologians and 
legislators were as unfavorable to Henry 
as his other subjects. No one could be 
found to write in favor of the divorce. 

John du Bellay, bishop of Bayonne, and 
afterwards of Paris, and subsequently a car- 
dinal, was sent to England to negotiate 
affairs with Henry VIII. As he was partial 
to the divorce, he could not fail of being 
well received by the prince. He was there- 
fore commissioned to conciliate the French 
theologians in favor of Henry, and for that 
purpose returned to France . He first brought 
the university of Orleans to publish a dec- 
laration against the marriage of Catherine of 
Aragon, which example was followed, in a 
few months, by the university of Toulouse. 

The same facility was not to be met with 
in every place.* The question produced a 
great noise among the theologians in Paris. 
Recourse was first had to some doctors who 
were easily bribed, and who promised to do 
every thing that could be desired. Among 
these was master Gervais, a man devoted to 
those who sought for the divorce, and anxious 
also to advance himself at court, and there- 
by to make his fortune. Doctor Noel Beda, 
a steady man, and possessing great merit, 
throughout opposed the king of England, 
for which he was at length driven into exile. 
No question was ever debated so strongly in 
the university of Paris, as this. The king 
of England honored the theologians so far 
as to write to them with his own hand on 
the subject; while his ambassadors expended 
large sums of money, seeking and even beg- 
ging for suffrages from door to door. A 
meeting was at length convened ; one party 
yielded to Henry in every thing that he 
wished, while another declared that they 
could not deliberate upon the subject, till 
they would first write to the pope, who had 
already forbidden any one to interfere in a 
matter of such moment. A third party was 
then formed, which was desirous of writing 
to both the king and the pope, and in the 
meanwhile the deliberations were continued. 

* he Grand, ibid, page 175. 



408 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



When the votes, however, were being col- 
lected, one doctor, more violent than the 
others, rose up, and having torn the minutes 
from the hands of the recorder, destroyed 
them, and declared that the greater part 
would not continue any longer in their dis- 
cussions upon the subject. The assembly was 
hereby thrown into confusion, and conse- 
quently broken up. Other meetings were 
afterwards held. The faculty prohibited the 
doctors from coming to any conclusion re- 
specting the divorce. The division that pre- 
vailed being caused by these men, who, on 
account of the favors which they hoped to 
receive from the king, always avowed them- 
selves favorable to Henry, so that nothing 
could be decided upon. 

Among the doctors of the university of 
Angers, the ferment was equally great as in 
Paris. The faculties of theology and law 
differed so widely, that both came to opposite 
conclusions on the same day. The faculty of 
law supported the pretensions of Henry VIII ., 
and care was taken to make the decision 
public. But as the theologians were opposed 
to him in opinion, their decree was carefully 
suppressed, though it was subsequently pub- 
lished by Joachim le Grand. The same want 
of union seems to have prevailed in the uni- 
versity of Bourges. It has never been ascer- 
tained what decisions the universities of Pa- 
via and Bologna came to upon the subject of 
Henry's divorce. It is, however, generally 
said, that he owed to his authority, to his 
money, and to the intrigues of Du Bellay, 
all the boasted sanctions of the universities. 

Henry VIII., havingforced from the Eng- 
lish and French academies decisions favor- 
able to his cause, sent some noblemen to the 
queen about the end of May, to inform her 
of these results, and to induce her to with- 
draw her appeal, and submit her interests to 
the arbitration of four bishops and four no- 
blemen, in order that the matter might be 
set at rest, and tranquillity restored to the 
king's mind.* The queen replied as before, 
that she was the king's wife ; that she would 
persist in her appeal, and would consent to 
nothing without the advice of her nephew 
the emperor, and also that of the pope, 
who was the best judge of her rights. 

The queen's resolution irritated Henry ; 
however, he dissembled for some time, and 
went with her to Windsor ,where he remained 
till the 14th of July ; when he left her, and 
proceeded to Woodstock. After some time, 
she repaired to Easthamstead, which was the 

* Heylin, ibid, page 176. Baker's Chron. of 
Engl. p. 281. 



commencement of their separation. The king 
again sent several noblemen to exhort her to 
conform to the law of God, by withdrawing 
her pretensions, and to inform her, in his 
name, that if she still persisted in her deter- 
mination, she might choose between Oking, 
Easthamstead, and the monastery of Bisham, 
where she should thenceforward reside, and 
not annoy him more by her proceedings. 

God at length permitted that Henry should 
meet no further opposition to his will. Wil- 
liam Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, 
one of the greatest men that England ever 
produced, died at this time. All the flatterers 
about the court, who were interested in the 
success of Henry's wicked intentions, were 
rejoiced at the death of so wise a prelate. 
He was succeeded by Cranmer ; and as the 
latter had a greater share than any other in 
the pretended reformation of the church of 
England, it is necessary to make his charac- 
ter known. 

Parker, Fox, and Burnet think that Cran- 
mer was a man of- noble rank, though others, 
by whom he ought to be better known, do 
not agree with them. However, if he were 
not, he ought to have been, as those who 
are raised by fortune seldom want the means 
of becoming ennobled. All that is known 
with certainty of hinr is, that he was profes- 
sor in the university of Cambridge ; that he 
was expelled for having married ; and that 
he was one of the first who wrote in favor 
of the divorce. From the year 1529, Cran- 
mer placed himself at the head of the party 
who wished for Catherine's separation, and 
the marriage upon which the king was de- 
termined with Anne Bullen. In 1530 he 
wrote a book against the validity of Cathe- 
rine's marriage, and it may be readily in- 
ferred what pleasure this must have afforded 
to a prince, whose predominant passions were 
thereby defended. He was from this time 
looked on as a favorite at court, and con- 
sidered likely to succeed Cardinal Wolsey in 
influence. Cranmer had already adopted the 
principles of Luther, and was, according to 
Burnet, the most esteemed of all those who 
had embraced them. Heretics generally 
admire those who adopt their own opinions, 
and bestow upon them the character of good 
men, how depraved soever they may be in 
their morals. Anne Bullen, continues Bur- 
net, had also imbibed a tincture of the same 
doctrine. He makes it appear, too, that she 
was quite attached to the opinions of those 
who were called reformers. Every one, con- 
tinues he, of the same party, had declared 
in favor of the divorce. Herein is discover- 
ed the secret connection between Cran- 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



409 



mer, his adherents, and Henry's mistress, 
and the foundation of the influence of this 
new confidant, as also the commencement 
of the English reformation. The unhappy 
prince, who knew nothing of their machina- 
tions, or the objects they had in view, united 
himself by degrees to the enemies of the 
faith which he had before so ably defend- 
ed, and entering unconsciously into their 
secret plots, forwarded thereby their pro- 
jects for destroying it. 

Cranmer was sent to Rome to support the 
divorce question, and while there, concealed 
his errors so ably, that the pope made him 
his penitentiary, which proves that he was 
a priest ; and although a Lutheran, he ac- 
cepted that office from his holiness. From 
Rome he went to Germany, in order to se- 
cure the friendship of his trusty friends, the 
Protestants. It was there that he married 
the sister of Osiander, after having first se- 
duced her. While there it also was that 
the archbishopric of Canterbury became va- 
cant by the death of Warham, as we have 
already mentioned. The king of England, 
from whom Cranmer's marriage had been 
concealed, appointed him to that see, which 
he accepted, and the pope, who imagined 
that his only fault lay in supporting the 
invalidity of Henry's marriage, a question 
which was then undecided, gave him his 
bulls. Cranmer received them, and did not 
hesitate to stain his reputation by receiving, 
as his party expressed themselves, " the 
mark of the beast." 

Had the pretended reformation of religion 
been confined to England alone, this long 
digression might appear foreign to the his^ 
lory of Ireland ; but as its unhappy effects 
have been but too sensibly felt in this coun- 
try, it has been thought necessary to reveal 
its source, and make the principal actors in 
it known to the world. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

The earl of Kildare having been ap- 
pointed deputy for the English province in 
Ireland, in the place of Skeffington, repaired 
to Dublin in August, 1552, where he was joy- 
fully received by the inhabitants ;* and after 
taking the usual oath, received the sword of 
office from his predecessor. John Alan, or 
Allen, one of Cardinal Wolsey's favorites, 
was, at the time, archbishop of" Dublin and 
chancellor of Ireland : but the deputy, who 

* War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 24. 



belonged to the opposite faction, had George 
Cromer, archbishop of Armagh, appointed 
chancellor and keeper of the seals in his 
place, which increased the hatred that al- 
ready prevailed between him and Alan. In 
order to counterbalance Kildare's authority, 
the court nominated James Butler, son of 
the earl of Ossory, treasurer. This noble- 
man, through the deputy's nephew, was 
nevertheless his enemy, having always es- 
poused the quarrels of his father, the earl 
of Ossory, against him. 

The earl of Kildare finding himself at the 
head of the government in Ireland, began to 
look upon his enemies with contempt. To 
strengthen his party, he formed an alliance 
with two of the most powerful of the Irish 
nobility, who were implacable enemies to the 
dominion of the English ; namely, O'Con- 
nor Faly and Fear-Gan-Ainim O'Carroll, to 
whom he gave his two daughters in mar- 
riage. Supported by these new alliances, 
he declared war against the earl of Ossory, 
devastated his estates, and those of his 
friends, and carried off considerable spoil. 
Conn O'Neill, and his brother John Fitz- 
gerald, after this made incursions into the 
county of Louth, burned the possessions of 
the English, and carried off their cattle with- 
out any opposition. The deputy convened 
a parliament in Dublin in 1533, in which 
regulations were made relative to the gov- 
ernment. The dispute for pre-eminence, so 
frequently renewed between the primate of 
Armagh and the archbishop of Dublin, was 
decided by this parliament in favor of the 
former. 

The parliament having been prorogued, 
Kildare marched at the head of his forces to 
support the pretensions of Fear-Gan-Ainim, 
or Nehemias 0'Carrol,his son-in-law.* The 
latter had taken possession of the lordship of 
Eile, on the death of his brother, in virtue 
of the law called Tanistry ;t but the son of 
the deceased, a young nobleman capable of 
governing and commanding, considered it 
his duty to support his birthright against his 
uncle. For this purpose he collected all his 
vassals, and took possession of Birr, the 
principal town in the district. He was there 
besieged by the deputy ; but that general, 
having been wounded in the head by a mus- 
ket-ball, the effects of which he felt through- 
out life, soon abandoned the enterprise. It 
is said that a soldier, who was beside him, 
hearing him complain, said, " Why do you 
groan, my lord 1 I have received three gun- 



* Ware, ibid. cap. 25. 

t This law will be hereafter explained. 



410 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



shot wounds in my body, and I am now 
perfectly well." " Would to God," replied 
the earl, " that you had received the fourth 
instead of me." 

Henry VIII. was continually sending his 
agents to Rome to endeavor to procure the 
divorce, without giving them credentials for 
that purpose.* The pope, who was aware 
of the manner in which the king of Eng- 
land was acting, commanded him by letter 
to send away his mistress and take back his 
wife ; and in case that he disobeyed, ordered 
him to appear at Rome with Anne Bullen, 
to answer for the scandal they had caused, 
by living together as man and wife, in con- 
tempt of the censures of the church. The 
pope concluded by observing, that it was a 
matter of deep regret to him to find himself 
obliged to have recourse to such measures ; 
that if it were only his own private interest 
that was concerned, he would gladly submit 
it to his own decision ; but that, as the glory 
of God, his own conscience, and the honor 
of a virtuous princess loaded with ignominy, 
after twenty years marriage, were now at 
stake, he was compelled, in spite of himself, 
to have recourse to these measures. This 
letter produced no better effect than the oth- 
ers. The evil increased every day, and it 
was soon discovered that Henry wished to 
break with the court of Rome, and separate 
himself from its communion. 

The parliament having assembled in the 
beginning of the year, fresh attacks were 
projected against the clergy and the pope. 
The commons, who were accustomed to 
complain of the ecclesiastics, accused them 
in their writings to Henry, but he did not 
think prudent to listen to them. They com- 
plained of the immense sums drawn by the 
popes from England, as first-fruits, provisions 
for benefices, bulls, and various other things 
of the same character, as being all contrary 
to English freedom. 

Henry, in the mean time, gave himself 
up to his passions. The longer the pope 
deferred the divorce question, the more his 
passion for Anne Bullen increased. In or- 
der to prove his affection for her, he created 
her marchioness of Pembroke, by letters 
patent dated the 15th of September, 1532, 
and assigned her one thousand pounds ster- 
ling a year, which was a considerable sum 
at that time, to support her dignity. f 

Henry, who could not bear the absence 
of the new marchioness, brought her to Ca- 

* Sanders, de Schis. Anglic, p. 62. Le Grand 
History of the Divorce, pp. 219, 235. 

t Heylin, Hist, of the Revolution, p. 176. Ba- 
ker, Chron. Reign of Henry VIII. p. 281. 



lais in the month of October, to be present 
at an interview which he had at Boulogne 
with Francis I., and on his return to Eng- 
land, married her secretly on the 14th of 
Nov., though the sentence of the divorce 
between him and Catherine was not yet 
pronounced. Roland Lee, who was after- 
wards bishop of Lichfield, performed the 
marriage ceremony ; the king having as- 
sured him that the pope permitted him to 
leave Catherine, and take another wife, pro- 
vided he would marry in private, and without 
witnesses, in order to avoid giving scandal. 

After a few months, the marchioness be- 
ing in a state of pregnancy, the marriage 
could not be concealed longer.* Cranmer 
labored to have the king's divorce from 
Catherine sanctioned )fy the parliament. 
Every law that had been previously enacted 
against the popes, was re-enacted by this 
assembly. It was prohibited to appeal to 
Rome on any subject concerning England, 
as that kingdom should not submit to the 
regulations of any foreign power, in either 
spiritual or temporal affairs ; and that, there- 
fore, all ecclesiastical matters, on which ap- 
peals had been till then made to the court of 
Rome, should be finally determined in Eng- 
land, through an appeal from the commis- 
sioner to the bishop, from the bishop to the 
archbishop, and from him to the king : that 
whatever excommunications might arrive 
from Rome, the divine service should be 
nevertheless celebrated, and the sacraments 
administered ;f and if difficulties were in- 
terposed by any of the clergy, they should 
be condemned to one year's imprisonment, 
and a fine to be paid, according to the king's 
pleasure ; and that those who violated these 
acts should incur the penalties of the law of 
praemunire. Lastly, it was concluded that 
matters respecting the king's interest should 
be adjusted by a sovereign convocation of 
the clergy. 

This was the prelude to the ecclesiastical 
authority which Henry afterwards assumed 
to himself, and in which he was confirmed 
by an act passed in the same parliament, 
entitled " an act to extinguish the authority 
of the bishop of Rome." 

In the mean time, Cranmer, whom the 
king had purposely raised to the dignity of 
archbishop of Canterbury, undertook what 

* Protestant writers call her Queen Anne while 
Catherine was still alive, and before the sentence 
of divorce had been pronounced. None but a law- 
ful wife could assume that title. 

t Heretics always make it a practice to prepare 
the minds of the faithful to despise excommunica- 
tion, which is the only weapon used by the church 
to repress their audacity. 



f'HRTSTIAN IRELAND. 



411 



the pope had not dared- to do. Being in- 
vested with authority by Henry VIII., who 
was now declared to be supreme head of the 
English church, he removed to Dunstable in 
the beginning of May, accompanied by the 
bishops of London, Winchester, Wells, and 
Lincoln, and attended by some officers of 
justice, where they established a sort of 
tribunal, to which Catherine of Aragon was 
summoned, to be heard on the subject of her 
marriage with the king. The queen, how- 
ever, who still adhered to her first resolution, 
which was, to acknowledge no tribunal but 
that of Rome, or no judge but the pope, 
having refused to appear, was condemned 
for contumacy. The sentence of divorce 
was then pronounced, and her marriage with 
the king declared to be null. This decision 
was confirmed by the parliament, which de- 
prived this princess of the rank of queen, 
and decreed that she should thenceforward 
be called princess dowager, as being only 
the widow of Prince Arthur. It was enacted 
by the same parliament, that it was lawful 
for the king to marry a second time. 

Every thing being thus arranged, the mar- 
chioness of Pembroke was solemnly crowned 
at Whitehall, with the usual ceremonies, and 
with the title of queen. In a few months 
after this, the celebrated Elizabeth was born, 
the unhappy offspring of lust and discord ; 
and was subsequently queen of England. 

The parliament continued their endeavors, 
by order of the king, to annihilate the pope's 
authority in England. Every day some 
bishop mounted the pulpit in St. Paul's, and 
preached to the people that the bishop of 
Rome had no more power in the kingdom, 
than any other bishop out of his own diocese. 
The English had been prepared for this 
change for some years before, so that the 
king found but little opposition to his wishes 
in the two houses of parliament. It was 
therefore decreed that nothing more should 
be referred after this to the court of Rome ; 
but that all cases wherein an appeal had been 
made to the pope, should be hereafter finally 
settled by the king and his council. The 
king's second marriage was confirmed, and 
the former having been declared null, it was 
enacted that the children born of that alliance 
could not inherit from their father, and 
should be therefore considered illegitimate ; 
that the male children whom the king might 
have by Anne Bullen, should succeed to the 
crown, and that, in the event of having no 
male issue, the daughters should succeed ; 
so that the Princess Mary was disinherited, 
and Elizabeth declared heiress to the crown 
But this law was continued only as long as 



the king's passion lasted for Anne Bullen, 
and the offspring of Henry's connection with 
her was afterwards dealt with as severely as 
the Princess Mary ; the parliament follow- 
ing no other rule in making or rescinding 
laws, than the caprices of the prince. 

A conspiracy was formed about the year 
1533, against the earl of Kildare, deputy of 
Ireland, which proved fatal to this nobleman 
and his whole family.* This earl had many 
enemies. He had supplanted Skeffington in 
the government of Ireland, and deprived 
Alan, or Allen, archbishop of Dublin, of the 
office of chancellor, to confer it on another. 
The earl of Ossory was his brother-in-law, 
but not his friend, and the spirit of jealousy 
which had long existed between the houses 
of Butler and Fitzgerald, was not forgotten 
by the present chiefs of them. These three 
noblemen conspired against Kildare, and 
soon drew others into their party. 

John Allen, a creature of the ex-chan- 
cellor, who was secretary to the council, and 
afterwards master of the rolls, was sent to 
England by the council, to inform the king 
of the state of the English province, and the 
abuses which required reformation. He was 
commissioned to represent to his majesty, 
that every thing in the province was in a 
state of decline ; that the order which had 
been established, as well as the language 
and mode of dress which had been ordained, 
were neglected ; and lastly, that the English 
laws were not in force for more than about 
a circuit of twenty miles. He was also 
ordered to make known to the king and his 
council, that these abuses proceeded from 
the great power of some nobles to whom the 
government was intrusted, the frequent 
change of deputies, and the making over of 
the crown lands, by which the revenues in- 
tended to support the state were consider- 
ably diminished. Allen acquitted himself 
so well of his commission, that the king sent 
an order to the deputy to repair to England, 
to account for his conduct, and to answer 
for the crimes of which he stood accused. 

Kildare dreading the consequences, sought 
means to delay his voyage. He sent his 
countess to England, to prevail upon her 
relatives and friends to solicit the king to 
countermand the order, under pretext that 
her husband's absence might produce dan- 
gerous results in the present state of affairs 
in Ireland. But the enemies of the earl 
having informed the king and council of 
England of his attempts, the appeal was 
rejected. He determined then to risk all, 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 25. 



412 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



and to proceed. Previous, however, to his 
departure, he caused his castles of Maynooth 
and Ley, and other places which belonged 
to him, to be provided with arms and am- 
munition of all sorts from the king's stores. 

The deputy prepared for his voyage to 
England in the spring of 1534 ; having, be- 
fore he set out, nominated his son, Thomas 
Fitzgerald, deputy in his stead, according to 
the orders he had received from the king, to 
give the administration of affairs during his 
absence to one for whom he should be re- 
sponsible.* The vice-deputy was a young 
man about twenty-one, impetuous, and with- 
out the experience requisite for so important 
a trust. The father, when giving him the 
sword of justice, made a very impressive 
discourse to him, in presence of the council, 
at Drogheda. It is quoted by Hollingshed, 
and is in substance as follows : 

" You know, my son, that my sovereign 
lord, the king, has commanded me to repair 
to England. I am ignorant of what may 
arise to me ; God alone knows ; but what- 
ever may occur, you are as well aware as I 
am, that my years are far advanced, and that, 
being a mortal, death may at any time befall 
me ; and that it will necessarily come soon, 
from my advanced age. As my winter there- 
fore is drawing to a close, and you are only 
in the spring of life, it is my wish that you 
conduct yourself in youth with such prudence 
that you may enjoy the pleasures of your 
summer to the satisfaction of your friends ; 
gather the fruits of your autumn, and attain 
with honor the winter of your career, to 
which you see I am fast approaching. Since 
it is his majesty's will that I should appoint 
a substitute, for whom I shall be responsible, 
I may be, perhaps, blamed for having placed 
a naked sword in the hands of so young a 
man, whose opinions are not yet matured, 
nor his judgment formed : however, I flatter 
myself, that, as being your father, I shall 
have sufficient authority to command you in 
the government of affairs, and to reprehend 
you as my son, should this become necessary. 

Remember, likewise, my son, that it 

is easier to pull down than to build up : be 
guided therefore in every thing by the wis- 
dom of your council. Though you have the 
authority of governing others, you must act 
under their advice." He concluded by pre- 
senting his son with the sword, whereupon 
he took leave, with tears in his eyes, of the 
whole assembly, and sailed immediately for 
England, where, on his arrival, he was sent 
to the tower by orders of the king. 

* Cox, History of Ireland, page 226. 



The enemies of the Fitzgeralds were not 
sufficiently revenged by the earl's disgrace ; 
they wished to drag his son and all his family 
into the same ruin. For this purpose, a re- 
port was spread that the earl of Kildare had 
been beheaded in the tower, and that his son, 
the deputy, with his uncles and brothers, 
should soon undergo a similar fate. There 
were even letters published confirming the 
report. One of these letters having acci- 
dentally fallen into the hands of James de la 
Hide, the head of the deputy's council, this 
favorite made him form an alliance with 
O'Neill, O'Connor, and other Irish noble- 
men, in order to strengthen his party, and 
enable him to await the event. 

It may be readily imagined that a young 
nobleman in the flower of youth, could easily 
be led on the one side by a passion, which 
inspired revenge for the death of a father by 
whom he was beloved ; and on the other, by 
apprehension for his own safety, and that of 
his whole family, who were to be sacrificed 
to the envy of their enemies. Filled with 
these ideas, the deputy put himself at the 
head of one hundred and forty horsemen, 
well armed, and mounted. With these he 
crossed the city of Dublin, and stopping at 
the abbey of Our Lady, where the council 
was assembled, he posted his troops around 
the convent, which he entered, and took his 
seat among the council. He was followed 
by some of his horsemen, who entered the 
hall in a tumultuous manner, making a great 
noise ; but silence being ordered, the deputy 
addressed the meeting, and surrendered the 
sword of justice, and other attributes of his 
office ; declaimed strongly against the injuries 
which he and his family sustained, notwith- 
standing the important services they had 
rendered to the state; declared that the sword 
no longer belonged to him ; that he was no 
longer the king's deputy, but his open enemy ; 
and that he had resolved to make him feel 
for his tyranny and cruelties. He then pre- 
sented the sword to Cromer, the chancellor. 
The latter, with tears in his eyes, used every 
possible argumentto dissuade the vice-deputy 
from an enterprise, the consequences of which 
might prove fatal to him and his family ; and 
represented to him that the name of a king 
is sacred, while that of a rebel was odious. 
Fitzgerald told the chancellor in reply, that 
he did not go there to ask his advice on what 
he should do, but to inform him of his inten- 
tions ; and then withdrew from the assembly, 
and placed himself at the head of his forces. 
Thomas Fitzgerald having thus raised the 
standard of revolt, proceeded to strengthen 
his party. He was first joined by the other 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



413 



branches of his family, who were numerous 
and powerful ; and he was also seconded by 
some Irish lords. The rebellion was now 
becoming general, particularly in the neigh- 
borhood of Dublin. The O'Tools and other 
Irish seized the opportunity of plundering 
the territory of Fingal, which was con 
sidered the granary of the city ; in which 
they were encouraged by John Burnel, an 
English gentleman, who was favorable to the 
rebellion. Being loaded with booty, they 
were attacked in their retreat near Kilmain 
ham, by a considerable body of the inhabit 
ants of Dublin, who, however, were soon 
put to flight, leaving eighty men dead upon 
the spot ; the rest were fortunate to effect 
their escape into the city. 

During these troubles several of the king's 
subjects returned to England. Others sought 
an asylum in the castle of Dublin ; among 
whom were Allen, archbishop of the city, 
andFinglasse, chief baron of the exchequer.'' 
Fitzgerald wishing to profit by the conster 
nation which prevailed everywhere, threat- 
ened to besiege the citizens. He sent orders 
to them to remain neuter if they wished to 
be spared, informing them that he only in- 
tended to lay siege to the castle. Francis 
Herbert, one of the sheriffs, was immediately 
dispatched to England to inform the king of 
the rebellion that had broken out ; while the 
other sheriff, John Fitzsimons, undertook to 
provide the castle with provisions, and all 
kinds of ammunition necessary to maintain 
a defence. The unfortunate archbishop, 
alarmed by these preparations, and dreading 
the consequences of a siege commanded by 
his enemy, resolved to escape during the 
night through one of the city gates, being 
determined to cross over to England ; but 
the vessel having stranded at Clontarf, on 
leaving the harbor, he was obliged to retire 
to a village called Tartain, where he was 
surprised early in the morning by Fitzgerald, 
bis two uncles, John and Oliver, Sir James 
de la Hide, and others of their partisans. 
The prelate was dragged from his bed with- 
out clothes, shoes, or hat, by John Teling 
and Nicholas Wafer. Fitzgerald, moved 
with compassion, said to them in the Irish 
language, " Berwoem a boddagh," — that is, 
" Take the boor out of my presence," — inti- 
mating, apparently, to have him sent to prison. 
But these iniquitous servants, misinterpret- 
ing their master's orders, dashed the arch- 
bishop's brains out in his presence. Such 
was the tragical end of this prelate, who had 
been the principal tool made use of by Car- 

* Ware, de Archiepise. Dubliniens. 



dinal Wolsey, some time before, in the de- 
struction of forty monasteries in England. 
This conduct was looked upon, according to 
Godwin, bishop of Hereford, in his life of 
Henry VIII., as the Tolosan, or fatal gold,* 
that brought misfortune on those who pos- 
sessed it.f The see of Dublin was occupied 
by George Brown after the death of Allen. 

Thomas Fitzgerald did not lose sight of 
the siege he had projected. He first made 
prisoners of the baron of Howth, and Lut- 
trel, chief-justice of the court of common 
pleas, whom he suspected ; and then, on the 
faith of the neutrality which the inhabit- 
ants agreed to observe, sent Captains James 
Field of Lusk, Teling, Wafer, Broad, Rouks, 
and Purcel, each at the head of a hundred 
men, to invest the castle. This little army 
having planted some pieces of cannon, en- 
camped before the place. 

Thomas having given his orders for the 
siege, turned his views to another quarter. 
Being desirous of gaining over young Butler, 
his cousin, eldest son of the earl of Ossory, 
he endeavored by his correspondence to in- 
spire him with the same rebellious opinions 
which actuated himself ; but this young no- 
bleman having refused to enter into any con- 
spiracy against the king, Fitzgerald, accom- 
panied by O'Neill, Sir Richard Walsh, Bur- 
nel of Bally-Griffin, and other allies, made 
an incursion into the county of Kilkenny, 
where he burned and laid waste the country 
as far as Thomas-town, on the river Nore. 
The earl of Ossory was at Jeripont with his 
forces ; and while they were consulting upon 
what plans they should adopt, they were 
attacked by the enemy, and put to flight. 
Young Butler was wounded in this engage- 
ment ; and had only time to retreat to Dun- 
more, where he was cured of his wounds. 
The conqueror then made the inhabitants of 
the English province take an oath of fidelity 
to him, and confined all those who refused 
to do so, in his castle of Maynooth. 

Fitzgerald, desirous of procuring foreign 
alliances, had recourse to Charles V., and 
the pope, who could not continue friends to 
Henry, in consequence of the divorce and 
schism. J He sent Charles Reynolds, arch- 

* This manner of expression is derived from the 
ancient Tectosages, who, being enriched with the 
spoils of the temples of the gods, and some eastern 
nations, returned to Toulouse, which was their 
country. They were afterwards destroyed by a 
dreadful plague, which lasted till they had thrown 
all their unjustly-acquired treasures into a lake. 

t " Which matter, (as some think,) altnough 
Tolosan gold, brought destruction and very great 
calamities upon all who had touched it." 

t Cox, ibid. 



414 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



deacon of Kells, and Dominick Poer, as 
ambassadors ; the former to Paul III., and 
the latter to the emperor, to solicit their as- 
sistance. Poer was intrusted with a present 
for the emperor, which consisted of twelve 
falcons, and fourteen horses, called hobbies. 
This embassy, however, was of no avail. 

In the meantime, Herbert, who had been 
dispatched to England by the citizens of 
Dublin, to inform the king of the rebellion in 
Ireland, and receive his commands on that 
subject, returned. The king commissioned 
him to exhort the inhabitants to make a 
vigorous defence, and that he would send 
them immediate assistance. The citizens 
hereupon held a meeting to deliberate on 
what should be done ; and it was determined 
by the greater number of votes, that there 
was no obligation to keep faith with a traitor, 
and that the treaty made with Fitzgerald was 
of no effect. They gave orders, therefore, 
to have the gates of the city closed, and the 
besiegers of the castle arrested. Captain 
Field, who commanded the siege, being in- 
formed of their design, thought only of saving 
his army ; part of which swam across the 
river, but the rest were made prisoners. 

Fitzgerald, who was still in the county of 
Kilkenny, on receiving an account of what 
had occurred in Dublin, summoned the in- 
habitants of the English province to join him 
with all their forces near Dublin. Having 
arrived within a short distance of the city, he 
deputed Doctor Traverse, Peter Linch, lord 
of Knock, in the county of Meath, and Oliver 
Grace, to complain to the inhabitants of the 
infraction of the treaty which had been con- 
cluded with them, and to demand the renew- 
al of it, or at least that they would set the 
prisoners at liberty. This general having 
received an answer that did not please him, 
began the attack upon the castle, on the side 
of Sheep-street ; but being unable to bear the 
incessant fire from within, which burned the 
houses around him, he was forced to change 
his position. He caused the course of the 
river which supplied the city with water, 
to be turned. He then posted himself at 
Thomas-court, where he pulled down the 
street, and constructed a gallery to shelter 
his troops. He also burned the new street, 
and planted a cannon opposite to Newgate, 
which did considerable damage. Richard 
Staunton, jailer of Newgate, killed several 
of the besiegers from the loop-holes in that 
building. But as the besiegers^ wishing to 
shorten the labor, were bringing fagots to 
set fire to the gate, and by that means to 
effect an entrance into the city, the besieged 
reported in the enemy's camp that a large 



body of English had just landed, and were 
going to make a general sally. This the 
citizens performed with such vigor that the 
besiegers, thinking their numbers to have 
been increased, dispersed immediately, leav- 
ing several of their men dead upon the spot, 
and abandoned their works. The general 
was obliged to conceal himself in the Fran- 
ciscan convent, in Francis-street, till the 
next day, when he went to collect the re- 
mains of his army. 

The earl of Kildare, Thomas Fitzgerald's 
father, who was confined in the tower of 
London, heard of the excesses which his son 
had been guilty of in Ireland, notwithstand- 
ing the wise counsels he had given him at 
his departure, and fell into such a state of 
melancholy, that he died in the month of 
September of this year. In the mean time, 
his son, having collected his forces, which 
had been scattered by the sally of the be- 
sieged, still pressed the city of Dublin ; but 
his artillery and ammunition failing him, he 
sent James de la Hide, and a few others, to 
propose terms of capitulation to the citizens. 
The conditions and hostages having been 
named and accepted on both sides, he raised 
the siege ; and after sending his artillery to 
Howth, he proceeded to Maynooth, to see if 
its castle were in a state of defence. 

The king of England having been informed 
of the troubles caused by the rebellion of the 
Fitzgeralds, appointed Sir William Skeffing- 
ton deputy of Ireland for the second time. 
All those who had filled the high offices of 
trust, were replaced by men incapable of 
encouraging the rebels. John Barnewall, 
baron of Tremlestown, was nominated chan- 
cellor instead of Cromer, archbishop of Ar- 
magh ; Patrick Finglasse, lord-chief-justice 
of the king's bench ; Thomas Lutterel, chief- 
justice of the common pleas ; Gerald Ayl- 
mer, chief baron of the exchequer ; and Wil- 
liam Brabazon, vice-treasurer. The above 
changes having been effected in the govern- 
ment, English troops were sent over. The 
first division, consisting of one hundred and 
eighty men, under the command of Musgrave 
and the two Mamertons, having landed at 
Howth, were attacked on the road to Dublin, 
near Clontarf, by Thomas Fitzgerald, at the 
head of two hundred horse ; he killed several 
of them, and sent the rest prisoners to the 
castle of Maynooth. He himself was, how- 
ever, wounded in the conflict. Captain 
Rouks, his pirate, seized on their transport 
vessels at Howth, one of which was filled with 
fine English saddle horses, which he sent to 
his master. The Eglebees and Dacres landed 
shortly afterwards at Skerries, in the territory 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



415 



of Fingal, with a body of cavalry. Sir Wil- 
liam Brereton, accompanied by his son John, 
also arrived in Dublin with two hundred and 
fifty soldiers, and was followed by Captain 
Salisbury with two hundred archers. 

The deputy, Skeffington, attended by Leo- 
nard Lord Grey, who was nominated marshal 
of Ireland, landed in Dublin in October, 
provided with every thing necessary to carry 
on the war. He was received with demon- 
strations of joy by the mayor and inhabitants. 
He presented them with letters from the 
king, thanking them for their loyalty, and 
then received the sword of justice from the 
chancellor, Baron Tremlestown. He imme- 
diately turned all his thoughts towards pre- 
paring for an expedition against Thomas 
Fitzgerald, who, by the death of his father, 
had become earl of Kildare. He caused this 
nobleman to be declared a traitor to the king 
and government ; but was forced, from indis- 
position, and the approach of winter, to put 
off his enterprise against him till spring ; and 
was also obliged to wait for further assistance 
in men and money from England, as Kildare 
had just renewed his alliance with O'Neill, 
O'Connor, and other lords of the country, 
and was still master of six fortified places, 
well provided with all kinds of warlike stores ; 
namely, Maynooth, Portlester, Rathangan, 
Catherlagh, Ley, and Athy, from which they 
made incursions, during the winter, on the 
inhabitants of the province. 

The pope was well aware of the progress 
the schism was making in England, and the 
attempt (of a nature hitherto unheard of 
among Christians) of Henry VIII., who had 
declared himself head of the English church, 
both spiritual and temporal.* Francis I. 
was Henry's friend, and was interested for 
him, without, however, being a party to his 
madness. He solicited the pope, at the inter- 
view he had with him at Marseilles, to look 
favorably upon him,f to which his holiness 
seemed inclined ; but when the ambassadors 
of Henry were called on to adjust the diffi- 
culties that existed, it appeared that they 
were invested withno specific authority. The 
surprise of Clement and Francis I . was great. 
The latter, however, who felt extreme com- 
passionforthe weaknesses of Henry, begged 
of the pope to wait the return of a courier 
whom they had dispatched to England to 
procure the power necessary for acting. The 
courier, however, brought no orders to the 
English ambassadors except that they should 
inform Clement, that neither the king their 

* Sander, de Schis. Anglic, lib. 1, pp. 76, 77. 
Baker, Chron. page 280. 

t Le Grand, Hist, du Divorce, page 266, et seq. 



master, nor the archbishop of Canterbury, 
would acknowledge him to be their judge, 
and that they would appeal to a future coun- 
cil for what had been already done. This 
order was highly displeasing to Francis I., 
who complained of it to the English ambas- 
sadors ; and told them, that notwithstanding 
the entreaties of their master to him to un- 
dertake to arrange the matter amicably, he 
clearly saw that he was opposed to any 
arrangement. Th,e French monarch, how- 
ever, did not yet abandon hope ; he still en- 
deavored to renew the negotiation between 
the pope and Henry, for which purpose he 
sent Du Bellay, bishop of Paris, to England, 
in December, invested with full powers. 
Upon his being admitted to an audience in 
London, it was strongly debated whether the 
proposal for renewing the negotiation with 
Clement should be accepted,or all intercourse 
with the holy see broken off. The prelate, 
however, having proposed to go to Rome, 
to negotiate the matter himself, the former 
plan was adopted. On his arrival there, he 
settled every thing to Henry's advantage ; 
but this prince, who was incapable of acting 
honorably, only renewed his complaints 
against Francis, because he would not, like 
himself, break with the pope. Shortly after- 
wards, the bishop of Paris sent a list of the 
cardinals whom he thought he had gained 
over to Henry's favor ; and the agents of 
the emperor and queen Catharine, as well as 
those of France and England, peremptorily 
demanding the trial of this celebrated suit, 
the pope could no longer defer it. 

On Monday, the 23d of March, his holi- 
ness held a consistory, at which twenty-two 
cardinals were present.* The divorce ques- 
tion having been proposed, it was under 
discussion for a very short time only ; every 
member, with the exception of Trivolce, 
Rodolphi, and Pesani, being of opinion, that 
the king of England should be obliged to 
take back Catherine, and to keep her as his 
lawful wife. The different opinions being 
then collected, the sentence was pronounced, 
by which the pope decided that having heard 
the report of James Simoneta, bishop of 
Pisaro, auditor of the sacred palace, and 
deputy of Paul Capisucchi, who was then 
absent, he, with the advice of the cardinals, 
condemned the proceedings of Henry as null 
and unjust, and commanded him to take 
back his wife Catherine, to live with her, 
declaring his marriage to be good and valid, 
and the children of such marriage to be le- 
gitimate. The pope forbid him also to con- 

* Le Grand, Hist, du Divorce, page 237. 



416 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



tinue the separation longer, and condemned 
him to pay all the costs of the suit. 

It much afflicted the pope to have been 
forced to pronounce so absolute a sentence 
as the above. He expressed a desire to do 
every thing in his power to satisfy the king 
of England ; and it was his wish not to 
grant the decision before Easter, though he 
had been required to do so without delay, 
by many of the cardinals. Clement found 
himself in the greatest dilemma ; he could 
not deny justice to Catherine, without 
giving scandal to the whole of Christendom ; 
and by condemning Henry, England must 
be lost to the church. He deferred, there- 
fore, as long as he was able, coming to any 
decision upon this celebrated suit. When 
the sentence was pronounced, he spent the 
night in company with several divines, delib- 
erating on what was best to be done in the 
unhappy conjuncture ; but Henry's wicked 
disposition, which would not admit of any 
control, was stronger than the good-will of 
the pope. It is true, says Le Grand, that 
two days subsequent to the decision, a cou- 
rier arrived, who declared that the king 
would submit to every thing ; but it is diffi- 
cult, he continues, to ascertain what were 
the powers with which he had been intrusted, 
or on what conditions Henry would resume 
his obedience to the church. It is even 
probable, adds our author, that he only 
made these advances in consequence of let- 
ters of the bishop of Paris, who might have 
written to him as he did to Francis I„ that 
he had gained over many of the cardinals, 
and that most of those in the consistory 
would be favorable to his views, which 
proved to be erroneous. He therefore 
would have thought that he incurred no risk 
by submitting to every thing, when he ex- 
pected that all would be in his favor. We 
discover here the injustice of the opinion 
generally entertained of Clement VII., who 
is accused of having been too hasty in pro- 
nouncing the sentence which separated 
Henry from the church ; while, in fact, the 
moderation of the pope on the occasion is 
well known. The suit had been continued 
during five years ; and the decision was de- 
ferred as long as possible, the pope hoping 
that time would moderate the king's passion. 
He even proposed to queen Catherine to 
enter upon a religious life, in order to ter- 
minate the difference amicably. 

The English parliament passed two acts 
at this time ; one to confirm the divorce, 
and declare the princess Mary illegitimate, 
and to establish the succession to the throne 
in the person of Elizabeth, daughter of Anne 



Bullen ; the other to confirm the king in the 
title of supreme head of the English church, 
and to abolish the pope's authority in Eng- 
land.* 

While the parliament labored to secure 
to the posterity of Anne Bullen the right of 
succeeding to the throne, proceedings were 
going on in Rome against the king of England. 
The strength of the faction in favor of Spain, 
the justice of Catherine's cause, the wicked 
conduct of Henry, and the continued remon- 
strances of the cardinals, at length forced 
the pope to issue a bull of excommunication 
against Henry and Anne Bullen, unless they 
made their appearance in the end of Sep- 
tember, and put an end to the scandal they 
had given ; but the heart of Pharaoh was 
hardened, and his conscience calmed by the 
laws which his parliament had enacted in 
his favor. 

It was at this time that the world deplored 
the fate of the two men in England most illus- 
trious for their learning and piety, Thomas 
More, lord-chancellor, and Fisher, bishop of 
Rochester. Burnet himself bewails their 
death, and considers their tragical end as a 
stain upon the life of Henry. They were 
the two most distinguished victims of the new 
ecclesiastical supremacy. When More was 
urged to acknowledge it, he made the follow- 
ing noble reply : " That were he alone 
against the whole parliament, he would have 
a diffidence in himself ; but now, though the 
grand council of England were opposed to 
him, the whole church, that great council of 
Christians, was in his favor." Fisher's end 
was no less edifying, or less Christian-like. 
This was the commencement of the persecu- 
tion, carried on alike against Catholic and 
Protestant, and Henry became the most 
cruel of princes, from the time he assumed 
the supremacy of the church. It does not 
appear, says Burnet, that he was naturally 
prone to cruelty. f He reigned, according 
to this writer, for twenty-five years, without 
condemning any one for capital crimes, ex- 
cept two men for whose punishment he can- 
not be reproached ; while in the latter end 
of his reign he set no bounds to his cruelty. 
So that Henry, who had previously been ex- 
empt from such disorders, did not give him- 
self up to them, according to Burnet, till the 
last ten years of his life, that is, immediately 
after his divorce, his open rupture with the 
church, and his unprecedented usurpation 
of ecclesiastical supremacy. 

* Sander, de Sehis. Ang. lib. 1, c. 88. Baker's 
Chron. p. 281. Heylin's History of the Revolution, 
page 179. 

t Book 3, page 183. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



417 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The earl of Kildare having put his fortifi- 
cations into a state of defence, particularly 
the castle of Maynooth, marched with his 
army towards Connaught to collect the 
troops which he was to have been provided 
with by O'Connor and his other allies, a. d. 
1535* Sherrington the deputy, taking ad- 
vantage of the earl's absence, surrounded 
the castle of Maynooth on the 15th of March. 
Sir William Brereton summoned the garrison 
to surrender on advantageous terms ; but as 
these were not accepted, he endeavored 
to effect a breach. His cannon, however, 
did but little execution during fifteen days, 
and the castle would probably have held out 
till the arrival of Kildare, had it not been 
for the treachery of the governor. Kildare 
had confided the command of the garrison 
during his absence, to his foster-brother 
Christopher Parese. This traitor, actuated 
by avarice, and the desire of establishing his 
fortune on his master's downfall, wrote 
secretly to the deputy, and proposed to give 
up the castle for a stipulated sum of money 
The deputy joyfully acceded to the proposal. 
They only waited for a favorable opportu- 
nity to carry it into effect, which soon pre- 
sented itself; the garrison having gained 
some advantages in a sally against the be- 
siegers, Parese ordered that rejoicings should 
take place, and while the sentinels lay in- 
toxicated and asleep, the commander gave 
the signal to the English, who scaled the 
walls, and, almost without resistance, made 
themselves masters of the castle, in which 
they found an immense booty. 

The deputy entered the place triumphant- 
ly. Parese appeared before him, thinking 
that he would soon be well rewarded for his 
perfidy. f The deputy applauded highly the 
signal benefit the traitor had rendered to the 
state. He added, that if the king were in- 
formed of it he would not fail to acknowledge 
so important a service, and in order to en- 
able the monarch to reward him as he ought, 
for the sacrifice he had made of the earl of 
Kildare's protection, he required to know in 
what the favors of that nobleman consisted. 
Parese, who thought his fortune was already 
made, informed him minutely of the earl's 
generous liberality to him. " How then, 
Parese," replied the deputy, " could you 
have betrayed so good a master V Then 
turning to his officers, he ordered them to 

* War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 27. 
t Cox, ibid, pages 239, 240. 



pay the sum agreed upon ; but as there was 
no mention made of life in the compact be- 
tween them, he ordered him to be beheaded. 
'Had I known that, my lord," said Parese, 
' you would not have had the castle on such 
cheap terms." One Boyse, who was present, 
replied in Irish, "Anantra" that is, "too 
late ;" which gave rise to the proverb among 
the natives, " It is too late, says Boyse." 

Skeffmgton having placed a garrison in 
the castle of Maynooth, returned to Dublin. 
At this time Kildare was on his march with 
seven thousand men, intending to raise ther 
siege, but having received intelligence on the 
way, that the castle had surrendered, he was 
abandoned by part of his army. He, how- 
ever, continued his march with the rest to- 
wards Clane, in the county of Kildare. The 
deputy having received intelligence of his 
march, gave the command of Dublin to 
Brereton, and set out for Naas. Both armies 
were separated by a bog, and the cavalry 
being unable to act, the deputy, who was 
strong in artillery, easily dispersed the earl's 
army, which was but poorly provided with 
it. He then forced Rathangan and other 
places to surrender. After these losses, the 
earl of Kildare no longer found himself at 
the head of a strong force. He was, in fact, 
reduced to the rank of a ring-leader, and 
obliged, in order to support himself, to keep 
up a petty warfare . He sent a herd of cattle 
one morning within sight of Rathangan, 
where there was an English garrison : the 
English seeing a favorable opportunity of 
obtaining booty, went out in crowds, without 
perceiving that the earl and his forces were 
lying in ambush ; they fell into the snare ; 
the earl cut off their retreat, and killed 
several of their men. He repeated this stra- 
tagem at Trim, in the county Meath, by 
which means he drew out the garrison there 
also, and put them to the sword. 

On the 11th of May, in this year, 
Lord James Butler was created Viscount 
Thurles, and grand-admiral of Ireland ;* and 
a few days afterwards, his father, the earl of 
Ossory, and he, were nominated governors 
of the counties of Kilkenny, Waterford, and 
Tipperary, and the districts of Ossory and 
Ormond, on condition of their endeavoring 
to retake the castle of Dungarvan, and vigor- 
ously resisting the usurpations of the bishop 
of Rome. According to Cox,j- this was the 
first instance of an engagement of this kind 
to be met with in the history of Ireland. 
Leonard Lord Grey was also created at this 

* Cox, Hist, of Irel. page 240. 
t Ibid, page 240. 



418 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



time Viscount Grane. In the month of Sep- 
tember following, Thomas Eustace was made 
baron of Kilcullen, and Sir Richard Power, 
or le Poer, baron of Croghmore. The 
former was subsequently created Viscount 
Baltinglass. 

Lord Grey, who had been sent to England 
for assistance, returned at this time to Ireland 
with a reinforcement of cavalry and archers, 
under the command of Sir William Senlo, 
Sir Rice Mansel, and Sir Edward Griffith. 
It appears by a letter written at the time to 
Lord Cromwell, by Aylmer, chief-justice, and 
Allen, master of the rolls, that they found 
the state of affairs in Ireland to be very un- 
promising ; that six of the eight baronies in 
the county of Kildare had been laid waste 
and burned, with a part of the county of 
Meath ; that Powerscourt, the building of 
which had cost five thousand marks, had 
beendestroyedbythe O'ByrnesandO'Tools ; 
that Fitzgerald had retaken Rathangan, 
through the treachery of the sentinels : 
though having been obliged to abandon the 
place on the approach of the army, he would 
have been surprised if the deputy had used 
the necessary precautions ; that O'Morra, 
who had joined the English, had posted his 
troops and those of the king so advan- 
tageously, that the rebels were surrounded, 
and Fitzgerald never could have escaped, 
had not an English cohort given way ; that 
the plague was depopulating Dublin ; that 
Charles O'Connor had been provided with 
troops in the king's pay against his brother ; 
that the deputy was sick and unable to de- 
fend the castle of Maynooth ; that no confi- 
dence could be placed in O'Neill, as he had 
given no hostages, this remark referring to 
a treaty concluded some time afterwards at 
Drogheda, between Conn O'Neill and the 
deputy. This letter concludes with warm 
praises of William Brabazon, and Lord 
Grey, whom they demanded as their deputy, 
with orders to convene a parliament. 

In the mean time the deputy having learn- 
ed that Kildare had withdrawn into Mun- 
ster, sent Lord Grey, Sir William Brereton, 
and others, in pursuit of him, and after some 
unavailingskirmishes,Brereton's advice, and 
the necessity of the affairs of Kildare pro- 
duced a conference, in which that nobleman 
surrendered to Lord Grey, on condition of 
being pardoned. It is said that he promised 
him a general pardon. However this be, 
Fitzgerald was brought to Dublin, and sent 
to England, where, notwithstanding the let- 
ters of recommendation with which he was 
provided to the king, he was arrested and 
confined in the tower, where he remained 
till the time of his execution. 



Stephen Ap Henry, Lord Grey's favorite, 
wrote about this time to Thomas Cromwell, 
secretary of state, informing him that Lord 
Leonard Grey had gone to England with 
Fitzgerald ; that Lord James Butler had 
marched towards Clonmel, where he had 
been joined by his brother-in-law, Garrett 
M'Shane, who could not speak English ; 
that they had advanced together to Dungar- 
van, which surrendered on their approach, 
from whence they set out for Youghal, and 
from that place to Cork, where they received 
the complaints of Barry against Cormac- 
Ogue of Muskerry, and M'Carty Riagh. 
The complaints alluded to set forth, that 
these noblemen having regained by force of 
arms part of the estates which had been 
usurped by the Barrys from their ancestors 
in the twelfth century, M'Carty Muskerry, a 
peaceful man, wished to submit to the de- 
cision of government, while M'Carty Riagh 
answered, that with the sword he would 
preserve what he had gained by the sword. 
The letter concludes with observing, that 
Butler and his brother-in-law had continued 
their march through Mallow and Kilmallock, 
as far as Limerick, where the son of O'Brien, 
brother-in-law to Butler, applied to him for 
assistance against his father and uncle, in 
the siege of Carrigogonell ; but Butler being 
unprovided with artillery, could undertake 
nothing for him, and returned to Clonmel, 
through Cashel. 

Skeffington, the deputy, having requested 
permission from the court to return to Eng- 
land, on account of his great age and infir- 
mities, the king's answer was sent to-him, in 
which thanks were given him for the taking 
of the earl of Kildare. The king told him 
also to continue in the government of Ire- 
land, and gave orders to convene a parlia- 
ment ; but the deputy died in the end of 
December, at Kilmainham, and was interred 
in the cathedral church of St. Patrick, in 
Dublin. Lord Grey was immediately ap- 
pointed by the council to succeed him, which 
nomination was confirmed by the king, with 
the title of deputy, under Henry, duke of 
Richmond, lieutenant of Ireland. 

Every thing was now in confusion in Eng- 
land. The martyrdom of Fisher and More, 
and many other sanguinary executions, filled 
every mind with horror. The people all 
took the oath acknowledging Henry's supre- 
macy, no one daring to oppose it. His 
power over the church of England was es- 
tablished by several parliamentary statutes ;* 
and his first act was to confer on Cromwell 
the title of his spiritual vicar-general. Crom- 

* Sander, de Schis. Angl. lib. 1, page 124. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



419 



well was the son of a blacksmith. Having 
taken a dislike to the trade of shearer, which 
he had learned, he ran away from his master, 
enlisted as a soldier, and was present at the 
sacking of Rome. He afterwards returned 
to England, and entered the service of Car- 
dinal Wolsey, who preferred him to his other 
servants, and reposed confidence in him. 
When Cromwell became a member of par- 
liament, he testified his gratitude by sup- 
porting his master's interests, and defending 
him in his misfortunes, by which firmness he 
acquired the esteem of the king. Having thus 
advanced himself at court, he made Henry's 
inclinations his whole study, in order to flat- 
ter him in every thing. Discovering that this 
prince was very ambitious, and that his reve- 
nues were not sufficient for his expenses, he 
advised him to take possession of the reve- 
nues of the religious houses. This advice 
was highly gratifying to the cupidity of 
Henry, who thought that he who had given 
it would be the fittest person to carry it into 
execution. For this purpose he created 
Cromwell inspector-general of all the con- 
vents and religious houses in England ; in 
which quality, notwithstanding that he was 
an ignorant layman, he was to preside at all 
the assemblies of the clergy, and to be made 
acquainted with all matters of an ecclesias- 
tical kind. Cromwell was a Zuinglian, or 
at least a Lutheran : Cranmer belonged to 
the same party ; he was the intimate friend 
of Cromwell, and both acted in perfect ac- 
cordance. The marchioness of Pembroke 
supported them with all her influence ; and 
in order to increase the party, she procured 
the bishoprics of Salisbury and Winchester 
for Schaxton and Latimer, her almoners, 
who were secretly Protestants. 

Cranmer paid his archiepiscopal visit to 
his province, with the royal permission. 
They now began to use the king's authority 
in all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in order to 
establish his spiritual supremacy. The 
archbishop of Canterbury's first act was to 
place the church under his yoke, and submit 
to an earthly king that power which she had 
received from God. 

Cromwell also paid a visit to his own 
diocese.* These visitations were followed 
by the suppression of three hundred and sev- 
enty-six monasteries, the lands and revenues 
of which were granted to the king by an act 
of parliament. All good men exclaimed 
against this sacrilegious depredation of the 
property dedicated to God. This was one 
of the first effects of Henry's supremacy, 

* Baker's Chron. page 283. 



who made himself head of the church to 
plunder it with impunity. 

In the beginning of the year 1536, the 
five uncles of the young earl of Kildare, 
who was then a prisoner in the tower, — 
namely, James, Oliver, Richard, John, and 
Walter, who were still under arms, surren- 
dered to Lord Grey, the deputy, by whom 
they were sent prisoners to London* After 
having sailed, they asked the captain the 
name of the vessel in which they were ; 
and learning that it was called The Cow, 
they lost their courage, on account of an an- 
cient prophecy, which foretold that the five 
sons of an earl should be carried to England 
in the belly of a cow, and that they would 
never return. This prophecy proved true ; 
inasmuch as the earl of Kildare and his 
uncles were tried, convicted of high treason, 
and executed at. Tyburn. In the mean time, 
James de la Hide, one of the first counsellors 
of Thomas Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, sought 
safety in Scotland, where he died. 

The race of Kildare was not yet extinct. 
One of its members still remained, who re- 
stored this illustrious house. Gerald, brother 
to Thomas, aged thirteen years, was sick of 
the small-pox at Donoare, in the county of 
Kildare, at the time his uncles had surren- 
dered. This young nobleman was under the 
guardianship of Thomas Leverous, after- 
wards bishop of Kildare ; who had him re- 
moved to Offaly, from which he brought 
him to Thuomond, and thence to Kilbritton, 
in the. county of Cork, to his aunt, Eleanor 
Fitzgerald, widow of M'Carty Riagh. She 
loved her young nephew tenderly, and had 
him sent privately to France, having given 
him one hundred and forty pieces of gold to 
defray his expenses. On arriving at St. 
Malo, he was taken to Paris, where, how- 
ever, he was not long permitted to remain. 
The English ambassador demanded that he 
should be given up, in virtue of the peace 
which had been just concluded between 
France and England ; but the king, having 
delayed giving his answer for some time, 
afforded Fitzgerald an opportunity to with- 
draw to Flanders, whither the ambassador 
dispatched James Sherlock in pursuit of him. 
The latter being arrested at Valenciennes 
by the governor, Fitzgerald had again time 
to reach Brussels ; where, however, he was 
not more secure. From Brussels he went 
to Liege. He was recommended to the 
bishop of that city by the emperor, who as- 
signed him one hundred crowns a month for 
his support. Six months after this, he was 

* Ware de Annal. Hib. cap. 28. 



420 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



brought to Rome by Cardinal Pole ; and 
after spending a few years with the bishop 
of Verona, and the Cardinals De Mantua 
and Pole, and other Italian noblemen, he 
undertook his pilgrimages in the order of 
Malta, and became commander of the grand 
duke of Tuscany's cavalry. He remained in 
his service till the reign of Edward VI., who 
restored him to the possessions of his ances- 
tors ; and he was reinstated, two years after 
this, in his titles of honor by Queen Mary. 

Great anarchy prevailed in the family of 
the Fitzgeralds of Munster, respecting the 
succession to the title and estates of the 
house of Desmond.* On the death of James 
Fitzmaurice, Thomas Moel, or the Bald, his 
grand-uncle, third son of him who was be- 
headed at Drogheda, was declared earl of 
Desmond. He married the daughter of 
M'Carty of Muskry, by whom he had a son 
called Maurice Fitzthomas, who died before 
his father, leaving a son called James Fitz- 
maurice. Thomas having died at the age of 
eighty years, James Fitzmaurice, who was at 
that time page to Henry VIII., asked permis- 
sion from the king to return to Ireland, which 
he readily obtained. The king, who was 
much attached to this 5 r oung nobleman, sent 
a certain number of soldiers with him, as a 
guard of honor, and also to support him 
against those who might dispute his right. 
He landed in Cork, and passing through the 
territory of Fennoy, on his way to Limerick, 
he was surprised in an ambuscade which had 
been laid for him by his relative Maurice 
Fitzgerald, and was unfortunately killed. 
This cruel act was the first step towards the 
downfall of this illustrious house. Maurice, 
who had been the cause of the death of his 
relative, was second son of John of Desmond, 
who was brother to Thomas the Bald, and 
fourth son of the earl that was beheaded at 
Drogheda. Maurice having made some in- 
cursions upon the lands of Muskry, was 
pursued by Dermod, son of Teig M'Carty, 
lord of Muskry, his father-in-law, who took 
him prisoner. He was afterwards killed by 
four horsemen, who had been left to guard 
him while M'Carty went in pursuit of the 
fugitives. John of Desmond, father to Mau- 
rice, was acknowledged earl of Desmond, 
but did not long enjoy the title : he left sev- 
eral children, who ail fell, as well as their 
sons, in the last war of Earl Garret, except 
Maurice Fitzjohn, who died in Spain. 

Thomas Brown, a friar of the order of St. 
Augustin, and provincial of that order in 
England, having been appointed in 1535 to 

* Relat. Geraldinorura. 



the archbishopric of Dublin, was consecrated 
by Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, assisted by the bishops of Rochester 
and Salisbury.* His doctrine was suspected 
previous to his promotion. On his arrival 
in Dublin, he had the images and relics of 
the saints removed from the two cathedrals 
of the city, and other churches in the diocese. 
He was the first who embraced the Protest- 
ant religion among the clergy of Ireland. It 
appears by his letter to Cromwell, that he 
was one of the commissioners appointed by 
Henry VIII. to supersede the pope's autho- 
rity in that kingdom, and to establish the 
ecclesiastical supremacy of the king. The 
letter of this prelate to the vicar-general, 
quoted by Cox, is as follows :f 

" My Lord — Having, as one of the com- 
missioners of his highness, received your 
commands, I have endeavored, even at the 
hazard of my life, to reduce the nobility in 
this country to obedience, by acknowledging 
his highness as supreme both in spiritual 
and temporal affairs ; but I experience many 
difficulties, particularly from my brother of 
Armagh, who has gained over the suffragans 
and clergy under his jurisdiction. He has 
preached to them, and has cursed those who 
shall acknowledge the supremacy of his 
highness ; affirming that Ireland being, ac- 
cording to the chronicles of the country, a 
holy island, it belongs only to the church of 
Rome, the former pontiffs of which granted 
it to the ancestors of the king." He adds, 
that the archbishop and clergy of Armagh 
had already sent two messengers to the pope ; 
that it was essential to inform his highness 
of the necessity of convening a parliament 
in the country, to have the act of supremacy 
passed, as little regard was paid to the com- 
mission sent in the name of his highness ; 
and concludes by observing, that he feared 
O'Neill had received orders from the bishop 
of Rome to oppose the authority of his high- 
ness, as very many among the inhabitants 
of the country were attached to his party. 

It appears that this letter made some im- 
pression on the court of London, as the 
king gave orders to convene a parliament in 
the month of May, which was adjourned to 
Kilkenny, thence to Cashel, afterwards to 
Limerick, and lastly to Dublin. 

The following were the principal statutes 
enacted in this parliament. The deceased 
earl of Kildare was declared a traitor. Sir 
John and Sir Oliver Fitzgerald, uncles to the 
earl, Sir Walter de la Hide of Mayclare, in 

* War. de Archiepise. Dubliniens. 
t Cox, Hib. Anglic, p. 246. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



421 



the district of Carbry, county of Kildare ; 
John Burnett, Richard Walsh, rector of 
Loughseudy ; Charles Reynolds, and other 
accomplices of Kildare, were convicted of 
high treason, and all their estates confiscated 
to the king's use. 

The marriage of Henry with Catherine 
was declared null by this parliament : the 
divorce pronounced by Cranmer, as well as 
the king's marriage with Anne Bullen, was 
declared to be valid ; the succession to the 
throne was secured to the heirs male, who 
should be born of this or any other marriage, 
and in case of there being no male heirs, to 
the females, beginning with Elizabeth,daugh- 
ter of Anne Bullen : and those who might, 
by writing or otherwise, oppose this marriage, 
or these regulations for the succession to the 
crown, should, it was enacted, be convicted 
of high treason. A total silence on these 
subjects was enjoined upon all, under pain 
of being deprived of the benefit of the sanc- 
tuary, and an oath to this effect, ordered to 
be taken by all the king'* subjects in Ireland. 

A law was also passed against absentees, 
that is, against the English who possessed 
estates in Ireland, and did not reside there, 
such conduct having produced many incon- 
veniences. It was therefore enacted, that 
the title to the estates of the duke of Norfolk, 
Lord Berkely, the earls of Waterford and 
Shrewsbury, the heirs of the earl of Ormond, 
the abbots of Fumes, and St. Augustin of 
Bristol, the priors of Christ's church at Can- 
terbury, of Lanthony and Cartinel, and the 
abbots of Kentesham, Osny, Bath, and the 
abbot of St. Thomas of Dacres, should be 
vested in the king. It was subsequently 
decided, in the beginning of the seventeenth 
century, that in virtue of this law, the earl of 
Shrewsbury had forfeited the title of earl of 
Waterford and viscount Dungarvan ; he was, 
however, compensated in England for the 
losses he had sustained in Ireland. 

Cox mentions a circumstance, which, he 
alleges, gave rise to this law. The king, he 
says, being determined to give to Ailmer, 
who was then chief-justice of the common 
pleas, the office of lord-justice of the king's 
bench, the earl of Shrewsbury, at the solid 
tation of his farmers and vassals in Water- 
ford, opposed his nomination, by representing 
to the king that Ailmer was weak-minded, 
and incapable of discharging the duties of 
such an office ; whereupon the king repri- 
manded Lord Cromwell, who had recom 
mended a man so undeserving. In order 
to justify his choice, Cromwell requested his 
majesty to converse a while with Ailmer, and 
he would soon discover that he had been 



imposed upon ; to which the king assented. 
When Ailmer was presented to him, he was 
asked what could be the real cause of the 
decline of the royal interest in Ireland ? " It 
arises," replied Ailmer, " from the circum- 
stance of most of the proprietors of lands, 
who formerly resided in Ireland to defend 
their estates, and restrain their vassals, now 
living in England, and leaving Ireland a prey 
to the natives of the country ; but if your 
majesty would oblige such proprietors to 
reside in Ireland, or otherwise confiscate their 
estates to your own use, you would soon dis- 
cover a change and an improvement." The 
king, pleased with this expedient, thanked 
Ailmer, saying, that the attention of the 
next parliament should be directed to it. 

The parliament of Dublin having regulated 
the affairs of state, turned their thoughts to 
those of religion, of their knowledge and 
judgment regarding which they felt quite 
assured. In imitation of the English parlia- 
ment, they confirmed Henry VIII. and his 
successors on the throne, in the title of su- 
preme head of the church in Ireland, with 
the power of reforming and correcting here- 
sies and errors in religion. They prohibited 
all further appeals being made to Rome, 
under pains and penalties ; and ordained that 
the clergy should pay the annats, or first-fruits 
of their livings, to the king. They likewise 
enacted a law to abolish and suppress the 
pope's usurpation and authority; penalties 
were declared against those who should dare 
to support them ; all persons, both lay and 
ecclesiastic, who held offices or livings, were 
ordered to take the oath to maintain the 
king's supremacy, and their refusal was to 
be considered high treason. This act met 
with many opponents among the clergy ; but 
the following discourse of Brown, archbishop 
of Dublin, which was approved of by justice 
Brabazon,disconcerted them to such a degree, 
that many among them submitted to take it. 

" My Lords, — In obeying your king, you 
imitate your Saviour Jesus Christ. The high 
priest of our souls paid tribute to Caesar, who 
was not a Christian ; consequently, you owe 
more honor to his highness, your prince, 
who is both a king and a Christian. In the 
time of our ancestors, Rome and its bishops 
acknowledged emperors, kings, and princes, 
to be' sovereigns in their respective states, 
and even vicars of Jesus Christ. But to the 
shame of the bishop of Rome, he now denies, 
what his predecessors have acknowledged. 
Thus his highness claims only what the bish- 
op Fleutherius had granted to St. Lucius, 
the first Christian king of the Britons ; so 
that I make no scruple of acknowledging his 



422 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



highness, King Henry VIII., to be supreme 
head, both in spiritual and temporal afl'airs, 
in England and in Ireland, and that he who 
refuses to submit as I do to this law, is not 
a faithful subject to his majesty." The dis- 
criminating reader will judge of this prelate's 
reasoning. 

This parliament granted to the king and 
to his successors, for ever, a twentieth part 
of the revenues and annual rents of the se- 
cular livings, abbeys, friaries, and religious 
houses in the kingdom of Ireland. Henry 
was so well pleased with this grant, that he 
wrote a letter of thanks to the clergy. An 
act was passed prohibiting any but those 
who spoke English, and followed the English 
taste in every thing, to be appointed to liv- 
ings. In addition, this parliament decreed 
the suppression of the abbeys of Bectif, 
St. Peter of Trim, Dousk, Duleek, Holm- 
Patrick, Baltinglass, Grany, Teagh-Moling, 
Dunbroody, Tintern, Ballybogan, Hoggis, 
and Ferns, and confiscated their property to 
the king's use. At the same time, the priory 
of St. Wolstan's, in the county of Kildare, 
was suppressed, by another act. It was at 
this time, that what has been already ob 
served of the bull, by which Adrian IV 
had conferred Ireland on Henry II., began 
to be verified, namely, " that it was the 
cause of the fall of religion in this Island 

The parliament which had fabricated the 
above-named laws, and by which the schism 
of Henry VIII. was introduced into Ireland, 
was the parliament of the English province, 
and not that of all Ireland ; like the pre- 
ceding ones, it was composed solely of 
Englishmen by birth or origin ; the ancient 
Irish had no seat in it ; they were excluded 
from all offices in the militia and magistracy, 
which is the cause of their being scarcely 
ever mentioned by English writers. They 
were strongly attached to the religion of 
their ancestors, and it is probable that they 
would all have continued so, had they re- 
mained a free people. 

A law was likewise enacted in this parlia- 
ment for the suppression of the tributes 
which the English colonists had paid to some 
Irish nobles, by whom they were protected. 
Marriages with the Irish were prohibited, 
particularly with the children of those who 
had not taken the oath of allegiance in a 
court of justice, subsequently to the law 
being passed for so doing.f This act, how- 
ever, was repealed under James I. 

* Vol. I. part 9, page 240. 

t In consequence of this law, which was often 
re-enacted by the English parliament, some of the 



The first who was sacrificed for his attach- 
ment to the cause of the pope, was John 
Traverse, a native of Ireland, a secular priest, 
and doctor in theology. About this time he 
published a book entitled the Defence of the 
Pope's Supremacy, notwithstanding the 
twenty-eighth statute of Henry VIII., who 
had assumed to himself that prerogative. 
This author was summoned to appear be- 
fore the judges ; and having confessed the 
deed, he was condemned to have his fingers 
cut off and thrown into the fire.* 

While the parliament was assembled in 
Dublin, O'Connor and his vassals made some 
incursions into the territory of Carbry, in 
the county of Kildare, where they committed 
dreadful havoc. In order to revenge this 
insult, Baron Tremlestown, chancellor of 
Ireland, and Brabazon, the vice-treasurer, 
marched with some troops into Offaly, 
where they likewise committed frightful 
devastations, and forced O'Connor to return 
and defend his own country. 

The English having violated some- articles 
of the peace, concluded the preceding year 
between Conn O'Neill and Skeffington, who 
was deputy, O'Neill took up arms in de- 
fence of his right. The English government 
being alarmed by O'Neill's determination, 
the deputy dispatched Brereton towards the 
frontiers of Ulster, to settle the dispute ; he 
entered into a negotiation with the prince, 
and renewed the treaty which had been pre- 
viously concluded with Skeffington. About 
this time, Henry VIII. sent to the city of 
Waterford a gilt sword and hat in token of 
his protection, for their loyalty and attach- 
ment to the crown. 

John Fitzgerald, earl of Desmond, after 
the death of the lawful heir, who had been 
murdered through the malice and envy of 
Maurice, as has been already observed, died 



writers in that country have maliciously set forth, 
that the meanest English settler would not give his 
daughter in marriage to the noblest Irishman ; it 
was, however, much less from contempt, than in 
conformity with this law, which was the result of 
English policy ; it would not allow the people to 
bind themselves by those ties which might unite 
their common interests. Besides, the contempt 
was mutual : the Irish were so far from seeking 
alliances with those strangers, that they considered 
them as a corrupt blood, or rather an impure deposite 
whioh the sea had cast upon their shores. " And 
so much dissevered are the Anglo-Irish from the 
natives, that the meanest settler would not give 
his daughter to the noblest Irishman. But the 
Irish hold them in such contempt, that they consider 
their blood impure, and themselves the excrement 
of the sea." — Rutgerus Hermamidas, p. 519. 

* Hist. Cathol. p. 71. Surius ad an. 1539. 
Cambr. Evers. page 205. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



423 



this year at Tralee, in the county of Kerry ; 
he left three sons, James, the eldest, who 
succeeded him ; Maurice, already known 
foi his cruelty, and John Oge, which signi- 
fies young. 

James, earl of Desmond, a young man of 
bravery and enterprise, excited some disturb- 
ances in Munster. In order to check the 
disorder, government sent James Butler, 
viscount of Thurles, at the head of an army, 
into the county of Limerick, where he laid 
waste the estates of the earl, repaired the 
castle of Loughguir, and placed a garrison 
in it. The deputy repaired to Loughguir in 
the month of July, from whence he set out 
for Carrigogonel, which he took on the 2d 
of August. It is said that he immediately 
restored this castle to the owner for a small 
sum. On the 6th he advanced as far as 
Brien's bridge, took possession of the castle, 
(the garrison being unable to resist his artil- 
lery,) and destroyed the bridge. His con- 
quests ended here, in consequence of a mu- 
tiny among the soldiers, who were in want 
of provisions. 

Thomas O'Mullally, or Lally, archbishop 
of Tuam, died about the end of April, 1539, 
and was interred in the convent of the minor 
brothers of Gal way, in the same tomb as his 
predecessor, Maurice O'Fihely.t Thomas 
was a minor brother ; he convened a synod 
in Galway, at which he presided, the statutes 
of which have been lost. He was succeeded 
by Christopher Bodekin. 

The same year, Henry, duke of Rich- 
mond and Somerset, died ; he was natural 
son of Henry VIII., by Elizabeth Blount, 
and was commonly called Henry Fitzroy. 
It is said that he possessed great qualities, 
both of mind and body. He was lord-lieu- 
tenant of Ireland, but the administration had 
been confided successively to Skeffington, 
Kildare, and Grey, his deputies. He died 
without issue, at St. James, near Westmin- 
ster, in the month of July, and was greatly 
regretted by the king. 

Queen Catherine of Aragon resided in 
the castle of Kimbolton, county of Hunt- 
ingdon, in a very unhealthy situation. The 
cruelties which were practised in her regard, 
caused her excessive grief ; but she bore the 
unworthy treatment which she received as a 
true Christian. The title of queen was not 
only wrested from her by an act of parlia- 
ment, but her servants were constrained by 
oath to address her by no other title than 

* Relat. Gerald. 

t Ware, de Archiepisc. Tuamens. 



that of princess-dowager.* She beheld with 
grief an old man, named John Forest, of the 
order of St. Francis, her confessor, and in 
whose society she found some consolation, 
suffer martyrdom in her cause, after two 
years' imprisonment, together with thirty-five 
others of the same order. She was aware, 
too, of the tragical end of Fisher, More, and 
several others who were sacrificed on her 
account ; so that being of too delicate a con- 
stitution to bear up against such an over- 
whelming series of afflictions, she fell into 
a decline, which terminated her existence 
in the month of January. Finding her end 
approaching, she wrote the following letter, 
which she sent to the king by one of her 
maids. 

" My very dear Lord, King, and Husband, 

" As the hour of my death is now ap^ 
proaching, my love for you influences me to 
forewarn you to prefer your salvation to all 
the perishable things of this world, without 
even excepting your anxiety for your own 
person, which has produced to me the heavy 
calamities that have been inflicted, and 
caused such troubles to yourself ; but I 
heartily forgive you all, and pray that the 
Lord may also forgive you. I recommend 
our daughter Mary to your particular care, 
and beseech you, as I have already done, 
to act with all the tenderness of a father to- 
wards her. I beseech you, likewise, to give 
my three maids a marriage portion, and to 
my other servants a year's wages, besides 
what is already due to them, to secure them 
against want. Lastly, I declare it to be my 
desire to see you in preference to any thing 
this world affords. Farewell." 

On reading the above letter, Henry could 
not refrain from tears, notwithstanding the 
obduracy of his heart ; and having been in- 
formed of her death, a few days afterwards, 
he ordered his household to put on mourning. 
The marchioness, as a mark of her joy, had 
herself and her female attendants all dressed 
in yellow ; but her joy was soon changed 
into sorrow, for in a short time after this she 
was delivered of a monstrous abortion. Four 
or five months after the death of Queen Cath- 
erine, Anne was sent to the tower, where 
she was accused and found guilty of adultery 
with several persons, and of incest with her 
brother George ; she was then condemned 
to be beheaded. Thomas Bullen, her sup- 



Sander, de Schis. Anglic, lib. 1, page 118. 
Polidor. Virgil. Hist. lib. 27, p. 1741. Heylin's 
Hist, of the Reform, page 179. Baker's Chron. 
page 283. 



424 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



posed father, was one of her judges, and the 
first to pronounce her guilty ; she was exe- 
cuted in the month of May. Three days 
afterwards, George Bullen, the brother of 
Anne, Henry Norris, William Brereton, 
Francis Weston, and Mark Smeton, a musi- 
cian, suffered the same fate as Anne, the first 
for incest with her, the others for adultery. 
The day after her execution, Henry married 
Jane Seymour, daughter of Sir John Sey- 
mour and sister to Lord Edward Seymour, 
earl of Hartfort and duke of Somerset ; by 
this marriage he had Edward VI. Anne 
enjoyed but for three years the elevation to 
which she had been raised by so many trou- 
bles. The same passion which had been the 
source of her greatness, became the cause 
of her ruin ; and Henry, who had sacrificed 
Catherine of Aragon for her sake, soon sa- 
crificed herself to the youth and charms of 
Jane Seymour. In losing the king's affec- 
tions, however, Catherine preserved his es- 
teem to the last moment, while he sent Anne, 
like the most infamous criminal, to die on a 
scaffold, and caused his marriage to be an- 
nulled in favor of Jane Seymour, as he had 
previously broken his marriage with Cathe- 
rine for the sake of Anne. Lastly, he caused 
Elizabeth, daughter of Anne, to be declared 
illegitimate, as Maiy, the daughter of Cath- 
erine, had before been. Polidore Virgil, 
and Sanders, place the death of Queen 
Catherine in 1535 ; and the latter, that of 
Anne Bullen, four months afterwards. Ac- 
cording to Baker, the death of Anne took 
place in 1537. We shall not, however, un- 
dertake here to reconcile their difference. 

Lord Grey, deputy of Ireland, undertook 
in April, 1537, an expedition into Offaly, 
against Charles O'Connor ; but the continual 
rains and bad weather defeated his plan of 
operations, and obliged him to conclude a 
dishonorable treaty with that nobleman.* 
He then turned his arms against the Cava- 
naghs, O'Carrols, and others, and contented 
himself with their submission, and some hos- 
tages. He marched in the month of June 
towards Fearcall, the country of the O'Mol- 
loys, where he surprised alternately the cas- 
tles of Eglis, Bir, and Modrimye. He af- 
terwards received the submission of O'Ken- 
nedy of Ormond, M'Brian Arra, O'Mulrian 
of Owny, Ulick Burke of Clanriccard, and 
Tybod Bourk M'William ; and then marched 
towards Limerick, where the bishop, mayor, 
and aldermen, took the oath of supremacy, 
and renounced the authority of the pope. 
The clergy and people were commanded to 

* War. de Annal. Hib. c. 29. Cox, History of 
Ireland, p. 232, et seq. 



follow their example, and deposite their certi- 
ficates in the court of chancery. In the month 
of July the army arrived at O'Brien's bridge, 
where, after some skirmishing with the re- 
bels,* the castles and the bridge were de- 
stroyed. The deputy then marched through 
Thuomond towards Connaught, where he 
took the castles of Clare, Ballycolame, and 
Ballyclare. The latter place he gave up to 
Ulick Burke, and set out with his troops for 
Galway ; here he and his army were enter- 
tained, at the expense of the corporation, for 
seven days ; the mayor and aldermen, like 
those of Limerick, took the oath of supre- 
macy, and renounced the pope's authority 
also; at the same time, O'Flaherty, O'Mad- 
din, and M'Yoris, (Bermingham,) submitted 
to the deputy ; he then passed through Mai- 
nech, the country of the O'Kellys, where 
O'Connor M'Henry performed the same 
ceremony ; lastly, he took a castle in the 
territory of the M'Coghlans, and from thence 
he repaired to Maynooth. The principal 
object of the deputy's tour was in all appear- 
ance to establish the ecclesiastical suprema- 
cy of Henry VIII. in Ireland. 

The tyranny of the English drove several 
of the Irish, at this time, from their country, 
to seek peace, under a milder government, 
in foreign climes. Of this number was John, 
son of Edmond 0'Dw3'er, and brother of 
Cornelius, titular archbishop of Tuam. He 
belonged to the ancient and noble family of 
the O'Dwyers of Coillenemanagh, in the 
county of Tipperary, who were descended 
from Heremon, by Ugane More, and Con- 
covar, surnamed Abhuarua, both monarchs 
of Ireland ; the former three centuries before 
the Christian era, and the second in the first 
age of Christianity. This John O'Dwyer 
settled in Burgundy in the reign of Francis 
I., according to an ancient manuscript pre- 
served in the family. As foreign names are 
subject to changes in countries in which they 
are unknown, on account ofjhe difference of 
pronunciation, the name of John O'Dwyer 
was at first changed to O'Doyer, and after- 
wards to Handoire. The governor of the 
castle of Peronne, who was married to Ma- 
demoiselle de Collincourt, daughter to the 
Marquis de Collincourt, and Mademoiselle 
Bethune, aunt to the present Duke de Sully, 
is descended, in a direct line, from the John 
O'Doyer in question. 

The earl of Desmond was still under 
arms ; but the superior army of the deputy 
preventing him from undertaking any thing 
important, he was forced to write to the 

* They are so called only by an Englishman. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



425 



general, offering to surrender on certain con- 
ditions. The capitulation being of a tedious 
character, the deputy was obliged to with- 
draw his forces for want of provisions, and 
to appoint commissioners to conclude the 
treaty with Desmond. The commissioners 
appointed Clonmel, then a walled city, as 
the place of their conference ; but Desmond 
refused to go thither, in assertion of an an- 
cient family privilege. Having then brought 
them to his camp, he took the oath of alle- 
giance, and sent Thomas Ruadh, or the 
Red, his natural son, as a hostage to Eng- 
land,* whither he himself shortly afterwards 
set out, attended by a splendid retinue. On 
his arrival, he submitted to Henry, and ac- 
knowledged that all his estates had devolved 
on the crown, on account of the lawful heir 
having been murdered. The king, who was 
busily occupied with other affairs, and de- 
sirous that tranquillity should be restored to 
Ireland, received the earl with much kind- 
ness, reinstated him in his ancient patri- 
mony, and dismissed him honorably, to re- 
turn to his estates. 

The jealousies which had prevailed for 
some time between the deputy and the earl 
of Ossory, increased, at this period, to direct 
hostilities. The deputy was so transported 
with rage against the earl, that he sent part 
of his army to lay waste the lands of the 
Butlers. He also quarrelled with Archbishop 
Brown, and Allen, the master of the rolls ; 
and though commissioners were sent by the 
king, expressly to investigate their differ- 
ences and to reconcile them, the matter was 
only temporarily arranged ; for the deputy 
at length fell a sacrifice to their hatred. 

O'Neill collected his forces in Ulster, and 
gave the command of them to his son. His 
design was, to make himself master of the 
castle of Ardglass, in the district of Lecale. 
The deputy having received intelligence of 
his movement, gave orders for the marching 
of the troops ; but previous to undertaking 
any thing, it was determined by the council 
to send the chancellor, Baron Tremlestown, 
Stapely, bishop of Meath, and Ailmer, chief- 
justice, to the frontiers of Ulster, to enter 
into a treaty of peace with O'Neill. After 
some difficulties on both sides, the treaty was 
concluded, and the two armies disbanded. 
Hugh, or Aod O'Donnel, surnamed Dubh, 
(that is, the black,) hereditary prince of Tir- 
connel, died in July. He was succeeded 
by his son Magnus, or Manus, who was 
confirmed in the succession by a popular 
election, according to custom, near the 
church of Kilmacrenan. 

* Relat. Gerald. 



In the month of September, the king of 
England sent four commissioners to Ire- 
land,* namely, Sir Anthony St. Leger, Sir 
George Pawlett, Sir Thomas Moyle, and Sir 
William Barnes, with orders to investigate 
every thing connected with the late rebellion, 
and those who had been accomplices in it. 
These commissioners conducted themselves 
with much prudence and moderation, and 
having ended their inquiries, granted a par- 
don and general amnesty to the guilty. They 
had orders, conjointly with the deputy and 
council, to regulate the king's revenues ; to 
let the crown lands in farms ; and to make 
an estimate of the estates of the earl of Kil- 
dare, which amounted to eight hundred and 
ninety-three pounds, eleven shillings, and 
eight pence sterling, which was thought a 
large sum at that time. They reconciled 
the deputy, Grey, and the earl of Ossory, 
who resumed the title of Ormond, the house 
of Bullen having become extinct. 

In October, Queen Jane died in childbed, 
at Hampton court, having undergone the 
Caesarean operation, by which the life of her 
child was saved. This child was called 
Edward at his baptism. t His sponsors 
were Cranmer, the duke of Norfolk, and his 
sister, the Princess Mary, daughter of Cathe- 
rine of Aragon. On the 18th of the same 
month, he was created prince of Wales, 
duke of Cornwall, and earl of Chester, and 
reigned after his father under the name of 
Edward VI. John Barnwell, baron of Trim- 
lestown, and chancellor of Ireland, died in 
July, 1538. John Allen was first nominated 
keeper of the seals by the deputy and coun- 
cil, and afterwards chancellor of Ireland by 
orders of the king. 

In the month of May, the deputy marched 
against O'Reilly, but was stopped by the 
submission of that nobleman. He afterwards 
entered Lecale and the Ardes, in the county 
of Down, against a nobleman of English 
extraction, called Savage, to whom Cox and 
others give the appellation of " a degenerate 
Englishman."! He took the castle of Dun- 
drum, belonging to Magennis, with several 
other fortified places, and laid all that coun- 
try waste. He next laid his sacrilegious 
hands on the cathedral church of Down, 
which he burned ; destroyed the monuments 

* War. de Annal. Hib. Reign of Henry VIII. 
c. 29. 

t Baker, Chron. page 285. 

t The same religion began already to unite seve- 
ral noble English families with the ancient Irish, 
against the English who had forsaken their reli- 
gion — a union which acquired additional strength 
under Elizabeth and the succeeding reigns. 



426 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of St. Patrick, St. Bridget, and St. Columb- 
Kill, and committed several other sacrile- 
gious acts. He then made war against 
images, which were destroyed everywhere 
at this time, particularly those that were 
most revered by the faithful. The celebrated 
statue of the blessed Virgin, at Trim, was 
burned, as also the crucifix of the abbey of 
Ballybogan, and St. Patrick's crosier,* which 
had been removed, by order of William Fitz- 
adelm, in the twelfth century, from Armagh 
to Dublin, to be deposited in the cathedral 
church of the blessed Trinity. In many 
other parts of the kingdom, the example of 
the English was in this instance followed ; 
and it must be admitted that all the wars in 
Ireland, from that period to the present, 
have been wars on account of religion. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

While the deputy was employed in Ul- 
ster, O'Connor on one side, and O'Toole on 
the other, made incursions on the English 
province, in order to be revenged for the 
tyranny which was exercised against the 
inhabitants of their province.! In conse- 
quence of this, the deputy was obliged to 
leave the north and march toward Offaly, 
to create a diversion, by forcing O'Connor 
to return to the relief of his own country. 
It does not appear, however, that the two 
armies came to an engagement. The deputy 
took the castles of Braghlan and Dingen, (at 
present Philipstown.) In his letter, written 
in August, to the king, he boasts that he had 
forced O'Carrol and O'Meagher to give him 
hostages, and that the former had purchased 
the liberty of his son for three hundred 
marks. In the same letter he mentions, 
also, that O'Carrol was desirous of holding 
his lands by letters patent from the king ; 
but that it would be imprudent to grant 
them to him, as he was a man that could not 
be relied upon ; that the English were al- 
ready sufficiently acquainted with the Irish 
and their country, to turn it to good account 

* Providence has preserved a crosier to posterity, 
which St. Patrick had used at the baptism of Aon- 
gus, king of Cashel ; the holy apostle having left it 
with O'Kearny of Cashel, to be used by the bishops 
of that church on days of ceremony, whose de- 
scendants have preserved it with veneration to the 
present time. This venerable monument of Chris- 
tian antiquity is still in possession of Brien O'Kear- 
ny, of Fethard, in the county of Tipperary, the 
chief of the ancient family of that name. 

t Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 255. 



for his majesty, if he would but furnish them 
with the means necessary for that purpose. 
It was thus that those iniquitous ministers 
deprived the Irish of the protection of the 
kings of England, that they might plunder 
them with impunity. It was contrary to 
their interest, that they should hold their 
lands under legal titles, as they would there- 
by acquire the rank of subjects, and the 
protection of the laws. In another letter, 
written in March, he informed him that he 
had forced Brien and Cahir O'Connor to 
submit to him. 

The schism and supremacy of the king 
of England made but slow progress in Ire- 
land.* They were, however, warmly sup- 
ported by Archbishop Brown : in his letters 
to Cromwell, he complains bitterly of the 
opposition that he had experienced from 
Cromer, the primate, and the clergy in gen- 
eral, which he ascribed to the ignorance and 
zeal of the nation — the usual mode of rea- 
soning with heretics. The conduct of this 
archbishop in his diocese, and his close in- 
timacy with Cromwell, who was at least a^ 
Lutheran, are strong proofs that he did not 
confine himself exclusively to the affair of 
the supremacy ; but that he intended to intro- 
duce the reformation into Ireland by degrees, 
and carry matters further than even he whom 
he wished to make head of the church. 

In another letter, in May, the archbishop 
informed Cromwell that the primate and 
clergy of Ireland had received a brief from 
the pope, to excommunicate all those who 
should acknowledge the king's supremacy. 
He also added, that the viceroy possessed 
but little authority over the ancient inhabit- 
ants of the country ; that the nation (that is, 
the English province) was poor and unable 
to subdue them ; that since Ireland had been 
in possession of the king's ancestors, the 
ancient Irish had never ceased to solicit the 
aid of foreign powers ; and that at present, 
the English by descent and the ancient Irish 
were beginning to forget their national ani- 
mosities, by opposing the king's ordinances, 
which might induce some foreign power to 
invade Ireland. By this we discover thai 
the English province, comprising about a 
third of the kingdom, and emphatically 
called a nation by the English, was distin- 
guished from the rest of the island ; that 
Ireland had, since the twelfth century, been 
inhabited by two distinct people, who had 
no intercourse but that of war ; and lastly, 
that those two people became united under 
Henry VIII. in opposing the innovations, 

* Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 256. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



427 



and changes which that prince was desir- 
ous of introducing into religion. 

About this time, a friar named Thady 
O'Birne, belonging to the order of St. Fran- 
cis.was arrested on suspicion,and imprisoned 
in the castle of Dublin. Among his papers 
was a letter addressed to O'Neill, prince of 
Tyrone, and signed by the bishop of Mets, 
of which the following is a copy : — 

"My son O'Neill, 

" You, as well as your ancestors, have 
ever been faithful to the mother church of 
Rome. His holiness Paul, our present pope, 
and the council of the holy fathers, have 
lately discovered a prophecy of St. Laserian, 
an Irish bishop of Cashel, in which it is 
foretold that the church of Rome shall fall 
when the Catholic faith will have been de- 
stroyed in Ireland. Put down, therefore, all 
heresy, and the enemies of his holiness, for 
the glory of the mother church, the honor 
of St. Peter, and your own safety ; for when 
the Catholic faith will perish in Ireland, the 
church of Rome shall also fall. The council 
of cardinals have, on this account, deemed 
it prudent to encourage your country, Ire- 
land, that sacred island, being certain that 
the mother church, having a worthy son, 
like you and others, who will come to your 
assistance, will never fall, but always retain, 
in spite of fate, more or less influence in 
Britain. Having thus obeyed the orders of 
the sacred council, we recommend your royal 
person to the holy Trinity, to the blessed 
Virgin, to St. Peter and St. Paul, and to the 
whole court of heaven. Amen." 

This_ letter, which is quoted by Cox, in 
his history of Ireland, is taken from the life 
of Brpwn, archbishop of Dublin. We do 
not pretend in this place to decide whether 
it be true, or invented by the heretics. We 
'do not discover St. Laserian, who is men- 
tioned in it, in the catalogue of the prelates 
of Cashel, nor is it certain that O'Neill re- 
ceived such a letter ; but it is very probable 
that the Irish were applied to in their then 
circumstances by many foreign princes. 

In the beginning of May, 1539, the deputy 
Grey undertook an expedition into Ulster 
against Conn O'Neill, where he laid waste 
and depopulated the environs of Armagh, 
and carried away immense booty.* In order 
to be revenged for this insult, O'Neill as- 
sembled the lords of his province, O'Donnel, 
Maguire,Magennis,0'Cahane,0'Hanlon,and 
other allies, with their vassals, in the month of 

* War. de Annal. cap. 31. 



August. Placing himself at the head of this 
confederate army, he laid waste the pos- 
sessions of the English, from Atherdee, in 
the county of Louth, to Navan, in Meath, 
and burned these two towns. In the mean- 
while, the deputy received from England a 
reinforcement of two hundred and fifty men, 
at the head of whom, together with the troops 
of the province, and the inhabitants of Dub- 
lin and Drogheda, he marched to meet 
O'Neill, whom he surprised in his camp at 
Bellahoa. He was assisted in this enter- 
prise by the baron of Slane, Robert Betagh, 
of Moynalta, his equerry, Mabe, of Mabes- 
town, and other noblemen. The battle, which 
was bloody, lasted until night. The Irish 
lost nearly four thousand men killed, and 
Magennis, one of their chiefs : the English 
lost about the same number, and some of their 
leaders, among whom was General Mabe. 
After this action, the deputy conferred the 
honor of knighthood on chief-justice Ailmer, 
Talbot, of Malahide, Fitzsimons, mayor of 
Dublin, and Courcy, mayor of Drogheda ; 
James Fleming, baron of Slane, was also 
highly extolled for his bravery. During the 
absence of the deputy, O'Connor Faly and 
O'Tool ravaged the English province. It 
may be easily imagined, that from the state 
of misery to which Ireland was reduced by 
the frequent wars which devastated her 
provinces, the sorrowful consequences were 
famine and distempers, from which num- 
bers, both of men and cattle, died. 

Although the ecclesiastical supremacy of 
Henry VIII. met with considerable opposi- 
tion in Ireland, the suppression of religious 
houses made a rapid progress in that country. 
Threats and caresses were the means resort- 
ed to for this purpose. It was impossible that 
a superior force could be resisted ; the heads, 
therefore, of religious houses looked upon 
themselves as very happy in receiving pen- 
sions for life, for surrendering their abbeys, 
priories, and other religious establishments, 
to the king. The number of houses sup- 
pressed in Ireland is too great to admit of 
being particularized ; we shall therefore con- 
fine ourselves to the principal ones, the heads 
of which were ecclesiastical lords, who had 
the right of seats in parliament. The most 
celebrated abbeys were those of Mellifont, 
St. Thomas, and of our Lady, near Dublin, 
Baltinglass, Jeripont, Tintern, in the county 
of Wexford, Douske, and Tracton, in the 
county of Cork, Dunbrody, Magie, or Nenai 
and Owny, in the county of Limerick, Ros- 
glasser, Monasterevan, in Offaly, Bectif, in 
Meath, and Rathto, in the county of Kerry. 
The chief priories were those of St. John 



428 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of Jerusalem, Christ's church, in Dublin, St. 
Peter, near Trim, Conal, Kenlis, in Ossory, 
St. Patrick, in Down, All Saints, near Dub- 
lin, Athadsel, Killagh, and the priory of the 
blessed Virgin, in the' town of Louth. 

A Waterford ship, laden with wine, was 
returning this year from Portugal, and being 
overtaken by a storm, was driven upon the 
coast of Baltimore, but had the good fortune 
to escape, and anchored adjoining the estates 
of O'Driscol, who seized it as a matter of 
right. 

The English merchants of Waterford, 
viewing this act of O'Driscol as one of per- 
fidy and treason, fitted out two ships and a 
galley, with four hundred men on board, the 
command of which was given to two cap- 
tains called Woodlock and Dobbin, to take 
revenge for the insult they had received. 
They sailed towards Baltimore, and not con- 
tent with recovering the vessel, with the 
crew, and part of her cargo, they pillaged 
without opposition the islands of Inishircan 
and Inchepite, and having razed the castle 
of O'Driscol to the ground, returned to 
Waterford laden with spoil. 

The reformation had not been openly 
avowed under Henry VIII. ; this revolution 
being reserved for a future reign. That king 
was a schismatic only ; he published, about 
this time, a declaration in favor of the six 
celebrated articles ; first, that of transub- 
stantiation ; second, the communion in one 
kind ; third, the celibacy of priests, with pain 
of death against those who should violate 
it ; fourth, the obligation of keeping vows ; 
fifth, private masses ; and sixth, the neces- 
sity of auricular confession. These articles 
were published by authority of the king and 
parliament, with penalty of death against 
those who would oppose them obstinately, 
and against others imprisonment according 
to the king's pleasure.* 

Leonard Grey, lord-justice of Ireland, 
having been recalled in the beginning of 
spring, a. d. 1540, returned to England, 
leaving Sir William Brereton in Ireland, as 
lord-justice. Gre) r was at first well received 
by the king, who had already created him 
Viscount Grany, for his services in Ireland; 
he had even the honor of wearing his sword, 
according to custom, in presence of the 
king, on the day of Pentecost. These fa- 
vors were, however, soon changed into dis- 
grace, and at last cost him his life. 

The principal Irish chieftains, witnessing 
the deadly blows that were armed against 
their religion andliberty, determined to make 

* Ware, de Annal. Hib. cap. 32. 



an effort in favor of both.* For this purpose, 
O'Neill, O'Brien, O'Donnel, and O'Connor, 
formed a league together, and agreed to 
meet, in the month of July, at Fowre, in 
Westmeath ; intending to deliberate on what 
measures the)- should adopt for the defence 
of their religion and country. But Brereton 
having marched to attack them with eight 
thousand troops and artillery, and they being 
unprepared to meet him, they thought pru- 
dent to wait for a more favorable opportu- 
nity, and withdrew for the time. 

After this expedition, Brereton was re- 
placed by Anthony St. Leger, a knight of 
the order of the garter, and gentleman of 
the bedchamber ; the king having sent him 
to Ireland in the month of July, as deputy. 
On his arrival, he took the usual oath in 
Christ's church. St. Leger brought with 
him three experienced commissioners, Tho- 
mas Walsh, John Myn, and William Caven- 
dish, who were of great assistance to him in 
regulating the rolls of the crown lands. The 
court commissioned Brown, archbishop of 
Dublin, and Robert Cowley, master of the 
rolls, to take an inventory of the personal 
goods which Lord Grey had left in Ireland, 
with orders to give up every thing to St. 
Leger, to be disposed of according to the 
king's will. Allen, the chancellor, Brabazon, 
the vice-treasurer, and Cowley, received 
another commission to regulate the pensions 
which were granted to the monks of the 
abbe5's that had been suppressed. 

Brereton having been appointed lord- 
marshal of Ireland, was sent by the deputy 
to Munster, to receive the submission of 
James Fitzjohn, earl of Desmond ; but the 
lord-marshal fell sick on his way, and died 
at Kilkenny, where he was interred in the 
church of St. Canice. This accident did 
not prevent the earl from repairing, in the 
month of January following, to Cahir, on 
the river Suire, where he submitted, in pre- 
sence of the deputy and council, and re- 
nounced the ancient privileges of his family, 
by which he had the right of being absent 
from parliament during pleasure, and of re- 
fusing to enter or sojourn in walled cities. 

Money was coined at this time in Ireland, 
by orders of the king ; namely, four-penny, 
two-penny, and penny pieces, stamped with 
the harp. This was afterwards prohibited, 
under pain of confiscation and fine. 

Sir William Darcy, a native of Meath, 
died this year, at an advanced age, having 
been for some time vice-treasurer of Ireland. 
He was a wise and learned man, and very 

* Ware, de Anna!. Hib. cap. 32. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



429 



zealous for the interests of his country. He 
wrote, in English, a work on the causes of 
the ruin of Ireland. 

Henry, who had been a widower for two 
years, began now to think of marrying 
again.* Among the many matches that 
were proposed, the princess Anne, sister to 
the duke of Cleves, was one. She was a 
Protestant, and therefore approved of by 
Cromwell, who was the king's favorite at 
this time. This minister used all his in- 
fluence with Henry in favor of the mar- 
riage, which was shortly afterwards deter- 
mined upon, and celebrated by Cranmer. 
Cromwell was then created earl of Essex, to 
the prejudice of the Devreux family, who 
should have inherited, not only the estate, 
but the title, after Henry Bourchier, the last 
earl, who died without issue. The king 
having conceived a dislike for Anne of 
Cleves, a few months after his marriage with 
her, caused Cromwell to be arrested on the 
9th of July, and brought to the tower. t He 
was then tried, and condemned by the par- 
liament, as a heretic and traitor to the state, 
without being heard, in accordance with that 
abominable law, of which, it is said, he was 
himself the author. About the end of the 
same month, he was beheaded on Tower 
Hill. He suffered this punishment for having 
been the chief adviser of his master's mar- 
riage, and met his destruction where he 
thought to have found support. In the life 
of this man, who was in every other respect 
wicked, we discover one trait that does honor 
to his memory, which is, his having intro- 
duced into the churches of England the 
custom of registering the baptisms, mar- 
riages, and burials, whereby the births and 
alliances of families are more solidly attested 
than by proof of witnesses, which had been 
previously resorted to. It is probable that 
this custom was introduced into all other 
churches about the same time.J 

After the execution of Cromwell, the king 
had still, for his own satisfaction, to get rid 
of a wife, to whom he had taken an uncon- 
querable dislike. He resolved, therefore, to 
break his marriage with Anne of Cleves ; 
and the parliament, always willing to do 
every tiling to please him, declared it was 
null and void ; that either party was at 
liberty to marry another : and that the 
queen should henceforward be called the 
Princess Anne of Cleves. 

Executions were, about this time, general 
throughout England ; the blood of the first 

* Baker's Chron. page 287. 

t Sander, de Schis. Ang. lib. 1, page 154, et seq. 

t Baker's Chron. page 295. 



nobility was spilled through the inconsistency 
and cruelty of an inhuman prince.* What 
idea can be formed of an age, or rather of a 
nation, whose parliaments are so corrupt, and 
judges so wicked, as to arraign and condemn 
the innocent, for the gratification of a brutal 
tyrant, whose fury was levelled alike against 
every sex and condition. The fate of Mar- 
garet, -countess of Salisbury, alone, is enough 
to fill us with horror. She was nearly allied 
to the king, and the last of the house of 
Plantagenet, being daughter of the duke of 
Clarence, and sister to the celebrated earl 
of Warwick, who had been so unjustly put 
to death in the preceding reign. f She was 
condemned, at the age of eighty years, to 
die, for no other crime than that of having 
written an affectionate letter to her son, 
Reginald Pole. Struggling with the exe- 
cutioner on the scaffold, this barbarian seized 
the unfortunate lady by the hair, grown gray 
with age, and dragged her by force to the 
block ! 

The king conferred titles of honor on 
some Irish lords in 1541. On the 11th of 
July, Plunket was raised to the peerage, 
under the title of lord-baron of Dunsany, in 
the county of Meath, and in the following 
month, Oliver Plunket was honored with 
the title of lord-baron of Louth.J 

Edmond Butler, lord of Dunboyne, near 
Dublin, was created a peer of the realm, 
under the title of lord-baron Dunboyne. 
He was descended from Theobald, fourth 
grand-butler of Ireland, and Jane, daughter 
of John Fitzgeoffry, earl of Essex, sister and 
coheiress of John and Richard Fitzjohu, 
earls of Essex, who died without issue. § 

The king also granted the title of baron 
of Carbry, in the county of Kildare, to Wil- 
liam Bermingham ; and that of viscount of 
Clontarf to John Rawson, prior of Kilmain- 
ham. Thomas Eustace was likewise made 
a peer of the realm, under the title of vis- 
count Baltinglass. 

St. Leger, the deputy, on his return from 
Limerick, where he had a conference with 
O'Brien respectinghis submission, convened 
a parliament, which was prorogued several 
times. The first act of this parliament was 
to erect Ireland into a kingdom, and give to 
Henry VIII. the title of king, instead of 
that of lord of Ireland, which had been till 

* Baker's Chron. p. 287. Higgins' Short View, 
page 195. 

t Sander, de 'Schis. Angl. Jib. 1, page 133. 
Salmon, Hist, of England, vol. vi. p. 241. 

X Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. 

§ Nichol's Rudiments of Honor on the article 
respecting Patrick, baron of Gowran. 



430 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



then borne by him and his predecessors. 
" Though under the preceding title," says 
the statute, " the kings have enjoyed all the 
jurisdiction, power, pre-eminence, and law- 
ful authority, which belong to the majesty of 
a king, since his present majesty and his 
royal ancestors were justly- and lawfully 
kings of Ireland, being reputed, acknow- 
ledged, and styled as such," &c* 

This statute was solemnly published on 
the following Sunday in St. Patrick's church, 
Dublin, and in London, in the month of 
January. St. Leger, the deputy, James, earl 
of Ormond, James, earl of Desmond, the 
other peers in their parliamentary robes, 
with several distinguished laymen and eccle- 
siastics, attended at this publication. Some 
prisoners were restored to liberty, and the 
ceremony terminated with feasting and fire- 
works. 

In this parliament, all the abbeys in Ire- 
land, mentioned in the statute, were placed 
at the king's disposal, but they did not tend 
much to increase his wealth, as he divided 
the lands which belonged to them among the 
nobles, courtiers, and other flatterers, reserv- 
ing but an annual income from them for 
himself. It was decreed that none but those 
who possessed forty shillings a year in landed 
property, could have a vote in the election 
of members for the house of commons. It 
was also enacted, that in case of the death, 
absence, or resignation of the chief governor, 
the chancellor should perform the office of 
sending circular letters to privy counsellors, 
in the counties of Dublin, Meath, Louth, 
Kildare, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Wexford, 
Waterford, Cork, Kerry, and Limerick ;'f 
that these counsellors being assembled, 
should choose an Englishman by birth, to fill 
the office of chief governor during the king's 
pleasure, and in case of none thus qualified 
being found, that two persons of English 
extraction should be chosen by the council, 
to whom the chancellor should give letters 
patent, after making them take the oath 
usual on these occasions. 



* The English flatter themselves considerably. 
In their own opinion, every thing is due to them. 
They here take a part for the whole ; a third of Ire- 
land for the entire island. Their jurisdiction, how- 
ever, did not extend beyond the boundaries of the 
English province, as appears by a law of this same 
parliament, respecting the election of a governor, 
which we shall presently quote. It has been al- 
ready observed in the course of this history, that 
the right of the kings of England to Ireland, is en- 
tirely founded upon usurpation. 

t These were the eleven counties which com- 
posed the English province. Ireland comprises in 
the whole thirty-two counties. 



Other laws were enacted in this parlia- 
ment, which are too numerous to be inserted 
in this place. The county of Meath being 
too extensive to be governed by one sheriff, 
it was divided into East and Westmeath. 

Lord Grey, whom we left in England, was 
sent to the tower. He was accused by the 
earl of Ormond, Allen, the chancellor, Bra- 
bazon, the vice-treasurer, and Sir John Tra- 
vers.* They followed him to England, and 
produced several heads of accusation against 
him, during his administration in Ireland, 
which, having been verified by commis- 
sioners, who were sent purposely to Ireland 
to examine witnesses, he was publicly be- 
headed on Tower Hill. This nobleman was 
son to the marquis of Dorset, and brother- 
in-law to the last earl of Kildare, who had 
been beheaded. He suffered death with 
admirable fortitude. 

The king's marriage with Anne of Cleves 
having been declared null, he married in 
eight days afterwards, Catherine Howard, 
daughter of Lord Edward Howard, and niece 
to the duke of Norfolk. The new queen 
was as zealous in the cause of the reforma- 
tion as Anne Bullen had been ; but the fate 
of both these reformers was of a singular 
kind.f Henry having been informed of the 
shameful and dissolute life of Catherine, 
caused her to be arrested, eighteen months 
after his marriage. She was accused and 
convicted of unchastityboth before and after 
her marriage, and condemned to be beheaded 
with Durham and Colpeper, the accomplices 
of her guilt. On the scaffold, Catherine de- 
clared herself innocent since her marriage, 
but admitted that previously to it she had 
been guilty 4 This gave rise to a ridiculous 
and absurd act of parliament, prohibiting, 
under pain of high treason, any woman who 
was not a virgin, from marrying the king, 
without first declaring the fact. 

In Ireland, Conn O'Neill, whose great 
power gave umbrage to the king, having lost 
his old ally and relative, the earl of Kildare, 
repaired to Maynooth, where St. Leger, the 
deputy resided, and made peace with him. 
Several of the ancient Irish chieftains follow- 
ed his example ; among others, O'Carroll, 
O'Morra, O'Molloy, O'Connor, O'Dunn, 
M'Mahon, Magennis, O'Donnel, O'Rourke, 
O'Reilly, O'Flaherty, O'Melaghlin, M'Carty, 
O'Sullivan, &c. This example was soon 
afterwards followed by some nobles of Eng- 

* Ware, de Annal. Hib. ibid. Cox, Hist of Irel. 
page 264. 

t Sander, de Schis. Ang. lib. 1, p. 161. Baker's 
Chron. of England, on the year 1540. 

X Higgins' Short View, page 194. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



431 



lish extraction ; namely, Barry, Roche, Ber- 
mingham, and M'Guillan. The latter de- 
clared himself to be of English descent. The 
acts of these treaties are given, it is said, in 
the red book of the Irish privy council. 

The deputy and council made some regu- 
lations relative to the government of Mun- 
ster, which had not been before subject to 
the dominion of English law.* These regu- 
lations having been published, arbitrators 
were appointed in the provinces, instead of 
the ancient judges, called Brehons, to have 
them put into execution. 

Henry VIII., at length resolved to exter- 
minate the monks altogether, changed the 
priory and convent of the cathedral church 
of the blessed Trinity, in Dublin, into a 
secular chapter. He appointed Robert Cas- 
tle, or Painswick, dean, who had been before 
prior, and confirmed this church in its pos- 
sessions and privileges. 

The Jesuits were introduced by permission 
of Pope Paul III. into Ireland, a. d. 1541, 
through the exertions of Robert Waucop, a 
Scotchman, titular archbishop of Armagh.! 
John Codur was the first of the society that 
was received into this country. He was 
followed by Alphonso Salmeron, Pachase 
Broet, and Francis Zapata, all of the same 
order. Though Waucop was born blind, he 
applied himself so closely to study that he 
became a doctor of theology in the faculty 
of Paris. He assisted at the council of 
Trent, from the first to the eleventh session, 
after which the pope sent him to Germany 
as legate a Latere, which gave rise to the 
saying among the Germans : " A blind 
legate to the clear-sighted Germans." He 
died in Paris, in 1551, in the convent of 
the Jesuits. 

James Fitzgerald, earl of Desmond, went 
to England in August, 1542, where he re- 
newed his submission in presence of the 
king, % from whom he received some presents, 
and was admitted by his order into the coun- 
cil of Ireland. § The deputy made regula- 
tions at this time to settle the differences 
which had arisen between the several fami- 
lies of the Magennises, and similar arrange- 
ments for the O'Carrolls. The O'Byrnes 
made a public submission ; surrendered the 
town and castle of Wicklow to the king, 



* " Respecting the reformation of the inhabitants 
of this kingdom in parts of Munster, who will not 
understand the laws and privileges, so as that they 
can immediately live, and be ruled according to 
them." — Sander. 1540. 

t War. de Archi. Ardmach. Cox, ibid. p. 272. 

X War. de Annal. cap. 34. 

§ Cox, ibid, page 275. 



and obtained the privilege that their country 
should be erected into a county, under the 
name of Wicklow. 

The death of George Cromer, archbishop 
of Armagh, took place this year.* He was 
a prelate of great celebrity ; grave, learned, 
and of a mild disposition. Through the in- 
fluence of the earl of Kildare, he was ap- 
pointed to the chancellorship of Ireland, 
which office he held for two years with in- 
tegrity. He was strongly opposed to arch- 
bishop Brown, respecting the ecclesiastical 
supremacy, which had been usurped by 
Henry VIII. His successor in the see of 
Armagh was George Dowdal. 

Henry VIII., finding some difficulty in 
reducing the Irish people by force, and 
bringing them to the condition of subjects, 
endeavored to win them by a display of 
kindness, in offering to confer titles of hon- 
or upon their chiefs. 

According to the ancient history of Ire- 
land, the inhabitants were divided into tribes ; 
each tribe possessing a territory, that is, a 
certain extent of land, which was divided 
between the different branches of the tribe. 
These branches had each its vassals, these 
vassals having neither origin nor name in 
common with their masters. They were 
the descendants of the soldiers and artisans 
who had followed the Milesians from Spain, 
and of the remnant of the Firbolgs, the an- 
cient inhabitants of the country, who culti- 
vated the lands belonging to their masters. 
They did not take the names of their chiefs, 
as has been asserted by persons little ac- 
quainted with Irish history. Each tribe 
acknowledged one sovereign chief, a rank 
which usually devolved upon the elder 
branch ; but was sometimes elective, accord- 
ing to circumstances. The chief and the 
branches were of the same origin, and bore 
the same name, preceded by the articles O 
and Mac, with this difference, that these 
articles, without any other addition, be- 
longed to the chiefs ; for instance, by Mac- 
Carty, O'Donnel, were meant the heads of 
these illustrious tribes. The branches were 
distinguished by their Christian names, or 
some epithet added to the surname ; as Cor- 
mac Mac-Carty, Mac-Carty-Riagh, Niall 
Garve O'Donnel, &c, and so with the other 
tribes. Each tribe formed a small republic, 
the members of which, with their vassals, 
united under the chief for the general safety, 
and followed him to war. They were all 
more or less closely allied : and when the 
principal branch became extinct, it was re- 
placed by some of the collateral ones, who 
* War. de Archiepisc. Ardmachan. 



432 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



assumed the title of chief ; so that unless 
the whole tribe became extinct, they could 
never want a chief. 

This digression was necessary in order to 
become acquainted with the political views 
of Henry VIII. That monarch intended to 
subdue the Irish chieftains by the pompous 
title of lords, hoping that they would bring 
the tribes which they governed under the 
dominion of the crown of England ; but in 
this he was doubly disappointed. He wrote 
on the subject to several of those chieftains 
some of whose families have carefully pre- 
served his letters ; but the proffered favors 
were generally despised and rejected. The 
Irish nobles were possessed of too deep a 
sense of nobility, to submit for empty titles 
of honor, unknown till then among them 
titles which were to be the price of their 
liberty, and which they considered as the 
seal of degrading subjection to a foreign 
power. It is certain that by receiving titles 
from a prince to whom we deny the rank of 
sovereign, we assume the position of sub 
jects ; and an individual who accepts of fa- 
vors under such circumstances, is justly 
considered to have renounced the cause of 
his country. This was the opinion formed 
by the Irish nobility respecting these first 
lords,* and is the cause why there are so 
few among the ancient Irish who bear the 
title of lord, which would be only a distin- 
guishing mark of their apostacy. 

Notwithstanding the distaste which the 
Irish had evinced for titles of honor, Henry 
VIII. found some who were willing to ac- 
cept of them. The principal of these were 
O'Neill of Tyrone, and O'Brien of Thuo- 
mond ; but their example was so far from 
being imitated, that they were despised and 
avoided by their best friends. 

According to Ware, Conn O'Neill, here- 
ditary prince of Tyrone, went over this year 
to England, accompanied by Hugh O'Ker- 
valan, bishop of Clogher, and some noble- 
men of his province. He had an interview 
with the king at Greenwich, where he*sur- 
rendered the principality of Tyrone to the 
disposal of the monarch. The king restored 
it to him by letters patent, sealed with the 
great seal of England, and created him a peer 

* These observations relate but to the ancient 
Irish. As to the modern Irish, they were an Eng- 
lish colony that had settled in Ireland, after the 
twelfth century, and had continued the subjects of 
the king of England. These, therefore, had a right 
to expect favors from him. The ancient Irish who 
received titles after the submission of the whole 
nation to James I., are also exempt from censure — 
they were subjects. They were not, however, nu- 
merous. 



of Ireland, under the title of earl of Tyrone. 
At the same time Matthew O'Neill, (the Irish 
call him Fardorach,) son of Tyrone, was 
created baron of Dungannon : Denis and Ar- 
thur Magennis, who had accompanied him, 
received the honor of knighthood ; and the 
bishop of Clogher was confirmed in his 
bishopric by letters patent. The above is 
the account given by Ware and Cox, of the 
prince of Tyrone. However, if this be true, 
it is strange that Baker, who mentions the 
titles conferred upon O'Brien of Thuomond, 
and Fitzpatrick of Ossory, says nothing of 
Tyrone .* Conn O'Neill was head of that illus- 
trious house, which had given several mon- 
archs to Ireland, from the beginning of the 
fifth century, and the reign of Niall, surnamed 
Noygiollach, from whom they were descend- 
ed, by his son Eogan. This prince had the 
weakness to assume the station of a subject, 
and renounce the ancient title of hereditary 
prince of Tyrone, which was founded on a 
possession of more than a thousand years, to 
assume a new one, based on usurpation and 
tyranny. He had the cowardice to sign his 
own degradation, and abandon the name of 
O'Neill, which was much more honorable, in 
the opinion of his countrymen, than that of 
earl, which drew upon him the contempt of all 
true Irishmen. What a subject of humilia- 
tion to O'Neill ! what liberality on the part 
of Henry VIII., who granted to this prince, 
by letters patent, what already belonged to 
him, as if such a title could be more lawful 
than that which was founded upon a posses- 
sion of many centuries ! This pusillanimity 
of O'Neill, who seemingly looked upon the 
event as a mere matter of ceremony, was, 
however, amply compensated by his descend- 
ants. Shane, or John, his eldest son, imme- 
diately on the death of his father, renounced 
the title of earl of Tyrone to resume the 
name of O'Neill, as appears by an act of the 
parliament of Dublin in the eleventh year 
of the reign of Elizabeth ; and his other de- 
scendants were, in the succeeding reigns, the 
most zealous defenders of their country. 

In the year 1543, Henry VIII. conferred 
the title of earl of Thuomond on Morrough 
O'Brien for life ; (the English sometimes 
call him Maur, sometimes Maurice.) The 
reversion of the title and estates on his death, 
was to fall to Donach, son of Connor O'Bri- 
en, his elder brother.! Cox, the historian, 
wishes to cast a doubt on the legitimacy of 
young Donough, which falls on his descend- 



* Chron. of England, page 291. 
t Ware, de Annal. cap. 35. Nichol's Rudiments 
of Honor. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



433 



ants, the earls of Thuomond.* This author 
observes, that, " whether this Donough were 
nephew or natural son of the earl is not 
well known." As Cox does not quote any 
author, can we suppose him incapable of ad- 
vancing this from mere conjecture ? Could 
he have calumniated, without authority, a 
nobleman who held the first rank in the 
province, of which he himself was a native ? 
This is a matter that we do not undertake to 
explain. However it be, Donough was, be- 
fore the death of his uncle, created baron of 
Ibrican, with a pension of twenty pounds 
English per annum. The king settled on 
him, moreover, all the lands of the priory of 
Inisnagananagh, Insula Canonicorum, situ- 
ate in the river Shannon, for regular canons, 
with half the abbey of Clare, called Kilmo- 
ney, or De Forgis. 

Murrough O'Brien availed himself of the 
right which the custom, called tanistry, had 
given him. This ancient Irish custom, like 
an old right, called bail or garde among the 
Franks, authorized the brother, uncle, or 
nearest relative of the same name, capable 
of governing, to succeed during his life, to 
the title and estates of the chief of a tribe, 
who died before his children came of age, 
notwithstanding the title which devolves to 
a minor in a direct line. The advantage 
thus gained suited the policy of Murrough, 
'and enabled him to make his court to the 
king of England, and apply to him for favors. 
He obtained for his son and his descend- 
ants the title of baron of Inis-Hy-Quin, (In- 
chiquin.) in the comity of Clare, with the 
revenues of the abbeys, and the patronage 
of all the livings that were at the disposal 
of his majesty in that country.f 

The house of Thuomond comprises the 
several branches of the tribe we are about 
to speak of. It derives its origin from He- 
ber, eldest son of Milesius, through Oilioll 
Olum, king of the province of Munster, in 
the second century of the Christian era. 
Oilioll Olum had many sons, among whom 
were Eogan More, and Cormac-Cas. From 
Eogan, the eldest, are descended the M'Car- 
tys, and their collateral branches. Cormac- 
Cas was the ancestor of the tribe called after 
him Dal-Caiss, which was composed of dif- 
ferent branches of his family. After the 
genealogical separation of the descendants 
of Eogan and Cormac-Cas, in the second cen- 
tury, of which Oilioll Olum was the com- 
mon head, these two tribes gave, each of 
them, an absolute monarch to Ireland. The 
first was Crionthan II. of the race of Eogan, 

* History of Ireland, page 276. 
t Cox, ibid. 



monarch of the island in the fourth century ; 
the second was the celebrated Brien Boir- 
oimhe, son of Kennede, and grandson of 
Lorcan, of the race of Cormac-Cas, who 
reigned over Ireland in the eleventh century.* 
After the death of Malachi II., successor to 
Brien,f the government of Ireland fell into 
anarchy. | The descent of Murrough O'Brien, 
first earl of Thuomond, is traced from the 
monarch, Brien Boiroimhe,byhis son Tha- 
deus, who was father to Terdelach, father 
of Mortough and Diarmuid. Mortough, or 
Moriertach, elder brother of Diarmuid, was 
the last king of this race who reigned in 
Leagh-Mogha, that is, the greater part of 
Ireland. He was also ancestor of the differ- 
ent branches of the M'Mahons of Thuomond, 
whose first appanage was Corcobaskin, an 
extensive territory on both banks of the 
river Shannon, from Luachra, in Westmeath, 
as far as Limerick ; and from that city to 
Loim-na-Con, in the county of Clare. § This 
latter division comprised the barony of 
Moyarta and Clonderala. The family be- 
came numerous, and were distinguished for 
their great deeds : the principal branches of 
it were Clonderala, Carrigaholt, Cobraghan, 
Clenagh, and Tuogh. The lands of Carrig- 
aholt, Cobraghan, and others, were confis- 
cated in the reign of Elizabeth, for the benefit 
of Donough, earl of Thuomond, his brother 
Sir Daniel O'Brien, Bartly, and others. 
From the branch of the M'Mahons of Clon- 
derala, is descended Bernard, or Bryan 
M'Mahon Ferrery, lord of several towns, 
districts, and castles, in the counties of Clare 
and Limerick, of which he was dispossessed 
in the reign of Elizabeth. These estates 
were restored to him in the succeeding 
reign ; but his son Mortough lost them for 
his loyalty to Charles II., king of England, 
during his exile. In the town of Autun, in 
Burgundy, there is ' a M'Mahon, surnamed 
d'Equilly, descended in a direct line from 
this ancient family. 

From Diarmuid, brother of Mortough, 
are descended the O'Briens, first princes, 
and afterwards earls of Thuomond. || Con- 

* Cambrena. Evers. c. 9, p. 80. 

t Keat. Hist, of Irel. lib. 2, end of Malachi's 
reign. 

t " Moreover, the power of the successors of 
Malachi was confined within narrower limits than 
that of his predecessors, for these kings, who were 
called Gafrasdbhrach, (as implied by the word,) 
had been advanced to royalty in opposition to, and 
with the hostility of some of the people." — Grati- 
anus Lucius, c. 9, p. 80. 

§ Hugh M'Curtin, Antiq. of Ireland, pp. 269,271, 
272. 

NichoJ's Rudim. of Hon. article on Thuomond. 
55 



434 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



nor O'Brien, eldest brother of Morrough, 
first earl of Thuomond, was, according to 
Nichols, the last of the twelve princes of 
this family, who had reigned successively 
in Thuomond, with the titles of kings of 
Limerick or Thuomond. Domnald More 
O'Brien, who submitted to Henry II. in the 
twelfth century, and who was the first of the 
twelve princes mentioned by Nichols, was, 
however, the last king of Cashel and Lime- 
rick, according to the account given by 
Keating in his Genealogy of the house of 
Thuomond. These princes, however, gave 
out many collateral branches, namely, those 
of Inchiquin, Cumrach, Carrigogoiniol, Arra, 
Cuonach, Aharlach, and others, each of 
which traces its origin to one of these prin- 
ces, ancestors of the first earl of Thuomond ; 
and each bears the name of O'Brien, being, 
like him, descended from Brien Boiroimhe. 
The king this year created Ulick de Burgh, 
or Burke, a peer of Ireland, under the title 
of baron of Dunkellin, and earl of Clanric- 
card, in the county of Galway.* This earl 
also profited by the suppression of monas- 
teries ; he received the revenues of the 
abbeys and other religious houses in his 
district, among others the abbey called De- 
via-nova of Clonfert. 

Brien, or Bernard M'Giolla Phadruig, 
(Fitzpatrick,) being a favorite with Henry 
VIII., was made baron of Upper Ossory, by 
which he received no great additional hon- 
or, his ancestors having been hereditary 
princes of that country for many ages.f Ac 
cording to Heylin, this title was conferred 
on Fitzpatrick by Edward VI., of whom he 
was a particular favorite,:): but it was Bar 
naby, son of Bernard, according to Nichols, 
who was in the highest favor with Edward 
The king gave to the lord of Ossory the 
convent of the Dominicans of Aghavo, and 
the priory of the regular canons of Aghna- 
cart. 

Henry, in conferring titles of honor on 
these noblemen, restored to them, by letters 
patent, the estates which they had placed at 
his disposal, and in order to attach them still 
more to him, he became sacrilegiously 
liberal. Without deducting from his own 
wealth, he added largely to their revenues, 
by bestowing upon them the lands of the 
churches, and the patronage of the livings 
within their several districts. § These newly- 
created lords subsequently testified their 

* War. de Annal. cap. 33. 
t Nich. Rudim. of Hon. on Fitzpatrick, baron 
Gowran. 

t History of the Reformation. 
§ Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 276. 



gratitude for the king's favors, by becoming 
the most zealous destroyers of the altars 
which had been raised by the piety of their 
forefathers. 

In this manner did the houses of Thuo- 
mond, Ormond, Clanriccard, Inchiquin, and 
some others, increase their splendor by the 
spoils of the churches and lands which were 
confiscated on the pretence of religion, or the 
alleged rebellion of their neighbors, and 
even of their near relations — the court wil- 
lingly granting to them the confiscated es- 
tates as a reward for their services.* 

By such unworthy means, have these fami- 
lies supported themselves in splendor and 
in elevated rank, to the present day ; while 
other lords of the country, who were their 
equals in birth, and their superiors in virtue, 
have fallen into a species of annihilation, 
having been sacrificed for their attachment 
to the glory of religion, and the liberty of 
their country. The reason is obvious why 
English writers extol the merit of the for- 
mer, while they speak so contemptuously of 
the latter. Those writers know how to 
change the names and signification of ac- 
tions ; they style those who had betrayed 
their country, faithful subjects, while those 
who disdained slavery and chains, and fought 
valiantly to preserve their freedom, are 
spoken of by them as rebels. 

The old jealousies between Henry VIII. 
and the emperor, on one side, and Francis 
I. on the other, were renewed at this time, 
and ended in open war.f It was at this 
time that the king of France sent Theobald 
de Bois, a French nobleman, to Ireland, as 
ambassador to O'Donnel. He proposed to 
furnish this prince with men and money, if, 
to create a division, he would declare war 
against the English ; but O'Donnel finding 
himself unable to comply with the request 
of the 'French king, tire negotiation was 
productive of no result. 

The deputy, St. Leger, was recalled in 
February, 1544, after which he went to 
England, and William Brabazon was ap- 
pointed lord-justice in his stead. New seals 
were sent to this deputy, and the old ones 
discontinued, on account of the change which 
had taken place in the title of Henry VIII., 
who, from being lord of Ireland, had as- 
sumed the title of king. 

Henry had already married four wives, 
besides Anne Bullen. He now married 
Catherine Parr, widow of John Nevill, lord 

* The services which acquired rewards for these 
noblemen, were those which they had rendered to 
the English, against their own country. 

1 Ware, ibid. c. 35. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



435 



Latimer. She had the good fortune to sur- 
vive him, and thus escaped the unhappy 
fate of those who had gone before her. 

War being declared against France, 
Henry demanded assistance from the lord- 
justice of Ireland, who sent him seven hun- 
dred men, commanded by three chiefs, Poer, 
Finglass, and Scurlock.* Holingshead and 
Cox boast of the valor, skill, and services 
which the Irish rendered to the king of Eng- 
land against the French during the siege of 
Boulogne.! They tell us that from their sup- 
pleness and activity, they extended their ex- 
cursions to about thirty miles round, burning 
and pillaging everywhere, and carried back 
great booty to the camp. On some occasions 
they tied a bull to a stake, and placing com- 
bustible matter around the animal, they set it 
on fire ; the bellowing of the beast on feeling 
the flames, drew together herds of the same 
kind from the surrounding neighborhood. 
These Irish, continues Cox, never gave quar- 
ter to the French ; and when any of the Irish 
fell into their power, they caused them, by 
way of reprisal, to be mutilated and tortured 
in various ways. He adds, that after the 
taking of Boulogne, a Frenchman on the 
opposite side of the harbor having sent a 
challenge to the English camp, one Nicho- 
las Walsh swam across the river, fought the 
Frenchman, and after cutting off his head, 
swam back to his countrymen, holding the 
head with his teeth, for which he was well 
rewarded. The acts recorded on both sides 
were strange and inhuman ; but we cannot 
vouch for the truth of the historian. 

St. Leger having been created a knight 
of the garter, as a reward for his services, 
was sent back as deputy to Ireland. He 
arrived in Dublin in August, and was hon- 
orably received by the council and people : 
he received the sword, according to custom, 
and used the necessary measures for pre- 
serving the tranquillity which the state en- 
joyed on his accession. 

Ulick Burke, first earl of Clanriccard, 
died at this time, in his house at Loughreagh. 
His death gave rise to serious differences 
between his sons, by different wives, respect- 
ing the title and succession. The earl had 
first married Grany O'Carroll, while O'Me- 
laghlin, her first husband, as it is alleged, 
was living, without any legal divorce having 
taken place between them. By this first 
wife, the earl had his eldest son, Richard 
Burke. He afterwards discarded her, and 
married Honora Burke, from whom he sepa- 
rated, and, during the life of the first wife, 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 36. 
t Cox, p. 277. 



married Maria Lynch, by whom he had a 
son, John Burke, who disputed the succes- 
sion with Richard, his elder brother. The 
deputy and his council, who were desirous 
of terminating their differences, appointed 
the earl of Ormond, and some other com- 
missioners, to examine into them ; which 
commissioners, discovering no positive proofs 
of the validity of the supposed marriage of 
Grany O'Carroll with O'Melaghlin, adjudged 
the title and inheritance of Clanriccard to 
his son Richard. 

Matthew Stewart, earl of Lenox, having 
been obliged to leave Scotland in 1545, 
sought refuge in England, where he was 
honorably received by the king, who gave 
him in marriage, some time afterwards, his 
niece, Margaret, daughter of his eldest sister 
Margaret, and Archibald Douglas, earl of 
Angus.* The earl of Lenox had by this 
marriage, Henry, Lord Darnly, who was 
father to James VI. of Scotland. 

After the marriage of the earl of Lenox, 
Henry sent him to Ireland, with orders to 
the deputy, St. Leger, to have troops raised 
with all possible dispatch, in order to assist 
him in the recovery of his inheritance in 
Scotland. This nobleman landed in Dublin 
on St. Michael's day, and went to Kilmain- 
ham to the deputy, to whom he presented 
the order of which he was the bearer. The 
deputy lost no time in obeying the king's 
mandate ; and before the middle of Novem- 
ber he raised a new body of fifteen hundred 
men, under the command of Sir John Tra- 
vers. These were soon joined by an equal 
number which had been raised by the earl 
of Ormond in his own district ; and the lit- 
tle army, commanded by the earl in person, 
set sail, in twenty-eight vessels, for Scot- 
land. The earl of Lenox had his corre- 
spondents in the country, and thought that 
his friends would be prepared to assist him ; 
but either through fickleness on their part, 
or from their being prevented by the faction 
of the duke of Hamilton, who was opposed 
to him, when he was preparing. to land near 
his castle at Dumbritton, he perceived the 
enemy had a superior army on the shore 
ready to oppose him. He therefore deter- 
mined on returning to Ireland without making 
any attempt on Scotland. 

Some dispute arose at this time between 
O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, and O'Donnel, prince 
of Tyrconnel,t from O'Neill having claimed 
the right of lord paramount over O'Donnel. 
The deputy's policy was to render them 
both dependent on the English government, 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 37. 

t Cox, Hist, of Ireland, page 278. 



436 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



by assuming to himself the arbitration of 
their difference, and supporting the weaker 
party against the stronger. By the deputy's 
decision, therefore, O'Donnel was exoner- 
ated from all dependence on O'Neill, ex- 
cept a yearly tribute of sixty oxen, which 
he had engaged to pay him for the penin- 
sula of Inisowen. At the same time, two 
of the noble tribe of the Cavanaghs, of the 
county Carlow, — -namely, Charles or Cahir 
Mac-Art, of Polmonty, and Gerald Mac- 
Cahir, of Garochil, disputed the right of 
lordship or chief of the tribe ; but instead 
of having recourse to the interference of 
the deputy, they determined their quarrel 
by a bloody engagement, in which each 
lost about one hundred men killed upon the 
spot ; whereon, either by agreement or some 
other means, Charles Mac-Art became mas- 
ter of the lordship. He was afterwards 
created baron of Balian, in the district of 
Idrone, by Queen Mary. 

The northern Irish finding themselves on 
the eve of falling under the English yoke, 
O'Neill, O'Donnel, O'Dogherty, and other 
noblemen, made proposals to Francis I. 
whereby they promised that monarch to be- 
come his subjects, and oppose the tyranny 
of the English, provided he obtained the 
pope's concurrence, and would furnish them 
with two thousand archers, two hundred 
light horse, and four pieces of cannon. 
The French monarch, who considered this 
overture worthy of his attention, sent John 
de Montluc, bishop of Valentia, to Ireland, 
to investigate the matter, and to see what 
probability there would be of succeeding in 
such an enterprise. The ambassador landed 
at Loughfoyle, and had a conference, a few 
days afterwards, with the parties who were 
interested, the result of which is not known ; 
but that nobleman set out immediately for 
Rome, probably to confer with the pope on 
the subject. It is likely that Cox con- 
founds this embassy with one of a more 
solemn nature, of which we shall speak 
under the following reign. 

The royal treasury in Ireland being ex- 
hausted, the deputy wished to impose a tax 
on the people, a. d. 1545 ;* but the earl of 
Ormond having opposed it, a quarrel arose 
between these noblemen, who accused each 
other of treason, and they were ordered by 
the king to repair to England, Brabazon be- 
ing nominated deputy during the absence of 
St. Leger. At the same time, Allen, the 
chancellor, having been accused of prevari- 
cation in the discharge of his office, was put 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 38. 



into confinement ; Sir Thomas Cusack was 
appointed keeper of the seals in his stead, 
and Sir Richard Read chancellor. St. Leger 
and Ormond were summoned to appear be- 
fore the king and council ; but their accusa- 
tions against each other not amounting to 
high treason, they were discharged, St. Leger 
being sent back to Ireland as deputy. James 
Butler, earl of Ormond, grand treasurer of 
Ireland, died of poison at a repast at Hol- 
born, near London ; James White, the mas- 
ter of his household, and sixteen of his ser- 
vants, having shared the same fate. 

During the administration of Brabazon, 
the baron of Upper Ossory having had some 
cause of complaint against his son Thadeus, 
sent him prisoner to Dublin, where he was 
tried, condemned, and executed. In the 
month of July, Patrick O'Morra of Leix, 
and Bryan O'Connor Faly, with their united 
forces, made inroads on the English province, 
and burned the town of Athy, in the county 
of Kildare. Brabazon marched in pursuit 
of them, carrying fire and sword everywhere 
he went. The poor inhabitants were sacri- 
ficed to his resentment ; he had the fort of 
Dingen, now Philipstown, in the King's 
county, repaired, and obliged O'Connor to 
seek an asylum in Connaught. The terri- 
tories of Leix and Offaly, with the neigh- 
boring estates, namely, Slievmargy, Irris, 
and Clanmalire, were confiscated some years 
afterwards for the king's use. 

The king sent a commission, about this 
time, to his principal ministers in Ireland, to 
oblige the dean and chapter of St. Patrick's 
cathedral in Dublin to place at their disposal 
the estates belonging to that church ; which 
was assented to with considerable reluctance 
by the incumbents. This church, however, 
was -restored a few years afterwards to all 
its rights by Queen Mary. 

Previous to his death, Henry VIII. be- 
came so large and unwieldy that it was 
necessary to invent a machine to change or 
move him from one place to another. He 
sank under the weight of his own body, 
which had become bloated from intemper- 
ance, the usual companion of lust. His body 
might, with propriety, be termed the sepul- 
chre of himself, in which his pleasures and 
disappointments had entombed along with 
him, his religion, his conscience, his glory, 
and every sentiment of honor, justice, and 
humanity ; all which gifts nature had be- 
stowed on him. He made a will, whereby 
he regulated the order of succession to the 
throne between his children, Edward, Mary, 
and Elizabeth. 

Henry being attacked by a slow fever, 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



437 



caused by dropsy, and by an ulcer in his leg, 
the hour of his death drew near, without his 
appearing to perceive its approach. His 
timid and dissolute courtiers dared not to 
inform him of it, lest they might incur his 
resentment and their own disgrace. Sir An- 
thony Denny, a member of the privy council, 
alone, had the courage to warn his majesty 
of his approaching end, and that it was time 
he should send for a clergyman to assist 
him in his last moments. The king, con- 
trary to the expectation of those around 
him, received Denny's intimation with ap- 
parent tranquillity, and commanded that arch- 
bishop Cranmer should be sent for. It was, 
however, too late ; he had already lost the 
use of his speech before Cranmer arrived. 
The prelate desired him to make some sign 
of his dying in the faith of Jesus Christ ; 
on which the king squeezed his hand, and 
immediately expired, on the 28th of January, 
1547, having lived fifty-six years, of which 
he reigned thirty-eight. 

It is difficult to delineate with accuracy 
the character of this unhappy prince ; his 
portrait varies according to the different 
dispositions of the historians who have writ- 
ten on the subject. The partisans of the re- 
formation consider it a merit in him to have 
shaken off the pQpe's authority, and thereby 
established the new religion. His most 
zealous panegyrists, however, admit that he 
was addicted to many vices. In truth, the 
different opinions of writers, with respect to 
religion and the legitimate succession of 
lungs, have cast so many doubts on historical 
facts, from the period of the pretended divorce 
of Henry and Catherine of Aragon to the 
present time, that it is almost impossible to 
discriminate between truth and falsehood. 

Notwithstanding, however, the various 
opinions of writers on Henry's character, it 
may be affirmed that he was a bad king, a 
bad husband, and a bad Christian.* A ty- 
rant is a bad king. Henry spent the first 
eighteen years of his reign at plays, mas- 
querades, and nocturnal amusements. He 
soon squandered the eighteen hundred thou- 
sand pounds sterling, which, through the 
avarice of his father, Henry VII., he had 
found in the treasury on his accession to 
the throne ; so that, though possessing more 
considerable revenues, he found himself 
more indigent than any of his predecessors. 
He, however, supplied the deficiency by 
tyranny : the immense wealth of the monas- 
teries, colleges, and hospitals, which were 
suppressed ; the silver ornaments and ves- 

* Salmon, ibid, page 276. 



sels of these houses ; the spoils of Cardinal 
Wolsey and Cromwell, his vicar-general ; 
the estates of several noblemen of the first 
distinction, which were confiscated for his 
use, and the large sums that were extorted 
from the clergy, under pretext of the prterrm- 
nire law, increased the king's exchequer to a 
considerable extent, but were not sufficient 
to support his profligacy.* He levied exor- 
bitant taxes upon his people ; raised exten- 
sive loans on his privy seal ; and then pro- 
cured acts of parliament to annul his engage- 
ments, and defraud his creditors of their right. 
Finding the wealth of the kingdom entirely 
exhausted, he caused the money to be re- 
coined, and made spurious, to such a degree, 
that, to the shame of the English nation, it 
was not current in foreign countries, by which 
means the merchant lost his credit abroad. 
In Ireland, for want of gold and silver, the 
king ordered that copper money should be 
made use of, to the great detriment and 
displeasure of the public. 

Of Henry's six wives, two were repudi- 
ated, two were beheaded, and one died in 
childbed ; the last, in all likelihood, only 
escaped a cruel fate by the sudden death of 
the prince ; which facts fully prove him to 
have been the worst of husbands. 

In fine, Henry is represented as a cruel 
and profligate prince. Neither the most de- 
praved of the Roman emperors, says Higgins, 
nor even Christiern of Denmark, Don Pedro 
of Castile, nor Vasilowich of Russia, sur- 
passed him in cruelty and debauchery.! This 
writer, indeed, like Sir Walter Raleigh, af- 
firms, that were the portrait of tyranny lost, 
the original might be found in the life of Hen- 
ry VIII. He was a monster of humanity, that 
never spared man in his anger, nor woman 
in his lust ; and from the consciousness of 
his crimes, he died in utter despair. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Edward VI., only son of Henry VIII. and 
of Jane Seymour, ascended the throne at 
the age of nine years, in virtue of his birth- 
right, and of his father's will. Edward Sey- 
mour, earl of Hertford, and maternal uncle 
to the young king, was appointed governor 
of his person, and protector of the kingdom 
during his minority ; being also created duke 
of Somerset. This prince, after receiving the 

* Sander, de Sehis. Angl. lib. 1, p. 168, et seq. 
Ward, History of the Reformation, cant. 1. Salmon, 
ibid, page 985. 

t Short View. 



438 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



order of knighthood, was solemnly crowned I the king had been brought up, and the nov- 



at Westminster, on the 20th of February, by 
the archbishop of Canterbury, a. d. 1547.* 

St. Leger was continued in the govern- 
ment of Ireland, first as lord-justice, and af- 
terwards under the title of deputy or vice- 
roy. He had Edward proclaimed king of 
Ireland on the 26th of February. James, 
earl of Desmond, was appointed treasurer 
about the end of March, and in April nine 
privy counsellors, besides the deputy, were 
nominated, viz., Read, chancellor of Ireland, 
G. Brown, archbishop of Dublin, Edward 
Staply, bishop of Meath, Sir William Bra- 
bazon, vice-treasurer, Sir Gerald Ailmer, 
chief-justice of the king's bench, Sir Thomas 
Luttrell, chief-justice of the common pleas, 
James Bath, chief-baron of the exchequer, 
Sir Thomas Cusack, master of the rolls, 
and Thomas Howth,one of the judges of the 
king's bench. The king dispatched orders, 
at this time, to the deputy, chancellor, and 
other magistrates in Ireland, to grant pen- 
sions to the canons and prebendaries of St. 
Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, which had been 
suppressed, and to give the silver, jewels, 
and ornaments, belonging to that church, to 
the dean and chapter of the cathedral of the 
holy Trinity, to whom were added six priests 
and two choristers, in consideration of forty' 
five pounds, six shillings, and eight pence 
sterling, payable at the king's pleasure 
this grant was afterwards confirmed to this 
church, in perpetuity, by Queen Mary. 

The O'Byrnes, eager to take advantage 
of the change that occurred in the govern- 
ment, took the field, in the month of May, 
to recover their freedom. The viceroy 
marched with a powerful army to oppose 
them, and • after killing their chief, forced 
them to retreat to their fastnesses, but was 
unable to subdue them. At the same time, 
he had two noblemen, of the house of Fitz- 
gerald, arrested, who, being proscribed for 
having espoused the cause of the earl of Kil- 
dare, had joined the O'Tooles. They were 
sent with other prisoners to Dublin, where 
they were all put to death. The O'Morras 
and O'Connors were attacked in the county 
of Kildare, after they had taken considerable 
booty ; about two hundred of them were 
killed, and the rest put to flight. 

The English government now saw the 
difficulties they had to encounter in their 
attempts to reduce the Irish. They appre- 
hended a general revoltthroughout the island, 
on account of the religious opinions in which 



* Baker's Chron. Reign of Edward VI. 
de Annal. reg. Edward, cap. 1. 



War. 



elties which had been already introduced 
into religion. They found, too, that the an- 
cient and modern Irish, of whom the nation 
was then composed, began to unite, and that 
this union was founded on similar principles 
of religion. They thought it prudent, there- 
fore, to provide for the safety of the nation ; 
for which end, orders were given that six 
hundred horse and four hundred infantry 
should be sent to Ireland, and be well paid. 
The command of this force was given to 
Edward Bellingham, on whom the title of 
captain-general was conferred.* This re- 
inforcement landed at Waterford, in June, 
where they were joined by the deputy and 
the army under his command. The vice- 
roy and Bellingham, with their united forces, 
marched for Leix and Offaly, where they 
proclaimed O'Morra and O'Connor, chiefs of 
these districts, traitors to the state, and dis- 
persed theirvassals. They then repaired the 
forts of Dingen, at present Philipstown, in 
Offaly, and Campaw, or Protector, now Mary- 
borough, in the territory of Leix. O'Morra 
and O'Connor, finding they had no other re- 
source, made peace with the viceroy. As a 
reward for his services, Bellingham received 
the honor of knighthood, and was appointed 
marshal of Ireland. 

About the end of the same year, the privy 
council, by the advice of Brabazon, the vice- 
treasurer, gave orders that the fort of Ath- 
lone, which was situate in the centre of the 
island, should be repaired, fortified, and pro- 
vided with a good garrison. By command 
of the council, this undertaking was execu- 
ted by Brabazon, in which he was opposed 
by Dominick O'Kelly, and other lords of 
Connaught. 

The schism which had been begun in Eng- 
land by Henry VIII., continued to spread 
itself under his son Edward VI. Edward 
Seymour, the young king's maternal uncle, 
who, during the minority, governed the 
kingdom as protector, added heresy to 
schism. t In his doctrine, this nobleman was 
a Zuinglian. Cranmer, who had been al- 
ways one, found his wishes gratified, on see- 
ing all ready to receive the poison of the 
error he was going to proclaim. The young 
king, although he was, by his father's de- 
sire, educated in the Catholic faith, favored 
Cranmer in his errors, which speedily gained 
ground, and truth was suppressed. In order 
to spread the heresy more widely, the pro- 
tector took care to raise those who professed 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 2. 

t Sander, de Schis. Anglic, lib, 3, passim. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



439 



it, to the first dignities, and most important 
offices of the state. 

The reformation was at this time begin- 
ning to be preached in public. Besides 
Cranmer and his agents, Richard Cox and 
Hugh Latimer, (whom the Lutherans call 
the first apostle of England, from the num- 
bers that he perverted,) and other English 
preachers, the country was infested with 
swarms of them from Germany. Martin 
Bucer, Peter Martyr, Bernard Ochin, Fagius, 
and others, all preached their own doctrines. 
Some were favorable to Lutheranism, which 
was professed by Cranmer ; others favored 
the doctrine of Zuingle, which was that of 
the protector.* This schism appeared dan- 
gerous to the parliament. That tribunal ac- 
knowledged none other in religious matters ; 
it received its commission expressly from the 
king, who caused himself to be declared the 
head of it. In order to satisfy all parties, 
and, at the same time, to preserve some ap- 
pearance of unity ,these wise senators adopted 
certain articles of the tenets of each of the 
sects, whereof the religion of the country 
was composed ; and in order that none should 
have cause to complain of having been ex- 
cluded, they added a portion of Calvinism, 
which was at that time becoming popular. 
Calvin had already the confidence to write to 
the duke of Somerset, the protector, to exhort 
him to make use of the sword, to reduce the 
Catholics, and force them to embrace what 
he termed the doctrine of the gospel. From 
the many innovations which were introduced 
into this new religion, that had never before 
been attempted, the people became alarmed. 
The celebration of the mass was abolished, 
the marriage of priests allowed, the images 
were removed from the churches, and public 
prayers said in the language of the country. 
Finally, the six articles which had been es- 
tablished by Henry VIII. were annulled ; 
several bishops were deprived of their sees, 
and thrown into dungeons ; the revenues 
belonging to the churches, together with their 
vessels and ornaments, were converted to 
profane purposes : " Ut quid perditio htec," 
<SfC, exclaimed the reformers, like Judas ;t 
in short, a new liturgy was substituted for 
the old one, by an act of parliament. All 
these things alarmed the faithful, and gave 
rise to a rebellion in many provinces of Eng- 
land, where the inhabitants took up arms in 
defence of the religion of their forefathers. 

In Ireland, the effects of the reformation 

* Le Grand, History of the Divorce, vol. l,page 
287. 

t Baker, ibid. p. 304, et seq. Heylin, Hist, of 
the Reformation, preface to the reader. 



were beginning to be felt in 1548. The Irish 
were strongly attached to their religion, and 
took alarm at the slightest attempt to intro- 
duce a change. All Europe has witnessed 
the miseries they have undergone, and the 
sacrifices that they have made in defence of 
it, from the above period to the present. 
Two young noblemen, named Richard and 
Alexander, sons of Thomas Fitz-Eustace, 
viscount of Baltinglass,havingcauseddisturb- 
ances in the county of Kildare, by opposing 
some matters connected with the reformation, 
which was beginning to be introduced among 
them, the government immediately sent 
troops, commanded by the viceroy, who was 
attended by Bellingham and Brabazon, in 
order to crush the rising conspiracy. A well 
disciplined army, headed by the deputy, was 
more than sufficient to disperse a body of 
men who had been tumultuously assembled, 
and badly provided with arms ; their leaders 
soon surrendered to the viceroy, who pro- 
cured them their pardon, and that of their 
father, the Viscount Baltinglass, who was 
supposed to have favored their insurrection. 

St. Leger, the deputy, having received 
orders to return to England, brought O'Mor- 
ra and O'Connor prisoners along with him. 
These noblemen having submitted, received 
their pardon, and a pension for life, of one 
hundred pounds sterling a year, from the 
exchequer. O'Morra, however, enjoyed it 
for only a short period, as he died in the 
course of the same year in London. 

Sir Edward Bellingham, who had been 
sent to England by the government to render 
an account of the submission of some noble- 
men in the county of Kildare, returned to 
Ireland as deputy from the court. He 
landed at Dalkey, near Dublin, on the vigil 
of Pentecost, and in two days afterwards, 
received the sword of office according to 
custom, in the cathedral church of Dublin. 
The new deputy reappointed John Allen 
chancellor, instead of Read, who returned 
soon afterwards to England. 

The deputy being in possession of the 
government, made incursions into the terri- 
tories of Leix and Offaly, where he quelled 
some disturbances that had been caused by 
Cahir O'Connor, and other nobles of this 
district. He then marched towards Dealna, 
the country of M'Coghlan, which he laid 
waste, and reduced to obedience. He was 
the first after Henry III., according to Davis 
and Cox, who extended the frontiers of the 
English province in Ireland.* 

This deputy established a mint in Ireland, 

* History of Ireland, page 284. 



110 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



by orders of the government ; it failed, how- 
ever, for want of means to support it. In 
the month of April, of this year, the city of 
Dublin, which had been at first governed by 
a provost, and subsequently, under Henry 
III., by a mayor and bailiffs, and was hon- 
ored with the sword by Henry IV., obtained 
permission from the court to change its 
bailiffs into sheriffs. 

About this time, Francis Brian, an Eng- 
lishman and baronet, having married Jane, 
countess dowager of Ormond, was appointed 
marshal of Ireland, and governor of the 
counties Tipperary and Kilkenny. This gov- 
ernor and the deputy could not agree ; the 
one being unwilling to acknowledge a supe- 
rior, and the other an equal ; their animosity 
was carried to such a pitch that Brian wrote 
to the king against the deputy, and had him 
summoned to appear at court, to answer the 
charges which he advanced against him. 

In the mean time, Teigue, or Thadeus 
O'Carroll, seized upon and destroyed the 
castle of Nenagh, in the county of Tippera- 
ry, in spite of the spirited resistance of the 
English garrison. After this, he expelled 
all the English from the district.* 

Some differences sprang up in Ulster be- 
tween Manns O'Donnel, prince of Tircon- 
nel, and his son Calvagh, which ended in an 
open war. Both parties took up arms, and 
on the 7th of February came to an engage- 
ment, in which the father was victorious, 
and his son put to flight, leaving MacDo- 
nough O'Cahan, and several othernoblemen, 
his allies, dead on the field of battle. A 
dreadful misfortune happened shortly after 
wards to MacCoghlan : his district of Dealna 
being laid waste by the united forces of 
Teigue O'Melaghlin and Edmond Fay. 

King E dward being at war with the S cotch, 
the viceroy and council in Ireland sent a 
brigade of Irish troops to his assistance, 
under the command of Donough, son of 
O'Connor Fahy, accompanied by the sons 
of Cahir O'Connor. 

In the month of November, Cormoc Roe 
O'Connor, who had been proclaimed a trai 
tor and proscribed, appeared before the de- 
puty and council in Christ's church, Dublin, 
where, after making his submission, he was 
pardoned ; but being possessed of consider- 
able estates, (which was then a crime for an 
Irishman,) they soon furnished him with fresh 
cause to rebel ; he was consequently arrested 
by the earl of Clanriccard, and sent to Dub 
lin, where he was tried and condemned to 
death. If accusation renders a man guilty, 
innocence itself cannot be secure. 
* Cox, Hist, of Ireland, page 285. 



About Christmas the deputy wrote to the 
earl of Desmond, to induce him to come to 
Dublin on some important business. The 
earl was then the richest of the king's sub- 
jects in landed property, and though not one 
of the privy council, was treasurer of Ire- 
land. The deputy, exasperated at his refusal 
to obey the summons, set out on a sudden, 
with twenty horsemen, for Munster, where 
he surprised him, and brought him prisoner 
to Dublin. This, however, proved fortunate 
for him, as he obtained his pardon some 
time afterwards, and was restored to favor, 
through the interference of his adversary. 
Cox draws a very disadvantageous portrait 
of the earl of Desmond, for rudeness and 
ferocity of manners. This, however, is con- 
tradicted by Ware, who was undoubtedly a 
more judicious and authentic historian.* 

The conquest of Ireland had not been yet 
completed, a. d. 1549. Symptoms, however, 
appeared from time to time among the an- 
cient Irish, which portended the speedy re- 
duction of the island.f When the lords of 
inferior districts had any subject of com- 
plaint against their superior lords, respecting 
the contributions or tributes which the latter 
exacted from them, perhaps with too much 
rigor ; instead of having recourse to the 
usual mode of arbitration, or referring 
their differences to the Brehons, who were 
the ordinary judges among them, they car- 
ried their complaints before the English gov- 
ernor. This politic tribunal, while effect- 
ing between them an outward reconciliation, 
exerted itself to sever the ties of subordi- 
nation which bound them together, establish- 
ing an independence among them ; so that 
by a separation of the vassals from their 
chief, the body became imperceptibly en- 
feebled, many instances of which occurred 
about this time. Conn O'Neill, earl of Ty- 
rone, having had a dispute with Maguire, 
Phelim Roe O'Neill, and other nobles who 
held under him, they presented themselves 
before the deputy and council, in Dublin, in 
the month of June. The tribunal heard 
their mutual recriminations and complaints, 
and had them reconciled on certain condi- 
tions ; it decided, that Maguire should be 
exempt for the future from all subjection, 
homage, and dependence on the earl of Ty- 
rone and his successors ; that he should al- 
ways remain in peace, under the deputy's 
protection, and that he should be bound to 
acquit himself towards his excellency, as 
often as he should be required by the council, 

* Hist, of Ireland, page 285. 
t Ware, ibid. oap. 3. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



441 



of all homage, debts, and generally of every 
duty which, a subject owes to his lord. In 
the following month, a similar decree was 
made respecting O'Donnel, prince of Tyr- 
connel, and the nobles who derived under 
him. These negotiations were followed by 
the submission of Brian and Hugh Oge 
M'Mahon, (the younger,) to the deputy at 
Kilmainham, and the remission of a fine of 
five hundred marcs, to which they had been 
condemned some time before. 

The war had lasted for a considerable time 
between the English and Scotch, respect- 
ing the marriage which it was endeavored 
to conclude between the young king Edward 
and Mary Stuart, in order to unite England 
with Scotland.* The Scotch nobility having 
refused to consent to this marriage, the lord- 
protector marched into Scotland with a 
powerful army, where he gained the cele- 
brated battle of Musselborough. Henry II. 
king of France, whose interest it was to 
thwart an alliance which would produce the 
union of these two crowns, averted the blow 
by sending for the heiress of Scotland. She 
was afterwards married to his son, Francis 
II. 

At this conjuncture, the Scotch sent a 
body of troops to Ulster to support the Irish 
against the English, and thereby create a 
diversion in their own favor ; but these 
auxiliaries, to the number of two hundred, 
were defeated by Andrew Brereton, at the 
head of thirty-five horsemen. This captain 
quelled the disturbances in Ulster, and was 
appointed governor of that province. 

Bellingham, the deputy, having been re- 
called by the intrigues of his enemies, sailed 
from Howth in December, for England. 
After his departure, the chancellor Allen, 
by the orders of the king, having convened 
a meeting of the nobility and privy council, 
in the church of the holy Trinity, Dublin, 
in order to appoint a successor, the choice 
fell on Sir Francis Brian. This election 
was confirmed by the signatures of Jenico 
Preston, viscount Gormanstown ; Roland 
Eustace, viscount Baltinglass ; Edward Sta- 
ples, bishop of Meath ; Richard Nugent, 
baron of Delvin ; John Plunket, baron of 
Killeen ; Patrick Barnewall, baron of Trim- 
lestown ; Robert Plunket, baron of Dun- 
sany ; Oliver Plunket, baron of Louth ; and 
Brian Fitzpatrick, baron of Upper Ossory. 
The administration of this new deputy was 
of short duration. Having undertaken an 
expedition into the county of Tipperary, to 
quell some disturbances, and to oppose the 

* Baker, ibid. 



incursions of O'Carroll, he fell sick at Clon- 
mel, where he died on the second of Feb- 
ruary following. His body was removed 
to Waterford, and interred in the cathedral 
of the holy Trinity. After his death, the 
government was confided by the council to 
Sir William Brabazon, with the title of 
lord-justice, and this governor intrusted Ed- 
mond Butler, archbishop of Cashel, with the 
superintendence of the country of Ormond, 
during the minority of the earl, who was then 
but twelve years of age. 

The lord-justice marched towards Lime- 
rick, where he received the submission of 
Teigue, or Thadeus O'Carroll.* This noble- 
man undertook to pay an annual tribute to 
the exchequer, and also to maintain a cer- 
tain number of troops, both horse and foot, 
at his own expense, for the king's service," 
and to resign his claims on the barony of 
Ormond. He likewise placed the district of 
Eile in the king's hands, who restored it to 
him afterwards, by letters patent, with the 
title of lord-baron of Eile. This nobleman 
having got over his own difficulties, inter- 
fered in favor of M'Morrough, O'Kelly, 
and O'Melaghlin, and procured letters of 
protection for them. The lord-justice at the 
same time reconciled the earls of Desmond 
and Thuomond,whose differences respecting 
their frontiers had long disturbed the peace 
of the province. Dermod O'Sullivan, a 
powerful nobleman in the county of Cork, 
met with a heavy calamity at this period ; 
some barrels of powder having taken fire, by 
which he and his castle were blown up to- 
gether. Amalf, his brother and heir, was 
killed some time afterwards. 

The town of Boulogne, which had been 
taken by Henry VIII. six years before, was 
surrendered to the French, in April, 1550, 
on condition of paying, at two separate pe- 
riods, the sum of four hundred thousand 
crowns.f The king of England expended 
eight thousand pounds sterling of this money 
in the service of Ireland. He also sent over 
four hundred men from that garrison, which 
enabled the lord-justice to pursue the rebels, 
among others Charles Mac-Art Cavanagh, 
who had already been proclaimed a traitor. 
He devastated the country, and killed several 
of his followers. 

The reformation had not yet made much 
progress in Ireland. In the month of May 
of this year, Arthur Magennis was appointed 
by the pope to the bishopric of Dromore, 
and was confirmed in it by letters patent 



* Cox, ibid, page 287 
t Ware, ibid. cap. 4. 



442 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



from the king. Thomas Lancaster, of the 
reformed religion, was consecrated bishop 
of Kildare, in Dublin, in July, by George 
Brown, archbishop of that city. He, how- 
ever, lost his bishopric under the following 
reign, on account of his having married.* 

The English sent an army at this time to 
the frontiers of Scotland. Henry II., king 
of France, considered this step against his 
allies as an infraction of the peace lately 
concluded between him and the English : and 
accordingly sent a fleet, consisting of one 
hundred and sixty vessels, laden with pro- 
visions, powder, and cannon, to Scotland ; 
but having been overtaken by a furious tem- 
pest, sixteen of the largest vessels were 
wrecked upon the coast of Ireland ; the re- 
mainder were scattered, and found consider- 
able difficulty in reaching the coast of France. 
The king of England wished to counteract 
the designs of France against his dominions, 
but particularly against Ireland. He knew 
that his power was not firmly established in 
that country ; that the people were in general 
dissatisfied, and that their fidelity being 
founded on a forced submission, they only 
waited for an opportunity to shake off the 
English yoke. For the purpose therefore of 
guarding it, he sent a fleet of twenty vessels, 
consisting of large ships and sloops, under 
the command of Lord Cobham, with orders 
to cruise in the Irish sea, from the north to 
the south of the island. Henry II. found 
means, however, to elude these precautions. 
He sent over De Forquevaux, attended by 
the prothonotary De Montluc, who entered 
into successful negotiation with the princes of 
Ulster, O'Neill and O'Donnell, and induced 
them toenter into a confederacy with France, 
against the English. As, however, the con- 
tinuance of treaties is generally measured by 
the interest of princes, the peace which was 
concluded between France and England ren- 
dered this league with the Irish abortive. 

De Serigny speaks in the following terms 
of this "negotiation, in his book of general 
peerage, or registry of the nobility of France, 
in the article respecting Beccarie de Pavie, 
marquis de Forquevaux.f " In the mean 
time, as the king wished to bring the Irish 
princes under his dominion, and withdraw 
them from their allegiance to the king of 
England, who had many partisans among 
them, and was in possession of some for- 
tresses ; he gave orders to De Forquevaux to 
set out for Ireland with the prothonotary, 
De Montluc, (John de Montesquion de Las- 
seran Massencomme, brother to marshal 

* War. de Episcop. Kildare. 
t Regist. 2. 1 part vol. 3. 



Blaise de Montluc,) who was then chancellor 
of Scotland, and afterwards bishop of Va- 
lentia, and Die in Dauphiny.* Notwith- 
standing the delicacy of this affair, they car- 
ried on their negotiation, which was a dan- 
gerous one, with so much skill and dexterity, 
that, in the month of February, 1553, they 
received the oath of fidelity from prince 
O'Donnel, and O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, in 
the castle of Donegal, province of Ulster, 
which princes, both in their own name, and 
in the names of the other lords of the coun- 
try, placed their lives, forces, and properties 
under the protection of France ; it having 
been agreed upon, that whoever would be 
king of France, should be also king of Ire- 
land." This is an historical fact, of which no 
mention is made, either by our most correct 
compilers, or in the extensive works of 
Du Tillet, De Belleforet, De la Popliniere, 
and others ; but concerning which no doubt 
can exist, since according to the account of 
the biographer of Raymond de Beccarie, the 
Latin transcript of the oath taken by the 
Irish lords is to be found in the king's 
treasury, and he was moreover well ac- 
quainted with the facts. 

Allen, chancellor of Ireland, was recalled 
at this time to England, and succeeded by 
Sir Thomas Cusack, of Coffmgton, in the 
county of Meath, who had been master of 
the rolls. The office of chancellor was con- 
firmed to him by letters from the king, in 
the month of August. 

In September, Sir Anthony St. Leger was 
again appointed lord-lieutenant or deputy of 
Ireland ; and on his arrival in Dublin, Bra- 
bazon presented him, according to custom, 
with the sword. This deputy received the 
submission of M'Carty, and restored him to 
favor. 

Richard Butler, lord of Mongarret, in the 
county of Wexford, was created a peer of 
the realm on the 23d of October, under the 
title of lord viscount Mongarret. He was 
son of Pierce, or Peter, earl of Ormond, and 
of Margaret, daughter of Fitzgerald, earl of 
Kildare. f 

Charles Mac-Art Cavanagh having ap- 
peared on the 4th of November before the 
grand council in Dublin, made his submission, 
and surrendered his possessions publicly, in 
the name of Mac-Morrough, in presence of 
the deputy, the earls of Desmond, Tyrone, 
Thuomond, and Clanriccard, viscount Mon- 
garret, the baron of Dunboyne, and other 
noblemen. The submission of this nobleman 
producedhim no advantage,as he was stripped 

* He was promoted and consecrated in 1553. 
t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



443 



of the best portion of his estates. Such were 
the usual terms that were imposed upon the 
Irish by their unjust masters, after they had 
submitted to the yoke. The lands belong- 
ing to them were peculiarly attractive to 
Englishmen, and enriched thousands of hun- 
gry adventurers, who came in crowds to seek 
their fortunes in Ireland. 

Edmond Butler, archbishop of Cashel, 
died at this time ; he was natural son of 
Peter, earl of Ormond.* This prelate be- 
longed to the privy council of Ireland, under 
Henry VIII. At the time of the suppression 
of monasteries, he surrendered the priory of 
St. Edmond, of Athassel, in the county of 
Tipperary, to which he had been appointed. 
A synod was convened in June, 1529, at 
Limerick, by him ; when, among other 
things, it was decreed that the mayor of 
the city should have a power, without incur- 
ring any censure, to arrest and imprison ec- 
clesiastics for debt. The clergy complained 
loudly of this decree, as being an infraction 
upon their privileges. Butler was succeed- 
ed in the see of Cashel by Roland Barron. 

This year, the king of England sent his 
commands to the deputy of Ireland, to have 
the liturgy and public prayers performed in 
the English language ; with a direction that 
orders should be given to all archbishops, 
bishops, deans, archdeacons, and parish 
priests, throughout the kingdom, to conform 
in all these matters to the king's will. 

In obedience to the king's commands, the 
deputy convened a meeting of the clergy, to 
inform them of the orders he had received, 
and the opinions of some English bishops, 
who had conformed to the new liturgy. 
George Dowdal, archbishop of Armagh and 
primate of all Ireland, who was grave, learn- 
ed, an able preacher, and firmly attached to 
the Catholic cause, spoke with vigor against 
this innovation, and among other things said, 
" Any illiterate layman will then have power 
to say mass." After this he left the meet- 
ing, followed by all his suffragans, except 
Edward Staples, bishop of Meath. Brown, 
archbishop of Dublin, was more submissive 
than Dowdal : he received the king's orders 
respectfully, observing that he submitted, as 
Jesus had done to Caesar, in all that was 
just and lawful, without inquiring into the 
cause, as he acknowledged him to be his 
true and lawful king. On the Easter Sun- 
day following, he preached upon this sub- 
ject, in the cathedral of the blessed Trinity, 
Dublin, taking for his text the following 
words of the Psalmist : " Open my eyes 
that I may behold the wonders of thy law." 
* Ware, Arch. Cassill. 



According to Ware, several lords had, at 
this time, the title of baron, though they did 
not rank among the nobles : it is probable 
that these were popular distinctions, from 
which they did not derive the privilege of 
sitting in parliament. The following he 
mentions to have existed in his time : the 
barons of Burnchurch, Navan, Serine, Gal- 
trim, Rheban, Norragh, Sleumarg, Browns- 
ford, Thomastown, Ardmail, and Loughno. 
When the country was, by order of the Eng- 
lish governor, divided into baronies, the peo- 
ple, through courtesy, gave the title of baron 
to some of the ancient Irish, to whom the 
lands belonged ; among others, we discover 
those of Dartry, Tuathra Clanmahan, Tire- 
reil, Loghtee, who were styled barons of 
their own estates. All who had large pos- 
sessions assumed the title likewise, which 
was also the custom in England, previous 
to its being conferred by patent. 

St. Leger, the deputy, was recalled this 
year, on account of some complaints that 
were urged against him by the archbishop of 
Dublin, either for want of zeal in advancing 
the reformation, or some other secret cause. 
He was succeeded by Sir James Crofts, a 
gentleman of the king's bedchamber.* 

The new deputy having learned, on his 
arrival in Ireland, that St. Leger was in 
Munster, he repaired to Cork, where he re- 
ceived the sword from him in May, 1551. 
Crofts was a zealous Protestant, and en- 
deavored, but in vain, to induce Dowdal, 
the primate, to conform to the king's wishes 
respecting the liturgy. Upon his refusal, 
the king and council of. England deprived 
him of the title of primate, which was there- 
upon conferred on the see of Dublin. Dow- 
dal was obliged to withdraw to a foreign 
country, and Hugh Goodacre was appointed 
to the archbishopric of Armagh in his stead. 
He was consecrated in February, with John 
Bale, bishop of Ossory, in the church of 
the blessed Trinity, Dublin, by Archbishop 
Brown, assisted by the bishops of Kildare 
and Down. 

The first expedition of Crofts was into 
Ulster, to quell some disturbances that had 
been caused by the inhabitants of that pro- 
vince, in conjunction with their neighbors, 
the Scotch. The deputy having reached 
Carrickfergus, sent a detachment under the 
command of Captain Bagnall, to surprise 
Rachlin, an island at some distance in the 
sea, north of Fairhead. This expedition 
did not succeed to his wishes : the detach- 
ment was repulsed with a heavy loss, and 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 5. 



444 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



one of the vessels of his little fleet was 
wrecked. Bagnall was taken prisoner by the 
MacDonnels, and afterwards exchanged for 
Surly-Boy MacDonnel, their brother, who 
had been kept in confinement in Dublin. 
During his stay in Ulster, the deputy received 
the submission of some of the nobles of the 
country. The rest intrenched themselves 
in inaccessible fastnesses, from which he 
found it impossible to dislodge them. 

At this time, the king changed the title 
of the Irish king-at-arms. # This officer, 
who had till then enjoyed that office for all 
Ireland, was thenceforward called Ulster 
king-at-arms, the cause of which is not 
known. Nicholas Narbon, one of the Eng- 
lish heralds, surnamed Richmond, was the 
first who held the office under the new title. 
He was succeeded by Bartholomew Butler. 

On the deputy's return to Dublin, he had 
the earl of Tyrone arrested, on account 
of some complaints which had been made 
against him by his son Ferdorach or Matthew 
O'Neill, baron of Dungannon. The brothers 
of Matthew took up arms and devastated the 
lands of Dungannon, to avenge the insult 
which had been offered to their father. It 
being the interest of the English government 
to support their client, they gave him a body 
of English troops to enable him to defend 
his possessions. The matter was soon de 
cided by a pitched battle, in which the baron 
was defeated and put to flight, with a loss 
of two hundred of his men, killed upon the 
spot. The earl of Tyrone was detained 
three months more in prison, after which he 
received his freedom, upon giving hostages 
and returned to his province. 

Brien O'Connor Faly, who was a prisoner 
in the tower of London, having found means 
to escape, was retaken, and again thrown 
into confinement. MacCoghlan, who had 
been expelled from his territory of Dealna, 
or Delvin, was restored at this time, having 
yielded to the English yoke. The public 
archives, which had been before deposited 
in Bermingham tower, Dublin, were now 
removed to the library of St. Patrick. 

About this period died Robert Waucop, 
otherwise Venantius, who was either a Scot 
or an Irishman. During the lifetime of 
Dowdal, the primate, he was nominated 
archbishop of Armagh, to Pope Paul III., 
though Dowdal was a Catholic .f It appears 
that the pope paid no regard to his nomina 
tion, it having been by Henry VIII. during 
his schism. Two bishops appeared now for 
the first time in each diocese in Ireland : 

* Cox, ibid, page 291. 

t Baker, Chron. of England, pp. 306, 308. 



the one was called titular, appointed by the 
pope ; the other received his mission from 
the kings of England, with the possession 
of the revenues. The only advantage which 
Waucop derived from his appointment, was 
the honor of being titular archbishop of Ar- 
magh. 

Two years had now elapsed since the 
duke of Somerset was liberated from the 
tower, and deprived of the protectorship ;* 
but fresh accusations having been brought 
against him, by his rival the duke of North- 
umberland, and other noblemen, he was im- 
peached and convicted of high treason, and 
of having attempted the life of Northumber- 
land, in consequence of which he was be- 
headed on Tower Hill. Such was the end 
of this ambitious nobleman, who, though but 
a subject, aspired to be the equal of a sove- 
reign, by assuming the style of " Somerset, 
by the grace of God," a. d. 1552.f He 
built a magnificent palace from the ruins of 
chinches and the dwellings of the bishops, 
and from the revenues, which they and the 
chapters were obliged to surrender to him. 

Morrough O'Brien, who was created earl 
of Thuomond by Henry VIII., having died, 
his nephew Donogh, baron of Ibrican, took 
possession of the estates and title of Thuo- 
mond, according to a compact made between 
them by the king ; but as this title was to 
end with Donough, he surrendered his pa- 
tent to Edward VI., who conferred a new 
one on him, by which the title of earl of 
Thuomond was confirmed to him and his 
male heirs for ever. He was soon after- 
wards killed by bis brother Donald. 

The noble family of the Fitzgeralds of 
Kildare was restored this year, in the per- 
son of Gerald, brother to Thomas, last earl 
of Kildare, who was executed in England 
with his uncles, on account of their rebellion . 
This nobleman spent several years in dif- 
ferent countries of Europe, and having been 
restored to favor, obtained letters from the 
king, empowering him to take possession of 
Maynooth and other estates belonging to his 
family, and two years afterwards, he re- 
ceived the ancient titles of his house from 
Queen Mary. 

Donough O'Brien, who had just been cre- 
ated earl of Thuomond by letters patent, and 
declared heir to the estates annexed to that 
title, was disturbed in his possessions by his 
brother Donald. This nobleman was exas- 
perated to see his eldest brother, and the 
head of his family, enter into an agreement 

* War. de Archiep. Ardmach. Idem. Annal. Hi. 
bern. 
t Baker, Chron. of Engl. p. 305. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



445 



with the king of England, which were so 
contrary to the interests of his country ; he 
looked upon the title as the seal of his sla- 
very, and of the dishonor of a house which 
had been, till that time, free and indepen- 
dent. According to Cox, Donald had anoth- 
er motive for declaring against Iris brother ;* 
he had cause to apprehend the loss of the 
prerogatives to which he was entitled by the 
old custom of Tanistry, as the submission 
of his brother to the English government se- 
cured the possession for ever to his descend- 
ants. This, however, is mere conjecture, 
on the part of Cox, who always puts a bad 
construction upon the intentions of those who 
were opposed to the English. In order, in- 
deed, to give an appearance of truth to what 
he advances, he says that Donald and Ter- 
lough were uncles to the earl of Thuomond, 
while, according to every other historian who 
wrote on Irish affairs, they were his brothers. 
However this may have been, the deputy, in 
conjunction with some of the members of the 
council, made use of his authority, and set- 
tled the matter in favor of the earl. 

Sir Nicholas Bagnall was appointed to the 
command of a force which was sent against 
MacMurrough. Both armies having met, 
they fought for a long time with doubtful 
success ; the loss was heavy on both sides, 
and the victory remained undecided : the 
numbers of killed and wounded were not 
known. The English garrison of Athlone 
pillaged, at this time, the cathedral church 
of Cluan-mac-noisk, not sparing even the 
books or sacred vessels of the church. 

Some time afterwards, the deputy marched 
at the head of an army to Ulster, and fortified 
Belfast, where he left a strong garrison. In 
the mean time, the baron of Dungannon hav- 
ing marched with his forces to join the Eng- 
lish army, he was surprised in his camp by 
his brother Shane O'Neill, who killed sev- 
eral of his men, and put the rest to flight. 
The deputy finding himself deprived of this 
succor, set out for Dublin, with the inten- 
tion of returning to England. The English 
monarch having learned that Queen Mary 
of Scotland, had sent over O'Connor to Ire- 
land, whose father was a prisoner in England, 
to influence the Irish to rebel against the gov 
ernment, he gave orders to Sir Henry Knolles 
to repair thither without delay, and put off 
the departure of the deputy till he should 
receive fresh instructions : but finding, soon 
after this, that the queen of Scotland's plan 
had failed, he proceeded to England, with 
the king's permission, attended by Andrew 

* Page 292. 



Wise, the vice-treasurer. Two days after 
his departure, the privy council and nobil- 
ity met in the cathedral church of the Holy 
Trinity, in order to appoint two justices, to 
be intrusted with the government during the 
absence of the deputy. The choice fell 
upon Thomas Cusack, the chancellor, and 
Gerald Aylmer, chief-justice of the king's 
bench, both of whom were knights, as, at 
that time, the title was conferred both on 
civil and military officers. Some time after- 
wards, one of the O'Neills, of the house of 
Tyrone, was arrested in Dublin for having 
circulated opprobrious reports concerning 
the deputy, but was liberated on bail. About 
this period, Hugh Ogue O'Neill, lord of 
Clanneboy, submitted to the king, in presence 
of the lords-justices, and took the oath of 
allegiance. The king, in gratitude, gave 
him the abbey of Carrickfergus, with the 
castle of Belfast, and permission for three 
secular priests to reside with him. 

Ulster was desolated this year by a civil 
war between the earl of Tyrone and his 
son John, commonly known in history by the 
name of Shane O'Neill. All Ireland was 
visited by a dreadful famine and a scarcity, 
of grain ; but the year following was a most 
abundant one ; the same measure which cost 
twenty-four shillings the preceding year, be- 
ing sold for five, a. d. 1553. 

The sentence pronounced by the deputy 
in favor of Donough, earl of Thuomond, was 
not sufficient to thwart the designs of his 
brother Donald O'Brien against him. Do- 
nald, who was seconded by his brother Ter- 
lough, and a few other lords of Thuomond, 
with their vassals, attacked Clonroan, or 
Cluanroad, in the county of Clare, and burn- 
ed all except the castle.* The earl defend- 
ed himself in it for some time, but being at 
length obliged to yield to a superior force, 
the castle was taken by storm, and the gar- 
rison put to the sword ; the earl being found 
among the number of the slain. Connor, 
his only son, whom he had by Helen, daugh- 
ter of Peter Butler, earl of Ormond, being 
supported by the English government, suc- 
ceeded to the title and estates of his father. t 
This was the source of the discord which 
prevailed for a long time between the houses 
of Thuomond and Inchiquin, and the other 
branches of the O'Briens. 

About this time, Teugue Roe O'Melagh- 
lin evinced the same spirit of patriotism 
which Donald O'Brien had displayed. Hav- 
ing received some insult from his relative, 
Neil Mac Phelim, who was in the interest 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 7. 
t Cox, ibid. pp. 315, 545. 



446 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of the English, he killed him on the road to 
Mullingar in Westmeath. O'Melaghlin him- 
self lost his life, some time afterwards, in a 
battle against the garrison of Athlone, com- 
manded by the baron of Delvin, whereupon 
his estate was confiscated. The quarrels of 
the Burkes also gave rise to disturbances in 
Connaught ; Richard Burke having quarrel- 
led with the children of Thomas Burke, call- 
ed Backagh, gave them battle, in which he 
was made prisoner, leaving one hundred 
and fifty of his men dead on the field. Rich- 
ard, earl of Clanriccard, having had some 
disputes with John Burke, he entered his 
lands, sword in hand, and laid siege to his 
castle ; but on learning that Donald O'Brien 
was coming to his assistance, the earl raised 
the siege, not thinking it prudent to wait the 
event of a battle. 

King Edward sent three large vessels 
this year to discover a passage to the East 
Indies through the north of Europe and Asia, 
at the solicitation of Sebastian Gabato, a na- 
tive of Bristol, the son of a Genoese, or, as 
others say, of a Venetian,* and a celebrated 
cosmographer. The king appointed him pi- 
lot or director of this little fleet, which was 
under the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby. 
On reaching the latitude of 74 degrees, Wil- 
loughby's ship was cast upon a desert shore, 
where he and his crew were found frozen to 
death. His lieutenant, Richard Cancella- 
rius, was more fortunate, having discovered 
a passage into Russia, which had been till 
then unknown to the English. The third 
vessel, which suffered from the storm, and 
was separated from the others, fearing for 
the success of the voyage, returned to 
England. 

Edward VI. died at Greenwich, in July, 
at the age of sixteen years, of which he had 
reigned six. The reformation advanced with 
rapid strides during his time, which cannot 
surprise us, since this prince, who began his 
reign at the age of nine years, was wholly 
under the control and command of those who 
were intrusted with the administration dur- 
ing his minority. Edward Seymour, duke of 
Somerset, the king's uncle, governed during 
the first years, as protector, till he was sup- 
planted by John Dudley, duke of Northum- 
berland. The former was a Zuinglian, and 
the friend of Cranmer ; the latter conformed 
to the religion which suited his own purposes 
best ; so that these two favorites, and the 
other nobles belonging to the court, per- 
verted the authority of an infant king, to 
gratify their cupidity with sacrilegious plun- 

* Baker, Chron. of Engl, page 309. War. de 
Annal. Hib. reign of Edward VI. cap. 7. 



der. The supposed reformation of religion, 
was a pretext made use of by them to seize 
upon the property of the church. They 
first proclaimed Edward, as they had done 
Henry, head of the church of England, 
both in spiritual and temporal affairs. The 
maxim which had been established in the 
time of Henry VIII. was, that the king held 
the place of the pope in England ; but they 
granted prerogatives to this new papacy, to 
which the pope had never aspired. The 
bishops were newly appointed by Edward, 
and were to continue in their sees accord- 
ing to the king's will, as had been settled by 
Henry, and it was thought that, in order to 
accelerate the reformation, the bishops should 
be subject to the yoke of an arbitrary power. 
The archbishop of Canterbury, primate of 
England, was the first to submit to this de- 
gradation, which is not surprising, as it was 
through him all these opinions were propa- 
gated ; the others followed his pernicious 
example. This system was afterwards alter- 
ed, and the bishops were forced to consider 
it as a favor that the king conferred the sees 
for life. It was clearly specified in their 
commission, as had been done under Henry, 
agreeably to the doctrine of Cranmer, that 
episcopal authority, as well as that of secular 
magistrates, emanated from royalty, as its 
source ; that the bishops should exercise it 
under a precarious tenure, and give it up at 
the pleasure of the king, from whom they 
derived it ; in short, every thing was made 
subject to royal power. 

The bishoprics, which had thus become 
offices to be filled by persons who might be 
recalled at the pleasure of the king, like the 
governors of provinces, or common clerks, 
frequently changed their bishop* The most, 
zealous suffered imprisonment, and by their 
perseverance, lost their sees ; the more poli- 
tic subscribed to every article of the reforma- 
tion, and were satisfied with a small portion of 
the revenues of their rich bishoprics, scarce- 
ly sufficient, says Heylin, for the support of 
a parson ; the vacant ones were conferred 
on men who readily consented to the dismem- 
berment of the lands of their churches,which 
were formed into baronies, to enrich, as 
Heylin observes, the pirates of the court, 
who had no right by birth to such brilliant 
fortunes. The above is but a feeble sketch 
of the excesses which happened in the reign 
of Edward ; but to return to our history. 

The death of Edward VI. was followed 
by a kind of interregnum of a few days. The 
duke of Northumberland caused Jane, eldest 

* Heylin, Hist, of the Reformation, p. 99, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



447 



daughter of the duke of Suffolk, and Fran- 
ces, daughter of Charles Brandon, and Mary, 
sister of Henry VIII., queen of France, and 
widow of Charles the XII., each to be pro- 
claimed queen of England. Jane was of 
royal descent through the female line, being 
grand niece of Henry VIII. ; she was also 
daughter-in-law to the duke of Northumber- 
land, being married to Lord Guilford Dudly, 
his fourth son.* Upon this was founded her 
claim to the crown, and the interest which 
the duke took to have her proclaimed. This 
nobleman was the favorite of Edward VI., 
and finding that the prince's end was ap- 
proaching, represented to him that his con- 
science required that he should look to the 
preservation of the new religion, not only 
during his life, but also after his death ; that 
his sister, the Princess Mary, was opposed 
to it, but that he could not exclude her from 
the succession, without also removing Eliza- 
beth ; and in short he prevailed so far with 
this weak prince, that lie brought him to 
make a will, by which he declared his cousin 
Jane the lawful heiress to the crown. 

The duke of Northumberland, who was 
determined to support the cause of Jane, put 
himself at the head of an army of ten thou- 
sand men. He was attended by several 
noblemen, many of whom, however, deserted 
him on their march. Mary, who was at 
Framingham, in Suffolk, having heard of her 
brother's death,had herself proclaimed queen, 
whereon all the nobility of Norfolk and 
Suffolk flocked to her standard. The nobles 
who were in London met at Baynard castle, 
and acknowledging Mary's incontrovertible 
right to the throne, had her proclaimed by 
the lord mayor of London. The duke of 
Northumberland was at Bury when he heard 
of this general defection in favor of Mary, 
and deeming it a matter of prudence to fol- 
low the torrent, he immediately repaired to 
Cambridge, where, for want of a herald, he 
went attended by the mayor, and proclaimed 
Queen Mary in the market-place, throwing 
up his cap in the air as a token of joy. This 
show of loyalty, however, availed him 
nothing ; he was arrested the day following, 
with other noblemen, by the earl of Arundel, 
in the queen's name, and sent to the tower. 
In the mean time the duke of Suffolk entered 
the apartment of his daughter, Lady Jane 
Grey, the supposed queen, and informed her 
that she should lay aside the insignia of 
royalty, and be content to lead thenceforward 
a private life. She answered him with mo- 
desty, that she resigned it as willingly as she 

* Baker, Chron. of England, page 309. 



had assumed it, which she never would have 
done, but through obedience to him, and to 
her mother. Thus ended her reign of ten 
days. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Queen Mary having been proclaimed in 
the principal towns in England, left Framing- 
ham for London, a. d. 1553. On arriving at 
Wanstead, in Essex, on the 30th of July, she 
was met by her sister Elizabeth, attended by 
a cavalcade of a thousand horsemen.* On 
the 3d of August, she made her entry into 
London, with a pomp and magnificence equal 
to any of her predecessors.! She then took 
possession of the tower, where Thomas, the 
old duke of Norfolk, Edward Lord Courtney, 
Stephen Gardiner, the deposed bishop of 
Winchester, and the duke of Somerset, were 
prisoners. They received her on their knees ; 
but raising them she embraced them, saying, 
" these are my prisoners." They were soon 
afterwards restored to liberty. Gardiner 
was reinstated in his see of Winchester, and 
appointed keeper of the seals and chancellor 
of England ; all the other bishops, who had 
been dispossessed in the preceding reign, 
namely, Bonner, bishop of London ; Tunstal, 
of Durham ; Day, of Chichester ; West, of 
Exeter ; and Heath, of Worcester, were also 
restored to their sees. All married men, who 
possessed livings in the church,were removed 
by Queen Mary, and she herself renounced 
the profane title of head of the church of 
England.^ This princess found herself 
obliged to make examples of some distin- 
guished personages. The duke of North- 
umberland, Sir John Gates, and Sir Thomas 
Palmer, were executed on Tower Hill, in 
the month of August. Shortly afterwards, 
Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, Lady 
Jane Grey, her husband Lord Guilford, and 
the lords Ambrosius and Henry, sons of the 
duke of Northumberland, shared the same 
fate. Queen Mary was crowned with the 
usual solemnities, in St. Peter's church, by 
the bishop of Winchester. 

The English council having informed the 

lord-justice and privy council of Ireland of 

all that had taken place respecting Mary's 

succession to the throne, she was proclaimed 

« 

* Sander, de Schis. Angl. lib. 2, p. 244, et seq. 
Baker, Chron. of Engl. p. 314, et seq. 

T War. de Annal. Hib. "reign of Mary, c. I. 
Hf ylin, Hist, of the Reform, p. 166, et. seq. 

t Prophanura Primatus ecclesiastici titulum re- 
spuit et a stilo Regio sustulit Sanderus ibid. 



448 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



in Dublin, and afterwards in the other towns 
and burghs in the kingdom, to the great 
satisfaction of the people. The queen after- 
wards sent over patents to continue the lords- 
justices and other magistrates in office. 

Donough O'Connor made an incursion, 
at this time, into Offaly, but was put down 
by the superior force of the lords-justices. 

The queen, who was already planning the 
restoration of the old religion, caused a de- 
claration in favor of the mass, and the other 
dogmas of the Catholic faith, to be published 
in Ireland, that is, in the English province, 
where the heresy was beginning to take root. 

About this time, O'Neill made some at- 
tempts in the county of Louth, which drew 
the attention of government towards Ulster. 
The lords-justices having collected their 
forces, marched towards Dundalk, where 
they dispersed his troops, after killing sev- 
eral of them. 

Sir Anthony St. Leger was appointed by 
the queen, lord-deputy of Ireland, in Novem- 
ber. Having landed at Dalkey, he repaired 
to Dublin, where he took the oath on the 
19th of the same month, and received the 
sword from Cusack and Aylmer, his prede- 
cessors, in the Cathedral of Christ, or the 
Blessed Trinity ; the patent of Cusack, the 
chancellor, was renewed at the same time. 

In this month, Cormac MacCoghlan and 
his allies, the O'Ferralls, having applied for 
assistance to Richard,baron of Delvin,against 
MacCoghlan, chief of the tribe, and superior 
lord of Dealna, the baron entered freely into 
their confederacy, which, however, was pro- 
ductive of no other result than the burning 
of some villages in the territory of Dealna. 
It tended to perpetuate the animosities and 
destructive warfare between the tribes of 
the MacCoghlans and the O'Ferralls. 

In the month of December, Owen Ma- 
gennis, chief of the tribe, and superior lord 
of Iveach, in the county of Down, surren- 
dered ; in consequence of which, he was ap- 
pointed governor of that district by the 
deputy and council. This nobleman paved 
the way, by these means, to the title of lord, 
which was subsequently taken by his de- 
scendants. 

In the following spring, George Dowdal, 
archbishop of Armagh, who had withdrawn 
to a foreign country, was recalled by Queen 
Mary, and restored to his former dignities of 
archbishop of Armagh, and priirfate of Ire- 
land, a. d. 1554.* The priory of Athird, in 
the county of Louth, was added to his reve- 
nues. The primate convened a provincial 

* Wareus, ibid. cap. 2. 



synod in Drogheda, in the church of St. 
Peter, in which several decrees were passed 
tending to the restoration of religion, and 
the ancient rights of the church ; and statutes 
enacted against married ecclesiastics. This 
was only a prelude to other things, more 
important. In the month of April, the pri- 
mate and Doctor Walsh, who was appointed 
bishop of Meath, received an order to depose 
such bishops and priests as had married. 
This order was put into execution, in the 
month of June following, against Edward 
Staples, bishop of Meath, who was forced to 
give up his see. About the end of the same 
year, Brown, archbishop of Dublin, Lancas- 
ter, bishop of Kildare, and Travers, bishop 
of Leighlin, shared the same fate. Bale, 
bishop of Ossory, and Casey, of Limerick, 
avoided a similar punishment by leaving the 
country. The bishoprics were then filled by 
Catholic prelates. Walsh had been already 
appointed to the see of Meath ; Hugh Cur- 
vin succeeded Brown in the see of Dublin ; 
Thomas Levereuse filled that of Kildare ; 
Thomas O'Fihely was appointed by the pope 
bishop of Leighlin ; Hugh Lacy, of Limerick, 
and Bale was replaced by John Thonory, 
in the see of Ossory. It must be observed 
that those bishops who were dispossessed, 
were Englishmen, and the first who preach- 
ed the reformation in Ireland. 

Bale and Brown, the principal of those 
who introduced the reformation, were monks 
that had been stripped of their orders . Brown 
was an Augustinian monk in London. He 
became provincial of the order in England,* 
and was appointed to the archbishopric of 
Dublin by Henry VIII.; but a desire to marry 
made him renounce the solemn vow of chas- 
tity and continence he had made to God, 
when he embraced the monastic state. He is 
considered by Protestants as the first who 
endeavored to introduce the reformation 
into Ireland. His memory is held in venera- 
tion among them, and they have taken care 
to write his life, as a legend worthy of being 
handed down to posterity.! Bale was a native 
of England: he began his studies at Norwich, 
became a monk of the Carmelite order, and 
afterwards went to Cambridge to perfect 
himself. Having a taste for preaching, he 
never ceased to declaim against the Roman 
Catholic religion ; he was arrested twice, and 
put into prison, first by order of the arch- 
bishop of York, and afterwards by the bishop 
of London ; but was restored to liberty 
through the influence of Cromwell, the spi- 
ritual vicar-general of Henry VIII. He was 

* War. de Archiepisc. Dubliniens. 
t War. de Episc. Ossor. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



449 



at last forced to leave the country, and with- 
drew to Germany, where he remained for 
eight years, after which he returned to Eng- 
land, in the reign of Edward VI., who ap- 
pointed him to the bishopric of Ossory. This 
prince died six weeks afterwards, and Mary 
having ascended the throne, Bale left his 
library at Kilkenny, and fled to Basle in 
Switzerland,where he remained till her death, 
and the accession of Elizabeth. He then re- 
turned to England, and was content with a 
canonship in the church of Canterbury, not 
wishing to go back to his diocese. He pub- 
lished several works both in Latin and Eng- 
lish, a catalogue of which he himself gives 
in his book on British writers. 

In the month of November, Gerald, earl 
of Kildare, who had been lately restored to 
his honors, Thomas Duff, or the black, 
earl of Ormond, and Brian Fitzpatrick, 
baron of Upper Ossory, having distinguished 
themselves in the war in England, against 
Sir Thomas Wyat, returned to Ireland. Fitz- 
patrick was noticed on account of the strict 
and reciprocal friendship that subsisted be- 
tween him and Edward VI. In the month 
of February following, Cahir Mac-Art Ca- 
vanagh, an Irish lord, who was highly es- 
teemed in Leinster, and descended from the 
kings of that province, was created (for life 
only) lord-baron of Balian, in Idrone, 
(county of Carlow.) He was succeeded in 
this title by his brother Dermod. 

The queen had given orders at this time 
to reduce the troops in Ireland to the number 
of five hundred men ; the state of affairs, 
however, prevented the deputy and council 
from carrying that measure fully into effect. 
They retained six hundred foot soldiers, four 
hundred horsemen, and some light troops ; 
and were obliged soon afterwards to increase 
the number, and to ask for further reinforce- 
ments from the English, to repel the Scotch 
of the Hebrides. 

Before this, mention was made of a mar- 
riage between Queen Mary and Philip II. of 
Spain, eldest son of Charles V.* When this 
news was spread in England, a serious dis- 
turbance broke out in the province of Kent, 
and other places, in which Wyat was one of 
the principal performers. Some dreaded 
that by this marriage, England might be- 
come a province of the Spanish monarchy ; 
while the partisans of the reformation feared 
that the alliance of the queen (who was 
already opposed to that object) with a Ca- 
tholic prince, might put an end to the system 
which had made so rapid a progress during 

* Sander, de Schis. Angl. lib. 2, part 2, p. 224, 
et seq. 



the two last reigns. The queen, however, 
was so ably seconded by her brave and 
faithful subjects, that the only result which 
attended this outbreak was the punishment 
of the rebels. 

Charles V. would let no opportunity es- 
cape that might contribute to the aggrandize- 
ment of his house.* In January he sent 
ambassadors to England, and among others, 
the earl of Egmond, and John de Montmo- 
rency ; they were honorably received, and 
were successful in their negotiation concern- 
ing the marriage. Philip landed at South- 
ampton, in England, on the 19th of July, 
and proceeded to Winchester on the 24th, 
where the queen waited his arrival, and the 
marriage was celebrated the following day, 
which was the festival of St. James, by the 
bishop of that see.f Mary was then thirty- 
eight years of age, and Philip but twenty- 
seven ; they were immediately proclaimed 
by the Garter herald at arms, under the fol- 
lowing titles : — 

" Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, 
king and queen of England, France, Naples, 
Jerusalem, and Ireland, defenders of the 
faith, prince and princess of Spain and 
Sicily, archduke and archduchess of Aus- 
tria, duke and duchess of Milan, Burgundy, 
and Brabant, and count and countess of 
Hapsburg, Flanders, and the Tyrol." 

Although the queen had done much, since 
her coming to the throne, for the re-establish- 
ment of religion and the Catholic liturgy ; 
had the mass and divine offices celebrated, 
according to the custom of the Roman 
church, in the Latin language ; and had 
caused heresy to be proscribed, and foreign 
heretics to be driven out of the country, (of 
whom, it was said, that at least 30,000 had 
by various routes departed from England,) 
still she was unable to bring back the people 
to their obedience to the see of Rome. The 
parliament first made some objections on 
this head, lest the pope might insist upon the 
restitution of the property of the church, 
which had been seized upon by the nobles ; 
but all these difficulties being removed, they 
repealed the laws which had been enacted 
during the preceding reigns, against the 
authority and jurisdiction of the popes. 
They also repealed those respecting Cardinal 
Pole, who had just arrived from Rome, as 
legate a latere, from Julius III., who was 
sovereign pontiff :| and finally submitted to 
every thing, avowing their deep regret for 

* Heylin, Hist, of the Reformation, on the reign 
of Mary, p. 209. 

t Baker, Chron. of Engl. p. 319. 
} Heylin, ibid, page 211. 



450 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



having seceded from the obedience due to 
his holiness, and for having consented to the 
enactment of laws against him.* They then 
asked upon their knees, his absolution both 
for themselves and the people, from the cen- 
sures which they had incurred by their 
schism ; which was granted to them by the 
legate, who read aloud the power delegated 
to him by the pope. A splendid embassy 
was then sent to Rome, to have all things 
confirmed by the sovereign pontiff; and on 
their being thus ratified by his holiness, 
solemn thanks to God were offered through- 
out Italy, for the happy reconciliation of 
England with the holy see.f 

War broke out at this time between Con- 
nor O'Brien, son of Donough, earl of Thuo- 
mond, and his uncle Donald O'Brien. Con- 
nor had lost the affection of the people by 
retaining the English title of earl, which he 
had assumed after his father, while Donald 
became very popular by taking the name of 
O'Brien without any addition, which was 
considered much more honorable by his 
countrymen than the title of earl. Donald 
was very powerful, and took several places 
from the earl, who required the aid of the 
English to maintain himself in his districts. 
The same year Cahir O'Carroll, baron of 
Ely, who had killed Teugue O'Carroll, 
perished by the sword of William Odar 
O'Carroll, of the same family. The latter 
made himself master of the district of Ely, 
of which he kept possession for four years. 
About the same time the baron of Delvin 
devastated the territory of Dealna, the coun- 
try of the MacCoghlans, and returned load- 
ed with booty. 

An alliance and close friendship had sub- 
sisted for a long time between the houses of 
Tyrone and Kildare, which made them assist 
each other mutually. John, or Shane Dou- 
lenagh O'Neill, son of the earl of Tyrone, 
having had a dispute with Phelim Roe 
O'Neill, a powerful nobleman of his family, 
demanded assistance from Kildare. In order 
to justify the confidence of his ally, the earl 
joined in his expedition. The baron of 
Delvin thereupon marched at the head of his 
forces to Ulster ; but his success did not 
equal his expectation. He carried away 
some booty, but lost fifty of his men, who 
were killed in a skirmish against Phelim 
O'Neill. Soon after this, a bloody battle 
took place between the earl of Tyrone and 
Hugh O'Neill of Clanneboy, respecting some 
claims of the earl on his territory ; the earl 
was defeated, with the loss of three hundred 

* Baker, ibid, page 320. 

t Heylin, ibid, pages 212, 213. 



men killed, besides prisoners ; the loss of 
Hugh was not known. 

The court of England sent to Ireland in 
October, Sir William Fitzwilliam, Sir John 
Allen, and Valentine Brown, as commis- 
sioners, to assist the deputy in the regulation 
of the crown lands, by which means they 
were enabled to procure settlements for 
themselves in the country. Valentine Brown 
was a violent Protestant, but his son em- 
braced the Catholic religion ; this noble 
family were afterwards considered worthy 
of titles of honor, and still live in splendor 
in the county of Kerry.* 

Brien O'Connor Faly, who had been a 
prisoner in London for four years, was re- 
stored to liberty this year, by orders of the 
queen, who generously continued the pen- 
sion which had been granted to him by the 
court. On his landing in Dublin, however, 
notwithstanding the pardon he had just 
received from the princess, he was confined 
in the castle, under pretext of preventing the 
disturbances he might cause to the state ; but 
in reality to prevent him from reclaiming his 
property, of which he had been unjustly de- 
prived. We witness in this a surprising 
contrast between the conduct of the queen 
and that of her subjects ; but their acts were 
influenced by different motives. The queen 
found O'Connor innocent, and from a motive 
of justice gave him his freedom ; the council 
of Dublin were desirous of condemning him 
as a criminal, and from a mere suspicion that 
he might become so, deprived him of the bene- 
fit of the pardon which the queen had granted 
him ; and then put. him in confinement, where 
he remained till he had given hostages . This 
mysterious affair must be explained. When- 
ever the Irish had recourse to arms, it was 
not so much in opposition to the king and 
his government, as against their English 
neighbors, who, always eager to increase 
their possessions,were continually encroach- 
ing upon the lands of the Irish ; none but the 
English being hearkened to by the govern- 
ment, they construed the battle of one indi- 
vidual against another, into rebellion or high 
treason, the Irish were consequently declared 
rebels, which declaration was followed by the 
confiscation of their estates in the name of 
the king, but in reality, for the benefit of the 
informers, who, alleging their pretended ser- 
vices against the rebels, found means to have 
the possessions of the supposed criminals 
conferred upon themselves. These abuses 
continued to increase ; most of the public 
offices were filled by Englishmen ; the an- 

* Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 103. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



451 



cient Irish were altogether excluded from 
them, and the English government reposed 
no confidence in those who had first settled 
in Ireland. These were called the degen- 
erate English ; and in every succeeding 
reign fresh colonies came over from Eng- 
land, who were enriched at the expense of 
the old inhabitants. 

The cathedral church of St. Patrick, in 
Dublin, which had been suppressed in the 
preceding reign, was restored by letters 
patent, dated the 25th of March, 1555.* 
Thomas Lever, or Levereuse, was made 
dean, and prebendaries were appointed the 
May following.! Levereuse, who had been 
appointed the preceding year to succeed 
Lancaster in the bishopric of Kildare, was 
confirmed this year by a bull from the pope, 
who granted him a dispensation to retain 
both livings. He was dispossessed in the 
succeeding reign, for having refused to take 
the oath of supremacy to Queen Elizabeth, 
and was obliged to become a schoolmaster 
in Limerick to obtain a livelihood. William 
Walsh, bishop of Meath, suffered still more 
severely : he was not only deprived of his 
bishopric, hut confined in a dungeon, loaded 
with chains, and afterwards banished from 
the kingdom. 

In June, Pope Paul IV. issued a bull con- 
firming Ireland in the title of kingdom. We 
can discover no necessity for this new crea- 
tion of the title of kingdom for Ireland, since 
it was considered in that light long before 
the English were known in it, and even be- 
fore the institution of the popedom. 

In July, Cusack, the chancellor, received 
orders from their majesties to resign the 
great seal to St. Leger, the lord-lieutenant, 
and in the following month Sir William 
Fitzwilliams was appointed to this office, 
and Hugh Curwin, who had just been con- 
secrated in London archbishop of Dublin, 
was appointed chancellor of Ireland in 
October. He convened a provincial synod 
during the same year, in which several 
regulations were made respecting religion. 

In the mean time, the Scotch of the He- 
brides made an attempt on Carrickfergus, in 
Ulster ; but the plan was badly laid and 
executed. A misunderstanding still con- 
tinued between Manus O'Donnel, prince of 
Tyrconnel, and his son Calouagh, or Charles. 
This young nobleman crossed over into 
Scotland, and having received some assist- 
ance from Gilaspock MacAUen, he returned 
to Ulster, entered Tyrconnel, sword in hand, 
and took his father prisoner, at Rosrach. 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 3. 

t War. de Episc. Kildare. 



This prince died soon afterwards, in con- 
finement ; Calouagh then made himself 
master of the fortress of Inis-Owen and the 
castle of Enagh, which he razed to the 
ground, and in the May following dismissed 
his allies the Scotch. The proximity of 
Ireland to Scotland, and the frequent inter- 
course of the inhabitants with those of the 
North, was often productive of quarrels be- 
tween the two countries. Hugh O'Neill, 
lord of Clanneboy, on the confines of the 
counties of Down and Antrim, was shot in a 
skirmish with a party of Scotchmen, who 
came to attack him on his own estate. The 
English government availed themselves of 
the opportunity, to divide this extensive dis- 
trict into two, between Phelim Duff O'Neill, 
and the children of Phelim Backagh, or the 
Lame, in order to weaken this illustrious 
tribe. 

The emperor Charles V., being desirous 
of withdrawing from the cares of the world, 
first gave up all the low countries to his son 
Philip, king of England. He soon after this 
surrendered to him all his hereditary do- 
minions, and abdicated the empire in favor 
of his son Ferdinand, who was already king 
of the Romans. He withdrew afterwards 
to a convent in Estre-Madura, in Spain. 

The Cavenaghs and their allies made some 
incursions, in May, 1556, into the southern 
parts of the county of Dublin ; but they were 
surprised and dispersed by the garrison of 
the city, who killed several of them.* A 
troop of one hundred and forty men with- 
drew to the fortress of Powerscourt, where 
they determined to defend themselves. They 
were besieged by the company of the lord- 
marshal, and others from Dublin, under the 
command of Sir George Stanley ; and being 
unable to withstand the great number of their 
besiegers, were obliged to surrender. They 
were ungenerously treated by their enemies, 
and brought to Dublin, where seventy-four 
of their number were put to death for having 
rebelled. 

St. Leger, the deputy, had before this been 
recalled, and Thomas Radcliffe, Viscount 
Fitzwalters, was appointed lord-lieutenant 
in his stead. This nobleman landed in Dub- 
lin on the day of Pentecost, and a few days 
afterwards took the usual oath, in Christ's 
Cathedra?, where St. Leger resigned the 
insignia of office to him. The new gov- 
ernor was accompanied from England by 
Sir Henry Sidney as treasurer, and Sir Wil- 
liam Fitzsymons. He also brought over 
twenty-five thousand pounds, to be applied 
against the Scotch and the rebel Irish. 
* War. ibid. cap. 4. 



452 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



Queen Mary sent instructions to the deputy 
and council of Ireland, to use every means 
for advancing the glory of God, and the 
Catholic faith, and to support the honor and 
dignity of the holy see.* Her majesty or- 
dered them to assist the ministers of the 
gospel against the heretics, and their erro- 
neous principles ; and also to aid the com- 
missioners whom Cardinal Pole, the legate 
from the see of Rome, intended sending to 
Ireland, to visit the clergy. 

The deputy having collected his forces, 
marched towards the north of Ireland, in the 
beginning of July ; on the 18th of the same 
month, he defeated the Scotch islanders near 
Carrickfergus ; two hundred were killed on 
the field of battle, and several prisoners taken. 
Thomas, earl of Ormond, and Stanley, lord- 
marshal, distinguished themselves in this en- 
gagement. The deputy having provided for 
the necessities of the town of Carrickfergus, 
and regulated the affairs of Ulster, where he 
left Stanley as lieutenant-general, returned 
to Kilmainham. Soon after this, he went 
to Munster, where he received the submis- 
sion of several Irish and Englishmen, to 
whom he granted protections. 

In September, Shane O'Neill, son of the 
earl of Tyrone, having given a promise of 
submission, repaired to Kilmainham, where 
he made peace with the deputy. Rory and 
Donough O'Connor did the same at Dingen ; 
but these arrangements were of short dura- 
tion, the occasions to rebel being too fre- 
quent. The O'Connors soon fell into the 
snares which had been laid for them. On 
taking up arms they were declared traitors 
and expelled from their country, which was 
laid waste by the English troops. 

A parliament was convened in Dublin, in 
June, 1557. It was adjourned to Limerick 
the month following, till November, and from 
thence to Drogheda, till March. t But the 
lord-lieutenant, who became earl of Sussex 
by his father's death, having returned to 
England in December, the parliament ceased 
its sittings during his absence, and was after- 
wards prorogued.! Cox mentions some acts 
of this parliament, which had not been print- 
ed. § In them the queen's legitimacy was 
admitted ; she was invested with royal autho- 
rity, and her posterity declared entitled to 
inherit the crown of England and Ireland ; 
heresy was made liable to punishment and 
ordered to be suppressed ; all the acts which 

* Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 303. 
t War. ibid. cap. 3. 

t Irish Statutes printed in Dublin in 1621, page 
846. 

§ Hist, of Irel. page 304. 



were passed against the pope since the twen- 
tieth year of the reign of Henry VIII., were 
repealed, and all concessions made by arch- 
bishop Brown were declared null and void ; 
the first-fruits too were restored to the 
church ; but all these statutes were annulled 
in the beginning of the succeeding reign. 
An act was also passed for granting the 
queen a subsidy of thirteen and four-pence 
on every plough-land ; and another, by which 
it was prohibited, under pain of felony, to 
introduce or receive armed Scotchmen into 
Ireland, or to intermarry with them, without 
a license under the great seal. 

On his return from England, the deputy 
undertook an expedition into Connaught in 
July, against the O'Maddens of Silanchie, at 
present the barony of Longford. This dis- 
trict had been divided the preceding year 
between Malachi More O'Madden, and 
Brassal Dabh, after the murder of John 
O'Madden, to whom it belonged. The ob- 
ject of the expedition was to punish the 
O'Maddens, who protected Donough O'Con- 
nor, contrary to the law by which he had 
been declared a rebel. The deputy laid 
siege to the castle of Milick, on the banks of 
the Shannon ; and being unable to resist the 
cannon, it surrendered immediately. The 
conqueror placed a garrison in it, and re- 
turned to Kilmainham to prepare for an- 
other expedition against the Scotch, whohad 
invaded Ulster. Having collected all his 
forces, he set out on his march in August, 
accompanied by the earls of Kildare and 
Ormond, Viscount Baltinglass, and the bar- 
ons of Delvin, Dunboyne, and Dunsany. 
His preparations were, however, not very 
successful ; the Scotch having intrenched 
themselves in woods, and other inaccessible 
places, the exploits of the deputy consisted 
in taking booty, which was carried off by his 
soldiers, and in conferring knighthood on 
Donald MacDonnell, and Richard M'Guil- 
lan, who made their submission to him. 

The deputy returned to Ulster in October. 
He devastated the lands about Dundalk, 
Newry, and Armagh. This latter city he 
burned, sparing only the cathedral ; after 
which he returned triumphant to Dublin, 
about the end of the month. 

Her majesty's service required the pres- 
ence of the earl of Sussex in England, and 
in order to secure tranquillity in the English 
province during his absence, he exacted a 
promise of peace from some of the neigh - 
'boring nobles whom he thought likely to 
disturb it ; namely, O'Carroll of Ely, O'Mol- 
loy of Fearcall, Mageoghegan of Kinalyach, 
O'Duinne of Hy-Regan, MacCoghlan of 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



453 



Dealbna, and the two O'Maddins of Silan- 
chie ; and received hostages from them. 

During the absence of Sussex, Curwin 
the chancellor, and Sidney the secretary at 
war, were appointed, by letters patent, lords- 
justices of Ireland. Having taken the oath 
in Christ's cathedral, Dublin, they received 
the royal sword from Stanley, lord-marshal 
of Ireland, to whom Sussex had confided it 
for that purpose. They filled this commis- 
sion together till the 6th of February follow- 
ing, when the queen thought fit to confer it 
on Sidney alone. 

The new lord-justice carried his arms im- 
mediately against Arthur O'Molloy, lord of 
Fearcall, under pretext of his having pro- 
tected the rebels ; and having pillaged and 
burned his district, he granted the lordship 
to Theobald, Arthur's brother, on condition 
that he would give his son as a hostage, to 
serve as a pledge for his fidelity. 

In the parliament we have mentioned as 
having been held this year, an act was pass- 
ed by which the districts of Leix, Offaly, and 
the adjacent baronies, namely, Slewmarg, 
Irris, and Clanmalire, were confiscated for 
the use of their majesties. These territories 
had belonged, for more than twelve centu- 
ries, to the O'Morras, O'Connors Faly, and 
the O'Dempsys.* By the same statute, the 
deputy was authorized to divide these exten- 
sive districts into fiefs, and to make prudent 
grants of them to any English subject whom 
he might deem likely to advance the English 
interest ; and in order that such concessions 
should be rendered valid by law, he was 
authorized to have the great seal affixed to 
them by the chancellor, or whoever had cus- 
tody of it. It was thus that those masters 
reformed the manners of the Irish nobility. 
This was an important privilege for the de- 
puty, since, by his signature, he possessed 
the power of making his valet, or any other 
favorite servant, a rich and powerful noble- 
man . By another act of the same parliament, 
it was decreed that these districts should be 
hereafter called the King's and Queen's 
counties ; that the fort of Dingen should be 
called after the king's name, Philipstown, 
and that Leix, which was called Protector, 
under Edward VI., should bear the name of 
Maryborough. Sidney, the deputy, having 
terminated his expedition against O'Molloy, 
applied the tax which had been raised on the 
English province, in revictualling the gar- 
risons of Leix and Offaly ; he then returned 
to Dublin, where he published a proclama- 
tion prohibiting any one to take provisions 

* Irish Statutes, pages 247, 248. 



out of the English province, or to furnish 
any to the Irish who were living without the 
limits. About this time, Maurice Cavanagh 
and Conall O'Morra, two Irish noblemen, 
were tried for rebellion, condemned, and 
executed at Leighlin bridge. 

In Ulster, Shane O'Neill, wishing to have 
the tribute renewed, which he claimed from 
the country of Tyrconnel, entered that dis- 
trict, sword in hand. Calouagh O'Donnel, 
the nobleman to whom it belonged, not find- 
ing himself able to repel force by force, and 
dreading to risk a battle, had recourse to 
stratagem ; he surprised O'Neill during the 
night in his camp, killed several of his men, 
and put the rest to flight. 

The lands of the monasteries and abbeys, 
which had been converted, under the prece- 
ding reign, into lay-fiefs, and divided among 
the courtiers, remained in the same state in 
Mary's time, except the estates of the priory 
of St. John of Jerusalem, near Dublin, which 
were restored to their former masters , through 
the influence of Cardinal Pole. Oswald Mes- 
singberd was, about this time, appointed prior 
of that house, and confirmed by letters patent. 
The queen had conceived the project of re- 
storing all things to their former state, but 
her reign was too short for the completion 
of so great an undertaking. 

In April, 1558, O'Reilly, chief of the 
O'Reillys of eastern Brefny, (Cavan,) re- 
paired to the deputy at Kilmainham, where 
he surrendered, and took the oath of fidelity 
to their majesties.* 

The earl of Sussex was again appointed 
lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and arrived in 
Dublin, towards the end of April, with five 
hundred armed men, who were to be em- 
ployed both in putting down the rebels, and 
repelling the Scotch, who were committing 
piracies on the coasts. Sussex having re- 
ceived the sword and other ensigns of his 
authority, marched at the head of his army 
towards Limerick, whence he advanced in- 
to Thuomond, in order to reduce Donald 
O'Brien, who had renewed the war against 
his nephew, Connor O'Brien, earl of Thuo- 
mond. Having taken the castles of Bun- 
ratty and Clare, he quelled all disturbances, 
and restored those places, and the territories 
which had been invaded by his enemies., to 
Thuomond. He obliged those possessed of 
freeholds to take the oath of allegiance. 

Sussex having returned to Limerick, re- 
ceived the submission of the earl of Des- 
mond ; he stood sponsor, a few days after- 
wards, to his son, and had him baptized 

* War. ibid. e. 6 



454 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



James Sussex, and gave him a gold chain ; 
he conferred another, at the same time, with 
a pair of gilded spurs, on Dermod Mac-Car- 
thy of Muskerry, whom he created a knight. 

The earl of Sussex embarked in Septem- 
ber with his forces at Dalkey, near Dublin, 
to go in pursuit of the Scotch islanders, who 
had taken possession of the isle of Rachlin, 
in the north of Ireland, from which they 
made incursions, and committed piracies on 
the coast of Ulster. On the arrival of the 
fleet at Rachlin, it encountered a dreadful 
storm, in which one of the vessels was 
wrecked, and the entire of the crew perish- 
ed. Sussex landed with the remainder, put 
the inhabitants to the sword, and pillaged the 
islands. Thence he sailed to Scotland, laid 
waste Cantyre, and the isles of Arran and 
Comber ; but was at length checked in the 
course of his conquests by the severity of 
the weather, which obliged him to put into 
Carrickfergus. He burned several villages 
inhabited by the islanders, and returned to 
Dublin in November, where he received new 
patents and seals for the chancellor, for the 
chief-justices of the other courts, and the 
chief-baron of the exchequer. In the mean 
time, some families of the Burkes of Con- 
naught, having received cause of dissatis- 
faction from their chief, Clanriccard, called 
the Scotch islanders to their assistance, but 
they and their allies were cut to pieces in an 
engagement with the earl. 

Shane O'Neill, son of Conn O'Neill, earl 
of Tyrone, was indignant to see his house 
degraded by the title of earl, which had 
been disgracefully taken by his father, in 
place of hereditary prince of Tyrone, and 
the illustrious title of O'Neill given up. He 
was jealous, too, of the preference which his 
father evinced for his natural son Matthew, 
(whom the Irish call Fardorach,) in procur- 
ing for him the title of baron of Dungannon, 
by which he was secured in the succession 
to the principality, in prejudice to himself.* 
Shane was continually under arms, either 
against his father or O'Donnel, who, as well 
as his rival, the baron of Dungannon, was 
supported by the English ; the latter was 
killed in the beginning of this war. When 
questioned upon his conduct in this and the 
other accusations made against him, either 
by the lord-justice Sydney, or in the pres- 
ence of the queen in England, according to 
Camden, Shane proudly answered that he 
was son and heir of Conn O'Neill and his 
wife Alice ; that Matthew was the son of a 
blacksmith in Dundalk,f subsequent to the 

* Hist. Cathol. Hib. tome 2, lib. 4. cap. 3. 
t Camden's reign of Elizabeth, pp. 69, 70. Cox, 
page 312. 



marriage of Conn O'Neill and Alice, of 
whom he, Shane, was the legitimate son, 
and consequently had a right to succeed to 
his father's property. He added, that the 
surrender which had been made by. his 
father, of the principality of Tyrone to the 
king of England, and the restitution he had 
received from the latter by letters patent, 
were null, since his father's right to that 
principality was confined to his life, while 
he himself had been acknowledged the real 
O'Neill, by a popular election, according to 
custom, notwithstanding that he claimed no 
other superiority over the lords of his prov- 
ince than that which had been exercised by 
his ancestors. It appears that the prince's 
arguments prevailed, as he retained posses- 
sion of Tyrone till his death, which occurred 
a few years afterwards. 

George Dowdal, archbishop of Armagh, 
and primate of Ireland, having gone to Eng- 
land on some affairs of the church, died in 
London, in August.* This prelate having 
been expelled from his see, under Edward 
VI., withdrew to the Abbey de Centre, where 
he remained till the death of the king and 
the reign of Mary, who restored him to his 
rights. Even his enemies acknowledge him 
to have been a learned man and an able 
preacher. The successors of Dowdal in the 
see of Armagh were, it is probable, princi- 
pally of the reformed religion, as the first 
that was appointed to it, after a vacancy of 
a few years, was Adam Loftus, Queen Eliz- 
abeth's chaplain. 

In the month of October of this year, 
James, earl of Desmond and treasurer of 
Ireland, died,t leaving three legitimate sons. 
After repudiating the daughter of the vis- 
count of Fermoy, he married the daughter 
of O'Carroll, by whom he had Gerald, other- 
wise Garret, and John. His second wife 
having died, he married M'Carty's daughter, 
who was mother to James, his third son. 
By the daughter of the Viscount Fermoy he 
had a son called Thomas Ruadh, (Rufus,) 
who was his eldest ; but some doubt having 
arisen of his legitimacy, he could not suc- 
ceed to his father ; from which important 
disputes arose between the brothers. Gar- 
ret was readily acknowledged successor to 
James, and heir to his titles and extensive 
estates. Although young, this nobleman 
gave great hopes of valor and of talent ; he 
afterwards became the hero of Catholicity, 
but in the end fell a sacrifice to his love of 
religion. 

This was the last year of Mary's reign ; 

* War. de Archiepisc. Ardmach. 
t Helat. Girald. cap. 13, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



455 



she died at St. James's, near Westminster, 
in the forty-second year of her age and sixth 
of her reign, of grief, it is said, for the loss 
of Calais, as also for her husband's absence, 
and the death of her father-in-law, the Em- 
peror Charles V. The bishop of Winches- 
ter died before her, and Cardinal Pole sur- 
vived her but sixteen hours. It was an 
unhappy omen to the Catholics, and the sta- 
bility of their religion which had just been 
re-established, to behold its three principal 
supporters so suddenly carried off. The 
reason why this princess has found so few 
panegyrists among Protestant writers is 
manifest ; far from encouraging the new 
religion, she labored to destroy it, and re- 
•store the old one. Their silence on her other 
qualities is at least a proof that she pos- 
sessed no bad ones. 

The short reign of this princess only check- 
ed for a time the progress of heresy, which 
soon afterwards acquired new strength, and 
reascended the throne with Elizabeth. It 
is remarkable, says Cox, that though Mary 
was a zealous papist, the Irish were not 
more tranquil under her reign than under 
that of Edward ; on the contrary, their an- 
tipathy to the English and their govern- 
ment hurried them to commit the same ex- 
cesses as under the preceding reigns. But 
had this author been as honorable as he is 
malicious, he would have observed that the 
antipathy which he advances as the cause of 
these disorders, was founded rather on the 
injustice which the English ministry was 
continually exercising over the Irish, than 
on the religion of this princess. The Irish 
people were as tyrannically ruled under her 
as under the preceding reigns.* 

The most celebrated writers in the two 
last reigns, were the following.! Edward 
Walsh, a native of Ireland, who went over 
to England about the year 1550, and was 
received into the household of Edward Sey- 
mour, duke of Somerset, uncle to Edward 
VI., and protector of the kingdom ; he com- 
posed two treatises, one entitled De ojficiis 
pugnantium pro patria, or, the: duties of 
those who fight for their country ; and the 
other, ut Hibemia per verbum Dei refor- 
metur, or the manner in which Ireland ought 
to be reformed — by the word of, God. It 
would appear by this treatise, and the attach- 
ment of the author to the duke of Somerset, 
that he had embraced the new religion. 

* " Although she endeavored to protect and ad- 
vance the Catholic religion, still her officers and 
lawyers did not cease to inflict injuries upon the 
Irish." 

t Ware, de Script. Hib. 



Sir Thomas Cusack, of Coffingston, in 
Meath, having filled the offices of master of 
the rolls, keeper of the seals, chancellor, and 
lord-justice of Ireland, wrote a long epistle 
to the duke of Northumberland, dated the 
8th of May, 1552, on the state of Ireland 
at the time. This epistle is with the books 
of Darcy and Finglass, among the manu- 
scripts of Dr. Sterne, in the library of Trinity 
College, Dublin. 

Thomas Waterford, called by others Wa- 
terfield, archdeacon of Leighlin, wrote a 
treatise on the affairs of Ireland, which is 
quoted by Dowling in his annals. Nicholas 
Stanihurst wrote a small work in Latin, 
entitled, Dieta Medicorum, or the regimen 
of physicians. Richard Stanihurst mentions 
it in the seventh chapter of the Description 
of Ireland. Lastly, George Dowdal, arch- 
bishop of Armagh, a native of the county of 
Louth, wrote some sermons, and also trans- 
lated the life of the celebrated John de 
Courcy, the supposed conqueror of Ulster, 
from Latin into English. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Elizabeth, the only surviving daughter 
of Henry VIII., was immediately after the 
death of Mary, declared by parliament 
heiress to the throne, a. d. 1558. She was 
crowned queen of England, according to the 
Roman ritual, with the usual ceremonies, in 
Westminster abbey, by Oglethorp, bishop 
of Carlisle ; the archbishop of York and 
other bishops of the kingdom, refused to 
attend. This princess was then in her 
twenty-fifth year ; her reign was long and 
eventful. The contemporary princes were 
Ferdinand, emperor of Austria, Henry II., 
king of France, Philip II., king of Spain, 
and Paul IV., who filled the see of Rome.* 

On her accession to the throne, Elizabeth 
turned her thoughts towards the spiritual 
and temporal government of the state. 
Though she had previously determined to 
make a change in religion, still, in order not 
to excite the alarm of the Catholics, or de- 
press the hopes of the Protestant party, she 
selected her council from among noblemen 
of both religions ; after which ambassadors 
were sent to all the princes of Europe, to 
announce to them her accession to the throne. 

Baker's Chron. Reign of Elizabeth. Heylin, 
Hist, of the Reform, p. 173, et seq. Cambd. An- 
nal. rerum. Angl. regnant, edit. Lug. Batav. Sal- 
mon, Hist, of England, vol. 7, page 6. 



450 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Ambition was the ruling passion of Eliza- 
beth. A desire of reigning alone, and of 
being absolute mistress in all things, gave 
her a distaste to marriage, though she was 
strongly urged to it by her parliament, and 
solicited by many princes, the most consider- 
able of whom was Philip II., king of Spain, 
her brother-in-law. Acted on by political 
motives, this prince made the proposal to 
her, through his ambassador, the count de 
Feria, undertaking, at the same time, to 
obtain a dispensation from the pope. Eliza- 
beth received the ambassador with polite- 
ness, but gave him no hope of succeeding in 
his project. Independently of her dislike to a 
master, she had sufficient penetration to feel 
how strongly such a dispensation would tend 
to affect her honor and that of her mother 
Anne Bullen.* She knew that by submitting 
to the pope and acknowledging the necessity 
of a dispensation in this instance, she would 
approve of the marriage of Henry VIII 
with Catherine of Aragon, whereby Anne 
Bullen would be stigmatized as a concubine, 
and would establish the right of Mary Stuart 
queen of Scotland, to the crown of England. 
This princess had been just married to 
Francis, son of Henry II. ; she was acknow- 
ledged by France as queen of England, and 
had the arms of that kingdom quartered 
with her own.f 

In the mean time, Elizabeth had appointed 
Sir Edward Karn her agent at Rome, to 
inform the pope of Mary's death, of her own 
accession to the throne, and her wish to live 
on amicable terms with his holiness. J Karn 
had many conferences with the pope, who at 
first appeared to be indignant ; however, 
judging that mildness would be more bene 
ficial than harsh means, his final answer to 
the minister was, that it was needless that 
the queen should have recourse to him for a 
kingdom of which she was already in pos- 
session, but that he supposed she would 
cause no change in religion. Karn answered 
that he could give no assurance on that head 
from the instructions he had received, till his 
holiness would have first pronounced the 
marriage of Henry VIII. with Anne Bullen 
to be valid. The pope and his council were 
astounded by this reply. He saw clearly that 
the best plan he could adopt would be, to 
come to no decision, rather than do what 
could be productive of no good. According 
to Baker, he went so far as to write in the 
most tender manner to the Princess Eliza- 
beth ; he exhorted her to return to a union 

* Camb. ibid, page 5. 

t Heylin, ibid, page 288. Baker, p. 329. 

t Heylin, ibid. p. 274. 



with the Catholic church, and promised her, 
that if she would follow his counsel, he would 
revoke the sentence which had been pro- 
nounced against the marriage of her mother ; 
that he would confirm the Book of Common 
Prayer in the English language, and allow 
her subjects to use the sacrament in both 
kinds. Elizabeth, continues Baker, with- 
stood the pope's flattering offers, and per- 
sisted in her determination to support a 
religion which she considered as more con- 
formable to the word of God, and the primi- 
tive customs of the church. We obviously 
discover in this negotiation of Elizabeth her 
insincerity towards the pope. Even had the 
holy father conceded the validity of her 
mother's marriage, (which was so difficult to 
be admitted,) religion would still have equally 
suffered under a princess whose heart and 
disposition were prejudiced and corrupt. 

It is said that Henry II., king of France, 
had used his influence with the pope, both to 
thwart Philip II., who was soliciting a dis- 
pensation for the marriage he was desirous 
of contracting with Elizabeth, and to induce 
the pontiff to declare that princess to be il- 
legitimate.* However this may have been, 
Elizabeth did not affect to question her own 
birthright ; and it is singular that the parlia- 
ment, which by a solemn act acknowledged 
her right to the throne, never passed one in 
favor of her legitimacy, nor on the validity 
of her mother's marriage, whereon she found- 
ed her claim. 

Elizabeth never lost sight of her intended 
reformation in religion, which by degrees 
she carried into effect. She first command- 
ed that the Holy Scriptures should be read 
to the people in the English language ; she 
next published a declaration, prohibiting all 
disputes on the score of religion, and order- 
ed every preacher to observe a general si- 
lence on the dogmas which had been the 
theme of controversy. It was then that a 
difference was discoverable among pastors ; 
the good continuing to preach the truth to 
the faithful, at the peril of their liberty and 
even of their lives, while the mercenary and 
politic, in order to preserve their livings, 
conformed to the necessity of the times. 

In the meanwhile, the queen caused the 
book of common prayer, which had been 
published in English under Edward VI., to 
be corrected ;f for which purpose she no- 
minated Parker, Cox, Sir Thomas Smith, 

* Heylin, page 279. 

t The book of common prayer is a kind of Ritual, 
or Breviary, containing the thirty-nine articles of 
the reformed religion, with the formula of the pray- 
ers used in it 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



457 



an eminent lawyer, and other doctors, who 
were favorable to the reformation. 

Every thing being thus prepared, the book 
of Common Prayer and Liturgy translated 
into English were laid before, and approved 
of by the English parliament ; it was then 
ordered to be used by the whole kingdom ; 
the sacrament in both kinds was established ; 
the mass was abolished ; and an act passed to 
have the tithes, the first-fruits, and the reve- 
nues of the monasteries which had been re- 
established under the preceding reign, trans- 
ferred to the crown. A warm debate arose, 
in the parliament, respecting the ecclesias- 
tical supremacy, some of the members main- 
taining, that it was both unnatural and 
alarming, to give to a woman the powers of 
supreme head of the English church ;* the 
majority, however, were in the queen's favor, 
and she was declared sovereign pontiff, or, 
to avoid the ridiculous appellation, supreme 
governess of the church, by the parliament, 
which had now become an ecclesiastical tri- 
bunal. The same parliament reduced the 
number of sacraments to two, namely, bap- 
tism and the holy eucharist, and had the 
altars demolished and the images in the 
churches taken down. 

The queen having been confirmed in the 
ecclesiastical supremacy, the taking of the 
oath became the touchstone of faith ; as 
those who refused to take it, were immedi- 
ately deprived of their livings.! The number 
indeed was inconsiderable, and amounted to 
not more than two hundred in a country 
where there were more than nine thousand 
ecclesiastics in orders ; the greater part of 
whom acknowledged the supremacy, without 
hesitation, by taking the oath ; some, from 
zeal for the reformation, others through a 
dastardly and disgraceful policy. It was at 
this time that the bishops displayed a firm- 
ness truly apostolical. Many sees remained 
vacant, the number of bishops amounting to 
but fifteen, among whom there was but one 
apostate, viz., Kitchin, bishop of Landaff. 
The rest, namely, Heath, archbishop of York, 
Bonner, bishop of London, Tunstal of Dur- 
ham, White of Winchester, Tirlby of Ely, 
Watson of Lincoln, Pool of Peterborough, 
Christopherson of Chichester, Brown of 
Wells, Turbervil of Exeter, Morgan of St. 
David, Bain of Lichfield, Scot of Chester, 
and Oglethorp of Carlisle, being determined 
not to bend to the idol, were thrown into 
prison and deprived of their bishoprics, which 
were conferred on those who were more 
manageable. 

* Heylin, ibid.'280. 

t Baker, ibid. p. 329. Heylin, ibid, page 286. 



The see of Canterbury having become 
vacant by the death of Cardinal Pole, was 
given to Parker, by letters patent. It is said 
that he was consecrated by Barlow and two 
others, who were as unprincipled as himself. 
Parker consecrated all those who were no- 
minated by the queen, to fill all the sees of 
the deposed bishops. Debates on the validity 
of those ordinations occupied many writers 
of that day, and even of the present, who 
undertook to refute the book of the Pere 
Coroyer; namely, Pennell dean of Laonne, 
in Ireland, and le Pere Quin of the order of 
St. Dominick. Such was the reformed re- 
ligion, which was firmly established in Eng- 
land in the beginning of Elizabeth's reign. 
That capricious nation which accuses its 
neighbors of inconsistency, changed her re- 
ligion five times within thirty years. The 
English were Catholics inl 529 ; immediately 
after this the}' became schismatics and formed 
a religion, no part of which they understood ; 
in Edward's reign, the heresy of Zuingle 
prevailed ; under Mary the Catholic religion 
was restored ; and on the accession of Eliza- 
beth, another was established, composed, 
with some alterations, of the tenets of Luther 
and Calvin, to which was given the name of 
the English church. Such was the state of 
affairs in England, in the beginning of the 
reign of Elizabeth. 

Sidney governed the English province in 
Ireland, as deputy. The privy council in- 
formed him of what had taken place in Eng- 
land, the news of which was highly gratifying 
to the partisans of the reformation. The 
funeral ceremonies for Mary, and the coro- 
nation of Elizabeth, were successively cele- 
brated in Dublin.* 

Thomas earl of Sussex, was appointed 
lord-deputy of Ireland for the second time, 
in 1559. He arrived in August, with thir- 
teen hundred and sixty foot soldiers, and 
three hundred horsemen, accompanied by Sir 
William Fitzwilliam.f This governor re- 
paired to Christ's church, where, for want of 
clergymen, the litany was recited in the 
English language, by Sir Nicholas Dardy, 
after which the deputy took the oath, and 
the Te Deum was sung in the same language, 
to the sound of trumpets. The earl of Or- 
mond took the oath also as member of the 
privy council. Soon afterwards a proclama- 
tion was issued to abolish the mass. 

Sidney convened a parliament in January, 
in Christ's church, Dublin, to repeal all the 
acts that had been passed two years before, 

* War. de Annal. Hib. reg. Elizab. C. 1. 
t "War. ibid. cap. 2. 



458 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



in another parliament, at which that nobleman 
had presided ; such is the inconstancy of 
man.* Several acts were passed in this par- 
liament for the establishment of the refor- 
mation in Ireland ; all the spiritual and ec- 
clesiastical authorities were annexed to the 
crown, and all foreign influence (which im- 
plied that of the pope) was prohibited ; all 
acts appertaining to appeals were renewed ; 
the laws that had been enacted in the reign 
of Philip and Mary, concerning religion or 
heresy, were repealed ; the queen and her 
successors were given the power of exercising 
clerical jurisdiction by commission ; every 
individual, whether lay or ecclesiastic, in pos- 
session of livings and offices, was obliged to 
take the oath of supremacy, under pain of 
losing their livings, or appointments ; who- 
ever would introduce or support a foreign 
power was to be punished by having his 
property confiscated, or by a year's imprison- 
ment, for the first offence ; for the second, 
he was to undergo the penalty of the law of 
prmnunire, and for the third, that of high 
treason. It was decided, that no opinion 
should be considered heretical, unless it were 
so according to the scriptures, or to the four 
first general councils, or by an act of parlia- 
ment. Thus wasthe senate established judge 
of the faith, without any mission but that 
which was received from a woman. In the 
gospel of Jesus Christ, he who refused to 
hear the church was considered as a heathen 
or a publican : in the new doctrine, he who 
did not hearken to Elizabeth and her parlia- 
ment,, in matters of religion, was deprived 
of his property, liberty, and under certain 
circumstances, of his life. 

This parliament also passed acts ordaining 
the uniformity of common prayer, regulating 
the sacraments, particularly that of the Lord's 
Supper, and also the consecration of prelates 
according to the ritual of the book of Com- 
mon Prayer, as approved of by Edward VI., 
under pain of a fine to be paid by the delin- 
quents. The first refusal led to the confis- 
cation of a year's income of the culprit, and 
six months imprisonment ; the second to the 
loss of his living, and a year's imprisonment ; 
and the third, to imprisonment for life. In 
the same statutes the restitution of the first- 
fruits was decreed, and the payment of a 
twentieth part of the revenues of livings to 
the crown ; lastly, it was enacted that the 
queen's right to the crown should be acknow- 
ledged, and it was prohibited to all persons, 
under pain of pramunire, or high treason, 
to speak or write against it. The parliament 

* Irish Statutes, under Elizabeth, Dublin edition 
of the year 1621, cap. 1, p. 259, et seq. 



also decreed that the priory of St. John of 
Jerusalem should he united to the crown. 

The English church, disfigured as it was, 
still retained some of the privileges of the 
old religion. Every bishop had his tribunal 
for the settlement of matters of ecclesiastical 
discipline, or as it is termed " officiality ;" 
excommunication retained its full force, and 
pastors were authorized to refuse communion 
to whomsoever they considered unworthy of 
it, without being accountable to any but the 
established judge, as appears from the fol- 
lowing extract, literally taken from the book 
of Common Prayer, printed at that time in 
London. 

" Those who wish to partake of the holy 
communion, shall send their names, on the 
preceding day, to the pastor."* 

" If there be any public or notorious sinner 
among them, or such as have injured their 
neighbor, by word or deed, so as to offend 
the congregation, the pastor shall send for 
him, and warn him on no account to ap- 
proach the Lord's Table unless he publicly 
declare that he repents sincerely, and promise 
to reform his past life, in order to satisfy the 
offended congregation ; and that he will 
make restitution to those whom he had 
injured, or at least avow that he will do so 
when he can with convenience." 

" The pastor shall also send to those whom 
he may observe to bear hatred or rancor 
mutually against each other ; such shall not 
be allowed to approach the Lord's Table 
until they declare themselves to be recon- 
ciled ; but if one of the parties be disposed 
to pardon him from whom he may have re- 
ceived injuries, and repair the evil committed, 
and that the other will not submit, but persist 
in his obstinacy and malice, the minister must 
then admit the penitent to the holy commu- 
nion, and not the other, on condition that he 
who shall have rejected any one according to 
what is herein specified, or in the preceding 
paragraph of this rubric, acquaint the ordi- 
nary within a fortnight at farthest, who is 
thereupon to proceed against the culprit ac- 
cording to the canons. "f The Protestants 
have deemed these precautions necessary, in 
order to avoid the profanation of a sacra- 
ment, in which they deny the real presence 
of our Lord. 

It appears, says Ware, that these decrees 
met with resistance from the Irish, and that 
many members of the parliament were op- 
posed to them, in consequence of which the 

* Order for the administration of the holy sacra- 
ment. 

t Constit. and Canons. Ecclesiast. London edi- 
tion of 1673, art. 26 edit. 



C'lir.IsJTIAN IRELAND. 



459 



deputy was obliged to dissolve it in February, 
and repair to England, to inform the queen 
of it, leaving Williams in Ireland with the 
title of deputy. Though the Irish had been 
deceived in religious matters, under Henry 
VIII., from his quarrel with the pope being 
represented to them as a civil question, 
merely relating to temporal government ; 
and though they had been confirmed in this 
opinion by the example of the king himself, 
and his English parliament, who, though at 
variance with the pontiff, still professed the 
Catholic faith, and had in consequence 
passed some acts against the jurisdiction of 
the pope ; yet we discover that this people, 
having relinquished their errors and dis- 
played their zeal for the Catholic cause, in 
a parliament held in the reign of Mary, re- 
pealed, with one voice, all their preceding 
acts. 

As to the parliament we now speak of,* 
grave authors who flourished about this time 
affirm, that, far from its being an assembly 
composed of persons from all the states, those 
alone were appointed who were known to 
be devoted to the queen, or who were easily 
bribed. The nobles of the country, who were 
all Catholics at the time,f were carefully 
excluded ; so that by these, and other simi- 
lar means, any act could have been passed 
into a law. However, it is well known that 
such acts were not published during the life- 
time of those who sat in the parliament, nor 
rigorously enforced till after the defeat of 
the celebrated Spanish Armada, in 1588. 

Elizabeth's moderation was solely the re- 
sult of the critical situation in which she was 
placed at this time. Her enemies were nu- 
merous ; Mary Stuart, queen of Scots, had 
no small claim on the crown of England ; 
Henry II., king of France, instead of with- 
drawing his troops from Scotland, sent over 
secretly fresh reinforcements, with the in- 
tention of having Elizabeth declared here- 
tical and illegitimate by the pope ; the em- 
peror and the king of Spain joined in this 
confederacy, and the Irish were waiting the 
opportunity to shake off* the yoke. 

By her penetration Elizabeth foresaw all 
these circumstances and their results. She 
prepared to defend herself against foreign 
power, to quell the disturbances caused in 
England by the Reformation, and secure 
Ireland by sending over frequent succors. 
She judged it prudent, also, to put off to a 

* It should be remembered that though this was 
called the Irish Parliament, it was com posed of 
Englishmen either by origin or by birth. 

t Analecta Sac. par. 1, p. 430. Ireland's case, 
p. 4, A. seq. 



more favorable time the execution of the 
acts of the Irish parliament, which she 
knew would tend to rouse the Irish to rebel 
against her. Time proved that she was not 
mistaken. Henry II. died ; the Huguenots 
having raised some disturbances in France, 
she frequently sent them assistance, and 
supported the rebels in the Netherlands 
against Philip II. She proposed to the 
Protestants of Scotland to form a league 
with her, by which she violated the laws of 
nations, by encouraging subjects to rebel 
against their lawful princess. Finally, she 
reduced the Irish by a long and fatal war- 
fare, notwithstanding the efforts of the 
Spaniards to assist them ; and then found 
herself able to enforce any law which she 
wished to establish over them. 

The severity which was exercised in the 
beginning of Mary's reign against the Re- 
formers, forced many of them to seek an 
asylum in foreign climes.* It is said that, 
between students and others, they amounted 
to eight hundred. Embden was the only 
city .in which the religion of Luther pre- 
vailed that would receive them ;t these here- 
tics looked with horror on the English Pro- 
testants, on account of their having denied 
the real presence, and called those who suf- 
fered for that religion, " the martyrs to the 
Devil" The refugees were, however, re- 
ceived at Zurich, Geneva, and Frankfort, as 
confessors of the faith. The many privileges 
which were granted them in Frankfort, soon 
drew them thither in crowds. They shared 
the church, which had been previously 
granted to the French Protestants, on condi- 
tion of performing their service alternately ; 
that is, on different days of the week, and 
at different hours on Sunday. 

The heads of this congregation professed 
the Evangelical doctrine of Zuingle. Either 
thinking the English Reformation not suffi- 
ciently perfect, or not enough in unison with 
their own doctrine, they at once corrected 
and disfigured the English Liturgy ; every 
thing relative to the Roman Catholic faith 
was cut off, and their worship reduced to 
the simple reading of a few psalms and 
chapters taken from the Scriptures. 

The fame of this new church at Frankfort 
having spread itself abroad, John Knox left 
his retreat at Geneva to join it. J He dis- 
tinguished himself by promoting this new 
Reformation, and soon became the head of 
this little church. He had already pub- 
lished a seditious libel, in which he strongly 

* Heylin, ibid. p. 196 et seq. 
t Heylin, ibid. p. 250. 
X Ibid. p. 230. 



460 



IJ [STORY OF IRELAND. 



inveighed against the government of women ; 
it was styled, The first sound of the trumpet. 
The three Marys. — namely, Mary queen of 
England, Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, 
and Mary of Lorraine, queen-dowager and 
regent of that kingdom, were the objects of 
his calumny. This libel did not fail to bring 
the author into disgrace in his own country ; 
and not daring to seek an asylum either in 
England or France, he withdrew to Geneva, 
and from that to Frankfort, as we have al- 
ready noticed. 

The arrival of Doctor Richard Cox, ano- 
ther English refugee, at Frankfort, checked 
the progress of the new Reformation in that 
city.* Having been one of the principal 
composers of the English Liturgy under Ed- 
ward VI., he considered it a point of honor 
to support his work, and prevent any change 
being made in it ; consequently, on the 
Sunday following his arrival, he had the 
English Liturgy published from the pulpit. 
This contradiction gave considerable un- 
easiness to Knox, who immediately ascended 
the pulpit and preached against the Liturgy, 
which he termed imperfect and supersti- 
tious ; whereon Cox interdicted his preach- 
ing, and had him expelled from Frankfort. 

Cox finding himself master of the field, 
began to reform his congregation according 
to the ritual of the Protestant Church. He 
appointed a chief pastor, who was assisted 
by two ministers and four deacons. He 
established professors of the Hebrew and 
Greek languages, and of theology. Cham- 
bers was appointed to manage the contribu- 
tions, which were liberally forwarded to Cox 
from England and Holland, for the relief of 
the persecuted brethren. 

When Knox was expelled from Frankfort, 
by order of the government, he returned to 
Geneva, where he was appointed preacher, 
together with Goodman. They then re- 
jected the English Reformation, conformed 
to the ritual of the church of Geneva, and 
adopted the doctrine of Calvin. This was 
the foundation of the Presbyterian religion, 
and the sect of Puritans which afterwards 
produced such ravages in Scotland. 

Nothing can be more destructive to that 
order and harmony in which the happiness 
of nations consists, than a religion which 
inculcates general democracy in church and 
state. We have had strong proofs of this 
truth in the different nations of Europe 
where the Calvinists rebelled against their 
sovereigns : here we will confine ourselves 
to the Scotch, who are more immediately 

* Ibid. pp. 231, 232. 



connected with the history of Ireland than 
any other nation. The Presbyterian religion 
took root among the Scotch under the name 
of Puritanism, the partisans of which, taking 
advantage of the queen's absence, who was 
at that time in France, and of the instability 
of a government headed by a queen-regent, 
began to form intrigues.* They assembled 
in a tumultuous manner, headed by a few 
nobles, and formed a separate body, styling 
themselves a congregation. Their arro- 
gance increasing with their numbers, they 
presented a petition to the queen and lords 
of the council, praying that the sacrament 
of the Lord's Supper might be administered 
in both kinds, that Divine Service might be 
performed in the language of the people, and 
that they might be allowed to appoint their 
ministers according to the custom, as they 
said, of the Primitive Church. The court, 
unwilling to exasperate these fanatics, re- 
turned them a gracious answer, rather with 
a view of gaining time than of conceding 
their demands ; but this conduct served only 
to increase their pride. Knox, a turbulent 
preacher and seditious enthusiast, being in- 
formed in Geneva of the progress of his 
brethren in Scotland, repaired thither in 
1559, where he became the preacher and 
firebrand of rebellion. Finding the little 
community collected at Perth, he ascended 
the pulpit, and pronounced such dreadful 
invectives against images, and the idolatry 
and superstitions of the Roman Church, that 
after his sermon, the infuriated populace tore 
down the images and altars of the church, 
and destroyed every religious house in the 
town. The inhabitants of Couper, Craile, 
St. Andrew, Scone, Cambus-Kenneth, Stir- 
ling, Lithgow, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, 
followed their example. The fanatics made 
themselves masters of this latter city, and 
did not leave in it a church in which the 
queen could have divine service celebrated. 
In another sermon, Knox inveighed bitterly 
against the princess, and exhorted the peo- 
ple to unite in expelling the French troops 
from the kingdom. The rebels consequently 
published a declaration, depriving the queen 
of all power in the government. 

Alarmed by this event, the queen thought 
it time to provide for her own safety. Troops 
were sent to her from France ; the numbers 
of which, though insufficient to put down 
the rebels, still enabled her to retake Edin- 
burgh. She then fortified the port of Leith, 
and forced the rebels to withdraw towards the 
north. Thus situated, they had recourse, by 

* Heylin, ibid. pp. 297, 298. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



461 



the advice of Knox, to the queen of Eng- 
land ; and though the laws of nations are 
violated by one prince supporting the rebel- 
lious subjects of another, still political mo 
tives urged Elizabeth to send assistance to 
the Puritans of Scotland.* Independently 
of the interest she took in establishing the 
reformation in Scotland, she disliked the 
vicinity of the French forces, at a time that 
Francis II. made pretensions to the crown 
of England, in virtue of his marriage with 
Mary Stuart. The English, therefore, laid 
siege to Leith,f in which there was a French 
garrison, and after several skirmishes, caused 
by the sallies of the besieged and the attacks 
of the besiegers, peace was concluded on 
certain conditions between Francis II. and 
Elizabeth ; the hostile forces were to leave 
Scotland without delay, all differences in 
religion were to be adjusted by the parlia- 
ment, and the king and queen of France and 
Scotland were to renounce the title and arms 
of England. 

The articles of this treaty were favorable 
to the reformers. Elizabeth protected them 
in secret ; the French troops were withdrawn, 
and they calculated with confidence that the 
decisions of, parliament would be in their 
favor. The schismatics of Frankfort, and 
the brethren of Geneva, flocked to their 
shores. The French Huguenots were be- 
ginning to settle in England. Through the 
intrigues of Peter Martyr, and particularly 
through letters from Calvin to Gryndal, 
bishop of London, and that prelate's influ- 
ence, they obtained permission to establish 
a church in that capital, and to make use of 
a form of prayer entirely different from the 
English liturgy. In spite of the edict of 
banishment that had been published against 
them by the queen, many settled in the sea- 
ports, and formed themselves into different 
congregations. 

In conformity with the treaty of peace, a 
parliament met in Scotland to settle the re- 
ligious disputes. Three laws were enacted in 
it in favor of the reformation — the first was 
to abolish the pope's authority and jurisdic- 
tion in the kingdom ; the second to repeal 
and annul all acts passed in favor of the 
Catholic doctrine ; and the third to suppress 
the mass, and to impose penalties upon those 
who should perform the ceremony, and those 
who should be present at it. The leaders of 
the Puritans, not satisfied with these laws, 
which were enough to establish the Refor- 
mation, next presented a form of faith and 
doctrine, founded on the principles of Calvin, 

* Baker'9 Chron. page 330. 
t Heylin, ibid. p. 299. 



which had been brought by Knox from Ge- 
neva, to be professed by the reformers in 
Scotland. During the debates there were 
but three temporal lords found to oppose 
this, namely, the earl of Athol and lords 
Somervil and Borthwick, who alleged as the 
reason of their opposition, that they wished 
to follow the religion of their forefathers.* 
The disgraceful silence of the Catholic 
bishops who were present at this assembly, 
having exasperated the lord marshal, he de- 
clared with warmth, " Since our lords the 
bishops, who must be sufficiently enlightened 
to know the true doctrine, and sufficiently 
zealous to defend it, are silent upon that 
which is now debated, I am of opinion that 
this must be the true one, and that every 
other is erroneous." Such were the effects 
of the silence of the leading pastors, who 
should have been the sole judges in religious 
affairs. 

These reformers of the reformation affect- 
ed to lead mortified lives ; they inculcated 
the most rigid morals, and looked upon all 
who did not belong to their own sect, as pro- 
fligates ; their speeches were composed of 
phrases taken from the Scriptures ; predes- 
tination and special grace were the subjects 
of their discourses ; they wrote and published 
false translations from the gospel, and epis- 
tles of St. Paul, with observations and notes 
filled with the venom of their doctrine ; they 
deceived the people, who were both simple 
and credulous, by an affected piety ; open 
enemies to Hierarchy in the church, and 
monarchy in the state, they opposed Epis- 
copacy, and resisted their lawful princes. 
By such principles as these their conduct 
was regulated ; they deposed the dowager 
queen who held the regency, and forced her 
daughter, queen Mary their legitimate sove- 
reign, to seek an asylum in England, where 
she was put to death after eighteen years im- 
prisonment, and lest King James VI. might 
be any obstacle to their undertaking, they 
drove him from Edinburgh, and kept him in 
confinement at Stirling. All his faithful 
servants were removed, and possession taken 
of his principal fortresses.! In fine, the 
unhappy prince was mocked and insulted by 
his own subjects to such a degree, that he 
frequently expressed a desire to leave the 
kingdom and withdraw to Venice. The 
sanguinary wars in England and Ireland 
under Charles I., the tragical end of that 
prince on the scaffold, the exclusion of his 
son Charles II. from his inheritance for 
twelve years, and the expulsion of James II. 

* Heylin, ibid. p. 300. 
t Ware, ibid. cap. 3. 



462 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of glorious memory,* were among the fatal 
consequences of the fanaticism of these Pu- 
ritans. 

The earl of Sussex having spent some 
months in England, returned to Ireland as 
lord-lieutenant, a. d. 1560. He was com- 
missioned by the queen to prevail on the earl 
of Kildare, who was creating disturbances in 
the latter country, to go to England, and in 
case he refused, to have him arrested.f He 
also received orders to have castles built and 
fortified in Leix and Offaly ; to people these 
districts with Englishmen, and confer estates 
on their chiefs and male children ; to estab- 
lish order in the province of Ulster, and ad- 
mit Surley Boy (M'Donnel) into the posses- 
sion of the lands which he claimed as fiefs, 
on condition that he would contribute to the 
public welfare. He was further ordered to 
reduce Shane O'Neill, either by force or 
otherwise ; to invest the baron of Dungan- 
non with the government of the county of 
Tyrone ; and to have the O'Briens, who 
resisted the earl of Thuomond, arrested. 

Queen Elizabeth was particularly desirous 
of having the Protestant religion established 
in Ireland. She sent orders to Sussex to 
call a meeting of the clergy for that purpose ; 
but the firmness of the bishops and their 
attachment to the ancient religion, rendered 
the attempt abortive, notwithstanding the 
offers which were made in order to bribe 
them. After this meeting William Walsh, 
a native of Waterford, and bishop of Meath, 
who was particularly zealous in the Catholic 
cause, having preached at Trim, in his own 
diocese, against the Book of Common Prayer, 
was arrested, thrown into prison, and deposed 
shortly afterwards, by orders from the 
queen.| This holy prelate was sent into 
banishment, and died at Complute, in Spain, 
in 1577, where he was interred in a monas- 
tery of the Cistertian order, of which he was 
a brother. § The bishopric of Meath having 
remained vacant for two years, Elizabeth con- 
ferred it on Hugh MacBrady, who was more 
accommodating thanWalsh: he died at Dun- 
boyne, the place of his birth, having held 
this see for twenty years. Thomas Leverous, 
bishop of Kildare, was treated in almost the 
same manner as Walsh. Having refused to 
take the oath of supremacy, he was de- 
prived of his bishopric, and of the deanery 

* James was a weak despot who deserved his 
fate. He tyrannized over England, and hetrayed 
Ireland, and both countries hold his memory in con- 
tempt.— [Note by Ed.] 

+■ Camd. ibid, page 35. 

t War. de Episc. Midens. 

§ War. de Episc. Kildare. 



of St. Patrick. In order to gain his liveli- 
hood, he was reduced to the sad alternative 
of keeping a school in Limerick, and died 
at Naas, in 1577, at the age of eighty years. 
He was succeeded in the bishopric of Kil- 
dare by Alexander Craike. The latter, not 
content with the revenues of the bishopric 
and the deanery of St. Patrick, which he 
held together, exchanged most of the estates 
of that see, with Patrick Sarsfield, a lord of 
the country, for tithes of little value. By 
this means the ancient see of Kildare was 
reduced to great distress. 

The Irish Catholics, particularly the an- 
cient inhabitants, were much alarmed at 
these symptoms of persecution ; the continu- 
ance of which they foresaw, by the changes 
which took place in church and state. They 
saw no security, either for their churches or 
the preservation of their estates, but by arms. 
Having received promises of assistance from 
the pope and the king of Spain, they assem- 
bled in great numbers, under the command 
of Shane O'Neill, at that time the bravest 
and most powerful nobleman in the country, 
and the first hero of Catholicity in Ireland. 

This resistance of the Irish differs from 
that of subjects, who under pretext of reli- 
gion or otherwise, rebel against their lawful 
princes, conduct which will never receive 
the approbation of polished and well-in- 
formed nations. Ireland had not yet been 
subjugated ; her people acknowledged only 
the authority of the English by compulsion, 
whatever their adversaries may advance to 
the contrary, who always denominated them 
rebels, an epithet which can only apply to 
insurgent subjects. They deemed it just to 
resist a foreign power which was endeavor- 
ing to direct their consciences, by intro- 
ducing a new religion among them. 

O'Neill finding his countrymen zealous in 
the common cause, took the command wil- 
lingly, and marched into the English pro- 
vince, where he carried on the war with suc- 
cess. When the campaign was over, this 
prudent general, not willing to spend the 
winter in a hostile country, which was al- 
ready laid waste, returned to Ulster with an 
intention of renewing hostilities in the spring. 
In the mean time, Sussex made active prepa- 
rations to oppose him. He received from 
England fresh troops to the number of four 
hundred men, four pieces of cannon, a mor- 
tar, sixty barrels of gunpowder, and other 
ammunition ; but not being satisfied with 
this reinforcement, he sailed thither to re- 
ceive fresh instructions respecting the opera- 
tions of the campaign. 

After stopping for about four months in 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



463 



England, Sussex returned to Ireland in June, 
1561, with the title of lord-lieutenant, which 
he had previously enjoyed* He nowthought 
seriously of an expedition against O'Neill. 
He therefore set out from Dublin for Ulster 
on the 1 st of July, at the head of five hun- 
dred men, attended by John Bedlow, one of 
the sheriffs of the city, who commanded 
eighty men. Another detachment of eighty 
archers and fusiliers followed him soon after, 
under the command of Gough, another 
sheriff; all of whom were supplied with pro- 
visions for six weeks. O'Neill's forces being 
inferior both in numbers and discipline to 
the army of Sussex, he posted himself so as 
not to be surprised ; and the only fruit of 
the expedition was a suspension of hostilities, 
and a reconciliation between the chiefs. 
O'Neill went over to England in December, 
where he concluded an honorable peace 
with Elizabeth ; and returned to Ireland in 
May, much pleased with the reception he 
had met with from her majesty. In the 
mean time, the earl of Sussex was recalled, 
and William FitzWilliams appointed lord- 
justice of Ireland in his stead. 

Roland Baron, otherwise Fitzgerald, arch- 
bishop of Cashel, died about the year 1561 
This prelate was descended from the noble 
family of the Fitzgeralds of Burnchurch, in 
the county of Kilkenny, who had the title of 
non-parliamentary barons. f This see having 
remained vacant for six years, Elizabeth 
nominated James MacCaghwell to it ; but 
his successor, apostolically appointed, was 
Maurice Gibbon, or Reagh, whom the Pro- 
testants accuse of having stabbed MacCagh- 
well. He was afterwards driven into exile, 
and died in Spain. The ancient see of Emly 
was united at this time with that of Cashel, 
by authority of parliament. The hierarchy 
has been always preserved in the church of 
Ireland, in spite of all heretical efforts, and 
every see has two bishops, one a Catholic, 
appointed by the pope, and the other a Pro- 
testant, nominated by the king. 

The earl of Sussex was again made lord- 
lieutenant of Ireland. Having taken the 
oath in July, 1562, the first act of his ad- 
ministration was to change some of the dis- 
tricts into counties ;J to the ancient territory 
of Annaly, on the borders of Meath, he gave 
the name of the county of Longford, the 
first baron of which was Francis Augier. 
He then divided the province of Connaught 
into six counties ; namely, Clare, Galway, 
Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon, and Leitrim. 

* War. de Annal. ibid. cap. 4. 
+ War. de Arch. Casseliens. 
t War. de Annal. ibid. c. 5. 



The see of Armagh, which remained with- 
out a pastor since the death of George Dow- 
dal, was given by Elizabeth to Adam Lof- 
tus, a native of Yorkshire, and bachelor in 
theology. We may judge of his religion from 
his having been first a chaplain to the duke 
of Sussex, and afterwards to .the queen.* 

O'Neill's enemies were continually endea- 
voring to have him suspected by the govern- 
ment. Loftus, who had just been appointed 
archbishop of Armagh, on the deposition of 
a domestic, wrote against this prince to the 
lord-lieutenant, a. d. 1563. f The suspicions 
against him having gained ground, the lord- 
lieutenant marched his troops, and O'Neill 
was forced to have recourse to arms. The 
English army set out in the beginning of 
April for Ulster. On the thirteenth they had 
a skirmish near Dundalk, with O'Neill's 
troops, twenty-one of whom fell on the field 
of battle. Sussex crossed the Blackwater on 
the 16th, at the head of his army ; but fear- 
ing that he might be surprised, he returned 
to Dundalk, whither he carried great booty 
in cattle. In the beginning of June he pro- 
ceeded to Dungannon. The day following 
he endeavored, but in vain, to dislodge 
O'Neill, who was advantageously posted in 
the wood of Tulloghoge, after which he re- 
turned with his army to Drogheda, plunder- 
ing every place on his march. 

The earl of Kildare was deeply interested 
for O'Neill, who was both his relative and 
friend 4 He entreated him to lay down his 
arms and submit ; and O'Neill was so swayed 
by the arguments of the earl, that he went 
to England, where he made peace with the 
queen, in presence of the ambassadors of 
Sweden and Savoy. That princess received 
him honorably, granted him her friendship, 
and sent him back with rich presents. 

The earl of Sussex published an edict this 
year against the Catholic clergy, by which 
monks and popish priests were interdicted 
either to meet or sleep in Dublin. The head 
of eveiy family was ordered, under pain of 
being fined, to attend every Sunday at the 
Protestant service. Those who were unable 
to pay the fine went to mass in the morning, 
and to the Protestant sermon afterwards ; 
but in order to prevent this pious fraud, the 
inhabitants were registered, and their names 
called, during service, in the Protestant 
churches. 

When O'Neill returned to Ireland, he de- 
clared war against the inhabitants of the 
Hebrides, defeated them, and killed their 

* War. de Arch. Ard. 

t War. de Annal. ibid. c. G. 

} Carab. ibid. p. 52. 



464 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



chief, James MacDonnel, his father-in-law, 
and his brother Aongus,* a. d. 1564. While 
the prince of Tyrone was putting down his 
enemies, and laboring to establish peace and 
good order in his own district, he drew upon 
himself the hatred of the nobility of the 
country, whom he looked upon as his vassals. 
Maguire, Magennis, and others, presented 
their complaints against O'Neill to the lord- 
lieutenant, in consequence of which he was 
reduced to the alternative either of taking 
up arms against the government, or of sub- 
mitting to the decision of the lord-lieutenant ; 
but, unwilling to acknowledge the power of 
the governor, he adopted the former as the 
more honorable alternative. 

The lord-lieutenant took care to inform 
the queen of O'Neill's movements, and to 
explain how much was to be feared from 
such an enemy. The princess sent him the 
following reply : " Let not your suspicions 
of Shane O'Neill give you uneasiness ; tell 
my troops to take courage, and that his re- 
bellion may turn to their advantage, as there 
will be lands to bestow on those who have 
need of them." This hope of gain frequently 
caused the condemnation of the Irish nobles. 

O'Neill on his side was levying troops, 
under pretext of defending his boundaries 
against the Scotch. The government became 
alarmed, and the lord-lieutenant issued a pro- 
clamation, which declared that any one en- 
listing under an officer who had not received 
his commission from her majesty, or from 
him, should be considered a traitor : he there- 
fore enjoined all those who had enrolled 
themselves for O'Neill's army to come for- 
ward and lay down their arms within alimited 
time, under pain of death and confiscation 
of their properties. The deputy collected his 
forces on the borders of the English province, 
but nothing could check the rage of O'Neill. 
In order to be revenged on Loftus, the Pro- 
testant archbishop of Armagh, who had 
written against him, he burned his church, 
on which account the Protestant prelate 
pronounced sentence of excommunication 
against him. O'Neill then entered Ferman- 
agh, sword in hand, from which he expelled 
Maguire. After this he laid siege to Dun- 
dalk, which was relieved by William Sars- 
field, mayor of Dublin, at the head of a 
chosen body of men, who forced him to raise 
the siege, but was not able to prevent him 
from devastating the country around. 

A serious difference arose at this time 
between the earls of Ormond and Desmond, 
respecting the boundaries of their estates, 

* War. de ibid. cap. 7. 



which was followed by a bloody conflict. It 
may be necessary to observe that the earl of 
Desmond in question was Garret Fitzgerald, 
son of James, and grandson of John, who 
successively held that title.* This noble- 
man, though young, promised by his early 
exploits to be one day a terror to the ene- 
mies of the Catholic faith. His first expe- 
dition was against MacCarty Riagh, by 
which he acquired great honor. He, how- 
ever, was not so successful in his battle with 
Edme MacTeugue, son of MacCarty of 
Muskerry, in which battle his cavalry being 
routed, he was taken prisoner and confined 
in the castle of Askeaton for six months, but 
was subsequently restored to his liberty. 

The several families of the O'Briens were 
continually at war against their chief, the 
earl of Thuomond ; as they imagined that 
his title of earl authorized him to oppress 
them. Teugue MacMorrough O'Brien hav- 
ing been besieged in his castle of Inchiquin 
by this earl and Clanriccard, sent to solicit 
assistance from his friend Garret, earl of 
Desmond. Garret sent him word to keep 
up his courage, promising to be with him on 
a certain day : he then crossed the Shannon 
at Castle-Connell, above Limerick, at the 
head of five hundred foot soldiers, with about 
sixty horsemen, under the command of his 
brother, and marched directly for Inchiquin, 
intending to raise the siege. The earls 
having received intelligence of the march of 
Desmond, were determined to oppose him. 
They therefore abandoned the siege, and 
advanced to give him battle. Desmond's 
only hope lay in the bravery of his men : he 
exhorted them to follow his example, and 
not to fear an undisciplined multitude ; after 
which he made so vigorous an attack on his 
enemies, that, unable to withstand the shock, 
they fled, leaving Desmond at liberty to 
relieve his friend. 

Jealousy continued to prevail between 
Desmond and Ormond. f Desmond was an 
ingenuous and upright character ; Thomas 
Butler, surnamed Duff, or the Black, was 
cautious and politic. Being brought up at 
the English court, he imbibed Protestant 
opinions, in consequence of which he was 
more favored by the queen than Desmond. 
The estates of these noblemen were adjoin- 
ing ; they made frequent incursions on each 
other's lands, and their animosity ran so high 
that the ambition of power frequently drove 
them to arms. A battle that was to have 



* Relat. Giraldin. cap. 13. 
+ O'Sulliv. Hist. Cathol. Iber. torn. 2, lib. 4, 
cap. 8. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



465 



been fought between the two earls at Bo- 
harmor, on the borders of Limerick and 
Tipperary, not taking place, Ormond was 
continually watching to take revenge on his 
rival.* Having heard that Desmond was 
encamped in his neighborhood, he collected 
his forces, and marched to meet him at Ath- 
mean, in the county of Waterford. Desmond 
had but few men with him ; refusing, how- 
ever, to listen to his friends, who advised 
him to yield to necessity, he engaged in bat- 
tle, in which he lost two hundred and eighty 
of his men. He himself received a pistol- 
shot, from Sir Edme Butler, by which his 
thigh was broken. Having fallen from his 
horse, he was taken prisoner and brought to 
Clonmel, where he was attended by a sur- 
geon, but ever after continued lame. As 
soon as he had recovered sufficiently he 
was sent prisoner to London, and confined 
in the tower. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

The earl of Sussex, lord-lieutenant of 
Ireland, was recalled this year (1565). Sir 
Nicholas Arnold was appointed lord-justice, 
and sworn in, in the month of May. This 
new magistrate brought over a reinforce- 
ment of fifteen hundred and ninety-six men.t 
His stay w~as of short continuance, since 
some complaints being made at court against 
him, he was recalled in the month of Janu- 
ary following. 

Sir Henry Sidney was next sent to Ire- 
land as lord-deputy. He received his in- 
structions under the queen's signature, which 
enjoined him to form a privy council, to be 
sworn, according to custom, in his presence ; 
which he was to consult on all public affairs, 
and which should co-operate with him for 
the general good of the people. 

The privy council and deputy being as- 
sembled together, affairs were found to be 
in a very bad state. The province was ha- 
rassed and oppressed by a licentious and 
undisciplined soldiery, who became also 
objects of suspicion to the government on 
account of their intercourse with the Irish. 

In Leinster, Kilkenny was in particular 
attacked by the O'Tools, the O'Birns, 
O'Kinsellaghs, O'Morroghs, the Cavanaghs, 
and the O'Morras. 

In Munster, the counties of Tipperary 
and Kerry were brought to the verge of ruin 

* Relat. Giral. c. 14. Hist. Cathol. Ibem. ibid, 
t War. de Annal. ibid. cap. 8. 



by the wars between the partisans of Or- 
mond and Desmond. The barony of Or- 
mond was devastated by Pierce Grace ; the 
country of Thuomond suffered greatly by 
the warfare of Sir Daniel O'Brien and the 
earl of Thuomond. 

Connaught was torn by the factions of 
the earl of Clanriccard and other families of 
the Burkes. Finally, the whole of Ulster, 
commanded by Shane O'Neill, who took the 
title of monarch, was in arms against the 
English government. 

Cox and Hooker remark, that in addition 
to the miseries with which Ireland was then 
inflicted, religion had become almost extinct, 
the clergy dispersed, and the churches strip- 
ped ; and that scarcely any vestige of the 
knowledge of the true God could be found 
in that ignorant and barbarous nation.* 

The council, before they separated, gave 
orders that the English province should be 
put into a state of defence against O'Neill. 

Mac Carty More, a powerful prince in 
Munster, went to England about this time, 
and placed at the queen's disposal all his 
possessions, of which she made a regrant 
to him by letters patent, together with the 
titles of earl of Glencar and baron of Va- 
lentia. This prince, the chief of the illus- 
trious tribe of the Eoganachts, was descend- 
ed from Heber, eldest son of Milesius, king 
of Gallicia, by Oilioll-Olum, and his eldest 
son Eogan-More, and Dermod Mac Carty, 
king of Cork, in the twelfth century, who 
was the first that submitted to Henry II., 



* An insinuation is thrown out by these authors, 
that either the pretended reformed religion was 
generally received at that time in Ireland, and aban- 
doned in consequence of the dispersion of its min- 
isters, or that the Irish Catholics opposed to the 
new doctrine, after losing their pastors, had be- 
come at one stroke ignorant barbarians. These two 
propositions are equally false and deceitful. Some 
Catholic bishops had been deposed, and were suc- 
ceeded by Protestant bishops ; but the number was 
inconsiderable, not amounting to more than five or 
six. The new doctrine which was preached had 
not made great progress in so short a time among 
a people strenuously attached to their ancient reli- 
gion. The persecution which had been commenced 
was not directed against the Protestants, sinee they 
were protected by the very power from which it 
had arisen. All Ireland was still Catholic ; for it 
may be affirmed, that among every five hundred 
scarcely one Protestant appeared ; consequently the 
dispersion of the clergy, to which the above authors 
allude, cannot apply to the Catholic clergy. It is 
not to be wondered at, that a religion should suffer 
much in a country where it is strongly opposed, 
but it is impossible that it should be effaced in five 
or six years, so as that no knowledge of God could 
be discovered. They were, however, Englishmen, 
who put forward the above statement. 



466 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



king of England. According to the right 
of primogeniture, this illustrious house is 
the first in Ireland. There were several 
branches of it, namely, the Mac Cartys of 
Muskerry and Carbry, those of Cluan, Mao- 
lain, Alia, and many others. 

The deputy returned to England in 1566, 
to receive fresh instructions, and give an ac- 
count to the queen of the situation of affairs 
in Ireland.* During his absence the troops 
of O'Neill threatened Drogheda. At the re- 
quest, however, of Lady Sidney, wife of the 
deputy, who resided there at the time, Sars- 
field, mayor of Dublin, came with a body 
of troops and saved the city, for which the 
deputy, on his return, conferred on him the 
honor of knighthood. 

O'Neill always maintained an army of 
four thousand foot, and a thousand horse : 
he was a prince of great skill and talents ; 
he took care to have his vassals instructed 
in discipline, and inspired them with a love 
of war, but his pride rendered him insup- 
portable to his neighbors, and added daily 
to the number of his enemies. Besides the 
English troops, he had to contend with 
O'Donnel, Maguire, and other powerful no- 
blemen of Ulster, who complained of his 
tyranny. He made frequent incursions upon 
the English province, and laid siege to their 
towns, by which, though sometimes unsuc- 
cessful, he became formidable to the govern- 
ment. He defeated also a Scotch legion, 
killed three thousand of them, and took 
their chief, Mac Donnel, prisoner.! 

O'Neill's power engrossed much of the 
attention of the English government at 
this time. The queen dispatched Knolls 
to Ireland to concert measures with the 
deputy to reduce that nobleman, either by 
kindness or by force. She even offered 
to him the titles of earl of Tyrone, and 
baron of Dungannon, with a promise to 
annul the patents of Henry VIII., which 
secured to Matthew O'Neill, of Dungannon, 
the right of succession to the estates and 
honors of Tyrone .% O'Neill received the 
proposal with a haughtiness expressive of 
his contempt for titles of honor, which he 
looked upon as beneath the name of O'Neill 
The commissioners who were intrusted with 
the negotiation, received from him the fol 
lowing reply : " If Elizabeth your mistress 
be queen of England, I am O'Neill, king of 
Ulster ; I never made peace with her with- 
out having been previously solicited to it by 
her. I am not ambitious of the abject title 

* War. de Annal. ibid. cap. 9. 

t Hist. Cathol. Hib. vol. 2, lib. 4, cap. 3. 

t Camb. reg. Elizab. part 1, page 127. 



of earl ; both my family and birth raise me 
above it ; I will not yield precedence to any 
one ; my ancestors have been kings of Ul- 
ster ; I have gained that kingdom by my 
sword, and by the sword I will preserve 
it."* He then spoke contemptuously of 
Mac Carty More, who had just accepted the 
title of earl. 

The English government finding O'Neill 
fixed in his determination, thought neces- 
sary to use force against him. For this pur- 
pose Colonel Randulph was dispatched at 
the head of seven hundred men, to Derry, a 
small town in the northern extremity of Ty- 
rone. They took possession of the town, and 
converted the ancient church of St. Columb 
into a magazine for powder and warlike 
stores ; the priests and monks being driven 
out, and other sacrileges committed in the 
churches .f The deputy repaired soon after- 
wards to Derry, where he continued a few 
days. Having given the necessary orders 
for defending the town, and reinforced the 
garrison with fifty horsemen, commanded by 
Captain Harvey, and seven hundred foot, 
under the command of Captain Cornwall, 
he returned to Dublin. 

O'Neill saw plainly that it was against his 
interest to suffer an enemy to establish a 
garrison so near, and always in readiness to 
attack him. He marched therefore to Derry 
without loss of time, with two thousand five 
hundred infantry, and three hundred cavalry, 
and posted himself within two miles of the 
town. According to^Cox, Randulph made 
a sally on the Irish^with three hundred foot 
and fifty horse, and- after a vigorous attack, 
killed four hundred of them and put the 
rest to flight, without any loss on the 
side of the English but that of Randulph 
himself, who was killed in the action ; but 
this account appears to be a mere boast of 
the author, since, independently of the sally 
alluded to not being mentioned by O'Sulli- 
van and other writers, it is impossible that 
two armies could have come to so close an 
engagement, with only the loss of the com- 
mander on one side, while four hundred 
men were killed on the other. It is, on the 
contrary, certain, that the powder magazine 
took fire, and that the town and fort of 
Derry were blown up, by which nearly 
seven hundred Englishmen, and Randulph 
their chief, met a miserable end. 

Discord still prevailed between O'Neill 
and O'Donnel. The latter was supported 
by the English, whose aim was to weaken 
O'Neill, as his power was an obstacle to the 

* An ancient Irish Manus. Cox, Hist. Irel. p. 221. 
t Hist. Cathol. Ibern. ibid. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



467 



Reformation, which they wished to intro- 
duce into Ireland, and to the conquest of 
the country, which was not yet complete. 
These two princes fought many battles with 
unequal success. O'Neill, at length, having 
collected all his forces, gained over the 
queen's troops that were sent to assist 
O'Donnel, the celebrated victory of the red 
Sagums,* called ,in the Irish language, 
il Cah na gassogues Deargs." In this battle 
four hundred English soldiers were killed, 
besides several officers who had lately ar- 
rived from England. 

We have already mentioned that Garret, 
earl of Desmond, was kept prisoner in the 
tower of London. During his confinement 
the other branches of his family caused many 
disturbances in Munster. John, his brother, 
defeated in battle and killed with his hand, 
John Butler, brother to the earl of Ormond. 
James, son of Maurice Fitzgerald, under- 
took to defend the right of Garret, and for 
that end strenuously opposed the attempts 
of Thomas Rua, who had taken the title of 
earl of Desmond. The queen, in order to 
allay the disturbances caused by these no- 
blemen, sent to Ireland the real earl of Des- 
mond, and after exhorting him to continue 
loyal and attached to the crown of England, 
said, that he might hope by his loyalty to 
obtain favors and rewards. The earl in 
thanking her majesty declared, that, after 
his duty to God, nothing would be more 
dear to him than to observe faithfully the 
orders she had given him. 

The earl of Desmond was received with 
universal joy throughout the kingdom, and 
restored to his title and the estates of his 
ancestors. Finding himself free, he ordered 
his vassals to raise troops, and to put on 
foot an army of two thousand men, conduct 
which caused great uneasiness to Sidney, 
the deputy. He endeavored to fathom the 
designs of the earl. Some said that his 
object was to unite with O'Neill, and create 
a diversion in Munster in his favor ; while 
others fancied that his preparations were 
intended to take revenge for the insults he 
had received from the earl of Ormond, the 
viscount of Fermoy, the Barrys, and other 
noblemen. Whatever they might have been, 
he obeyed a summons that he had received 
from the deputy, and proceeded to Dublin 
with a troop of a hundred horsemen, accom- 
panied by Sir Warham St. Leger, the pres- 
ident of Munster, who had been commis- 
sioned to guard the frontiers of the English 

* The Sagum was a warlike dress in use among 
the Persians, Carthaginians, and the Romans, and 
here signifies the red uniform of the English. 



province during the absence of the deputy, 
who had undertaken an expedition into Ul- 
ster. 

Accompanied by the earl of Kildare and 
other noblemen, the deputy set out from 
Drogheda, at the head of his troops, in the 
month of September. He marched through 
a part of Ulster, and passed near Clogher. 
The troops of O'Neill harassed his rear- 
guard on their march. O'Donnel on this 
occasion paid him homage, and was rein- 
stated by him in the possession of his es- 
tates, particularly the castles of Ballyshan- 
non and Donegal, for which O'Donnel 
agreed to pay to the crown a revenue of two 
hundred marks a year. Thus the prince of 
Tirconnel leagued himself with the enemies 
of his country to save himself from the at- 
tacks of a powerful neighbor. 

After this the deputy marched into Con- 
naught, where he retook the castle of Ros- 
common, and put a garrison into it, the com- 
mandof whichhe gave to Thomas Lestrange. 
Sir Edward Fitton was appointed president 
of the province : the O'Connor Sligoe, the 
O'Connor Don, O'Flinn, and others, made 
their submissions to the deputy, who obliged 
them to pay an annual revenue to the crown. 
He marched afterwards to Athlone, where he 
caused a bridge to be built, and then sent his 
troops into winter quarters, after placing 
garrisons along the frontiers of the English 
province ; but all these precautions did not 
prevent O'Neill from devastating it with fire 
and sword. The deputy then laid siege to 
Dundalk, in which he failed. 

The great exploits of the earl of Tyrone 
were not sufficient to save him from ruin. 
He wasbrave,and his vassals well disciplined, 
but they fought better in the field than in 
their attacks on towns, or in defending them. 
The deputy was more frequently victorious 
by stratagem than by force of arms ; he was 
in possession of fortifications and garrisons 
from which he made occasional incursions on 
the lands of Tyrone, and was artful enough 
to foment discord between that prince and 
his neighbors. He detached Maguire of 
Fermanagh, a powerful nobleman of the 
country, from his interest, and always sup- 
ported O'Donnel against him ; so that O'Neill, 
finding himself hemmed in on all sides, and 
his forces weakened, was reduced to the sad 
alternative of seeking safety among his ene- 
mies. He had twice defeated the Scotch ; in 
the first battle he had killed their chief, James 
MacDonnel, and in the second Surly Boy 
MacDonnel, brother of the latter, was taken 
prisoner.* Still his misfortunes forced him 

* War. de Annal. ibid. cap. 10. 



408 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



to have recourse to those whom he had in- 
jured. He restored Surly Boy to his liberty, 
and set out for Northern Clanneboy, where 
the Scotch to the number of six hundred 
were encamped, under the command of 
Alexander MacDonnel, called the younger, 
brother to Surly Boy, a. d. 1567. O'Neill 
appeared with a few attendants in the camp, 
where he was received with apparent po- 
liteness ; but the Scotch, either through re- 
venge for the injuries they had received 
from him, or hoping to obtain a considerable 
reward from the English government, stab- 
bed him, with all his followers, and sent his 
head to the deputy, who exposed it upon a 
pole on the castle of Dublin. 

Such was the end of Shane O'Neill, who 
had sacrificed every thing for his country. 
Had his example been followed by the 
people generally, the English would not have 
succeeded so soon in reducing Ireland. As 
to the other nobles of the country, some, in 
return for the vain title of lord, which 
bound them to the English government, took 
the rank of subjects ; others, guided by dif- 
ferent motives, paid homage to the English, 
rather than unite for the common cause, so 
that the interests of religion and liberty 
were basely sacrificed to the ambition of 
some and the weakness of others. 

English authors have drawn a barbarous 
picture of O'Neill ; he possessed certainly 
some defects, but we can place no reliance 
on the testimony of those authors against 
him. He left two legitimate sons, Henry 
and John. After his death, he was accused 
and convicted of the crime of rebellion, and 
his estates confiscated for the queen's use, by 
an act of the parliament held in Dublin this 
year, 1567.* The estates of the other nobles 
who had been of O'Neill's party in the war, 
were also comprised in this act of confisca- 
tion ; namely, Clanneboy and Fews, the pat- 
rimonies of the two branches of the O'Neills, 
Kryne, or Coleraine, the country of the 
O'Cahans ; Route, belonging to the Mac 
Quilins ; the territory of the Glinnes, in pos- 
session of the Scotch, of which James Mac 
Donnel styled himself the lord and conquer- 
or ; Iveaeh, the country of the Magennises ; 
Orior, that of the O'Hanlons ; the district of 
Ferny, Uriel, Loghty, and Dartry, belonging 
to four branches of the MacMahons ; Truogh, 
the estate, of the MacKonnas ; and Clancanny 
or Clanbressail, belonging to the MacCanns. 
These proprietors were, however, conciliated 
in some measure. Turlogh Lynogh, one of 
the most powerful nobles of the family of 

* Irish Statutes, reign of Elizabeth, p. 309, et seq. 



O'Neill, was acknowledged The O'Neill, 
with the queen's consent ;* but in order to 
check his authority, she confirmed Hugh, 
son of Matthew O'Neill, in the title of baron 
of Dungannon, and subsequently in that of 
Tyrone. The others received part of their 
estates as a favor, to hold from the queen 
by letters patent. Among other absurdities 
in the statute here alluded to, is the insuffi- 
ciency of the proofs which are advanced in 
favor of the right of the kings of England 
to the throne of Ireland. 

An exact account of the expenditure of 
this war against Shane O'Neill, was sent to 
the queen ;t according to which it amounted 
to one hundred and forty-seven thousand 
four hundred and seven pounds sterling, 
besides the taxes raised on the country. Her 
majesty also lost about three thousand five 
hundred men of her own troops, who were 
killed by the prince of Tyrone and his allies, 
with several of the Irish and Scotch who 
had taken up arms against him. 

Peace having been partly restored in Ul- 
ster, war broke out anew in Munster, between 
the houses of Desmond and Ormond.J Their 
animosities drove them to the fatal alterna- 
tive of a battle near Drumelin, after which 
they both were commanded to repair to 
England, in order that their quarrels might 
be investigated in council. The subject, 
however, being too intricate to be tried in 
England, they were sent back to Ireland, 
where witnesses might more conveniently 
be examined. They, however, would not 
submit to the laws ; but again took up arms, 
and recommenced hostilities. In consequence 
of the complaints of Ormond, the queen sent 
orders to the deputy to repair to Munster 
without delay,§ and to put down Desmond. 
In conformity with these orders, the deputy 
set out with a few troops for that province, 
where he remained three months. The rea- 
sons and complaints of both parties being 
heard, he decided against Desmond, whom 
he ordered to indemnify his enemy ; and on 
his refusal to submit to this decision, the 
deputy had him arrested at Kilmallock, and 
brought to Limerick, where he was accused 
of high treason for having taken up arms 
against the queen. While the deputy was 
waiting the termination of the trial he created 
John Desmond, the earl's brother, a knight, 
and appointed him seneschal of Desmond ; 
this promotion gave great umbrage to the 
earl of Ormond, who represented to the 

* Camb. reg. Elizab. part 1, p. 131. 
t War. de Annal. ibid. cap. 11. 
t Camb. reg. Elizab. part 1, 130. 
§ Cox, Hist, of Irel. pp. 325, 326. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



469 



queen that the deputy was partial to Des- 
mond, which excited her majesty's dis- 
pleasure towards him. 

Sidney began to feel a dislike to his office 
of governor of Ireland, being thwarted in his 
views by the earl of Ormond, to whom he 
thoughtthe queenlistened too attentively. He 
was also importuned with the complaints of 
Oliver Sutton, a gentleman of the English 
province, against the earl of Kildare ; and 
accusations were brought against Sir Ed- 
mond Butler and his brother, by Lady Dun- 
boyne, MacBrian Ara, Oliver Fitzgerald, and 
others, so that he begged of the court to 
appoint a chancellor capable of assisting 
him in the administration of affairs ; and this 
office was, in consequence, conferred on 
Doctor Weston, who landed in Dublin in 
the July following. Sidney still continued 
to request his recall, which he obtained at 
length, and was permitted to return to Eng- 
land. He brought with him the earl of 
Desmond, the baron of Dungannon, O'Con- 
nor Sligo, O'Carroll, and others. The earl 
of Desmond and O'Connor were confined in 
the tower, and Sir John Desmond sent for to 
Ireland, to keep them company. O'Connor 
submitted to the queen and was restored to 
his liberty ; the same favor was soon after- 
wards extended to the earl of Desmond, on 
similar conditions. 

In the absence of Sidney, Weston the 
chancellor, and Sir William Fitzwilliams the 
treasurer of war, governed Ireland as lords- 
justices, by commission under the great seal, 
dated the 14th of October.* During the 
administration of the latter, quarrels arose 
between some private families, which subse- 
quently degenerated into religious feuds. 
The Butlers were still at variance with the 
Fitzgeralds ; Sir Edmond Butler, brother to 
Ormond, with Peter Grace, lord of Cours- 
town, in the county of Kilkenny, made incur- 
sions on the lands of Oliver Fitzgerald. The 
O'Connors and O'Morras threatened the 
possessions of the O'Carrolls. Daniel Mac 
Carty More renounced the title of earl of 
Glencar, and assumed that of king of Mun- 
ster, and entering into a league with O'Sul- 
livan More, MacSweeny, and others, laid 
waste the domains of Roche, viscount of 
Fermoy. In Ulster, Turlough Lynogh, who 
had taken the title of O'Neill, declared war 
against O'Donnel and his allies the Scotch ; 
and killed Alexander MacDonnel, the mur- 
derer of Shane O'Neill. A serious dispute 
arose in Connaught, between Mac William 
Oughter, (Burke,) and O'Connor Sligo. 

* Cox, ibid, pages 326, 327. 



There were likewise differences between 
the earl of Thuomond and O'Seaghnassy. 

Such was the state of affairs on Sidney's 
return to Ireland, in 1568. He landed at 
Carrickfergus about the end of September, 
and had an interview with Turlough Lynogh 
O'Neill, respecting the hostilities which the 
latter had committed against O'Donnel, the 
Scotch, and others who were under the 
protection of the court. O'Neill, however, 
cleared himself with the deputy, and both 
noblemen separated on good terms. The 
deputy was sworn in on the 20th of October, 
in Dublin, and gave orders that Sir Edmond 
Butler should be sent for ; he did not, how- 
ever, think fit to obey his mandate. 

The deputy convened a parliament in 
Dublin, in January,* in which angry debates 
took place between the Catholics and the 
Protestants, respecting the elections of mem- 
bers for this parliament. The matter was 
decided by Dillon and Phmket, judges of 
the grand council, and by the report which 
was made to parliament by Sir Luke Dillon, 
who was then attorney-general. Several acts 
respecting religion, and other public affairs, 
were passed by this parliament ; some of 
them have been already mentioned ; the rest 
are to be met with in the collection of Irish 
statutes printed in Dublin in 1621 ."f 

About this time Sir Peter Carew came 
over to Ireland to take possession of the in- 
heritance of one of his ancestors, who enjoy- 
ed the title of marquis of Cork, and large 
estates in the country. The principal objects 
of his claims were, the barony of Idrone, in 
the county of Carlow, and the district of 
Ballymaclethan, in Meath. Weak as his pre- 
tensions were to the barony of Idrone, the 
ancient patrimony of the Cavanaghs, it was 
adjudged to him by the deputy and council ; 
but he was not so successful in the claim to 
Ballymaclethan. This was in possession of 
Sir Christopher Chivers, a man of English 
origin, and consequently more indulgence 
was given to him by the council. The 
trial, therefore, ended in an adjustment with 
the latter. 

After the death of Shane O'Neill, who was 
the support of Catholicity and the terror of 
the English, the reformed religion began to 
take root in Ireland. Queen Elizabeth de- 
sired nothing more ardently than to extend 
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and to rule over 
the church in this country, as she did in Eng- 
land. The English government adopted 
every measure likely to advance her views. 
For this they took care to send over English 

* Cox, ibid, page 328, et seq. 
t Page 309, et seq. 



470 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



conformists, attached to the opinions of the 
court ; on whom the bishoprics and other ec- 
clesiastical dignities were conferred accord- 
ing as they expelled the Catholic ministers. 
To these bishops orders were given to sup- 
press every Catholic institution in their 
several dioceses, and to establish Protestant 
free schools, under the guidance of English 
Protestants, in order that the minds of youth 
while most susceptible of strong impressions, 
might be seduced.* Laws were enacted, 
compelling parents to send their children to 
these schools, and to attend the Protestant 
service themselves on Sundays. These laws 
also decreed pecuniary fines against all who 
refused, which were changed afterwards into 
the penalties of high treason, so that by acts 
of parliament, the fidelity and attachment of 
the Catholics to the religion of their fore- 
fathers, were construed into this enormous 
crime. Every individual, both of the clergy 
and laity, was commanded to acknowledge 
the ecclesiastical supremacy of Elizabeth, 
and to renounce all obedience to the pope 
and church of Rome. f Many able preachers, 
both English and Scotch, were sent to Ire- 
land. The principal were Goodman, Cart- 
wright, Knox, Janson,Burchley, and Brady. 
It was hoped that their great eloquence 
would win the people to them ; but the court 
finding these missionaries unsuccessful, and 
the Irish still adhering to their own tenets in 
religion, determined to change matters and 
attack the heads of the Catholic party. 
Richard Burke, earl of Clanriccard, a pow- 
erful nobleman in Connaught, was arrested 
by orders of the queen.J Ulick and John, 
the earl's two sons, assembled their vassals, 
however, and took up arms against the gov- 
ernment in revenge for the injury done to 
their father, and thus procured him his 
freedom. 

The tyranny of the English government 
excited the alarm of the Irish. Finding the 
thunder ready to burst and crush them, they 
saw no hope save in resistance. In Munster 
they first signalized themselves ; the chief of 
the confederacy was James Fitzmaurice, 
cousin to the earl of Desmond, MacCarty 
More, earl of Glencar, MacDonogh, and 
other branches of the MacCartys, and Fitz- 
gerald of Imokelly.fy The hatred of the 
Butlers against the house of Desmond, did 
not prevent Edmond, Edward, and Peter 
Butler, brothers to the earl of Ormond, from 
uniting with Fitzmaurice in defence of their 

* Irish Stat, page 346. 
t Peter Lombard, Comment, de lib. c. 19. 
t Hist. Cathol. lib. torn. 2, lib. 4, c. 4. 
§ Camd. Elizab. 1, p. 172. War. ibid. 



religion. The earl of Desmond, whose me- 
mory should be for ever dear to the Catholics 
of Ireland, was still a prisoner in the tower 
of London. He had intrusted the manage- 
ment of his estates to James Fitzmaurice, 
his relative ; but Ormond and Thuomond, 
more politic, but less religious than Des- 
mond, had already sacrificed their religion, 
and the freedom of their country, to ambi- 
tion, and a desire to ingratiate themselves 
with the court. 

The first step of the confederates was to 
depute the bishops of Cashel and Emly, 
and one of the sons of the earl of Desmond, 
to go with letters to the pope and the king 
of Spain, to solicit their assistance. Sidney 
being informed of their movements, pro- 
claimed them all as traitors, and dispatched 
Sir Peter Carew with a body of troops 
against Sir Edmond Butler. Carew was so 
expeditious that he took the castle of Clogh- 
griman by surprise, and gave it up to plun- 
der. He then marched to Kilkenny, where 
he defeated a body of light troops. On the 
other hand, the confederates lost no oppor- 
tunity of harassing their enemies. James 
Fitzmaurice intended to besiege Kilkenny, 
but having no artillery, and the garrison 
being strong, and provided with every thing 
necessary to make an able defence, he aban- 
doned his design, and had to content him- 
self with ravaging the estates of the English 
in the neighborhood, while his allies laid 
waste the counties of Wexford, Waterford, 
and Ossory, and proceeded to the very gates 
of Dublin. The campaign thus passed over 
in hostile attacks on both sides. 

The earl of Ormond was in England when 
he heard with, regret of the rebellion of his 
brothers in Ireland. He applied to the 
queen to be permitted to serve against them, 
promising to bring them back to their duty 
either by persuasion or by force — and set 
out by leave of the court, for Ireland. He 
landed at Waterford, or, according to Cox, 
at Wexford, the 14th of August.* His ar- 
rival was immediately communicated to the 
deputy, whom he soon after joined at Lime- 
rick. Ormond sent for his brother Edmond 
to come to the camp of the deputy, who 
received his submission, enjoining him to 
appear before him on his arrival in Dublin. 
He became security for his brother, who 
proved faithful to his engagement, by his 
appearance at the time appointed. To the 
deputy's questions on the cause of his having 
rebelled, he answered the representative of 
majesty with so much haughtiness, that he 

* Camd. ibid, page 173. Ware, ibid. cap. 12. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



471 



was arrested and imprisoned in the castle of 
Dublin, from which he shortly afterwards 
escaped. Ormond himself continued faithful 
to the queen, whose confidence he had gained, 
by sacrificing what he owed to his God and 
to his. country ; the rebellion of his brothers 
he considered as a stain upon his family. 
They received a second time, by orders of 
the queen, a general pardon from the council 
in Dublin, without being obliged to make 
their appearance ; and by this means were 
detached from the Catholic party. 

Pope Pius V. pronounced the following 
sentence against Queen Elizabeth in 1569. 

" Pius, bishop and servant of the servants 
of God ; be it remembered by posterity, that 
he who is omnipotent in heaven and on earth, 
hath confided his church, which is one Holy, 
Catholic, and Apostolical, and out of which 
there is no salvation, to one man upon earth, 
namely, to Peter, prince of the apostles, and 
to the bishops of Rome, his successors, with 
full power to rule over it. This pontiff alone 
hath been constituted head over all nations 
and kingdoms, and invested with power to 
destroy, to separate, to scatter, and subvert ; 
to plant, build up, and link together by mu- 
tual charity, in order to preserve the faithful 
in the spirit of unity, and surrender them 
whole and entire to their Saviour. In order 
to fulfil the duties imposed on us by the 
divine goodness, we labor incessantly to 
maintain the unity of the Roman Catholic 
religion which God hath visited with heavy 
conflicts, to the end, that His own may be 
tried, and for our correction ; but the num- 
bers and power of the wicked have so far 
prevailed, that no portion of the earth has 
escaped their attempts to propagate their 
infectious and detested dogmas, being sup- 
ported, among others, by that slave to every 
species of crime, Elizabeth, the supposed 
queen of England, under whom the worst 
enemies of the church have found security. 
This same Elizabeth having seized upon the 
throne, and usurped the authority and juris- 
diction of supreme head of the church of 
England, has again plunged that country 
into a state of misery, from which it was 
beginning to emerge and to return to the 
Catholic faith. Having by the violence of 
her measures prevented the exercise of true 
religion, which that apostate prince, Henry 
VIII. destroyed, and which Mary, his legi- 
timate daughter, of illustrious memory, had 
restored, in concert with the holy see ; she 
hsfe' embraced all the -.errors of heresy, and 
excluded the English nobility from the royal 
council, which she has filled with obscure 
heretics. TheCatholics have been oppressed, 



and the preachers of iniquity established ; 
the sacrifice of the mass has been abolished ; 
prayers, fasting, abstinence, celibacy, and all 
the rites of Catholicity have been likewise 
suppressed. She has filled the kingdom with 
books containing the most flagrant heresies, 
and not content herself with adopting and 
conforming to the false and impious doc- 
trines of Calvin, she has forced her subjects 
to embrace them. The whole of the Catholic 
hierarchy and priesthood throughout Eng- 
land, have been driven from their livings, 
which have been bestowed on the heretics. 
Her decisions in ecclesiastical causes have 
been set up, and the bishops, the clergy, and 
the people forbidden to acknowledge the 
authority of the Roman church, or to obey 
its ordinances and canonical decisions. Thus 
has Elizabeth compelled most of the people 
of England, by oath, to subscribe to her 
nefarious laws, and renounce all authority of 
the Roman pontiff; to acknowledge her to 
be head both of church and state ; condemn- 
ing those that have refused, to heavy fines 
and punishments, whereby those who have 
persevered in the faith, are overwhelmed 
with suffering and afflictions. The Catholic 
bishops and clergy have been loaded with 
chains, and many of them have ended their 
days in misery and imprisonment. This per- 
secution is known to all nations, and so 
clearly proved, that all palliation, argument, 
or pretext on her part, is unavailing. We 
find, moreover, that impiety and crimes have 
increased, that persecution against the re- 
ligion of Rome has been redoubled by orders 
of Elizabeth, and that her heart has become 
so perverted and obdurate, that she has re- 
fused to hearken to the charitable counsels 
of Catholic princes, and has denied admit- 
tance to the legates of our apostolical see 
into England, who have been deputed thither 
for the same object. With deep sorrow we 
are now constrained to have recourse to the 
arms of justice, and obliged to punish a 
princess whose ancestors have rendered 
important services to the church. 

" In virtue, therefore, of the divine au- 
thority by which we have been placed on 
this supreme throne of justice, an office so 
superior to our capability, we do, in the 
plenitude of apostolical power, declare that 
the said Elizabeth, who is herself a heretic, 
and the encourager of heresy, together with 
all her adherents, have incurred the sentence 
of excommunication, and that they are here- 
by cut off from the unity of the body of 
Jesus Christ. Moreover, we proclaim her 
to have forfeited all right to the said throne, 
and also all dominion, dignity, and privileges 



472 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



appertaining to it. We likewise declare, 
that all subjects of every rank in the said 
kingdom, and every individual who has 
taken any oath of loyalty to her in any way 
whatever, shall be for ever absolved from 
said oath, as also from all duty, fidelity, or 
obedience, as we hereby exonerate them from 
all such engagements, and we do deprive the 
said Elizabeth of her pretended claim to the 
throne of England. The nobility and others 
above named, we prohibit to obey her, her 
ordinances and laws, under pain of becom- 
ing subject to the same anathema. 

" As the circulation of this bull, by sending 
it to all places, would become a matter of 
difficulty, it is commanded that copies of it 
be taken and signed by a notary, subscribed 
by a bishop, and sealed with the seal of our 
court ; they will then have the same power 
and efficacy as these presents have. 

" Given at St. Peter's, on the 5th of the 
calends of January, in the year of our Lord 
1569, and 5th of our pontificate." 

A parliament was held in Dublin the same 
year, by which several acts were passed ;* 
among others, one giving to her majesty a 
right to estates and lands in the county of 
Kildare, belonging to Christopher Eustace, 
lord of Cotlanston, who was executed, under 
Henry VIII., for high treason. By a similar 
act, the estates of Thomas Fitzgerald, knight 
of the Glynn, in the county of Limerick, and 
his son Thomas, were confiscated, for their 
rebellion.! The deputy being at Cork, entered 
the district of Cirricurry, and seized on the 
castle of Carigoline ; after which he marched 
to Orrery, and took possession of Buttevant. 
He intended to proceed to Kilmallock, but 
was prevented by James Fitzmaurice, who 
scaled the walls, and made himself master of 
the town, but finding it impracticable to hold 
it, he set it on fire. The deputy had the 
town rebuilt, and put a garrison into it, of 
four hundred soldiers, one hundred horsemen, 
and some light troops, under the command 
of Colonel Gilbert, whom he appointed gov- 
ernor of the province. Having restored 
peace to the counties of Cork and Limerick, 
and received the oath of allegiance of some 
nobles of these districts, viz., Roche, Courcy, 
Power, Decye, and some others, the deputy 
returned to Limerick. 

Soon after, Gilbert was created a knight, 
at Drogheda, for his services during his ad- 
ministration in Munster. He then went to 
England, where he married a rich widow ; 
but having died suddenly, Sir John Perrott 

* Irish Statutes, page 301. 
t Ibid, page 326. 



was appointed president of Munster in his 
stead. 

War still raged in Leinster and Connaught. 
Sir Peter Carew endeavored to reduce the 
Cavanaghs. The tyranny of Fitton over 
the inhabitants of Connaught was so great, 
that Conoghor O'Brien, earl of Thuomond, 
although a loyal subject to England, was 
obliged - to take up arms, and in spite of the 
mediation of the earl of Ormond, who was 
sent by the deputy to quell the disturbances, 
they came to an engagement. Thuomond 
was defeated, and obliged to fly into France, 
where he met Norris, the English ambassa- 
dor, who procured him his pardon from Eli- 
zabeth. The earl testified his gratitude, by 
the important services he afterwards rendered 
to the crown of England against his country. 

Turlough Lynogh O'Neill, who had been 
acknowledged chief of that illustrious tribe, 
continued to support the cause of religion in 
Ulster, a. d. 1570. The noblemen of Ulster 
and Scotland made frequent alliances about 
that time. O'Neill married the earl of Ar- 
gyle's aunt, and kept Scotch troops in his 
pay. This prince was planning an expedition 
against the English province, but was un- 
happily prevented from carrying it into exe- 
cution. His life being endangered by a 
musket-shot he received, either by accident 
or by design, the Scotch began to desert 
him, and the tribe was about to appoint 
another chief. Having, however, recovered, 
while preparing to accomplish his first pro- 
ject against the English, the deputy dis- 
patched two commissioners, Judge Dowdal 
and the dean of Armagh, on the part of the 
queen, to his camp at Dungannon ; and a 
treaty was entered into between them in 
January, which was ratified by the deputy 
in the month of March following. 

The O'Ferrals, ancient lords of Annaly, 
at present the county of Longford, surren- 
dered their district to the government, who 
restored them part of it, on condition of pay- 
ing one hundred marks a year. Lord chief- 
baron Bath died about this time. He was 
succeeded by Luke Dilon. 

Perrott being appointed governor of Mun- 
ster, George Bourchier, son of the earl of 
Bath, and George Walsh, were appointed his 
colleagues ; the former to aid him in the 
military, the latter in the civil administration. 
This president was successful in a war he 
carried on against the confederates, and 
obliged some of their chiefs, namely, Mac 
Carty More, Lord Barry, MacCarty Riagh, 
Donough MacTeigue of Muskerry, Lord 
Courcy, and MacDonough, to defray the 
expenses of the war, which weakened con- 
siderably the party of James Fitzmaurice. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



473 



Sidney the deputy obtained permission 
from the queen to return to England, with 
orders to appoint in his stead his brother-in- 
law, Sir William Fitzwilliams, who was 
sworn into office in St. Patrick's cathedral, 
Dublin, in April.* The Irish characters, 
for printing, were introduced into Ireland 
the same year, by Nicholas Walsh, the chan- 
cellor of St. Patrick's, and John Kerne, 
treasurer. Government gave orders to have 
prayer-books printed in the Irish language, 
in order to seduce the people, but their ef- 
forts did not succeed. 

Brien Cavanagh, son of Cahir MacArt, 
who was created baron of Balian by Queen 
Mary, caused great disturbance in Leinster ; 
he was a brave and accomplished nobleman. t 
He killed Robert Brown, lord of Malrenkam, 
for having insulted him. Brien's pride made 
him so formidable to his neighbors, that Sir 
Nicholas Devereux and the principal inhab- 
itants of Wexford, assembled to check his 
progress. They came to an engagement, 
which was fatal to Devereux ; he lost thir- 
ty gentlemen on the field of battle, besides 
several soldiers. 

Connaught was also in a state of rebel- 
lion, at the head of which were the Burkes 
of Clanriccard, who could not bear the ty- 
rannical government of Fitton. They there- 
fore took up arms, and, together with their 
allies, the Scotch, devastated the whole 
country. Tranquillity was at length restored 
to the province, says Cox, by a victory which 
Captain Collin, with one company of infantry, 
gained over the Scotch, who amounted to a 
thousand men.J Elizabeth saw that the re- 
bellion in Connaught was caused by Fitton's 
severity ; he was consequently removed from 
the government of the province, and appoint- 
ed treasurer. The O'Morras and O'Connors 
of Leinster made attempts to create a diver- 
sion in favor of the rebels in Connaught ; 
they burned Athlone, and made some incur- 
sions on the English province, where they 
committed terrible devastation. In Ulster, 
Brien Mac-Felimy O'Neill made himself mas. 
ter of Carrickfergus, and then set it on fire. 

Thomas Smith, an Englishman, and coun- 
sellor to the queen, finding that his country- 
men were making rapid fortunes in Ireland: 
at the expense of the old inhabitants, and 
wishing to have a- share in the spoils^asked 
permission from his roySL n'Msires'S|rfo send 
over his son to found an English cWomy at 
Ardes, in Ulster. He had\woV>bjectV in 
view ; first, to procure an extensive estate 

* War. ibid. cap. 13. 

t Cambd. Elizab. part 2, p. 240. 

t History of Ireland, p. 339. 



for his son where he might become a power- 
ful nobleman ; secondly, to conceal from 
posterity, in a foreign land, the ignominy of 
his birth, being illegitimate. The queen 
having given her consent, young Smith was 
equipped for the enterprise. One Chatter- 
ton being appointed his governor, with a suit- 
able retinue, they sailed for Ireland ; but on 
approaching the place of his destination, 
unfortunately for Smith, he met Brien Mac- 
Art O'Neill, to whom Ardes belonged, ready 
to receive him. The pretended lord of Ardes 
was killed in a skirmish, and his troops dis- 
persed by Brien Mac-Art. 

Cambden gives a different account of the 
above circumstance. He assumes, first, that 
the queen of England had a right to bestow 
what did not belong to her.* It is true that 
her predecessors often pronounced sentence 
of confiscation against those who never ac- 
knowledged their authority, and who were 
always opposed to them. This authority of 
the kings of England, with respect to the 
greater part of Ireland, particularly Ulster, 
was confined to the permission which they 
granted to their subjects, to seize on the pos- 
sessions of others by force ; which permis- 
sion being given, the resistance of the pro- 
prietor was construed by the English into 
rebellion . Our author emphatically observes, 
that Thomas Smith, moved with compassion 
for neglected Ireland, obtained leave from 
the queen to send over his bastard son to 
establish at Ardes, on the eastern coast of 
Ulster, a colony of Englishmen, in order to 
civilize the semi-barbarous inhabitants of 
that country. We might be induced to think 
that Christian charity was the motive of 
Smith's conduct on this occasion, but that we 
are told that this Englishman had already 
divided the lands of Ardes among his fol- 
lowers, promising to each foot-soldier a hun- 
dred and twenty acres ; to a horseman two 
hundred and forty ; and to others in propor- 
tion to their rank, on condition of paying 
him an annual rent of one penny an acre, 
without mention of any thing for the old 
proprietor. By this it is obvious, that a pre- 
tended desire of civilizing the inhabitants of 
Ardes was a species of pretext to invade their 
flflfeuls. As to,.the epithet barbarous, which 
ll^ambden applies to the people of Ardes, 
and the word perfidy to Brien Mac-Art, for 
having killed an enemy who came armed to 
disnos|essi him, it is the general style of 
the EWdish, who believe that their adver- 
saries' obedience should be measured ac- 
cording to their will, and who always define 

* Elizabeth, part 2, pp. 240, 241. 



4~4 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the self-defence of a people whom they op- 
press by the term barbarity. 

Walter Devereux, viscount Hereford, was 
created by the queen earl of Essex in 1573. 
This nobleman was descended in a direct 
line from the ancient counts d'Evreux, de- 
scendants of the dukes of Normandy, by 
Robert, archbishop of Rouen, and Count 
d'Evreux.* In order to gratify him, the 
queen, whose most attached favorite he was, 
gave him the half of certain lordships which 
had been confiscated in Ulster, with the title 
of captain-general of that province, on con- 
dition of repairing thither with two hundred 
horse and four hundred foot, whom he was 
to support for two years at his own expense.! 
To induce men to join readily in this expe- 
dition, they were flattered with the hope of 
estates ; whoever should have served with- 
out pay in the cavalry for two years, was to 
receive four hundred acres of land, and those 
who served in the infantry, were to have 
similar terms, viz., to receive two hundred 
acres on condition of their paying an annual 
rent of two pence per acre. 

Fitzwilliam, then lord-deputy, was envious 
of his new rival ; and fearing that his own 
merits would be eclipsed by a nobleman in- 
vested with royal authority, he made use of 
all his influence to counteract this enterprise .J 
In order to reconcile both parties, the queen 
commanded Essex to take his patents for the 
government of Ulster from the deputy. This 
difficulty being removed, the earl, accompa- 
nied by several English nobles, who wished 
to be sharers of his fortune, and witnesses of 
his exploits, sailed for Ireland, and landed at 
Carrickfergus about the end of August. He 
was waited upon and complimented by Brien 
MacFelimy, O'Neill, and other Irish nobles, 
who did not suspect him in the beginning ; 
but on seeing the train that accompanied him, 
they left him on a sudden, and joined the 
standard of Tirlogh Linogh O'Neill. 

The earl of Essex had scarcely landed 
in Ireland, when he wished to return to Eng- 
land. From the many difficulties he met 
with in his undertaking, and the armed hos- 
tility of the inhabitants of Ulster, he found 



himself abandoned by degrees by those no- 
blemen who accompanied him. The earl 
of Leicester, desirous of keeping him at a 
distance, opposed his wish to leave Ireland. 
He was at length, however, permitted to 
return to England, after an expedition, the 
only result of which was the loss of large 
sums of money. 

James Fitzmaurice continued to devastate 
the lands of the queen's partisans in Munster, 
a. d. 1574. He frequently fought against 
John Perrott, governor of the province, and 
was often victorious ; having defeated the 
royal troops at Kilmallock, Sanid, Kuille- 
hugie, and Cluonie, where Captain Morgan 
was killed, and his troops dispersed.* 

The queen, alarmed at the successes of 
Fitzmaurice, sent orders to her deputy to 
offer him terms of peace ; declaring that 
she desired more to preserve her authority 
in Ireland than to persecute religion. Fitz- 
maurice agreed to lay down his arms, pro- 
vided that the persecution against the Cath- 
olics of the province would cease ; and that 
the earl of Desmond and his brother John, 
who were prisoners in the Tower, would be 
set at liberty. These conditions were wil- 
lingly accepted by the queen, and Fitzmau- 
rice put a stop to hostilities. Elizabeth 
gave orders to liberate the earl and his 
brother : she had them brought before her, 
and admonished them to put an end to a 
rebellion which disturbed the public peace. 
The earl replied that he never wished to 
rebel, and that his own loyalty, and that of 
his ancestors, to the kings of England, were 
well known, but that he could not bear the 
tyranny practised by her majesty's ministers 
upon the people for their religion. The 
queen dismissed both with apparent kind- 
ness, promising to fulfil the treaty she had 
concluded with Fitzmaurice. The perfidious 
princess, however, sent orders secretly to 
the captain of the ship that was to bring 
them to Dublin, to give them up to the de- 
puty who resided there. She also dispatch- 
ed a secret communication to the latter, to 
retain the earl with him in Dublin, and to 
send his brother John to Munster, in order 
to bring James Fitzmaurice with him to that 



* Baker, Chron. p. 346. Cambd. Elizab. part^Bcity, that the three might confirm and sign 



page 255 

t War. ibid. c. 13. Cambd. ibid. p. 256. 

X The earl of Leicester was honored with the ti- 
tle of grand equerry to the queen. He was youngest 
son to the duke of Northumberland, who 
headed in the first year of Mary's reign. H 
father was Dudley, who is ranked by English his 
torians with Empson, one of those infamous leeches 
of the public money during the reign of Henry VII., 
and who was put to death in the first year of Henry 
the Eighth's reign. 



the treaty that had been made with the queen 
Such was the plausible but treacherous mo- 
tive assigned ; bu/the secret determination 
was, to have the" three beheaded together, 
'grand. The earl, however, being apprized of the 
design, fled immediately. He owed his life 
to the swiftness of his horse, by which he 

* Hist. Cathol. Hib. tome 2, lib. 4, cap. 8. Relat. 
Girald. cap. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



475 



arrived, after five days, with his brother and 
cousin James Fitzmaurice, in the remotest 
part of the county Kerry. The earl of Des- 
mond was so far incensed against the Eng- 
lish government by this new act of trea- 
chery, that he began the war with more 
vigor than before, whereupon he was pro- 
claimed a traitor ; the government offered a 
reward of a thousand pounds and forty 
pounds a year, to any that would give him 
up alive, or five hundred pounds and twenty 
pounds a year, for his head. 

The deputy marched his forces to Mun- 
ster, to quell the disturbances caused by the 
Fitzgeralds, and gave, in his absence, the 
government of the English province to the 
earl of Kildare. 

War was not the only scourge with which 
Ireland was afflicted at this time. The 
plague carried away numbers in the English 
province, while the Irish, who were ani- 
mated by the promises they received from 
Rome and Spain, were everywhere up in 
arms. Fitzwilliam, the deputy, was recalled 
a. d. 1575, after much importunity on his 
own part. 

The queen again turned her thoughts to- 
wards Sidney for the government of Ireland. 
He was better acquainted than any of his 
countrymen with the state of affairs there, 
and consequently better calculated to gov- 
ern it ; but he knew well the difficulty of 
subjugating the country, which made him 
averse to undertake the office. In order, 
however, to fix his mind to the attempt, the 
queen sent over a fresh reinforcement with 
warlike stores, and promised him twenty 
thousand pounds a year. Pleased with these 
hopes, Sidney sailed in September for Ire- 
land, and on account of the plague in Dub- 
lin, landed at Skerries, whence he repaired 
to Drogheda to be sworn into office. 

Having learned at Drogheda that Surly 
Boy Mac-Donnel was laying siege to Car- 
rickfergus, and had killed forty men and 
their commander Captain Baker, he march- 
ed at the head of six hundred men, and 
forced Surly Boy to abandon his enterprise. 
He then pacified the O'Neills, O'Donnels, 
M'Mahons, Maguires, and other nobles of 
the North. After this expedition to Ulster, 
Sidney marched into Leinster, where he 
found the county of Kildare, particularly the 
barony of Carbry, laid waste by the O'Mor- 
ras and O'Connors. The King's and Queen's 
counties had shared the same fate ; but Rory 
O'Morra made peace with the deputy at 
Kilkenny, through the interference of Or- 
mond. After leaving Kilkenny, Sidney 
marched through the counties of Waterford, 



Cork, and Limerick. He then passed through 
Thuomond and Galway, administering jus- 
tice in all these places ; received the sub- 
mission of the Burkes of Clanriccard, who 
had rebelled, and left garrisons in the towns 
on his route to Dublin. 

The plague ceased in Dublin and in the 
English province in 1576, but the tyranny 
of the English was a continual scourge. 
The country appeared a desert ; the towns 
were destroyed by the marching and coun- 
termarching of the troops, after whom, as 
they passed along, nothing was to be seen 
but wretchedness and desolation, particu- 
larly in Louth, Meath, Kildare, Wexford, 
Carlow, and the King and Queen's coun- 
ties, which were at one time harassed by 
the O'Morras and O'Connors, and again by 
the English troops. 

In the deputy's letters to the queen on this 
subject, he complained that the undertakers* 
in the two latter counties were so poor and 
so few in number, that he was obliged to 
leave a garrison of two hundred soldiers to 
protect them, while the produce of both 
counties did not amount to a twentieth part 
of what it cost the crown to support them. 
He also gave her an account of his services, 
namely, that he had rebuilt Kilmallock, 
and imposed a tax of two thousand pounds 
on the inhabitants of Connaught to rebuild 
Athenry, which had been burned by the 
Mac-an-Earlas, that is, the children of the 
earl of Clanriccard ; and that he had taken 
the castles of Ballyclare and Ballinasloe 
from that nobleman, and had received the 
submission of the O'Connor Don and O'Flin, 
at Roscommon, who wished to be governed 
by English laws. He likewise mentioned 
that Connaught was disturbed by the Scotch, 
allies of the Burkes of Clanriccard ; that 
Longford had agreed to pay all arrears which 
were due ; that Brefny was tranquil ; that 
he had appointed Thomas Lestrange and 
Thomas Dillon, commissioners in Connaught 
for the settlement of private quarrels ; and 
lastly, that he had made Robert Damport 
high-sheriff of the province. 

The affairs of religion were not more 
prosperous than those of government ; the 
churches were abandoned ; the priests were 
dispersed ; the children left without bap- 
tism, and brought up in ignorance, the na- 
tural consequence of one religion endeavor- 

* These undertakers were needy Englishmen, 
who were sent over to establish a colony in those 
counties, between whom the estates of the O'Mor- 
ras, O'Connors, and other noblemen, which had 
been confiscated under the pretext of their having 
rebelled, were divided. 



476 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



ing to establish itself on the downfall of 
another. The ministers of the old religion 
were driven from their sees, while those of 
the new were too few to supply their places. 
These last were Englishmen, sent to preach 
the new doctrine, but were not attended to 
by the people ; they were shepherds without 
flocks. The attachment of the Irish to the 
Catholic religion has been unexampled. Not- 
withstanding the severe laws that were 
enacted by Henry VIII., Edward VI., and 
Elizabeth, down to the accession of James 
I., it is a well-established truth, that during 
that period the number of Irish who em- 
braced the reformed religion did not amount 
to sixty, in a country, which, at the time, 
contained about two millions of souls. With 
all her power, Elizabeth could not boast of 
having established the Protestant church in 
Ireland. The marked abhorrence of this 
nation to every innovation in religion, made 
this politic princess dread the consequences 
of forcing their conscience ; she therefore 
waited a more favorable opportunity, and 
enjoined the archbishops and bishops to 
watch only the interests of the church. She 
appointed William Gerald chancellor, and 
Sir William Drury president of Minister. 

The two latter having landed in Dublin, 
in June, the chancellor took possession of 
his office. The deputy wished to bring 
Drury to Wexford, and have him installed 
in the presidency of Munster, but was obliged 
to change his plan ; having received a letter 
from the mayor of Galway, informing him 
that the Burkes of Clanriccard were again 
in arms with their vassals ; that they had 
brought back their allies the Scotch, set fire 
to the gates of Athenry, which had been 
lately rebuilt, and pulled down the arms of 
the queen ; and that the inhabitants were 
plundered and their dwellings destroyed 

The deputy immediately set out for Con- 
naught, where he arrived after three days, 
to the great astonishment of the rebels, who 
quickly withdrew to their fastnesses. Find' 
ing no enemy to contend with, he took pos 
session of the castles and fortresses of the 
earl of Clanriccard, whom he sent prisoner 
to Dublin, to answer for the conduct of his 
sons. He then visited Galway, where he 
remained for some days, and from that went 
to Limerick, where Drury was installed 
president of Munster, after which they both 
proceeded to Cork. 

The new president exercised the greatest 
severity in the province of Munster, except 
in the palatinate of Kerry, which the earl 
of Desmond considered to be exempt from 
the royal authority. A dispute arose upon 



this subject between him and the president, 
whom he accused to the deputy of having 
raised exorbitant and arbitrary taxes on the 
people. 

The Burkes of Clanriccard, whose father 
was kept a prisoner in the castle of Dublin, 
rebelled again, and called the Scotch to 
their assistance. They laid siege to Bally- 
riagh, or Loughreagh, a castle within the 
possessions of the earl their father ; but the 
garrison, which consisted of veteran troops 
under the command of Thomas Lestrange 
and Captain Collier, experienced officers, 
found no difficulty in dispersing a body of 
men collected in a hurry, and without dis- 
cipline or arms. The deputy marched 
thither with his army, and being assisted by 
Mac William Oughter, a powerful lord of 
the family of Burke, in Connaught, he com- 
pletely quelled the disturbance, restored 
Mac William to his estates, and appointed 
Nicholas Mally governor of the province, 
after conferring on him the honor of knight- 
hood, according to his instructions from the 
queen. 

In the mean time, the earl of Essex un- 
dertook a second expedition into Ulster, 
which proved fatal to him. He had many 
enemies at court, the principal and most 
formidable of whom was the earl of Leices- 
ter. The latter inherited the talents and 
artifices of his father ; he was well versed in 
the intrigues of the court ; the favorite of 
Elizabeth, and a sworn enemy to Essex, who 
was then sent back to Ireland with the empty 
title of lord-marshal, which by its attrac- 
tions would necessarily render his fall more 
sure. He was forced soon after, by his ene- 
mies, to resign his command. The insult 
being too great to be borne, he was seized 
with a dysentery, and died in Dublin, after 
recommending his son, who was about ten 
years of age, to the protection of the deputy. 
The earl of Leicester was suspected of hav- 
ing caused Essex to be poisoned, which is 
not improbable, as Leicester married the 
countess of Essex during the lifetime of her 
husband, which ceremony was again per- 
formed after his death. 

The nobility of Leinster forwarded com- 
plaints similar to those that were brought by 
the earl of Desmond, against Drury, for his 
extortions in Munster, a. d. 1577.* A me- 
morial was laid before the deputy, represent- 
ing that their liberties and privileges were 
violated by an exorbitant and unreasonable 
tax, which exceeded twelve pounds' sterling 
for every plough-land, while the parliament 

* Ware, de Annal. lib. chap. 19. Cambd. ibid, 
page 280. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



477 



alone possessed the right of levying taxes. 
Displeased with his reply, they forwarded 
an appeal to the queen, by three deputies, 
Scurlock, Nettervil, and Burnel, bringing 
also letters signed by Lords Baltinglass, Del- 
vin, Howth, Trimleston, and others, in the 
name of the English province. The queen 
referred them to her council for their decis- 
ion : the Lords Kildare, Ormond, Gormans- 
town, and Dunsany, having been examined, 
they answered, that it had been always cus- 
tomary to impose taxes on the queen's subjects 
in Ireland ; but at the same time entreated 
that they might be raised with more lenity.* 
The queen finding that the petitioners wished 
to dispute her authority, sent the three com- 
missioners to prison, and dispatched orders 
to her deputy in Ireland to arrest the peti- 
tioners, to fix the tax at five marks for each 
plough-land, and to punish all abuses in the 
collection of them. Matters being thus ar- 
ranged, the petitioners submitted, and were 
set at liberty, as well as their commissioners. 
About this time Sir John Desmond, bro- 
ther to the earl, married the daughter of the 
earl of Clanriccard, who had been divorced 
by her first husband, O'Rourke. By this 
marriage he formed a close connection with 
the house of Clanriccard, the object of which 
was to aid each other against their enemies. 
This alliance caused uneasiness to the gov- 
ernment, and made them watchful of the 
earl of Desmond's movements, whose loyalty 
was already doubted. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



After Garret Fitzgerald, earl of Des- 
mond, had escaped from prison in Dublin, 
and from the perfidious design the queen had 
formed to exterminate himself and family, he 
was extremely cautious in his conduct to 
wards the court ; but never lost sight of the 
interests of religion, which he secretly sup 
ported, and which he considered as his first 
and most important duty. He placed no 
reliance on the repeated treaties with Eliza- 
beth, who had so often deceived him. Deem- 
ing it prudent to take precautionary meas- 
ures, he sent his relative, James Fitzmau- 
rice, to Rome, to consult with Gregory XIII. 
about preserving the faith in Ireland, and 
resisting its avowed enemies. Fitzmaurice 
first went, according to his instructions, 'to 
the court of France, where he was well re- 
ceived by the king, who seemed willing to 

* Baker's Chron. page 352. 



assist the earl of Desmond in his plans to 
support the Catholic religion, but was pre- 
vented by his council* After this, Fitz- 
maurice went to Spain. Philip II. recom- 
mended him strongly to the pope, and re- 
quested his holiness to take under his pro- 
tection the persecuted Catholics of Ireland. 

While James Fitzmaurice was seeking 
the aid of foreign princes, Rory or Roderick 
O'Morra and O'Connor Faly were vindi- 
cating their country's freedom against the 
queen's ministers, who practised every spe- 
cies of tyranny against the Catholics. The 
estates of these noblemen were confiscated 
in the reign of Mary. Rory, by his bravery, 
recovered the district of Leix, and kept pos- 
session of it till his death. He surprised 
and burned many towns belonging to the 
English in Leinster ; among others, Naas, 
Carlow, Leighlin, Rathcoole, and Ballymore. 
Being attacked by some royalist troops, he 
took their captains, Harrington and Cosby, 
prisoners, and brought them to his usual 
retreat in the middle of a wood. Here, 
however, he was soon after betrayed by a 
servant, and surprised in the night by Robert 
Harpool, at the head of two hundred English- 
men. His safety now rested on his courage ; 
his soldiers were at too great a distance to 
assist him ; the only persons with him were 
his wife, his cousin John O'Morra, and an 
aged nobleman of the same family, unable 
to defend himself. Followed, however, by 
his cousin, he opened a passage through the 
enemy with his sword, and after wounding 
several of them, escaped. The two officers 
who had been prisoners were set at liberty 
by the English, who had the baseness and 
cruelty to stab the wife of O'Morra, and the 
old nobleman, without pity for her sex, or 
for the infirmity of his years. 

MacGiolla Phadruig Fitzpatrick, prince 
of Ossory, who became an English subject 
by accepting the title of baron from that 
government, made some incursions into Leix, 
at the head of five hundred of the queen's 
troops. O'Morra marched to meet him with 
four hundred men ; but unfortunately wish- 
ing to reconnoitre the enemy before the 
action, he was surrounded by a detachment, 
and was the third that fell. Such was the 
end of this noble and generous man, whom 
the English term an arch rebel. Fitzpatrick 
was not the only Irishman (of the ancient 
race) who was base enough to sacrifice the 
interests of his religion and country, for 
titles of honor which were generally de- 
spised by his countrymen. 

* Relat. Girald. cap. 19. 



478 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Francis Cosby being appointed governor 
of Leix, ruled that country as a true tyrant. 
His son Alexander equalled him in cruelty, 
and wreaked his vengeance on inoffensive 
Catholics for the hard treatment he had re- 
ceived from O'Morra. Having convened a 
meeting of the principal inhabitants in the 
castle of Mollach, under pretence of the pub- 
lic welfare, he had them all murdered by 
assassins posted there for the purpose, vio- 
lating thereby all honor and public faith. 
One hundred and eighty men of the family 
of O'Morra, with many others, were put to 
death upon this occasion. This cruel and 
bloody tyrant took such delight in putting 
Catholics to the torture, that he hanged men, 
women, and children, by dozens, from an 
elm tree that grew before his door at Strad- 
bally, where he resided. 

Cahal, or Charles O'Connor Faly, was not 
indifferent to the sufferings of the Catholics ; 
being joined by Conal Mageoghan, of the 
family of Moy-Cashel, he took up arms, and 
gave many a check to the tyrants. An Eng- 
lishman named Macforty, expressly commis- 
sioned by the queen to assassinate O'Connor, 
fell by the sword of him whom he meant to 
sacrifice to the hatred of that princess.* 

Sir Henry Sidney, disgusted with the 
office of governor, and finding that his ser- 
vices were treated with contempt, solicited 
with eagerness his recall,! which he obtained 
at length ; and having regulated all public 
matters, he resigned the sword of justice to 
Sir William Drury, president of Munster. 
Sidney was considered an upright man : he 
had filled high offices in England with integ- 
rity ; and as a proof of his disinterestedness, 
it is affirmed that he never, though four times 
lord-justice, and three times deputy of Ire- 
land, appropriated to his own use an inch 
of land in the country, which was a rare 
example among his countrymen. 

James Fitzmaurice having arrived in 
Rome, was received with distinction by 
Pope Gregory XIII. In this city he met 
with Cornelius O'Moel Ryan, titular bishop 
of Killaloe, and Thomas Stukely .J Noth- 
ing certain is known either of the family or 
country of the latter : some assert that he 
was natural son of Henry VIII., others, that 
he was the son of an English knight and an 
Irish lady ; however, his conduct proves him 
to have been a knight errant that was seek- 
ing to improve a moderate fortune. 

The sovereign pontiff evinced great zeal 
for the Irish Catholics, to whom he sent 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 7. 

t War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 20. 

t Camb. reg. Elizab. part 2, on the year 1578. 



several letters. He exhorted them to per- 
severe in the faith, and to support the cause 
of religion against the heretics. The earl 
of Desmond he appointed chief of the holy 
league, and made James Fitzmaurice, who 
was then at Rome, his lieutenant, who, in 
case of accident, was to be replaced by Sir 
John Desmond, the earl's second brother, and 
the latter by James, his youngest brother. 

The pope gave a large sum of money, and 
had two thousand men raised in the States 
of the church, for the expedition to Ireland. 
Hercule de Pise, an experienced general, 
was appointed to command them. All things 
being prepared, and the troops embarked on 
board a small fleet, the command of it was 
given to Thomas Stukely, whose orders 
were to sail for Lisbon, and to wait there for 
James Fitzmaurice, who was to go thither 
by land. On reaching that port, Stukely 
found that Sebastian, king of Portugal, was 
preparing a considerable expedition for the 
war in Africa. This prince readily prevailed 
on him to join his fleet, promising that he 
would bestow on him rich rewards, and that 
he would assist him in the war in Ireland. 
Stukely accompanied Sebastian to Africa, 
determined, at all hazards, to advance his 
own interest. On their arrival, a sanguinary 
battle was fought, in which three kings lost 
their lives, namely, Sebastian, king of Por- 
tugal, Abedelmelic, king of Mauritania, and 
Mahumet, who was the promoter of this un- 
lucky expedition. Stukely, and the greater 
part of his Italians, shared their fate, a just 
reward for his disloyalty. 

Fitzmaurice having reached Portugal by 
land, was indignant at finding that Stukely 
had betrayed his cause.* Having no re- 
source left, he collected the remnant of his 
Italian force, which had returned to Spain, 
with some Cantabrians given him by his 
Catholic majesty, amounting in the whole, 
to about eight hundred men. He then sailed 
for Ireland with six vessels, provided with 
all kinds of ammunition, and arms for four 
thousand men. He was accompanied by 
Cornelius, bishop of Killaloe, and Doctor 
Sandus, an English priest, as legate from 
the pope. This little fleet arrived, the end 
of July, 1579, at Ardnacant, which the Eng- 
lish call Smerwick, in the western part of 
the county Kerry, near Dingle. In this har- 
bor there is an islet fortified by nature ; on 
one side it is washed by the sea, and on the 
other defended by a steep rock, leaving a 
passage, where it is joined to the continent 
by means of a draw-bridge. Fitzmaurice 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



479 



knowing well the importance of this place as 
an arsenal for the succors that he expected 
from Spain, added other works to render its 
natural situation impregnable. All kinds of 
provisions were put into it, and a garrison 
of 600 men, the command of which was 
given to Sebastian de Saint Joseph. 

As soon as the arrival of James Fitzmau- 
rice was known, he was complimented by Sir 
John Desmond, his brother James Desmond, 
and several noblemen of Munster, who joined 
them to prepare for the war against the 
heretics.* While they were raising troops 
for this purpose, John Desmond attacked 
Tralee, in which there was an English gar- 
rison ; he put Henry Davells, Carter, and 
some others of their chiefs to the sword, and 
dispersed the remainder. Fitzmaurice march- 
ed, at the same time, towards Connaught 
with a few followers, to prevail on his friends, 
whose intentions he was aware of, to join in 
the common cause ; but on his way he was 
attacked by Theobald Burke, eldest son of 
Sir William Burke, of Castle Connel, who, 
from a desire to please Elizabeth, sacrificed 
the interests of religion and of his country. 
Finding it impossible to avoid an engage- 
ment, Fitzmaurice resolved to conqueror die. 
Being wounded in the breast by a musket 
ball, and roused to a last effort, he cleared a 
passage through the enemy, and cut off the 
head of Theobald Burke with a single blow. 
The brothers of that captain fell also, and 
their entire force was routed. The victory, 
however, proved a dear one to Fitzmaurice. 
His wound, being mortal, he died in six hours 
after the action, after making his confession 
and receiving the last sacrament from an 
English priest called Alan, who always ac- 
companied him. Although the death of this 
illustrious chief filled the Catholics with 
alarm, still their courage was not broken 
down ; and the command of the forces was 
given to John Desmond, whose zeal was 
equal to his bravery. 

Elizabeth, grateful for the services received 
from the Burkes of Castle Connel, who had 
rid her of an enemy so formidable as James 
Fitzmaurice, wrote a letter to their father 
William Burke, and to console him for the 
loss of his children, settled a yearly pension 
on him, of two hundred marks, to be paid 
from the exchequer ; she also created him a 
peer of the realm, under the title of lord-baron 
of Castle Connel. The old man died through 
excess of joy for the new title .f 

Sir John Desmond took the command of 

* Cambd. ibid, ad an. 1579. Relat Girald. cap. 
22. Baker, page 355. 

t Cambd. ibid. Baker, ibid. 



the Catholic army, and justified, by his heroic 
actions, the choice which James Fitzmaurice, 
when dying, had made of him. In order to 
check the career of Desmond, Drury the 
deputy marched towards Munster at the head 
of four hundred infantry and two hundred 
cavalry, attended by marshal Bagnal, Malby, 
Wingfield, Waterhouse, Fitton, Masterson, 
and other subaltern officers. He was also 
joined by the lords Kildare, Mountgarret, 
Upper Ossory, and Dunboyne, with two 
hundred horsemen, and a few foot-soldiers. 
On arriving at Kilmallock, the deputy sent 
word to the earl of Desmond, and a few 
other lords of the province whose loyalty he 
suspected, to appear before him, in his camp, 
at Kilmallock. After some hesitation, the 
earl repaired to the deputy, who gave him 
up to the lord-marshal ; but policy soon in- 
duced him to set him at liberty, as he knew 
that Sir John Desmond, the earl's brother, 
was encamped, with the Catholic army, at 
Sleavelogher. 

Sir John Desmond having received intel- 
ligence through his spies, that the deputy 
was marching to attack him, left his camp 
at Sleavelogher, and went to influence the 
barony of Connillo in the county Limerick, 
in his favor. He posted himself advan- 
tageously in the castle of Gortantiburudi, 
near a forest called Blackwood ;* whither the 
deputy sent a strong detachment under Cap- 
tains Herbert and Price, with orders to force 
his camp. On the appearance of the Eng- 
lish, both armies drew up in order of battle ; 
the first shock was favorable to the heretics, 
but they were afterwards cut to pieces by a 
body of men which Desmond had concealed 
in the wood ; and which attacking them in 
flank, soon put them to flight. A great num- 
ber was killed, and among them Herbert 
and Price. 

The loss of this battle caused great afflic- 
tion to the deputy, but he was relieved by 
the arrival of six hundred English, under 
Captains Bourchier.Carew, and Dowdal,sent 
by the queen to Waterford, to reinforce the 
army. Sir John Perrot arrived in Cork, 
with six vessels to protect the coast. Being 
joined by this reinforcement, the deputy 
went on another equally unsuccessful expe- 
dition to Connillo. Having fallen sick from 
excess of fatigue, he sent for Malby, the gov- 
ernor of Connaught, to command the troops, 
and after conferring the honor of knight- 
hood on Bourchier, Stanly, Carew, Moore, 
Pelham, and some others, he withdrew to 
Waterford. 

Hist. Cathol. ibid. Relat. Girald. cap. 23. 
War.de Annal. Hib. cap. 21, Cambd. Elizabeth. 



480 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Malby now assuming the command of the 
army, he left three hundred infantry, and 
about fifty horse at Kilmallock, under the 
orders of Captain Bourchier, and marched 
with the remainder to Limerick. After re- 
freshinghis troops, he led them to Eanaghbeg 
in the district of Connillo, and encamped 
near an abbey called Monaster Nenay, where 
some auxiliaries arrived from the Burkes of 
Clanriccard and the Lacys, who joined them. 
Determined to drive away the enemy, John 
Desmond assembled all his force to give 
them battle ; but the ardor of some of the 
troops, who began the engagement by pur- 
suing the English (who were flying) to too 
great a distance, nearly proved fatal. Being 
surrounded by these fugitives, who were su- 
perior in numbers, they would have been 
cut to pieces, but for the prompt relief 
brought by Desmond. The action now be- 
coming general, both sides fought with equal 
bravery, till the right wing of the enemy be- 
ginning to give way, and one of their prin- 
cipal officers being killed, they were entirely 
routed, after a combat of an hour and a half. 
Desmond remained master of the field of 
battle, with all the cannon and baggage ; he 
lost only Thomas son of John Fitzgerald his 
paternal uncle, and Sir Thomas Brown, with 
some foot-soldiers. 

The troops of Desmond having refreshed 
themselves after the victory, marched from 
Connillo to Atharlam.* The garrison of 
Kilmallock being apprized of this movement, 
sallied forth to dispute their passing. An en- 
gagement ensued, in which both sides fought 
with equal bravery and success ; but after a 
terrible slaughter, victory declared in favor 
of Desmond, and the remainder of the enemy 
withdrew into the town. This victory was 
followed by another at Gort Na-Pissi, where 
ten battalions of English were cut to pieces 



* Cambdeii, and other English authors after him, 
do differ from the Irish writers respecting the above 
battles. The presumption of the Englishman makes 
him suppose that every thing belongs to him, and 
that he ought to be victorious though he be defeated. 
We here quote two authors who are equally worthy 
of belief with the English. One is Philip O'Sullivan, 
whose father was one of the principal actors in this 
war, and who scaled the walls of Youghal, when it 
was taken by Desmond. The other is Daniel, 
Dominick O'Daly, archbishop of Conimbed, whose 
father.CorneliusO'Daly, had for some time the com- 
mand of the forces under the earl of Desmond. 
These authors may be considered as eye-witnesses 
of the facts that are given ; they ought not to be 
suspected of partiality or inaccuracy in their ac- 
counts, more than Cambden, who wrote, on what 
he had never seen, according to the prejudices of 
his countrymen. The impartial reader will judge 
and decide. 



Desmond after this made incursions upon 
Ormond, and carried off great booty. The 
Butlers then collected their forces, under the 
following chiefs : Edward and Peter Butler, 
brothers to the earl of Ormond, MacPieris 
Butler, baron of Dunboyne, and Purcel, 
baron of Luochne, and went in pursuit of 
Desmond as far as Knock Grafuin, or Mount 
Grafuin, where a bloody battle was fought, 
which terminated in the total defeat of the 
Butlers. 

The earl of Desmond, who had till now 
kept an appearance of peace with the queen, 
began to remove the mask, and to act with 
his brother John Desmond. He carried off 
considerable booty from the plains of Cashel, 
after putting the garrison of that city to flight, 
which was commanded by Robert, an Eng- 
lishman. At the same time, Daniel O'Sul- 
livan, prince of Beare, defeated a body of 
English near the monastery of Bantry. 

Sir William Drury, deputy of Ireland, 
whom we left sick at Waterford, died in 
September — Malby's authority was now at 
an end in Munster ; however, previous to his 
return to Connaught, he placed garrisons in 
the towns of Rakele and Adare, in the county 
of Limerick. The privy council appointed 
Sir William Pelham lord-justice ad interim. 
He was sworn into office in October, in 
Christ's church, Dublin, till the court should 
nominate a deputy. After this ceremony, 
the new lord-justice conferred the honor of 
knighthood on Gerard the chancellor, and 
Edward Fitton. He also sent letters patent 
to the earl of Ormond, appointing him gov- 
ernor of Munster, and nominated Sir War- 
ham St. Leger, high sheriff for the same 
province. The chancellor was dispatched 
to England to inform the queen of the state 
of affairs in Ireland ; the seals being given, 
during his absence, to Adam Loftus, arch- 
bishop of Dublin. 

All things being thus arranged, the lord- 
justice proceeded on his route to Munster, 
attended by three bodies of troops, lately 
come from Berwick, called "red coats," 
from the color of their uniform. On his 
arrival at Kilkenny, he held assizes, at which 
he presided in person, and condemned Ed- 
mond MacNeill, and a few others, to death 
for high treason. He reconciled the earl of 
Ormond to the baron of Upper Ossory, 
obliging them to give bail for mutually re- 
pairing the damages which had been caused 
by their dissensions. He went to Cashel in 
October, where he was joined by the earl of 
Ormond at the head of two hundred and 
thirty men. From that city he wrote a flat- 
tering letter to the earl of Desmond, to in- 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



481 



duce him to repair thither under pretext of 
wishing to reconcile him to Malby, but the 
earl could not be prevailed upon to trust him. 
Pelham afterwards went to Limerick, where 
he was honorably received by Malby at the 
head of the army, and by the mayor and a 
thousand citizens underarms. From Limer- 
ick he proceeded to the village of Fannings, 
which was the rendezvous of the army. Here 
he was visited by the countess of Desmond, 
who brought him letters from her husband, 
with an apology for not obeying his orders. 
The lord-justice was not satisfied with this, 
and sent Ormond to the earl of Desmond to 
know his final intentions, but on his returning 
an evasive answer, it was decreed that he 
should be publicly proclaimed in the camp 
as a traitor, unless he submitted within twen- 
ty days ; and the troops were ordered to lay 
waste his lands at the expiration of that time. 
Viscount Gormanstown and the baron of 
Delvin signalized their zeal in the cause of 
Desmond on this occasion. These noblemen 
were Catholics, and though members of the 
council, and companions of the lord-justice 
in his expedition, they generously refused 
to sign the sentence which was pronounced 
against Desmond, whereupon they were re- 
primanded by the council in England. 

The earl of Desmond, finding himself con- 
demned, marched towards Cork, hoping to 
create thereby a diversion which might check 
the ravages that the enemy were committing 
in the territory of Connillo. Following the ad- 
vice of his relative Fitzgerald, seneschal of 
Imokilly,he attacked Youghal, which he took 
and gave up to plunder. Dermod O'Sullivan, 
of the noble family of Beare, contributed 
greatly to the taking of this town, by his in- 
trepidity in scaling the walls at the head of 
a body of infantry which he commanded, 
notwithstanding the obstinate defence of the 
besieged.* He destroyed a body of troops 
under Captain White, which had been sent 
by sea from Waterford, by the earl of Or- 
mond, to relieve Youghal. By way of retal- 
iation for the taking of this place, Ormond 
made an inroad into Connillo, where he was 
bravely opposed by the seneschal, and 
though he remained master of the field of 
battle, he sustained a heavy loss in killed. 
After pillaging and burning the whole coun- 
try, and treating the inhabitants with cruelty, 
he marched towards Cork, plundering every 
place as he passed. He was, however, greatly 
harassed by John Fitzmaurice, the seneschal, 
who gained an important advantage over the 
red coats near Lismore.f 

* Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid, 
t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. 



When Ormond arrived in Cork, finding 
the season far advanced, he ordered the 
troops into winter quarters. He then pro- 
ceeded to Cashel, through Youghal, where, 
to appease the queen's anger for the taking 
of this town, he had the mayor hanged, un- 
der pretence of his not having defended it 
against Desmond. He gave orders to have 
the walls rebuilt, and left a garrison in it of 
three hundred men, under Captains Pierce 
and Morgan. 

The earl of Desmond, who saw his forces 
diminishing, while those of the enemy were 
increasing every day by reinforcements sent 
from England, wrote letters to the principal 
noblemen in Leinster, whom he knew to be 
well disposed towards them, begging their 
aid in defence of their religion and country, 
against the common enemy. Whether these 
letters made any impression or not on the 
lords of Leinster, they took up arms the fol- 
lowing year in the cause which Desmond 
so nobly defended. 

The lord-justice, who had remained in 
Limerick, set out for Galway, attended by 
the earl of Thuomond, and renewed the 
privileges of that city.* From thence he 
proceeded to Athlone, and afterwards to 
Dublin, where he continued for some time. 
William Norris arrived at the same time 
from England, with one hundred and fifty 
horsemen. They were sent by the lord- 
justice to garrison Newry, where Norris 
died on Christmas-day. 

Towards the end of January, Pelham left 
Dublin for Wexford, where he presided at 
the assizes, held for civil and criminal cases. 
Thence he repaired to Waterford, where he 
was honorably received. The earl of Or- 
mond joined him in that city, and having 
intelligence that a detachment of the ene- 
my was marching towards Dungarvan and 
Youghal, they dispatched Captain Zouch, 
with four hundred infantry and one hundred 
horse, to defend those towns. 

After remaining three weeks at Water- 
ford, Pelham went to Clonmel, where he 
was again joined by Ormond. He then pro- 
ceeded to Limerick. The chancellor of the 
church in that city was arrested on suspi- 
cion of holding a correspondence with the 
earl of Desmond ; and the bishop was con- 
fined to his palace for the same cause. 

The lord-justice and Ormond having re- 
moved to Rathkeale in March, to consult 
together on the operations of the campaign, 
they resolved in council to divide the army 
and act separately. Ormond marched his 

* Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 362. 



482 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



division towards Sleveloglier, burning and 
destroying the country as he passed. Pel- 
ham took the route towards Slevemish, near 
Tralee. Finding it impossible to proceed 
further, he fell back to besiege the fortress 
of Carrikifoyl, which belonged to Desmond. 
The commander of a detachment of his ar- 
my, when passing through the territory of 
Clanmorris, obliged Fitzmaurice, the lord of 
the country and baron of Lixnaw, to give 
him hostages as a pledge of his loyalty. This 
inhuman officer had the hostages hanged, 
violating thereby the rights of war.* His 
crime, however, met with a due chastise- 
ment ; he was attacked at Ardfert by the 
troops of Fitzmaurice, and his men cut to 
pieces. Pelham having reached Carriki- 
foyl, laid siege to the castle ; the garrison 
of which consisted of nineteen Spaniards and 
fifty Irish, commanded by an Italian engineer 
called Julio. Having effected a breach, 
Captain Macworth entered at the head of a 
strong force, put part of the little garrison 
to the sword,t and caused the remainder, 
together with their chief, to be hanged. As- 
keaton and Ballyloghan, the last fortresses 
belonging to Desmond, shared the same fate. 

The lord-justice left four companies in 
garrison at Askeaton, and returned to Lim- 
erick in the beginning of April, 1580. Af- 
ter giving his troops some repose, he recom- 
menced hostilities, devastating the- lands of 
the Mac Auliffs as far as Slevelogher : he 
then penetrated into the county of Kerry, 
towards Castlemaine, whence he carried off 
large herds of cattle, but the army, being 
badly paid, began to mutiny, which checked 
his further operations for a while. 

Such was the state of affairs in Ireland, 
when Pope Gregory XIII. addressed the 
following letter to the Irish clergy and peo- 
ple : — ■ 

" Gregory XIII. to all and every of the 
archbishops, bishops, prelates, princes, earls, 
barons, and all the inhabitants of Ireland, 
greeting, health, and apostolical benedic- 
tion. 

" Whereas we have exhorted you by our 
letters, during these last years, to recover 
your freedom, to defend and preserve it 
against the heretics ; to aid also and sup- 
port, with all your strength, James Geral- 
dine, of happy memory, who had ardently 
undertaken to break the yoke of slavery 
which the English, who have deserted the 
holy Roman church, have imposed upon 
you. 

" It was our will that you would speedily 

* Wareus, ibid. cap. 22. 
t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. 



and courageously have assisted the said 
James, who fought against the enemies of 
God and of your country. In order to sup- 
port you in your zeal, we have granted to 
all who will repent and confess their sins, 
and who have followed the said James, the 
defender and protector of the Catholic faith, 
and his army, and to those who will join 
and assist, either by their counsel, arms, or 
warlike stores ; a full and general pardon of 
all their sins, the same as the sovereign pon- 
tiffs have been accustomed to grant to those 
who were engaged in war against the Turks, 
or for the recovery of the Holy Land. Hav- 
ing learned with grief that the said James 
has (as it hath pleased the Lord) lately fallen 
in fighting valiantly against the enemies of 
his country, and that our dear son John 
Geraldine, his cousin, has with equal piety 
and greatness of soul, by the assistance of 
God, in whose cause he is engaged, suc- 
ceeded him in the command, and has already 
performed acts of heroism, for which the 
Catholic faith is deeply indebted to him ; 
we therefore exhort you all in general, and 
each one in particular, with all the affection 
of our soul, and urge and require of you, 
in the Lord, to assist the said John, your 
leader against the heretics, with all your re- 
sources, as you have assisted James when 
living. Confiding in the mercies of the om- 
nipotent God, and supported by the author- 
ity of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, 
we give and grant to all and each of you, 
who are engaged with and assist the said 
John and his army, a plenary indulgence 
and remission of your sins, by a due ob- 
servance, on your part, of the conditions 
contained herein, viz., to confess your sins 
and receive worthily. The same privileges 
are granted to you, as have been granted to 
those who have fought against the Turks 
for the recovery of the Holy Land. 

" Given at Rome at St. Peter's, under 
the Fisherman's ring, the 13th day of May, 
1580, and in the eighth year of our pontifi- 
cate." 

Thus did Gregory XIII. endeavor to re- 
medy the evils which had been inflicted on 
Ireland by Adrian IV., one of his prede- 
cessors. He wished, by separating that 
country from England, to repair the im- 
prudence committed in bestowing it upon 
Henry II., under the specious pretext of 
establishing the faith in it, and reforming 
the morals of its people. Gregory's plan, 
however, was too weak, and the evil too 
deeply rooted. Desmond and his adhe- 
rents were betrayed by some of their coun- 
trymen, and Elizabeth, having no impor- 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



483 



tant wars to maintain against the neigh- 
boring powers, turned all her thoughts to 
Ireland. 

Some Catholic lords in Munster, who were 
suspected of holding a correspondence with 
the rebels, were summoned to appear be- 
fore the lord-justice at Limerick and ac- 
count for their conduct.* They all, with 
the exception of Lord Barry, submitted. 
Cormac, son of Teague Mac Carthy of Mus- 
kerry, having displayed particular zeal in 
the royal cause, had his share in the re- 
wards ; and soon after found an opportunity 
of signalizing himself. James Desmond,! 
the earl's youngest, brother, either to chas- 
tise him for his perfidy or to revenge some 
private wrongs, made incursions on his lands 
at the head of one hundred and fifty men, 
and carried off considerable booty. Domnal, 
the brother of Cormac, collected all the 
forces he could muster, and having pursued 
Desmond, they came to an engagement, 
which was fatal to the latter. After seeing 
all his men fall by his side, and being him- 
self mortally wounded, he had the misfor- 
tune to be made prisoner, and given up to 
Warham St. Leger, the high-sheriff of the 
province, and Captain Rawleigh, who had 
him put to death in Cork for high treason 
His head was cut off, and exposed on the 
gate of the city, to serve as a warning to 
others. In order to reward his services, 
Cormac Mac Teague was created a knight 
by the lord-justice, and appointed high 
sheriff of the county of Cork. 

The earl of Ormond, who commanded a 
body of troops at Adare, marched towards 
Buttevant, where the whole army suffered 
from an extraordinary malady, which they 
termed the " mild correction." It was 
kind of violent headache, which lasted for 
two or three days, and deprived those who 
were attacked by it of their understanding ; 
it was not, however, fatal to many. 

After the contagion had ceased, Ormond 
divided his army into two parts ;% one he 
led to Castle Island, in the county of Kerry, 
and sent the other to Tralee, the place of 
rendezvous. He then marched, with his 
army in three divisions, towards Dingle, 
plundering the country as he marched, and 
shedding the blood of the Catholics without 
mercy, so that not one would have escaped, 
had it not been for the protection granted 
to several by Sir William Winter, the Eng- 
lish vice-admiral, who commanded a squad- 
ron in the port of Bantry, to prevent the 

* Cox, Hist, of Ire!, page 365. 

t Cambd. Reign of Elizabeth, part 2, ad an. 1580. 

t Cox, Hist, of Ireland, page 365. 



Spaniards from making a descent. From this 
time we may date the decline of the cause 
of Desmond. He had lost his cousin James 
Fitzmaurice, and his brother James Des- 
mond, the country was laid waste, and pro- 
visions became so scarce, that many who 
were attached to his cause, were forced, for 
want of subsistence, to abandon him. 

The Reformation in the Church of Eng- 
land was disturbed at this time by the ar- 
rival of a body of Dutch fanatics,* who call- 
ed themselves the family of love. They 
preached in public their wild doctrine, " that 
none but those who belonged to their family 
would be saved," and maintained, that per- 
jury before a magistrate who was not of their 
family was no crime. They had several 
volumes containing their dogmas translated 
into English, and published under the af- 
fecting titles of Gospel of the kingdom, Do- 
minical Sentences, Prophecy of the Spirit of 
Love, and others of a similar import, all 
of which were burned by orders of the 
government, and the authors expelled the 
kingdom. 

At this period, the court appointed Arthur 
Grey, lord-baron of Wilton, and knight of 
the order of the garter, deputy for Ireland ; 
he landed at Dublin in August. Some noble- 
men of Leinster and Meath beheld with in- 
dignation the Catholic clergy persecuted ; 
the holy sacrifice of the mass abolished ; 
their churches profaned by the new ceremo- 
nies of the reformers, and dreading fresh in- 
novations, united to defend their religion.! 
The chiefs of this confederacy were James 
Eustace, viscount of Baltinglass, Fiach Mac- 
Hugh, chief of the O'Byrnes of Wicklow, 
and Captain Fitzgerald, who withdrew from 
-the queen's service for the purpose of joining 
in it. The plot, however, having been dis- 
covered before it was ripe for execution, 
some of the leaders were arrested and put 
to death. 

The new deputy having learned, previous 
to his receiving the sword, that Baltinglass 
and Fiach MacHugh, with their confeder- 
ates, were posted in the defiles of Gleanda- 
loch, determined to dislodge them ; for which 
purpose he collected all the English troops 
in Leinster, both foot and horse, and march- 
ed to Gleandaloch, where he found the Irish 
ready to receive him. The battle began in 
a wood which was lined with cavalry, under 
the command of Lord Grey. The combat was 
long and obstinate, but victory having at 
length declared in favor of the Irish, a 

* Baker, Chron. of Engl, on the reign of Eliza- 
beth. Cambd. Elizabeth, ad an. 1580. 
t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. cap. 14. 



484 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



dreadful carnage was made of the English 
troops, and the deputy, with his cavalry, was 
forced to fly. The English lost eight hundred 
soldiers, besides Sir Peter Carew, Colonel 
Moor, and Captains Audely and Cosby. This 
last commander was particularly cruel, as 
has been already observed. His greatest 
pleasure consisted in putting the inoffensive 
Catholics, and even their infants, to death 
before his door. This blood-thirsty tyrant, 
however, met with his reward at last.* 

Pelham having regulated the affairs of 
Munster, where he left two thousand eight 
hundred and twenty foot-soldiers, and three 
hundred and ninety-five horse, under the 
command of Sir George Bourchier, passed 
through Connaught, and confirmed Malby 
in the government of that province. He 
proceeded to Dublin in September, and gave 
up the sword of justice to the new deputy 
in the cathedral of St. Patrick. 

According to some writers, James Fitz- 
maurice had brought to Ireland eight hun- 
dred Italians and Spaniards, and had fortified 
Smerwick as a garrison and arsenal for the 
rest of the Spaniards who were expected. 
It is also stated, that he left six hundred men 
in it, under the command of Sebastian de 
Saint Joseph ; but Cambden and Ware fix 
the arrival of these troops in Ireland in 
1580. However this may be, the new de- 
puty, in order to clear his reputation, which 
was sullied by his defeat at Gleandaloch, de- 
termined to besiege Smerwick, and drive 
away these foreigners. The earl of Ormond 
had already failed in the same plan. Having 
marched from Tralee to lay siege to this for- 
tress, a sally of the besieged prevented his 
continuing it, and he was obliged to join the 
deputy, who had already arrived at Rathkeal. 

Every thing being prepared, the deputy, 
accompanied by the earl of Ormond, Captains 
Zouch, Ravvleigh, Denny, Mackworth, and 
others, marched towards Smerwick at the 
head of eight hundred, or according to others, 
of fifteen hundred men, to besiege that for- 
tress, while Sir William Winter blockaded 
it with his squadron by sea.f The siege 
lasted for forty days, the place being well 
provided, and obstinately defended ; so that 
the deputy finding the winter draw near, and 
knowing the inconvenience of being en- 
camped in bad weather, was resolved to ac- 
complish by treachery, what he could not 
effect by force. For this end he displayed a 
flag of truce, and demanded a parley. An 
Irish nobleman named Plunket, belonging to 
the garrison, was very zealous in the cause 

* Hist. Cathol. Ibem. ibid. cap. 6. 

t Hist. Cathol. ibid. c. 15. Relat. Gerald, c. 13. 



of the Catholics, and strongly averse to any 
truce with the reformers, alleging that they 
possessed neither probity nor honor, and 
could not therefore be relied on. Sebas- 
tian, the governor, was opposed to Plunket's 
advice. He was desirous of capitulating, 
and went forth from the castle, attended by 
Plunket, who was to act as interpreter. 
The deputy received him with politeness, 
and proposed to them to capitulate, and that 
he would allow the garrison to march out 
with all the honors of war. Plunket used 
every effort to prevent the treaty from being 
concluded, by giving false versions of the 
proposals of both parties. It appeared, 
however, by his countenance and mode of 
speaking, that Plunket was not a true inter- 
preter, upon which they had him arrested. 
They then entered into a treaty ; an English- 
man, who was acquainted with the Spanish 
language, being the interpreter. Sebastian 
returned joyfully to the fortress, saying that 
he was surrendering the place to the English 
upon honorable terms, and that seeing 
matters so desperate, he thought it prudent 
to save the garrison. The captain of the 
Cantabrians, and Hercule de Pise, inveighed 
loudly against the treaty, saying, that so far 
from fearing for the place, they would be 
able, if necessary, to oppose the enemy in 
the field ; but the soldiers, who preferred life 
to glory, declared for the governor, and lost 
both. Though they surrendered on condi- 
tions which were sworn to by the deputy, 
they were immediately ordered to lay down 
their arms, and were cruelly slaughtered by 
the barbarous English. The governor alone 
escaped, but was banished from the kingdom. 
Plunket was reserved for a worse fate — his 
arms and thighs being dislocated with ham- 
mers. It is from this event that fides Greice, 
or the faith of Grey, became a proverb in 
the country, whenever mention was made 
of any signal act of treachery being com- 
mitted. The fortress of Smerwick being 
evacuated, a strong garrison and governor 
were placed in it by the deputy. The gov- 
ernment of Munster was then consigned to 
the earl of Ormond. Four hundred and fifty 
men were left under Captain Zouch, whom 
the deputy appointed commander of Kerry 
and Desmond. He placed troops in the 
other cities, towns, and villages of the pro- 
vince, and gave orders to the principal offi- 
cers to destroy with fire and sword every 
place that continued faithful to the earf, and 
to bring the war to a speedy termination. 
He then returned to Dublin. 

The deputy received intelligence in Dub- 
lin, that the earl of Desmond had passed into 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



485 



Connaught with two hundred men, to join 
the earl of Clanriccard's two sons who had 
taken up arms ; that Viscount Baltinglass, 
with the O'Byrnes, O'Morras, Cavanaghs, 
and Keatings, were collecting a great force ; 
and that Munster, Connaught, and a part of 
Leinster, were under arms. He was great- 
ly alarmed at the news ; but the arrival of 
a hundred and fifty horsemen, and six com- 
panies of infantry from England, gave him 
fresh confidence. With this reinforcement, 
and his other troops, he scoured the territo- 
ries of O'Faly, Fearcall, Kinalyagh, and Ely. 
He condemned O'Molloy, lord of Fearcall, 
to death as a rebel ; the O'Connors Faly, 
MacGeoghegans of Kinalyagh, and O'Car- 
rols of Ely, he appeased, and thus crushed 
the conspiracy in its cradle.* The earl of 
Kildare, and his son-in-law, the baron of 
Delvin, who were suspected of holding cor- 
respondence with Baltinglass and the other 
Catholics, were arrested and given in custody 
to Wingfield, master of the ordnance. At 
the same time, the earl's friends persuaded 
his son, Henry Fitzgerald, to withdraw for a 
while to the country of Offaly, from which 
he derived the title of baron. He there fell 
into the power of the O'Connors, who, for 
his own safety, detained him against his will 
till the fate of his father should be known. 
The deputy sent the earl of Ormond to de- 
mand him. The O'Connors at first refused 
to give him up ; but fearing that by detain- 
ing the young nobleman they might injure 
the father, they sent him to Ormond, who 
brought him to Dublin. He was then, to- 
gether with his father the earl, and the 
baron of Delvin, sent to England, where all 
three were committed to the tower. 

A report was spread at this time of a 
conspiracy to surprise and seize the deputy 
in the castle of Dublin. Though this was 
never clearly proved, the persons suspected 
were capitally punished ; John Nugent, one 
of the barons of the exchequer, and several 
others, being put to death. 

Captain Rawleigh repaired to Dublin to 
complain of the Barrys and Condons in the 
county of Cork, and obtained a warrant to 
seize on Barryscourt, and other estates be- 
longing to Barry, lord of that castle. Raw- 
leigh received a fresh reinforcement, and set 
out from Dublin to execute his commission. 
Barry being apprized of Rawleigh's design, 
set fire to his castle, and the seneschal of 
Imokilly lay in ambush to intercept his 
march, so that Rawleigh was obliged to effect 
his escape to Cork, sword in hand. Viscount 

* War. ibid. Cambd. Elizab.part 2, ad an. 1580. 



Baltinglass, who had taken up arms in the 
cause of religion, against the queen, wishing 
to detach his neighbor the earl of Ormond 
from the interests of Elizabeth, wrote him a 
strong and interesting letter upon the sub- 
ject. Among other things, he said, that if 
holy Thomas of Canterbury had not died for 
the Roman Church, he never would have 
been earl of Ormond.* Cambden adds, that 
this nobleman was descended from a sister 
of Thomas a Becket, and that to expiate the 
murder of the holy prelate, Henry II. had 
bestowed large estates in the district of Or- 
mond on the ancestors of the earl. 

The deputy having gone to visit Munster, 
gave the government of the English province 
during his absence to Loftus, archbishop of 
Dublin, and to the earl of Kildare. t These 
governors having met at Tara in July, 1581, 
the earl set out, by orders of the council, at 
the head of two hundred horse and seven 
hundred foot, to propose terms to Viscount 
Baltinglass ; but having failed in this, he 
withdrew. The enemy taking advantage of 
his retreat, burned the town of Newcastle, 
in the county of Wicklow. In the mean 
time, the deputy on his way through Mun- 
ster, appointed Captain Zouch governor of 
that province, and returned to Dublin through 
Connaught. 

Nicholas Nugent, chief-justice of the com- 
mon pleas, having given some displeasure 
to the queen, was removed, and Sir Robert 
Dillon appointed in his stead. It was de- 
creed at this time that the cavalry should be 
placed in garrison, to prevent their being a 
burden to the public, and the prices of forage 
were regulated. 

Zouch, governor of Munster, was in gar- 
rison at Dingle, where several of his men 
died of sickness. Having learned that the 
earl of Desmond and David Barry were col- 
lecting their forces near Achadoe, in the 
county of Kerry, he marched with his army 
towards Castlemaine, and surprised the earl, 
who was obliged to withdraw to a wood 
called Harlow wood. At the same time, 
Fitzgerald, commonly called the seneschal 
of Imokilly, made incursions in the neigh- 
borhood of Lismore, and being attacked by 
a detachment from that garrison, he killed 
twenty-five of them, and put the rest to flight. 
While Zouch was at head-quarters in Cork, 
an occurrence took place, disastrous both to 
religion, and to the earl of Desmond, who 
defended it so gloriously. David Barry, and 

* Cambd. reign of Elizab. part 3, ad an. 1583. 
Baker, Chron. of England, page 361. Cox, Hist, 
of Ireland, page 367. 

t Ware, de Annal. ibid. cap. 23. 



486 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Fitzgerald, seneschal of Imokilly, though in 
arms for the common cause, had a dispute 
which broke out into an open rupture at this 
time, and destroyed the harmony and union 
which ought to subsist between the sup- 
porters of the same cause. 

Barry and Fitzgerald were encamped near 
Mount Dromphinin, on the right bank of the 
Blackwater, which falls into the sea at 
Youghal. Desmond and his brother John, 
who were posted on the opposite bank, were 
particularly interested for the reconciliation 
of these noblemen, who were to share in the 
perils of the war ; and John Desmond having 
undertaken to bring it about, repaired to the 
camp for that purpose. Zouch and Dowdal 
having learned, through a spy, that John 
Desmond was to cross the river the day fol- 
lowing, on his way to the camp at Drom- 
phinin, set out, during the night, from Cork, 
with a strong force. They arrived at break 
of day at Castlelyons, and posted themselves 
near a wood through which Desmond had to 
pass. This nobleman, not suspecting that 
an enemy was so near, had the misfortune to 
fall into their hands, with James, son of John 
Fitzgerald, lord of Stonacally, who accom- 
panied him. Having refused to surrender, 
they were surrounded and taken by the 
enemy, and brought to Cork ; but Desmond, 
who was mortally wounded, died on the way. 
His head was cut off and sent to Dublin, 
where it was fastened to a pole and put upon 
the top of the castle ; and his body tied to a 
gibbet on the gates of Cork, where it re- 
mained for three or four years, till it was 
at length carried into the sea by the wind. 
James Fitzgerald was put to death. 

After this expedition, Zouch surprised the 
camp of David Barry, and dispersed his 
troops, avenging thereby the garrison of 
Bantry, which was put to the sword some 
time before by Barry and MacSweeny. 
Tranquillity being restored to Munster, the 
troops in this province were reduced to four 
hundred foot, and fifty horse. They were, 
however, soon obliged to increase them.* 
Fitzmaurice, baron of Lixnaw, with his sons, 
took up arms again to revenge some injuries 
he had received from the government, and 
made himself master of Ardfert, putting the 
garrison, under Captain Achin, to the sword 
He also took the castle of Lisconnel, and 
forced the troops who defended it to leap 
over the walls, and afterwards devastated 
the districts of Ormond, Tipperary, and 
Waterford, without meeting any opposition 

Zouch, governor of Munster, having re- 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. 



ceived a reinforcement of two hundred men, 
under Sir Henry Wallopps and Captain 
Norris, marched towards Kerry, to check the 
progress of the baron of Lixnaw, a. d. 1582.* 
He retook Ardfert, Lisconnel, and other 
places which were abandoned by the baron ; 
and having defeated a body of the enemy 
near Lisconnel, he proceeded to Limerick, 
from whence he dispatched Captain Dowdal 
in pursuit of that nobleman. On coming to 
an engagement, the latter having lost a hun- 
dred and forty men upon the spot, was forced 
to retreat. Dowdal revictualled his garri- 
sons with the booty he took, and placing a 
strong fence in Ardfert, returned to Cork. 

Notwithstanding his misfortunes, Des- 
mond again appeared near Athdare, at the 
head of a few troops, and attacked the gar- 
rison of that town, in a sally which they 
made. He killed several of their men, with 
two of their officers, and obliged the rest to 
take refuge within the fortress. 

Thomas Butler, lord of Cahir, was at this 
time created a peer of the realm, with the 
title of lord-baron of Cahir.f He was de- 
scended from James, fourth earl of Ormond, 
and his second wife Catherine, daughter of 
Garret Fitzgerald, earl of Desmond. Lord 
Arthur Grey, deputy of Ireland, was recalled 
to England in August ; Adam Loftus, arch- 
bishop of Dublin, and chancellor of Ireland, 
and Sir Henry Wallopps, treasurer of war, 
being sworn in lords-justices in his stead. 
About this time Doctor Sanders, or Sanderus, 
a native of England, and apostolical legate 
in Ireland, died. He led an exemplary life, 
and was particularly zealous in the Catholic 
cause. J He is styled a traitor and arch- 
rebel, by Protestant writers. This holy 
man, broken down by fatigue, and disap- 
pointment at seeing impiety triumphant, died 
of a dysentery in a wood, where he lay des- 
titute of all relief. He received the sacra- 
ments from Cornelius, bishop of Killaloe, 
who continued with him to his last moments. 

The earl of Ormond landed at Waterford 
in January, with a reinforcement of four 
hundred Englishmen, who were placed under 
the command of Captains Bourchier, Stan- 
ley, Barkly, and Roberts. This nobleman 
was also intrusted with the government of 
Munster, by a commission from the queen. 
He obtained an increase to the soldiers' pay, 
of two pence a day, by which he gained the 
love and confidence of the army. His first 
expedition was against the earl of Desmond. 
Not satisfied with having renounced the re- 

* War. ibid. cap. 24. Cox, ibid, page 371. 
t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. 
1 Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 16. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



487 



ligion of his ancestors, he also wished to de- 
stroy him by whom it was supported ; apos- 
tacy which was but too faithfully imitated by 
his descendants. Having received intelli- 
gence that that earl, and a few of his follow- 
ers, were in Harlow wood, he surprised and 
cut off several of them, dispersing the rest, 
and forcing them to abandon their chief. 

We have now come to the last year of the 
lifeof Desmond, a. d. 1583. Finding himself 
unassisted by the Spaniards, and deserted by 
his adherents, he became a fugitive through 
the country. On arriving in the county of 
Kerry, with a few followers, he took refuge 
in a small house in the middle of a wood, 
called Gleam-a-Ginkie, four miles from Tra- 
lee, where he was subsisted by plunder, and 
whatever Goron or Goffred Mac-Sweeny, 
who was faithfully attached to him, could 
procure by hunting.* Being surprised at 
length by his enemies, his head was cut off, 
and sent to Cork, whence it was brought 
soon after to England, fastened on a pole, 
and thus exposed to public view on the 
bridge of London. Such was the end of the 
illustrious house of the Fitzgeralds of Des- 
mond ; the Maccabees of our day, who sacri- 
ficed their lives and properties in defence of 
the Catholic cause. Their tragical fate was 
brought about by the treachery and wicked- 
ness of their countrymen. James Fitzmaurice 
was the victim of the Burkes of Castleconnel ; 
James Desmond was betrayed by the lords 
of Muskerry ; John Desmond fell into the 
snares of the reformers ; and Ormond had 
the honor of ending the scene by the death 
of this chieftain, the fifteenth earl of his 
family.f His extensive estates, whose rev- 
enue exceeded, at that time, four hundred 
thousand crowns, having been surveyed by 
Sir Valentine Brown, Viscount Kenmare's 
ancestor, who was sent to Ireland for the 
purpose, were divided among the English 
who supported the war against him, and 
particularly the earl of Ormond, who had a 
large share in the spoils. 

The Catholic lords who were engaged in 
the same cause with Desmond, seeing the 
unhappy state of affairs, thought of providing 
for their safety. James Fitzmaurice, viscount 
Baltinglass.chief of the Catholics in Leinster, 
withdrew to Spain, where he died soon after- 
wards. Some were won over by the queen's 
promises, and others submitted till a more 
favorable opportunity might arise. 

Tranquillity being in a manner restored 
to Ireland, government turned their thoughts 



towards the business of the state. Sir Nich- 
olas Bagnal, Sir Lucas Dillon, and James 
Dowdal, were sent to Ulster, with a commis- 
sion to settle the affairs of that province with 
the baron of Dungannon, and the deputies 
of Turlogh Lynogh and O'Donnel. 



* Relat. Gerald, cap. 24. 
War. ibid. cap. 26. 

t Relat. Gerald, ibid. 



Hist. Cathol. cap. 15. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

PERSECUTiON,whichhad somewhat abated 
during the war, began anew with increased 
severity after the death of the earl of Des- 
mond, and the other defenders of the Catholic 
cause. It was enough to be an Irishman to 
be persecuted, and a Catholic to be crucified. 
Their neighbors, the English Catholics,* 
were not exempt from the persecution. In 
order to form a rampart against heresy, es- 
tablishments were founded in the Catholic 
countries, for the education of youth, whose 
parents had not renounced the religion of 
their ancestors. These were called semina- 
ries. William Alan, educated at Oxford, 
and a learned man, founded one at Douay in 
1568, which was made a college. This house 
was protected by the pope, who increased its 
revenue by an annual pension. The duke De 
Guise founded a similar establishment at 
Rheims, and Gregory XIII. instituted one 
in Rome for the same purpose. 

The Catholics of Ireland were as zealous 
in the preservation of their faith as those of 
England. Protected by Philip II., king of 
Spain, they founded in the Catholic countries 
seminaries for the education of their youth, 
in order to save themselves, and others, from 
the contagion of heresy. The college of 
Douay, in Flanders, was the first of these 
establishments. It was founded in 1596, by 
the efforts of Christopher Cusack, a priest of 
the county of Meath, who applied his own 
patrimony and the contributions of his friends 
to this pious undertaking.! He assisted also 
in founding similar houses at Lille, Antwerp, 
Tournay, and St. Omer ; and was president- 
general of all. St. Omer is the only one 
that does not exist at present. 

France generously afforded an asylum to 
these voluntary exiles,J and gave them a 
house on the hill of St. Genevieve. They 
were kindly received by the people of Paris, 
who in this imitated their illustrious fellow- 
citizen, John Lescalopier, baron de St. Just, 

* Cambd. ibid, ad an. 1580, p. 315, et seq. 
t Harris, Hist, of Irel. vol. 2, p. 252, et seq. 
t Messingham, Florileg. Insulse. 55, Epistol. de- 
dicat. 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



and president of the parliament. This vir- 
tuous nobleman and true Christian was 
deeply affected for the state of religion in 
Ireland, and much interested for the fate of 
the Irish priests who were banished from 
their country on account of their religion. 
These were looked upon as martyrs for 
Christ, and laborers destined to cultivate his 
doctrine. They were brought by this illus- 
trious Frenchman from an obscure dwelling, 
and settled in a more commodious place, 
while he was providing a regular seminary, 
and funds necessary for its support. Retire- 
ment was a favorite virtue of this pious and 
good man. Every day that could be spared 
from public business, he passed with the Irish 
exiles. Devotion to God and his saints, the 
conversion of heretics, the propagation of the 
faith, and salvation of souls, were always 
favorite subjects of conversation between 
him and these novitiates. He was frequently 
with them in the refectory, where his humility 
was such, that, forgetful of his rank as first 
magistrate of France, and as a proof of his 
respect for the exiled clergymen, he always 
chose the last place at table. According as 
they had completed their studies, and were 
prepared to return to their country, their 
illustrious patron, in order to prove their 
capability, had them examined by Pere Binet, 
a learned Jesuit of the time ; he then himself 
presented them to Cardinal Retz, bishop of 
Paris, to receive their mission from him ; 
after which they were furnished with clothes 
and every thing necessary for the voyage, at 
his expense. This was the beginning of the 
establishment of the Irish house in Paris. 

The college of the Lombards being de- 
serted by the Italians, the trustees conferred 
it upon the Irish students in Paris, by an act 
dated 9th July, 1676, which was confirmed 
and ratified by letters patent in August, 1677, 
and registered in the parliament of February, 
1680. This college, which was in a state of 
ruin, was rebuilt by the united care of two 
Irish ecclesiastics, Maginn and O'Kelly ; the 
former abbot de Tulles, the latter, prior of 
St. Nicholas de Chapouin. In memory of 
this service they are acknowledged by the 
agents of the college as its restorers. These 
two benefactors were authorized to rebuild 
it, and obtained, for that purpose, letters 
patent, dated March, 1681, and registered 
the 19th August of the same year. 

Seminaries were also established in Bour- 
deaux, Toulouse, and Nantes, for the Irish ;* 
the two former underthe patronage of Queen 
Anne of Austria. The seminary of Bour- 

* Harris, ibid. 



deaux was first founded in 1603, by Francis 
de Sourdis, cardinal and archbishop of that 
city. Louis XIV. granted an annual pension 
to this house, and to that of Toulouse, at the 
solicitation of the queen his mother. 

Other nations were equally zealous to 
contribute their support to the religion in 
Ireland. Cardinal Ludovisius founded a 
college for Irish students in Rome, in 1628, 
and endowed it with a yearly income of six 
hundred Roman crowns ; and, in order to 
enable the establishment to support a greater 
number of students, he bequeathed to it a 
vineyard fifteen miles from Rome, and an 
annual pension of one thousand crowns. 

Baron George Sylveria founded, at Alcala 
de Henares, a college for Irish priests, to- 
wards the close of the sixteenth century. This 
nobleman was a native of Portugal, but an 
Irishman at heart ; his mother was a Mac- 
Donnel, and of Irish parents. He endowed 
this establishment with two thousand pounds 
sterling a year, and one thousand pounds for 
the support of the chapel, which was dedi- 
cated to St. George the martyr. 

At Seville there are two colleges : one a 
royal establishment for the Irish, and dedi- 
cated to the immaculate conception of the 
blessed Virgin . Sarapater,a canon of Seville, 
wasoneofits benefactors. The second, call- 
ed St. Gregory's college, being dedicated to 
Pope Gregory the Great, who sent Augustin 
as apostle to England, was founded for the 
English, who have since abandoned it. It 
belongs at present to the Irish. 

In 1582, there was a college founded at 
Salamanca for Irish priests, by the states of 
the kingdoms of Castile and Leon. Its rev- 
enues having decreased, Philip III. took it 
under his protection in 1610, and restored it. 

The Irish priests have a seminary in Lis- 
bon, founded in 1595, by Ximenes, who was 
interred there. Mass is offered every week 
for the repose of his soul. Cardinal Henri- 
ques founded, about the same time, a college 
for Irish priests at Evora, dedicated to St. 
Bridget. It afterwards fell into the hands 
of the Jesuits. 

These seminaries were filled with learned 
ecclesiastics, who, after they had completed 
their studies, returned to their own country 
to console the faithful, and administer to 
them spiritual assistance, in which they were 
seconded by the truly apostolical zeal of the 
Jesuits. These establishments did not fail to 
attract the attention of the English court ; 
they were considered as very dangerous to the 
government, and opposed to the reformation 
of the church. In order to remedy this, an 
edict was published, commanding all who had 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



489 



children, wards, or relations in foreign coun- 
tries, to send, within ten days, their names to 
the judge of the district, to recall them within 
four months, and present them immediately 
on their return, to the said judge. By the 
same edict, it was prohibited to send them 
money ; and every one was strictly forbidden 
to receive these seminarians or Jesuits into 
his house, or to support, nourish, or relieve 
them in any manner, under pain of being 
considered rebels, and punished according 
to the laws. In consequence of this pro- 
clamation, several priests, Jesuits, and monks, 
suffered martyrdom with Christian fortitude, 
among whom were the two celebrated Jesuits, 
Personius and Campianus. 

Dermod O'Hurly, archbishop of Cashel, 
was the first martyr this year in Ireland.* 
He studied at Louvain and in Paris with 
celebrity ; and was the professor of law in 
the former of these universities ; he went 
afterwards to Rome, where he was kindly 
received by Gregory XIII., who appointed 
him archbishop of Cashel. Full of zeal for 
the salvation of his brethren, he set out, after 
his consecration, for Ireland, where he found 
all things in a state of anarchy. The see of 
Cashel was held by Miler Magrath, an apos- 
tate monk of St. Francis :f the altars were 
overthrown, the Catholic clergy left with- 
out an asylum, and were forced to assume 
women's apparel. All, however, did not di- 
minish the zeal of the new bishop of Cashel. 
He taught in the Catholic houses, and con- 
firmed the faithful in their religion, making 
no distinction of province or diocese.:]: Being 
with Thomas, lord-baron of Slane, in the 
county of Meath, he was recognised by the 
chief-justice of the King's Bench, who sent 
intelligence of his discovery to Adam Lof- 
tus, the chancellor, and Henry Loftus, the 
treasurer, who were at the head of the gov 
eminent. § They immediately gave orders 
to the baron to send them the prelate in 
chains. He had, however, escaped, but the 
baron, dreading the rigor of the laws en- 
acted against those who harbored priests, 
pursued him as far as Carrick-on-Suir, where 
he was arrested in September at the earl of 
Ormond's, and brought a prisoner to Dub- 
lin. He was loaded with chains and con- 
fined in a dungeon till Holy Thursday of 
the following year, when he was brought 
before the chancellor and treasurer. They 
tried every means to make him renounce the 
pope's authority and acknowledge that of 



* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 19. 
t War. de Arch. Casseliens. 
t Hist. Cathol. ibid. 
§ Analeeta Sacra, part 3, page 4 



i et. seq. 



the queen, who would appoint him to the 
see of Cashel ; but the holy prelate's perse- 
verance in the ancient religion, and firm 
adherence to the authority of the vicar of 
Jesus Christ, caused the most cruel tortures 
to be inflicted upon him. He was hanged 
on the seventh of June, without the city, 
before daybreak, in order to avoid any tu- 
mult which so inhuman a spectacle might 
produce among the people. 

About this same period we discover two 
celebrated martyrs, Gelasius O'Culennan, 
abbot of the monastery of Boyle, of the or- 
der of St. Bernard, in the county of Ros- 
common, and Owen O'Melkeren, a priest. 
These ministers of Christ, after long and 
cruel sufferings, were hung in Dublin, on 
the 1st of November, for that cause which 
the archbishop of Cashel had supported to 
his death. In order to avoid a tedious di- 
gression, we must here refrain from giving 
a circumstantial account of all those who 
suffered martyrdom in Ireland from the 
commencement of the Reformation. In the 
course, however, of this history, we will 
meet many, both in this and the succeeding 
reigns, although certain English writers 
affirm, with their usual effrontery, that Eliza- 
beth never interfered with the religion of 
her subjects.* 

Sir John Perrot was sent deputy to Ire- 
land, in June, 1584. His commission, which 
he was to retain according to the queen's 
pleasure, authorized him to make peace or 
war ; to punish or pardon any crime, except 
that of high treason against her majesty and 
that of forgery ; to issue proclamations, im- 
pose fines, dispose of the estates of the re- 
bels, exercise martial law, and convene par- 
liaments with the queen's consent. He had 
the appointment of all officers, except the 
chancellor, treasurer, the three principal 
judges, and the master of the rolls. He 
had also the right of conferring livings, ex- 
cept archbishoprics and bishoprics ; and, in 
fine, he possessed power over every thing 
relative to government, and the administra- 
tion of justice.! 

In order to become acquainted with the 
affairs of Ireland, the deputy spent eighteen 
days in consultation with the privy council, 
which was composed of the archbishop of 
Dublin, the chancellor, the earl of Ormond, 
treasurer, the bishops of Armagh, Meath, 
and Kilmore, Sir John Norris, president of 
Munster, Sir Henry Wallopp, treasurer of 
war, Sir Nicholas Bagnal, knight-marshal, 

* Baker, Chron. p. 359. 
t War. ibid. cap. 26. 



490 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Robert Gardiner, chief-justice, Robert Dil- 
lon, chief-justice of the common pleas, Lu- 
cas Dillon, chief-baron, Nicholas White, 
master of the rolls, Richard Bingham, chief 
commissioner of Connaught, and Sirs Henry- 
Cowley, Edward Waterhouse, Thomas Le- 
strange, Edward Brabazon, Jeoffrey Fen- 
ton, secretary of state, Warham St. Leger, 
and Valentine Brown. The deputy having 
made himself fully acquainted with the state 
of Ireland, laid down his plan of govern- 
ment, and sent over James Fitzgerald, son 
of the earl of Desmond, to England. The 
countess, his mother, had given him as a 
hostage to Drury, the deputy, who confined 
him in the castle of Dublin. 

Perrot set out from Dublin in July, to 
visit the provinces of Connaught and Mun- 
ster. On his arrival in Galway, he en- 
deavored to reconcile the lords of that pro- 
vince, and settle their disputes. Thence he 
proceeded to Limerick, where he learned 
that the Scotch allies of Surly Boy Mac- 
Donnel, amounting to a thousand men, had 
made a descent on Ulster. He also discov- 
ered a rebellion to be hatching *in Munster 
by O'Neill, and obliged those whom he sus- 
pected most to give hostages. He confided 
the government of the county of Cork to 
Judges Walsh and Miagh, the sheriff, Sir 
William Stanley, and the Lords Barry and 
Roche. He placed the provost-marshal over 
Limerick, and appointed the earl of Clan- 
carty, Sir Owen O'Sullivan, and O'Sullivan 
More, to the government of Desmond. He 
left Kerry to the care of the sheriff", Lord 
Lixnaw, and the president of the province, 
and returned to Dublin in August. 

The deputy was now preparing for an 
expedition into Ulster. Having collected a 
thousand infantry, and some light troops, 
with the militia of the province, he marched 
to Newry, in the county of Down, attended 
by a great number of officers and noblemen. 
He confirmed the truce which had been pre- 
viously agreed upon between the govern- 
ment and Turlogh Lynogh, Magennis, Mac- 
Mahon, Turlogh Brasilogh, and other Irish 
lords of that province, from whom he re- 
ceived hostages. The deputy having learned 
that the Scotch islanders were at Lough 
Foyle, in the northern extremity of the pro- 
vince, sent a fleet to disperse them ; but the 
Scotch, being informed of his intentions, set 
sail, and gained their own coasts in spite of 
the English admiral. The deputy, accom- 
panied by Ormond and other nobles, pro- 
ceeded on the right bank of the river Bann, 
where he laid waste the lands of Brian Car- 
rows, and forced him and Surly Boy to re- 



tire with their troops to Glancomkeane, dur- 
ing which time General Norris and the baron 
of Dungannon plundered, without mercy, 
the estates of Ocahane, and carried ofl' a 
booty of two hundred oxen. About one 
hundred, however, of his army were cut to 
pieces by Brian Carrow's men, and subse- 
quently about the same number, who had 
been sent to succor the first body. Norris 
himself was wounded, and Oliver Lambert 
made prisoner on the lands of Ocahane. 

The time passed in mutual skirmishes be- 
tween the Ulstermen and the English ; vic- 
tory being sometimes in favor of one party, 
sometimes of the other. Meriman, an Eng- 
lish captain, made great booty : while Norris 
urrounded the wood of Glancomkeane, 
plundering at the same time the estates of 
Brian Carrows. The deputy marched north- 
wards to besiege Dunluce, and sent his ar- 
tillery by sea for that purpose, to Portrush, 
island near the coast : whence it was 
brought to the camp before Dunluce. It 
may be easily inferred, that a place not 
provided with cannon, could make but a 
feeble resistance. Donfert soon afterwards 
shared the same fate, which obliged Surly 
Boy to surrender and give hostages. 

The deputy having left two hundred in- 
fantry and fifty cavalry in garrison at Cole- 
raine, returned to Newry about the end of 
September. Turlogh Lynogh gave him up 
the son of Shane O'Neill, as a prisoner. 
Conn, son of Neil Ogue, or the young, lord 
of Clanneboy, was forced, by orders of the 
deputy, to surrender half of his estates. The 
government of Ulster was divided between 
Turlogh Lynogh, baron of Dungannon, and 
Sir Henry Bagnal, after which the deputy 
returned to Dublin in the month of October. 

In April the parliament was convened in 
Dublin. The deputy was desirous to intro- 
duce the English dress among the Irish 
nobles. To this they were opposed, as they 
deemed a conformity in apparel as a mark 
of their subjection. To induce them to com- 
ply, the deputy presented English costumes 
to Turlogh Lynogh, and other Irish noble- 
men. One among them jocosely observed 
to the deputy, " you will then give my chap- 
lain permission to walk the streets with me 
in petticoats, and the rabble will laugh at 
him as well as at me ;" to which the deputy 
gravely replied, that order and decency re- 
quired that conformity in dress. 

Eastern Brefny was divided into a barony ; 
it has since been called the county of Cavan.* 
The parliament which assembled in Dublin 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 27. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



491 



had among those who composed it, four 
archbishops, and twenty bishops, Protestants 
of course. The other members were, the 
earls of Ormond, Kildare, Tyrone, Thuo- 
mond, Clanriccard, and Glencar ; the vis- 
counts Buttevant, Gormanstown, Fermoy, 
and Mountgarret ; the barons Athenry, 
Kinsale, Slane, Delvin, Killeen, Howth, 
Trimleston, Dunsany, Upper Ossory, Louth, 
Curraghmore, Inchiquin, Castleconnel, and 
Cahir. The lower house was but thinly at- 
tended, as not more than twenty-six towns 
had returned their representatives. Several 
laws were enacted, among which was the 
Baltinglass act, by which James Eustace, 
viscount Baltinglass, and his brothers Ed- 
mond, Thomas, Walter, and Richard, were 
accused and convicted of high treason. Their 
properties were consequently confiscated.* 
An act was also passed to enable Laurence 
de la Hide of Moyglare, in the county of 
Meath, to succeed to the estates of his grand- 
father, Sir Walter de la Hide, which were 
confiscated in the reign of Henry VIII. 
After this the parliament was prorogued to 
the 29th of May. 

Previous to the meeting of this parliament 
it was discovered, by an investigation held 
in Cork, that several lordships belonging to 
the crown were usurped by different indi- 
viduals :f thus, the estate of Cloghroe was 
taken possession of by one Lombard, con- 
stable of the castle of Dublin ; and Callen, 
or Glynn, between Cork and Kinsale, was 
usurped by Richard Roach of Kinsale. It 
appeared also that the lordship of Kinel- 
meaky, which Barry Ogue then farmed, for- 
merly belonged to the crown, and paid rent to 
the exchequer, and that O'Mahown Carbry 
had seized on it in the middle of the fifteenth 
century, under the protection of MacCarty 
Riagh, to whom he surrendered half, and 
that Canogher O'Mahony was in possession 
of it when he lost his life in the rebellion 
ofJDesmond. 
•" The great severity which was practised 
in Connaught by Sir Richard Bingham, the 
governor, gave great displeasure to the nobles 
of that province.:): Many of the Catholic 
clergy and laity were put to death : O'Con- 
nor Roe, aged eighty years, was hanged, 
notwithstanding the nobility of his birth ; 
several of the O'Connors, Burkes, O'Kellys, 
and other noblemen, shared the same fate. 
This mode of acting was called by the Eng- 
lish, " good government." The tyranny of 
the governor prevented many of high rank 

■^"» Irish Stat. 27th of Elizab. reg. p. 373, et seq, 
1 Cox, Hist, of Ireland, pages 382, 383. 
t Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 21. 



from attending the assizes held by him in 
Sept. , at Doneymoney, in the county of Mayo. 
Among this number were two of the Burkes, 
who withdrew with their families to a castle 
situate in an island in lake Mask. With the 
design of surprising them, Bingham crossed 
the lake in boats, with a troop of armed men ; 
they were, however, vigorously repulsed by 
the Burkes, who forced them to retreat pre- 
cipitately to their boats ; and so great was 
the confusion, that Bingham threw himself 
into the water, and escaped with difficulty. 
His treatment of Feargus O'Kelly was 
equally cruel. To avoid his persecution, this 
nobleman was forced to seek an asylum in 
the woods, with his followers, from whence 
he made frequent incursions upon the re- 
formers. The treacherous governor, deceiv- 
ing him with false promises, received him 
into favor. O'Kelly was not, however, per- 
mitted to enjoy peace long. Bingham sent 
a force to besiege him in his house on Christ- 
mas-day, while he was at supper. O'Kelly 
being alarmed, got his family safe through a 
subterranean passage that led to a consider- 
able distance from the house ; he then ask- 
ed to speak with the commander through a 
window, where, after reproaching him for 
his perfidy, he shot him, and a soldier who 
stood by him. After this the enemy set fire 
to his house, but O'Kelly had the good for- 
tune to escape through the passage also. 

The persecution was equally severe in the 
other provinces. Norris, president of Mun- 
ster, did not yield to the governor of Con- 
naught in cruelty.* The Catholics were 
hunted in all directions. It may be observed, 
that whatever might have been Elizabeth's 
hatred towards them, she was ably seconded 
by her ministers in Ireland, who laid their 
snares to make the most innocent appear 
guilty. The two MacSweeneys, Gelasius 
and Bernard Fitzgerald, of the house of 
Desmond, and Donald Macrah, all noble- 
men of Munster, were inhumanly put to 
death. Daniel MacCarty, son of the prince 
Muskerry, Dermod O'Sullevan, of the house 
of Beare, and many other nobles, were 
obliged to be continually under arms, to de- 
fend themselves against those sanguinary 
men, or to wander in the mountains and 
woods to escape their pursuit. 

The parliament which had been convened 
the preceding year, met again in April, 1586, 
and was dissolved in the month of May fol- 
lowing, after having passed several acts.f 
Those mentioned in the eighth and ninth 
chapters of this sitting are most interesting. 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. c. 22. 

t Book of Irish Statutes, p. 403, et seq. 



492 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



The first gives an account of the suits against 
the late earl of Desmond and his adherents, 
in the war he had carried on against Eliza- 
beth, with the confiscation of their estates, 
and contains the names of many nobles and 
gentlemen who had lost large possessions for 
their attachment to the Catholic faith. In 
them is to be found a list of about one hun- 
dred and forty proprietors stripped of their 
possessions in Munster alone ; a thing un- 
precedented in the history of Europe, if we 
regard the extent of the province, but still 
inconsiderable when compared to the numer- 
ous confiscations under James I., the tyrant 
Cromwell, and the prince of Orange, through- 
out the several provinces of the kingdom, on 
account of their faith. It is this, perhaps, 
that has merited for the Irish the character 
of " gens flecti nescia ;" a nation that will 
not bend, which, indeed, is their true charac- 
teristic with respect to religion. The ninth 
chapter of the above statutes contains the 
act of confiscation against John Browne of 
Knockmonhie, and of several of the nobility, 
for the same cause. 

Numbers of Englishmen, invested with 
commissions either in the armies or magis- 
tracy, came at this time to glut their avarice, 
and seek their fortunes in Ireland. Without 
mentioning any other, the estates of the earl 
of Desmond were equal to satisfy many of 
these adventurers. These estates lay in the 
counties of Limerick, Cork, Kerry, Water- 
ford, Tipperary, and Dublin, and the yearly 
income from them amounted to upwards of 
seven thousand pounds — an immense sum 
at that time. The queen wishing to colonize 
Munster with Englishmen, ordered a certain 
number of acres in the following counties to 
be distributed among them. Sir Christopher 
Hatton received estates in the county of 
Waterford ; Sir Walter Raleigh, in the coun- 
ties of Cork and Waterford ; Sir Edvv. Den- 
ny, Sir William Harbart, Charles Harbart, 
John Holly, Captain Jenkin Conwey, and 
John Campion, in the county Kerry. Estates 
were likewise given in the county of Cork 
to Sir Warham St. Leger, Hugh CufFe, Sir 
Thomas Norris, Arthur Robins, Arthur Hyde, 
Edmond Spencer, Fane Beecher, Hugh 
Worth, and Thomas Say ; in the counties of 
Cork and Waterford, to Richard Bacon ; in 
the county of Limerick, to SirWilliam Court- 
ney, Francis Barkley, Robert Anslow, Rich- 
ard and Alexander Fitton, and Edmond Man- 
waring ; Sir Edward Fitton received estates 
in the counties of Limerick, Waterford, and 
Tipperary ; William Trenchard, George 
Thorton, Sir George Bourchier, and Henry 
Bollingsly in the county of Limerick. Lastly, 



Thomas Duff Butler, earl of Ormond, had 
a considerable portion of Desmond's estates 
in the county Tipperary bestowed on him ; 
a recompense but too well merited for his 
services against, and his cruel persecution 
of that nobleman. 

The estates of Desmond being thus dis- 
posed of, circulars were sent into the counties 
of England to invite the younger sons of 
families to come and take possession of other 
estates that were confiscated. One of the 
conditions was, that they should hold them 
in fief, at three pence per acre, in the coun- 
ties of Limerick, Connillo, and Kerry, and 
at two pence in those of Cork and Water- 
ford, and that no Irishman should be suffer- 
ed to reside on them. 

The tyranny of Bingham, governor of 
Connaught, forced the Burkes to act again 
on the defensive. For this purpose the Clan- 
Donnells, the Joices, and other tribes of the 
province, were gained over to their party, 
and the castle of lake Mask, generally called 
the castle of Necally, or of Thomas Roe, 
was fortified. Bingham was at the time 
laying siege to the castle of Clan-Owen, in 
Thuomond, which Mahown O'Brien, the lord 
of the district, who was more attached to the 
Catholic cause than his namesake the earl, 
was commander of. The castle of Clan- 
Owen was not sufficiently strong to maintain 
a siege against so powerful an enemy, but 
O'Brien would not surrender, and died in 
defending it. The castle was then razed to 
the ground. Bingham after this marched 
to besiege the castle of Necally, where he 
was checked in his career. Having arrived 
at the borders of the lake, he summoned the 
garrison to surrender, and offered them a 
general pardon for the past. The besieged, 
however, replied, that they looked upon the 
castle as their best security, and would not 
trust to the promises of an Englishman. 
Bingham, incensed with their reply, embark- 
ed his troops in boats, and approached the 
island where the castle stood, which was diffi- 
cult of access. The soldiers, on their landing, 
were thrown by the besieged into the sea, so 
that Bingham, after witnessing the loss of his 
boats, and seeing several of his men killed, 
considered himself fortunate to escape with 
a part of his forces. The besieged, dreading 
a second attack, which might prove more 
successful than the first, abandoned the lake, 
and got safe to shore, where they were joined 
by many of their friends. We discover at 
this time a striking instance of the treachery 
and dishonorable conduct of Bingham ; 
Richard Burke, one of the chief confederates, 
or as the English term them, rebels, being 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



493 



desirous of making peace with the govern- 
ment, submitted to Bingham, with a promise 
to be loyal to her majesty. Bingham re- 
ceived his submission ; but under a pretence 
that Burke would betray him, he had him 
arrested and condemned to death. 

Complaints of the tyranny of Bingham in 
Connaught having been sent to Perrott, the 
deputy, orders were given to grant protection 
to the Burkes and other rebels of the pro- 
vince. Bingham, incensed at this order, re- 
paired to Dublin to have an interview with 
the council, at which mutual recriminations 
took place between the deputy and himself ; 
but on hearing that the rebels in Connaught 
had recommenced hostilities, he returned. 
He found the province in a state of confusion; 
the Clandonnells and Clangibbons having 
joined the Burkes, whose courage was raised 
by the arrival of two thousand Scotch. His 
first step was to send commissioners to the 
rebels, to propose terms of peace, and to 
learn the cause of their disturbing the coun- 
try. They answered, What have we to do with 
this Calliagh (bastard) — meaning Elizabeth 
— we have been very silly to have so long sub- 
mitted to a woman, fyc. The governor im- 
mediately collected his forces at Ballinrobe, 
where he was joined by the earl of Clan- 
riccard, Bermingham, O'Kelly, and others. 
His measures were guided by the movements 
of his enemy, who, after many marches and 
countermarches, encamped at Arnare, on 
the River Moy, in Sligo, where they were 
surprised and cut to pieces by the English. 

The deputy was alarmed at the intelligence 
he had received, that the Scotch islanders 
had made a descent in the north ; and sent 
orders to the baron of Dungannon to oppose 
them, till he would repair thither in person. 
Tirlogh Lynogh O'Neill was now too old for 
service. Perrott, in the mean time, collected 
his troops, and set out from Dublin for Ul- 
ster, in June. On arriving at Dungannon 
he was received by the nobles, who came to 
offer him their services. He found that a 
body of four hundred Scotch islanders had 
arrived, under the command of Alexander, 
son of Surly Boy MacDonnel, and were joined 
by some of the natives, commanded by Ogue 
and Hugh Mac-Felim, sons of Conn Mac 
Neill, O'Kelly, Mac-Cartan, and other no- 
blemen of the province. They intended to 
assemble in the county of Antrim, but were 
harassed by Captain Stafford, who forced 
them to cross the River Bann to Tyrone. 
They, however, recrossed the river, and 
withdrew towards Dunluce, and from thence 
to Inisowen, where they were joined by a 
fresh reinforcement of Scotch. Hugh DufFe 



O'Donnel, and an English captain named 
Merriman, having learned that the Scotch 
intended to surprise Strabane, marched the 
whole night in order to prevent an attack. 
The following morning they arrived in pre- 
sence of each other ; but the Scotch general, 
by his imprudence, lost the victory, with his 
life. He sent a proposal to Merriman, who 
commanded the English, to decide the battle 
by single combat. The latter accepted the 
challenge ; but to secure the victory, a gladi- 
ator who took the name of Merriman, was 
chosen to fight Alexander. The combat 
having begun with equal animosity, the 
Scotch general was first wounded ; but 
Merriman was the victim of his master's 
dishonor, being killed upon the spot. The 
English captain perceiving his adversary 
exhausted from his encounter with the gla- 
diator, entered the lists, sword in hand, to 
the great astonishment of Alexander, who 
thought his enemy had been defeated. They 
fought for some time ; but Alexander having 
received a dangerous wound in the leg, was 
obliged to yield to the Englishman, who had 
his head cut off, and sent to Dublin to be 
exposed to the public view. The Scotch 
being left without, a leader, lost their courage, 
and abandoned the field to the enemy. 

The success of Sir John Perrott in the 
government of Ireland, did not secure him 
against his enemies. Loftus, archbishop of 
Dublin, and chancellor, manifested much 
resentment towards him, on account of his 
wish to apply the revenues of St. Patrick's 
church to the support of the university : he 
was also constantly opposed in council by 
Marshal Sir Nicholas Bagnal, Fenton the 
secretary, Bingham, governor of Connaught, 
and others, so that his best acts were un- 
dervalued by the court. 

The deputy still dreading a revolt of 
O'Donnel, and other noblemen of Ulster who 
refused to give him hostages, in order to 
allay his apprehensions, bethought of an ex- 
pedient worthy of a pirate or a robber, des- 
titute of all honor or good faith.* He sent 
to Dublin for a merchant, called John Bing- 
ham, whom he ordered to freight a vessel 
with wine and other merchandise, on board 
of which were fifty armed men. He then 
sent word to the captain to sail towards the 
coasts of Tyrconnel, and to stop in some of 
its ports, as if to sell his cargo, but to en- 
deavor to decoy young O'Donnel on board, 
and bring him to Dublin. This plan suc- 
ceeded according to the deputy's wishes. 
The vessel cast anchor in Lough Swilley, 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 24. Pet. Lombard, de 
regno Hibern. comment, c. 24. War. ibid. cap. 31. 



494 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



on the borders of Tyrconnel. The report 
was soon spread, and every one, either to 
purchase goods or through curiosity, repaired 
on board. Among the number was Hugh, son 
of Magnus O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel, 
aged fourteen years, accompanied by Eugene 
MacSweeny, lord of Tueth, MacS weeny of 
Fanid, and Sir Eugene O'Gallachuir. The 
captain of the vessel, delighted with their 
visit, received them with attention ; but what 
was their surprise on finding themselves con- 
ducted by armed men into the hold of the 
vessel, while they were weighing anchor. 
The nobles who belonged to O'Donnel's suite 
obtained their liberty by giving hostages ; and 
the captain, content with his spoil, sailed for 
Dublin, where he gave up the young prince 
of Tyrconnel, and the hostages, to the dep- 
uty, who had them confined in the castle. 
Though the news of the taking of young 
O'Donnel was pleasing to the English in 
general, it was looked upon by all honorable 
men as a trait of black perfidy and punic 
faith.* 

Perrott applied, long before this, for his 
recall. Finding a powerful faction raised 
against him, who labored to blacken him in 
the eyes of the court, he wrote an urgent 
letter to the queen, begging that she would 
exonerate him from the commission of the 
lord-lieutenancy. The princess paid atten- 
tion to his request, and appointed Sir Wil- 
liam Fitz- William to succeed him. Perrott, 
on his return to England, was imprisoned 
for some offence, in the tower, where he 
died suddenly. 

Some Irish authors flourished at this time. 
According to Stanihurst, Thomas Long, pro- 
fessor of canon and civil law in the univer- 
sity of Paris, wrote some tracts in Latin. 
One was entitled, " De speciebus contra men- 
dacem Monachum ;" the others, a Disserta- 
tion on Aristotle ; and a Select Thesis on 
some points of law, dedicated to Charles 
cardinal de Bourbon. 

Richard Creagh, a native of Limerick, 
also lived at this time. He studied at Lou- 
vain with applause, and received the order 
of priesthood. He went afterwards to Rome, 
where he was consecrated by the pope arch- 
bishop of Armagh. He was author of some 
works, viz : a Treatise on the Irish Lan- 
guage, an Ecclesiastical History, a Book 
of Controversy, a Chronicle of Ireland, the 
Lives of some Irish Saints, and a Catechism 
in the Irish language. By orders of the 
English government, this holy prelate was 
at length arrested on account of his religion, 

* Timeo Danaos et dona ferentea. 



and imprisoned in the tower. It was then 
that the pretended ordination occurred at the 
Nag's Head tavern, so called from the head 
of a horse being the sign of the house. The 
Irish prelate was offered his liberty and a 
great reward, to ordain the false bishops of 
the reformation ; but this he firmly refused.* 
He died after a long imprisonment in the 
tower of London, a. d. 1585. Edmond Tan- 
ner, a native of Ireland, doctor in theology, 
and contemporary of Richard Creagh, wrote 
commentaries on a work of St. Thomas. 

Other authors were also born in Ireland 
about this time. Among them we find John 
Usher, mayor of Dublin ; Nicholas Walsh, 
bishop of Ossory ; and John O'Kearney, 
treasurer of St. Patrick's Church, Dublin. 
Richard Stanihurst, already mentioned, was 
the author of many works. After studying 
for some time at Oxford, he returned to 
Dublin, his native city. Although deeply 
connected with the Protestants, being the 
maternal uncle of the celebrated Usher, he 
belonged to the Catholic church, and, to 
practise his religion with more freedom, left 
his native country and retired to the Nether- 
lands. There he lost his wife, after which he 
embraced holy orders and became a priest. 
Being well known for his great learning, he 
was appointed chaplain to Albert, archduke 
of Austria, at that time governor of the low 
countries. Besides his Essay on the affairs 
of Ireland, which has been already alluded 
to, and which is the least considerable of his 
works, he wrote, in his youth, a work entitled, 
" Harmonia seu catena dialectica in Por- 
pkirium." This was first printed in folio in 
London, in 1570, and 1579, and subsequently 
at Lyons and Paris. He wrote two books 
on the life of St. Patrick, printed at Ant- 
werp in 1587. He also composed a work, 
which was printed at Antwerp in 1609, and 
was called " Hebdomada Mariana" which 
signifies, the week of Mary, taken from the 
orthodox fathers of the Roman Catholic 
church, in memory of the seven festivals of 
the blessed Virgin Mary, and arranged for 
each day in the week. After this he wrote 
a work entitled, " Hebdomada Eucharistica" 
which was printed at Douay in 1614. He 
wrote also a description of Ireland, which he 
dedicated to Sir Henry Sidney, who was de- 

* " They importuned, with vehemence, a certain 
Irish archbishop, whom they had in prison in Lon- 
don, to assist them in their difficulty, and offered 
him rewards and his liberty, if he would preside 
over the ordination of these men. But the good 
archbishop could not be prevailed upon to lay his 
sacred hands on the heretics, or to be an accessory 
to the sins of others." — Sanders on the English 
Schism, b. 3, p. 297. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



495 



puty of the kingdom ; it was published by 
Hollingshed. He translated the first four 
books of Virgil's ^Eneid into heroic verse ; 
this work was printed in London in 1583, 
with some of David's Psalms, and other cur- 
sory pieces in Latin and English. He com- 
posed a tract on the principles of the Catho- 
lic faith. In 1615 he published, at Douay, 
a Latin work entitled " Brevis Pramunitio" 
&c. ; or short premunition, on a book written 
by his nephew Usher, called an Historical 
Explanation, &c. Richard had a son named 
William Stanihurst, born at Brussels in 
1601; he entered into the order of the Jesuits 
at the age of sixteen. The great number 
of works which he published made him 
very celebrated. A catalogue of them by 
Sotvellus is to be met with in the library 
belonging to the society of writers. 

Daniel O'Malone, a friar of the order of 
St. Jerome, and professor of theology in the 
college of Bologna in Italy, published some 
Latin works which were printed at Venice, 
and afterwards at Douay and Antwerp. 

Thadeus O'Dowling, a learned doctor in 
theology, and chancellor of the church of 
Leighlin, has given his " Annates breves Hi- 
bernuB," and an Irish grammar, which may 
be found in the library of Trinity College, 
Dublin. 

Thadeus Dunn appears, says Harris, in 
his 13th chapter of writers, to be a native of 
Ireland. He was a physican of Locarno in 
Switzerland, where he lived in exile for his 
religion. A work on medicine, and a chro- 
nological treatise on the sojourn of the 
Israelites in Egypt, have been written by 
him. These works were printed at Tiguri 
in Switzerland. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

In 1588, the last war which the Catholics of 
Ireland had to maintain against Elizabeth 
and the whole array of English sectarians, 
commenced. This was called the war of 
Tyrone, because the earl of that name was 
the chief leader ; it was long and bloody. 
Philip O'Sullevan, in his Catholic history, 
calls it Bellum quindecem annorum- — the 
fifteen years war. It began in the thirty- 
first, and ended in the forty-fifth year of 
Elizabeth's reign, which was also that of her 
death. This war raged with all the fury 
that national enmity, and an ardent zeal for 
religion could excite. From the plans that 
were adopted, it promised to be more favor- 
able to the cause of religion and liberty than 



any of the preceding wars undertaken for 
the same end. Before we enter upon a cir- 
cumstantial detail of this war, it will be ne- 
cessary to make known the state of affairs 
in Ireland, and the character of the inhabit- 
ants at that time. 

The Irish Catholics founded strong hopes 
on the promises of the Spaniards. The 
latter indeed sent them some assistance, but 
it was inconsiderable, and disproportioned 
to the undertaking. They were better sup- 
ported by James VI. of Scotland, who, either 
to revenge the death of his mother, Mary 
Stuart, who was executed after a captivity 
of nineteen years, or to secure to himself the 
right of succeeding to the thrones of Eng- 
land and Ireland, secretly afforded help to 
the Irish, who were opposed to the court. 
As the want of union is generally fatal to the 
best cause, so the ambition of some of the 
Irish chiefs induced them to prefer their own 
interest to the general good. Some were 
seduced by titles of honor ; others were 
attached to the English court through polit- 
ical views, while others, fearful of success, 
continued neutral.* The house of Desmond 
was now extinct. Ormond and Thuomond, 
two of the most powerful in Munster, had 
embraced the reformed religion. They re- 
ceived many favors for their attachment to 
the court, and knew how to turn the mis- 
fortunes of their neighbors to their own ad- 
vantage. Daniel MacCarrha, prince of Clan- 
carrha and earl of Valentia, was more devoted 
to pleasure than to war. Being advanced in 
years, he cultivated the friendship of the 
English, and wasted his patrimony in enter- 
taining them. His sole desire was to be per- 
mitted to live a Catholic. Dermod and 
Donogh MacCarthy were at variance about 
the sovereignty of Alia ; O'Sullevan, prince 
of Beare, was contending with Owen his 
paternal uncle ; Ulick Burke, earl of Clan- 
riccard, after he had killed his brother John, 
became devoted to the English court, which 
he strove to conciliate towards him ; the 
other branches of the Burkes of Connaught 
were disputing about the lordship of Clan- 
williams. Tegue O'Rorke quarrelled for the 
possession of the principality of Brefny with 
his elder brother. Many of the nobility of 
Leinster who were well disposed to oppose 
heresy and usurpation, were already broken 
down by repeated wars in their own districts, 
and bereft of all power to aid the common 
cause ; Viscount Baltinglass, who had sacri- 
ficed all for his religion, had died in Spain. 
No confidence was placed in the earl of Kil- 

* Hist. Cathol. Ibern. torn. 3, lib. 1, cap. 6. 



496 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



dare, on account of his being brought up in 
the principles of the reformed religion. From 
these causes have arisen the disunion among 
the Irish, and the consequent misfortunes of 
that unhappy country. 

The Catholic History of Ireland furnishes 
a list of all the principal Irish, ancient and 
modern, who abetted or opposed this war. 
The author calls themprinces, and introduces 
the provinces in order, commencing with 
Munster. Those who, in opposition to re- 
ligion and their country, espoused the cause 
of the queen, are first given. 

The modern Irish princes who supported the 
interests of the queen. 

In Munster. — Thomas Butler, surnamed 
Duff, or the Black, earl of Ormond ; Barry 
the great, Viscount Buttevant ; Mac-Pieris 
Butler, baron of Dunboyne ; Courcy, baron 
de Courcy ; Burke, baron of Castleconel, 
and his son Richard ; Theobald Burke, son 
of Richard, surnamed Naval, a claimant to 
the principality of Clanwilliam ; MacPheoris, 
or Bermingham, baron of Dunmoris. 

In Leinster. — Henry ,William, and Gerald 
Fitzgerald, earls of Kildare ; St. Lawrence, 
baron of Howth. 

In Meath. — Preston, Viscount Gormans- 
town ; Nugent, baron of Delvin ; Fleming, 
baron of Slane ; Barnewal, baron of Tri- 
melstown ; Plunket, baron of Louth ; Plun- 
ket, baron of Dunsaney ; Plunket, baron of 
Killeen. 

The ancient Irish princes who supported the 
cause of the queen. 

In Munster. — Donagh O'Brien, prince of 
Limerick, earl of Thuomond ; MacCarty 
Riagh, prince of Carbry ; Charles MacCarty, 
son of Desmond, baron of Muskerry ; Mor- 
rough O'Brien, baron of Inchiquin. 

In Connaught. — O'Connor Don, prince of 
Magherry Connaught. 

In Meath. — O'Melachlin, a prince. 

Our author, in giving the names of the 
ancient and modern Irish who espoused the 
cause of Elizabeth, adds the Anglo-Irish who 
were settled in Ulster, which he calls the 
royal, or English faction. He next enume 
rates those that fought against the enemies 
of religion, whom he names the Irish and 
Catholic party. He begins with Ulster, be 
cause the inhabitants of that province were 
the chief actors in the war. The men of 
Ulster were, in fact, more zealous in the cause 
of religion and liberty than any of the other 
provinces. If their example had been fol 



lowed, the sway of the English would have j 
been inevitably destroyed in Ireland. The 
Ultonians are to this day the victims of their 
own zeal, through the degeneracy of those 
whose ideas were less generous than their 
own. 

The ancient Irish who fought for the Catho- 
lic faith. 



In Ulster. — Hugh O'Neill, prince and earl 
of Tyrone, and his adherents, namely, Ma- 
gennis, prince of Iveach, Mae-Mahon, prince 
of Uriel, Mac-Guire, prince of Fermanagh, 
O'Cahane, prince of Arachty, James and 
Ranald Mac-Donnel, princes of Glynn, and 
O'Hanlon, prince of Orior. O'Donnel, 
prince of Tyrconnel, and his adherents, viz., I 
Mac-Sweeny, prince of Tueth,Mac-Sweeny, 
prince of Fanid, Mac-Sweeny, prince of Ba- 
nach, O'Dogherty, prince of Inisowen, and .'- 
the O'Buills, or Boyles. 

In Munster. — O'Sullevan, prince of Bere 
and Bantry ; Daniel O'Sullivan More, or the 
Great, whose father, prince of Dunkeran, 
was exonerated from any share in the war, 
on account of his great age ; O'Connor Ker- 
ry, prince of Arachty ; Donogh Mac-Carty 
Mac-Donogh, son of Cormac, and Dermod 
Mac-Carty Mac-Donogh, son of Owen, 
both claimants for the principality of Alia ; 
O'Driscol, prince of Cothlie ; O'Mahony of 
Carbry, O'Donovan, O'Donoghoe of Onach- 
te, O'Donoghoe of the Glynn. 

In Connaught. — O'Rourke, prince of 
Brefny; Mac-Dermod, prince of Moy-Lurg; 
O'Kelly, prince of Mainech. 

In Leinster. — Though the principal men 
in this province were attached to the queen's 
cause, several of the ancient nobles took up 
arms in defence of the faith, particularly 
the Cavanaghs, O'Connors Faley, O'Mord- 
has, or O'Morras of Leix, and the O'Byrnes. 

In Meath. — Mageoghegan, a prince. 

The example of the latter was followed by 
some other nobles in Munster, of English 
origin,* viz., Roche, viscount of Fermoy ; 
Richard Butler, viscount of Mountgarret ; 
Mac-Moris, or Fitzmaurice, baron of Lix- 
naw ; Thomas Butler, baron of Cahir ; Pat- 
rick Condon, a prince ; Richard Purcel, 
baron of Luochne ; William Fitzgerald, 
knight of Kerry and lord of Rafinnan ; Ed- 
mond Fitzgerald, called the White Knight. 
All these we have already mentioned were 
in possession of their estates when they 
took up arms in defence of the faith. Some 
estranged themselves from the court party, 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



497 



at the cost of their properties, and espoused 
the Catholic cause ; namely, Florence and 
Daniel Mac-Carty, to whom the principality 
of Clancarrha belonged for some time ; 
O'Connor, prince of Sligo ; James Fitzger- 
ald, earl of Desmond ; Mac-William Burke ; 
Eaymond Burke, baron of Leitrim ; and 
Owen O'Morra. 

Several nobles, equal both in birth and 
virtue to those already named, though not 
chiefs of tribes, espoused the Catholic 
cause,* namely, Niallgarve O'Domiel, Cor- 
nelius O'Driscol, Dermod O'Sullevan, Fiach 
O'Birne, Cormac O'Neill, Cornelius O'Reil- 
ly, Dermod Mac-Carty Riagh, William 
Burke, Bernard O'Kelly, Richard Tirell, 
Bernard O'Morra, Walter Fitzgerald, Der- 
mod O'Connor, Peter Lacy, Edmond O'Mor- 
ra, James Butler, Morrough Mac-Sweeny, 
Ulick Burke, Daniel Mac-Sweeny, Richard 
Mageoghegan, Manus Mac-Sweeny, Mau- 
rice O'Sullevan, Thadeus O'Mahony of 
Carbry, and many other powerful lords. 

It is strange, however, that all the ancient 
and modern Irish, who abetted the cause of 
heresy, were Catholics, with the exception 
of three or four who had embraced the re- 
formed religion. f The latter were guided 
by their principles, the former by a blind 
respect for the shadow of legal authority. 

As soon as Fitzwilliam had received the 
sword of justice, as deputy of Ireland, care 
was taken to make him doubt the sincerity 
of Tyrone . This prince, called Hugh O'Neill, 
was son of Fardorach, baron of Dungannon, 
whom English writers call Matthew, and 
grandson of Conn O'Neill, on whom Henry 
VIII. conferred the title of earl of Tyrone 

Both in respect to birth and fortune, Hugh 
O'Neill was undoubtedly one of the first no 
blemen in Ireland.^ If to these advantages 
we add that of his having been a good citi 
zen, he surpassed them all. He was descend 
ed, by uninterrupted succession, from sev 
eral monarchs of Ireland. St. Patrick, the 
apostle of this island, found the supreme 
sceptre in the tribe of the Hy-Nialls, in the 
beginning of the fifth century, in which it 
continued to the usurpation of the provincial 
kings in the beginning of the eleventh. 
O'Neill was also the most powerful prince 
in landed property, money, men, and arms 
not only in his own province but in all Ire- 
land. His mind was just, and had been 
carefully formed in the best schools in Ire 
land, and subsequently in England, where 
he frequented the court for some time, and 

* Hist. Cathol. Ibern. ibid. 

t Hist. Cathol. Ibern. ibid. cap. 3. 

t Pet. Lombaad. de Hib. Comment, cap. 24. 



became a general favorite. The queen, who 
considered him as a useful instrument to re- 
duce Ireland, loaded him with honors. He 
was, by birth, baron of Dungannon ; but in 
order to abolish the title of O'Neill, which 
was considered so superior to every other, 
she conferred that of earl of Tyrone on him, 
and ordered him to take his seat in parlia- 
ment. With a design of serving his country, 
the earl acted cautiously towards the queen 
by seeming to embrace her views. 

Tyrone had a strong relish for war. Dur- 
ing his stay in England, he studied the mili- 
tary science with considerable success.* 
On his return to Ireland he received the 
command of two regiments, consisting of 
six companies, whom he trained to the art 
of war, and according as they became well 
disciplined, sent them home with rewards. 
Those dismissed were replaced by others, 
who were instructed in like manner. He 
gave fire-arms to the country people also, to 
induce them to hunt, and thereby made 
them expert in the use of them ; so that, in 
a short time, almost the whole province was 
trained to arms. He obtained the consent 
of the council to bring over plates of lead 
from England, under pretext of roofing a 
castle he was building at Dungannon ; and 
the merchants, who were desirous of making 
a profit by the transaction, exceeded the 
privilege which had been granted, by send- 
ing over larger quantities. Tyrone had the 
lead converted into bullets. Besides the 
private depots which were to furnish the 
wants of the troops under his orders, he had 
others, into which he secretly collected pro- 
visions and warlike stores. Such were the 
measures adopted by him, while he waited 
for a favorable opportunity to raise the 
standard of revolt — measures which proved 
his skill as a general. 

The first cause of Tyrone's quarrel with 
Elizabeth, was the hospitality with which 
he received some Spaniards that were cast 
by a storm upon the coasts of Ulster. A 
misunderstanding prevailed for a long time 
between Philip II., king of Spain, and the 
queen of England. Treaties of peace were 
often entered into between them, and as fre- 
quently broken off. The sovereignty of the 
Low Countries had already been wrested 
from Philip by the States of Holland, under 
the advice of William, prince of Orange, 
and transferred to the duke d'Anjou. Queen 
Elizabeth assisted Philip's rebellious sub- 
jects, of whom Alexander Farnese, prince 

* Petrus Lombard, ibid. War. de Annal. Hib. 
cap. 36. 



498 



IHSTORY OF IRELAND. 



of Parma, was named governor, and, on 
the other hand, Philip sent aid to the Cath- 
olics of Ireland against Elizabeth. 

Such was the state of affairs, when a 
treaty of peace was proposed, this year, 
between Spain and England. A certain 
number of commissioners, appointed on both 
sides, assembled with this object at Ostend, 
but came to no conclusion. Philip, finding 
these negotiations unavailing, turned his 
thoughts to war, and determined to make a 
descent upon England. For this purpose 
he equipped the most formidable fleet that 
had been ever known, from whence it was 
called the invincible armada.* This fleet 
consisted of one hundred and thirty vessels 
of various sizes, having on board nineteen 
thousand two hundred and nin ety troops , eight 
thousand and fifty sailors, two thousand and 
eighty men from the galleys, and two thou- 
sand six hundred and thirty pieces of can- 
non. The prince of Parma, governor of 
the Low Countries, received orders to hold 
himself in readiness, with the fifty thousand 
men he commanded, and to have boats of a 
crooked form, and deep in the centre, (each 
of which was to contain thirty horses,) con- 
structed. With these boats he intended to 
convey his army to the mouth of the Thames, 
at the time of the intended arrival of the 
fleet from Spain. 

On the other hand, all the measures ne- 
cessary to oppose the designs of the Span- 
iards, were adopted. Admiral Lord Charles 
Howard, and vice-admiral Sir Francis Drake 
had orders to repair on board the fleet at 
Plymouth. Lord Henry Seymour, at the 
head of forty English and Dutch ships, was 
appointed to guard the coasts of the Low 
Countries, to prevent the prince of Parma 
from sailing. The land forces were sta- 
tioned along the southern coast, under the 
command of the earl of Leicester, who 
established his head quarters at Tilbury, 
near the mouth of the Thames. The ports 
of Milford, Falmouth, Plymouth, Portland, 
the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, the mouth 
of the Thames, Harwich, Yarmouth, and 
Hull, were fortified, and strongly garrisoned. 

Matters being thus prepared on both sides, 
the Spanish fleet, commanded by Don Al- 
phonso, duke of Medina Sidonia, and Jean 
Martin Recalde, vice-admiral, sailed from the 
Tagus on the 20th May. Soon after sail- 
ing the fleet was dispersed in a violent gale. 
Having, however, collected the vessels again 
with difficulty, they appeared in July on 

* Cambd. Elizab. part 3, ad an. 1588. Baker, 
Chron. of Eng. reign of Elizabeth, p. 374. 



the coast of England. The fleet stationed 
at Plymouth set sail immediately, and in 
the course of six days three battles were 
fought with unequal success. The Span- 
iards, hoping to receive assistance from the 
prince of Parma, cast anchor opposite Ca- 
lais. The Spanish admiral dispatched a 
courier to the prince, with orders to join the 
fleet with his troops, and, in the mean time, 
to send him some cannon balls, of which 
he was in extreme need. This the prince 
could not accomplish, being blockaded in 
his own poTts by Seymour, who was, at the 
same time, about to join Admiral Howard's 
squadron. 

Besides this, the boats which were built 
being in a leaky condition, were not in a state 
to put to sea. The expedition was fatal to 
the Spaniards, but the English, according 
to their national characteristic, boast too 
highly of their success. The Spanish fleet 
was in the beginning shattered by a violent 
storm, and on the coast of Britain it was 
disappointed of the succors that were ex- 
pected from the Low Countries, with which 
hope the expedition had been principally 
undertaken. In their battles with the Eng- 
lish, the Spaniards were in want of ammu- 
nition ; their fleet, too, consisted of large 
ships hard to be managed, without frigates 
or small vessels, so necessary in an engage- 
ment. The advantage was entirely in fa- 
vor of the English. Their vessels were 
superior in number, and their force of every 
variety ; besides which they were on their 
own coasts, and had every thing requisite 
for their fleets. 

All hopes of succeeding on the shores of 
England being destroyed, the Spanish ad- 
miral sailed for Spain through the Orkneys. 
When coasting round the north of Ireland, 
his fleet was wrecked, whereby he lost more 
men and ships than in his battles with the 
English. The disappointment evinced by 
Philip when informed of this circumstance, 
and of the defeat of his fleet, was mildly 
expressed with these words, " I sent them to 
fight against men, not with the elements." 

The Spaniards who escaped the fury of 
the waves were hospitably sheltered by the 
Irish nobles, and among others, by O'Neill of 
Tyrone, O'Rorke, MacSweeny, &c. Camb- 
den incorrectly and maliciously says, that 
many of the Spaniards were put to death on 
this occasion by the Irish. His account in 
this accords with the atrocious murders that 
the queen's minister in Ireland committed 
at the time, who sought out the Spaniards 
everywhere, and had about two hundred of 
them put to death. His ciuelty in this was 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



499 



not, it is said, approved of by the queen. 
The same minister persecuted likewise 
many of the Irish who afforded an asylum 
to the Spaniards. 

A remnant of the Spaniards who were 
cast upon the north coast of Ireland, divided 
themselves and proceeded into the country 
parts to seek relief. Some of them, with 
their captain, presented themselves to Hugh 
O'Neill ; this prince received them with so 
much kindness, that the soldiers expressed 
an eagerness to continue in his service. The 
captain being recovered from his fatigues, 
took his leave of O'Neill and set out for 
Scotland, from whence he might pass with 
greater security to the Low Countries, and 
from thence to Spain. Being in company 
one day, he boasted of the goodness, the 
humanity, and liberal disposition of Prince 
O'Neill. One of the company, jealous of 
the praises that were lavished by this officer 
upon O'Neill, formed a slight intimacy with 
him, and gaining his confidence, observed, 
that if he had any letters to send to O'Neill, 
he would, with pleasure, undertake to de- 
liver them, as he was going to Ireland. The 
Spaniard, not suspecting his wicked design, 
gave him a letter wherein he avowed his 
gratitude and remembrance of his kindness- 
es ; offering him, at the same time, his ser- 
vices with the king and the court of Spain. 
This faithless messenger, whom Cambden 
calls Hugh Gavalerc, and others Conn Mac- 
Shane, natural son of Shane O'Neill, instead 
of going to Ireland, proceeded straight to Lon- 
don, where he gave up the Spaniard's letter 
for O'Neill, to the council. He added, that 
O'Neill was secretly plotting against the 
queen, and had given letters to the Spanish 
officer for the king of Spain, in which he 
sought assistance against her ; and that, the 
offers of service which this Spaniard had 
made to him, appertained to the same end. 
When the above information was given 
against O'Neill, an order was sent to him, in 
the name of the queen and council, to appear 
at court in order to clear himself. O'Neill, 
desirous of retaining the confidence of the 
court for some time longer, repaired to Lon- 
don in May, 1590, attended by a retinue 
suited to his rank, and pleaded his cause so 
ably that he was judged to be innocent, in 
spite of the treasurer, William Cecil, who 
possessed great influence, and was equally 
hostile to the Catholics and the Irish nation^ 
The prince of Tyrone being reconciled JB 
e queen and council, returned to Irehqra. 



jUSb queen and council, returned to Irehmu. 
y' O'Rourke, prince of Brefny, was riot so 
fortunate as the prince of Tyrone. He had 
afforded shelter to three hundred men be- 



longing to the crew of a Spanish vessel 
which had foundered on the coast of Sligo ; 
and being summoned by the deputy to deliver 
them up to her majesty's ministers, he replied, 
that neither his honor nor religion allowed 
him to surrender Catholics who had implored 
his protection, to be put to death. In the 
mean time, to secure them against the fur- 
ther pursuits of their enemy, he sent them to 
Tyrconnel, to Mac-Sweeny of Tueth, who 
had already hospitably entertained Antonio 
de Leva, and nearly a thousand men, who 
put to sea soon afterwards, but were unhap- 
pily lost within view of the shore.* 

In order to punish the supposed disobe- 
dience of O'Rourke, Bingham, governor of 
Connaught, marched against him with a 
strong force, both English and Irish. Among 
the latter was Ulick Burke, earl of Clanric- 
card. O'Rourke, who had but two hundred 
men commanded by Mac-Sweeny, surnamed 
Muracha Na-Mart, who had come from Mun- 
ster, and about the same number of vassals, 
who were hastily armed, was attacked at 
Droumdhathic. Unable to resist so superior 
a force, especially as Muracha was wound- 
ed, by which he lost an eye, he was forced 
to retreat. Being thus driven from his dis- 
trict, he was forced to resort to the goodness 
of Mac-Sweeny Tueth, who received him 
with generosity. After this he proceeded to 
Scotland, with the hope of obtaining succor 
to enable him to recover his possessions ; 
but James VI., king of Scotland, having 
previously made peace with Elizabeth, not- 
withstanding her barbarous treatment of his 
mother, Queen Mary, had O'Rourke arrested, 
in violation of all the sacred rights of hospi- 
tality towards a man whose only crime was 
his having exercised that virtue to men in 
distress, whom the most inhuman could not 
view in the light of enemies. This monarch 
sent him in chains to Elizabeth, who ordered 
him to be hanged at Tyburn, without even 
the form of a trial. When O'Rourke's last 
hour was approaching, he was visited by a 
Protestant bishop, who exhorted him to con- 
form to the religion of the queen and of the 
state ; but all his importunity could not shake 
the faith of that illustrious man, who firmly 
replied : Remember from what you yourself 
have fallen ; think of returning to the church, 
that you may regain the grace of God : as for 
me, I shall die in the religion which you have 
faeserted.f 

Rossa Boy MacMahon, chief of the noble 
tribe of the MacMahons of Monaghan, hav- 
ing died without issue, Aodha Rua, or Red 



* Hist. Cathol. ibid. 

t Petr. Lombard, ibid. p. 344. 



500 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



Hugh MacMahon, his brother, succeeded to 
his title and estates ;* but having cause to 
dread the other branches of that tribe, name- 
ly, Patrick, son of Art Moil MacMahon, 
Ebhir, or Iber, lord of Fame, and Brien, son 
ofHughOgue.lord of Dartry,who were pow- 
erful and aspired to the succession, he ap- 
plied to William Fitzwilliams,the lord-deputy, 
and promised him seven hundred oxen if he 
would interpose his authority, and secure to 
him the right of his ancestors. This iniqui- 
tous judge, wishing to benefit by the division 
that prevailed between the MacMahons, be- 
gan by taking possession of Monaghan, the 
chief town of their principality. He put a 
sheriff, or judge, with a strong garrison, into 
it. He then divided some of the lands be- 
tween Hugh the Red and Patrick MacMahon, 
leaving to the former the title of MacMahon ; 
and lastly, he adjudged to Iber and Brien the 
lordships of Fame and Dartry, with which 
they were to be content. Such was the de 
cision of an English minister, who, like the 
monkey with the oyster in the fable, took 
care to reserve the better part of the spoils 
for himself. All further complaints were 
interdicted. MacMahon, however, havin 
expressed some dissatisfaction, and having 
refused to pay to the deputy what he had 
already promised, the latter accused him of 
some pretended crime ; and in order to give 
an appearance of justice to his proceedings, 
he appointed twelve jurors to try him, with 
orders, however, to find him guilty. t The 
jurors, with some idea of honesty, exclaimed 
against an order so unjust, the result of 
which must be to sway their opinion, and 
make them to condemn, contrary to their 
conscience, an innocent man. Twelve oth- 
ers, who proved to be less scrupulous, were 
then appointed, by whom MacMahon was 
condemned to death. The inhuman sentence 
was carried into execution at Monaghan. 
His estates were confiscated, and a great part 
of them given to Sir Henry Bagnall and Cap- 
tain Henslow ; the remainder was divided be- 
tween some branches of the MacMahons, on 
condition of their paying an annual tribute, 
and a vessel of wine to the deputy. This 
matter was subsequently made the subject 
of complaint against him to the council of 
England, from which he had some difficulty 
to clear himself. Brien, lord of Dartry, re 
covered all those estates afterwards, and 
was acknowledged chief of the MacMahons. 
According to the best authors, Ireland was 
celebrated in former ages for her schools, 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. vol. 2, lib. 4, c. 23. Petr. 
Lombard, ibid, pages 341, 342. 
t Petr. Lombard, ibid, page 342 



which were frequented by foreigners. They 
produced many persons who were celebrated 
for their sanctity and profound erudition, and 
supplied several universities in Europe with 
the best professors ; but much of this celeb- 
rity was lost by the invasion of the English 
in the twelfth century.* These new-comers, 
intent upon amassing wealth, no longer 
thought of the engagements which had been 
entered into between their sovereign and 
Adrian IV. — viz., to restore religion in Ire- 
land, and reform the morals of the inhabit- 
ants ; an engagement which, though ground- 
less and absurd, was the only plea for their 
usurpation. On the contrary, they labored 
to abolish all learning, whereby the minds of 
the people would be enlightened and their 
morals cultivated, by forcing the inhabitants 
to exchange science for war, in order to de- 
fend their patrimonies. A proposal being 
once made to the council of England, to 
found a university in Ireland for the instruc- 
tion of youth, one of the principal members, 
who was also a bishop, opposed it strongly.! 
One of his friends expressing his surprise 
on seeing a Catholic bishop frustrate so holy 
and salutary a measure, the prelate answered 
that he had not decided as a bishop of the 
Catholic church, but as a senator of England. 
It was the policy of England to deprive the 
Irish of every opportunity to polish and im- 
prove the people, and in order to render 
them contemptible, to suffer them to fall into 
the grossest ignorance. This cruel policy 
forced the nobility of the country to send 
their children to foreign countries to learn 

knowledge of the sciences which were 
denied them at home. 

Queen Elizabeth was the first to infringe 
upon this policy, which had been observed 
during four centuries. She founded a col- 
lege in Dublin for the encouragement of 
Protestantism, which it was intended should 
be introduced into Ireland, a. d. 1591 4 In 
order to anticipate her majesty's intention, 
Adam Loftus, Protestant archbishop of Dub- 
lin and chancellor of Ireland, called a meet- 
ing of the mayor, aldermen, and citizens, at 
the exchange, where he delivered an impres- 
sive discourse on the necessity of restoring 
the sciences ; and represented to them, that, 
if they would promote so valuable an under- 
taking, and give, for that purpose, the old 
monastery called All Saints, which had been 
granted to them by Henry VIII., on the 
suppression of religious houses, it would be 

* Venerab. Bed. Hist. Eccles. Passim. Cambd. 
Brit. p. 730. Usser. Prim. Eccles. 

t Pet. Lombard, Comment, de Req. Hib. cap. 18. 
t War. de Annal. cap. 33, 34, 35. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



501 



pleasing to the queen. This proposal was 
unanimously approved of, and Henry Usher 
deputed to obtain from the queen the patents 
necessary for its fouudation, which were im- 
mediately granted. Loftus repaired to the 
exchange to thank the magistrates, on the 
part of her majesty, whose letter he showed 
them. Workmen were employed to pull 
down the monastery, on the site of which a 
handsome college was erected, and dedicated 
to the blessed Trinity. Thomas Smith, then 
mayor of Dublin, laid the first stone. This 
college was erected into a university by a 
charter, dated 30th of March, 1592. William 
Cecil, baron of Burleigh, grand-treasurer of 
England, a knight of the order of the garter, 
and secretary of state, was the first chancellor 
of Trinity College ; Adam Loftus first pro- 
vost ; Luke Challoner, William Daniel, James 
Fullerton, and James Hamilton, were the first 
fellows ; and the celebrated James Usher, 
or Usserius, Abel Walsh, and James Lee, 
the first bursars. This foundation was con- 
firmed in 1638, by a charter from Charles I., 
who caused regulations to be drawn up for 
the government of the college, and the disci- 
pline to be observed in it. Michael Morus, 
or More, of the celebrated tribe of the 
O'Morras of Leix, was the last Catholic pro- 
vost of this college. In the time of James 
II., he was forced to surrender that dignity 
on account of his religion, and share the same 
fate with hrSldng. He went to Rome, where 
he became acquainted with Cardinal de 
Noailles, who became so attached to him, 
on account of his erudition, that he brought 
him to Paris. He became rector of the 
university in that city, and president of the 
college of Navarre, where he died. 

This year was remarkable for the cele- 
brated declaration or edict which Elizabeth 
issued against the ministers of the Catholic 
religion.* It is filled with invectives against 
the king of Spain, and the pope, the priests, 
seminarians, and Jesuits. Ecclesiastics, and 
all who received them into their houses, were 
condemned to pay heavy fines, under an 
absurd pretext of high treason, which con- 
sisted in their refusal to embrace the re- 
formed religion, and acknowledge Elizabeth 
supreme head of the church. The follow- 
ing is a copy of her edict : 

" Although we have had for thirty-three 
years, during which God hath secured to us 
a peaceful reign, sufficient cause to hope that 
the strong and wicked malice of our enemies, 
particularly the king of Spain, (who has 
without provocation disturbed our kingdom,) 

* Relat. Girald. cap. 26, page 171, et seq. 



would at length have subsided on his part, 
and that of his allies ; and that he, with other 
Christian princes, would unite with us after 
the war which he had kindled would end, to 
establish a general peace. But we now find 
that the contrary has arisen, and that the 
warlike preparations which he, the king of 
Spain, hath made, are of the most extensive 
and formidable character. The God of ar- 
mies, however, has been pleased to permit, 
that those who cannot live content with their 
condition, and in peace, fall by their own im- 
prudence into disasters and distress ; and we 
therefore discover that this king, who has 
possessed dominions and wealth of greater 
magnitude than any of his predecessors, or 
any other monarch in the world, and who 
has declared an unjust war against France 
and us, by plotting during two years, the 
destruction of our realms, has fallen, together 
with his army, into disappointment and ruin. 

" It is now obvious to us, that the king of 
Spain, in order to add a new appearance to 
his rash and extraordinary measures, has 
lately caused a Milanese, his own subject, to 
be raised to the popedom, and has influenced 
him to apply the treasures of the church to 
the raising of troops in Italy and other 
countries, (which are free from war,) for the 
purpose of sending them under the command 
of his nephew into France, to take possession 
of that kingdom, which has always assisted 
the church in her necessities. This war, 
which has been undertaken with so much 
care and splendor both by sea and land, 
must necessarily affect our kingdoms and 
our crown. 

" We are likewise convinced that this king 
has, for the purpose of establishing his de- 
signs through the influence of the pope, so 
disposed to favor him, entered into treaty 
with some chiefs who have been our ungrate- 
ful subjects, and linked in rebellion with the 
people, who, influenced and paid by the king 
of Spain, enrolled themselves in great num- 
bers ; some from necessity, and some to es- 
cape the punishment due to their crimes and 
perfidy. To maintain and support them in 
their pursuits, certain places called semina- 
ries have been established in Spain and at 
Rome, where they become instructed, and 
after they are made conversant in the arts 
of sedition, are secretly sent back into our 
kingdom, well supplied with money from the 
pope, to influence all with whom they treat, 
to renounce their allegiance to us, under a 
hope of being assisted by the Spaniards, 
who would load them with the riches and 
spoils of our faithful subjects. 

" For these objects the priests oblige, by 



502 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



an oath, our people with whom they hold 
intercourse, to renounce their allegiance to 
us and transfer it to the king of Spain ; like- 
wise, to aid his army on their landing, and 
the more effectually to accomplish their pur- 
pose, they impose on a credulous people, by 
saying that bulls have been obtained from 
the pope, whereby indulgences and a promise 
of heaven are held out to those who will 
range themselves under their standard, and 
that those who will act in opposition, are 
loaded with curses, with threats of hell, and 
condemnation. 

" And although such attempts of the pope 
have been long practised in some countries, 
we have saved our kingdoms from their in- 
fluence by the efficacy of the laws enacted 
against rebels and those guilty of high trea^ 
son, and not against religion, as has been 
falsely advanced by the favorers of these 
base views ; which is the more flagrant from 
criminal suits having been instituted, in 
which none were condemned or put to death 
except for treason, and for their avowal, 
that they would aid and assist the pope and 
his army if sent to invade our realms. 

" It is a matter also of notoriety, that 
none of our subjects have been put to death 
for their religion, inasmuch as many pos- 
sessed of riches, and possessing a contrary 
belief to ours, are punished neither in their 
properties, their lives, nor their freedom, 
and are subject only to pay a certain fine for 
their refusal to frequent our churches ; 
which is on our part a clear refutation of 
the aspersions and calumnies that have 
been propagated in foreign countries, by 
those who have fled from their own. 

" Notwithstanding all this, we know for 
truth, that some leaders in these receptacles 
called seminaries, or Jesuitical colleges, have 
again endeavored to influence the king of 
Spain to make new attempts upon Ireland, 
by promising to assist his army on their land- 
ing, with many thousand men, although his 
fleet had met with signal disasters in its 
first attempts at invasion. Though prudence 
and experience of the past should show this 
king how inefficient his plans against Eng- 
land must ever be ; still he has been solicited 
to renew his efforts, under similar false 
promises and misrepresentations. 

" The king of Spain's particular adviser is 
a theologian named Person, who endeavors 
by such means to gain the Catholic king's 
favor, and succeed in becoming his confes- 
sor ; similar information has been conveyed 
to the pope through another theologian 
called Alan, the reward of whose trea- 
chery towards us has been a cardinal's hat : 



these men have provided their patrons with 
a list of names of those who have espoused, 
or would espouse their cause, particularly in 
the maritime parts of our kingdom, and 
would join the standard of the Spaniards on 
their landing. Although the pope and king 
of Spain must be aware that the advices and 
opinions of these men are frivolous and 
false, still they are looked upon as fit instru- 
ments to keep the people attached to their 
wicked designs, and many of them have 
been, within the last ten or twelve months, 
secretly dispatched into England, to assure 
their adherents, (as has been made known 
to us through some who have been lately 
arrested,) that in the ensuing year, the entire 
forces of Spain will be directed against Eng- 
land. Some, however, of the Spanish coun- 
cil, more prudent than the rest, seeing that 
no important advantages would attend such 
an enterprise, think that France or the Low 
Countries, Scotland or Ireland, whither some 
seminarians have been sent for this object, 
would afford better hopes and prospects of 
success to the Spanish arms. 

" Though convinced now of the inten- 
tions and designs of Spain against us, still 
we doubt not but God, who is the pro- 
tector of the just cause, will, as he has 
already done, defeat them. It is the duty 
of us, therefore, who have received the throne 
from the hands of the Almighty, to use all 
the means within our power, Under the di- 
vine protection, and with the help of our 
faithful subjects, to make the laws available 
against rebels, so that by increasing our 
forces, we may crush the power of our ene- 
mies. 

" First, we require that the clergy of our 
church take care, by their doctrine and ex- 
ample, to instruct the people in the gospel, 
and in their duties to God and to us, particu- 
larly as some rebels, with their chiefs, are 
continually endeavoring, by means of their 
seminaries, to seduce the simple and unsus- 
pecting. 

" Secondly, with respect to our armies by 
sea and land, intended to suppress those ex- 
traordinary forces which are to come from 
Spain, we hope, that by the good orders we 
have given, we shall resist our enemies more 
effectually than we have yet done : still we 
earnestly entreat our subjects to assist us 
with their resources in men and money, and 
with their advice, and to pray that God will 
protect our cause, which is that of nature, 
honor, and necessity, and which we have 
undertaken for the safety of our country, for 
the safety of your wives and children, your 
properties and freedom, against those cruel 
and avaricious despoilers. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



503 



" Thirdly, in order to defeat the secret 
machinations of these seminarians, Jesuits, 
and other traitors, who are urging the king 
of Spain to his present designs, and under a 
garb of sanctity, insinuate themselves into 
the minds of our subjects, and encourage 
them to rebel ; we have determined to send 
commissioners immediately to all the coun- 
ties, provinces, towns, villages, and seaports 
of our kingdom, with orders to make every 
necessary effort for the discovery of such 
characters as think that any obedience what- 
soever is due to the pope or to the king of 
Spain. 

" Being aware that several of these semi- 
narians, disguised in female attire, enter our 
kingdom, and by assuming the name of for- 
eigners, gain admittance into the universi- 
ties, courts of princes, and the families of 
noblemen, we expressly command each and 
every one, of what rank, sex, condition, or 
dignity soever they be, even the officers of 
our household, the ministers and magistrates, 
the heads of families, and pastors, to search 
carefully for all who, within the last fourteen 
months, have frequented their houses, and 
have lived, slept, eaten with, or labored for 
them, or may labor for them in future ; 
also to give a return of their names, rank, 
and quality, their birthplace, and where 
they have lived for a whole year before they 
came to their houses, on what they subsist, 
how they have been employed, what places 
they frequented, and those with whom they 
keep intercourse, and if, at the periods pre- 
scribed by law, they have attended divine 
service in our churches. 

" We likewise command that these inqui- 
ries, with the answers given them, be com- 
mitted to writing by the heads of each family, 
and that they be carefully preserved, in order 
that they may be resorted to by our commis- 
sioners as they may think proper, both for 
the discovery of doubtful characters, and to 
convince them of the correctness and loyalty 
of the fathers of families. 

" Should any hesitate to answer, or appear 
to waver in their testimony, it is our will that 
they be forthwith arrested, and brought 
under a strong guard to the nearest com- 
missioner ; and, that the same measure be 
enforced against the heads of families, who 
will manifest omission or lenity in their in- 
vestigations : and that our commissioners 
shall punish, according to the degree of their 
offences, such as may be known to have 
favored suspected persons, or to have neg- 
lected giving them up within twenty days 
after the publication of this decree. They 
shall be subject to the same penalty as trai 



tors and rebels, and likewise will be deemed 
their abettors and accomplices, in faith of 
which we ordain, expressly and firmly, that 
no favor or respect be shown to either rank 
or dignity ; and finally, that no neglect be 
tolerated in those who have not discovered 
traitors, or used their exertions for the dis- 
covery of them ; which so far from being 
contrary to law, are in accordance with the 
most ancient laws and customs of our king- 
dom, for the maintenance of that obedience 
which is due to us and to the stability of our 
government. Given at our palace of Eich- 
mond, on the 18th of October, 1591, in the 
thirty-third year of our reign." 

The above declaration is founded on false 
reasoning. Elizabeth alleges that high trea- 
son alone was punishable by death : still, she 
condemned those who refused to take the 
oath of supremacy, to death, and deprived 
them of their estates, their refusal being 
considered as an act of high treason. She 
conceals her venom and bad faith under an 
appearance of justice, resting the proofs of 
her innocence on the cases of some of her 
rich Catholic subjects, who were condemned 
to pay a fine only when they omitted attend- 
ing the churches of the reformers ; but she 
has never been accused of having condemned 
all her Catholic subjects to death on account 
of their religion. Her fury was levelled in 
particular against the clergy who were op- 
posed to the reformation, while the rich 
compounded matters by suffering in secret, 
and escaping her tyranny, by paying a sum 
of money. 

About the year 1592, eleven priests and 
Jesuits were arrested in Connaught and 
Munster, among whom was Michael Fitz- 
simon, a priest, and son of an alderman of 
Dublin.* They were brought to Dublin, 
and accused, in presence of the deputy, of 
having been concerned in the rebellion of 
Baltinglass. This was the pretext made 
use of, but their real crime was, that they 
preached against the reformation, and the 
supposed supremacy of Elizabeth, which was 
then high treason. Michael Fitzsimon was 
hanged in the public market-place. 

The horrid fate of Hugh MacMahon, chief 
of the ancient tribe of the MacMahons of 
Monaghan, which has been already men- 
tioned, alarmed the neighboring noblemen, 
who, each in turn, expected the same treat- 
ment.-f - Hugh MacGuire, prince of Ferma- 
nagh, was particularly affected by Mac- 
Mahon's untimely end. The deputy having 
sent a sheriff to his district without his con- 

* Ware, ibid. 

t Peter Lombard, ibid. cap. 24, pages 243, 244. 



504 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



sent, he collected his forces and prepared to 
defend himself. This English magistrate 
was called Willis, and was followed by two 
hundred men, women, and children ;* and 
instead of discharging the duties of his of- 
fice, he pillaged the country, and raised con- 
tributions everywhere. Maguire marched 
against him, and forced him and his follow- 
ers to seek safety in a church, where he 
would have put them all to the sword, had 
it not been for the interference of Tyrone, 
who saved their lives, on condition that 
they would quit the province. 

Thomas Jones, Protestant bishop of Meath, 
sent a minister of his church, about this time, 
to the abbey of Cluaincois, or Clunes, in the 
territory of Monaghan, to preach the refor- 
mation, t The zeal of this minister was not 
confined to the people in the neighborhood 
of the abbey. He proceeded to the districts 
of Fermanagh, where he gave the Catholics 
considerable uneasiness about their religion, 
by endeavoring to force them to embrace 
the reformation. He intimidated those who 
persevered in their faith, by accusing them 
of high treason, and thus became master of 
their estates. However, his tyranny was of 
short duration, as he was burned in his house, 
with all his retinue. The suspicion of the 
government immediately fell on Maguire. 
He was summoned to appear before the 
English judges, but as he would not acknow- 
ledge their authority, he refused to obey, 
and had recourse to arms, whereon he was 
proclaimed a traitor. 

In the mean time, Hugh O'Donnel, Daniel 
MacSweeny, surnamed Gorm, and Fluan 
O'Gallachur, were arrested by stratagem, as 
we have already observed, and imprisoned 
in the castle of Dublin, a. d. 1594.J After 
a close confinement of nearly seven years, 
they found means to escape with Henry and 
Art, sons of Shane O'Neill, and Philip 
O'Reilly. Fiach O'Birne, the implacable 
enemy of the English, and young Edward 
Eustace, of the illustrious house of Baltin- 
glass, contributed greatly to their escape. 
These noblemen having gained over the 
jailers, sent the illustrious captives a piece 
of linen, as if for clothing. O'Donnel cut it 
into strips, which he tied together, by means 
of which they all descended at midnight, 
safely into the trench, except Art O'Neill 
who was dangerously wounded by a stone 
that fell from the wall, and of which he 
shortly afterwards died. Thus delivered 
from prison, they left the city before day 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 36. 

t Hist. Cathol. Ibern. vol. 3, lib. 2, cap. 6. 

t Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 4. 



break. It was then the depth of winter, the 
roads were bad, and they were obliged to 
take by-paths, in order to escape the pur- 
suit of their enemies, so that they suffered 
great fatigue and hardships before they ar- 
rived in Ulster. 

Hugh O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel, 
called by the Irish Bal Dcargue O'Donnaill, 
from a red spot on his body, was next to 
O'Neill in point of power. Though not 
twenty years of age, he was remarkable for 
his prudence and other virtues, particularly 
for his zeal in the Catholic cause. On his 
arrival in Tyrconnel, his father being far 
advanced in years, gave him up his own 
right ; whereupon he was unanimously 
elected, and crowned prince of Tyrconnel, 
by O'Pheile, who was the minister of that 
ceremony in the family of O'Donnel. 

As soon as O'Donnel was in possession of 
the principality, he generously determined to 
use all his power against the enemies of his 
religion and country.* The first time he 
signalized himself in their cause was when 
Captain Willis made some inroads on the 
estates of Tyrconnel. This officer having 
entered the district with a few troops, en- 
deavored to raise contributions. The prince, 
however, marched against him, and forced 
him to seek safety in an old monastery, where 
he was immediately surrounded by- the troops 
of Tyrconnel. The Englishman finding him- 
self hemmed in, and without any hope of 
succor, implored the clemency of the prince ; 
who generously gave him his freedom, 
on condition of his telling those who had 
sent him that the queen and her lieutenants 
treated the Irish unworthily ; that they im- 
piously profaned the Catholic religion, and 
were cruelly persecuting the ministers of 
Jesus Christ ; that they were degrading the 
Catholic nobility, and that, instead of admin- 
istering justice, they were continually com- 
mitting abuses, and usurping the estates of 
others ; and lastly, that he would not allow 
his people to pay tribute any longer to the 
English. O'Donnel having dismissed the 
English captain and his men, thought of se- 
curing allies to defend the common cause. 
He took care to conciliate the principal no- 
blemen of the country towards him, all of 
whom were branches of the house of Tyr- 
connel ;t namely, Eugenius MacSweeny of 
Tueth, Donat MacSweeny of Banach, Daniel 
MacSweeny of Fanid, John O'Dogherty of 
Inisowen, the O'Buildhils, orBoyles, of Boy- 
lagh, and many others. O'Rourke of Brefny, 

* Pet. Lombard, ibid. p. 348. Ibid. p. 351. 
t Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 6. Pet. Lombard, ibid, 
page 345, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



505 



who sought an opportunity to revenge the 
death of his father who had been executed in 
London, was among the allies of Tyrconnel. 

Maguire, prince of Fermanagh,was already 
in arms against the English, when Edmond 
MacGowran, archbishop of Armagh, and 
primate of all Ireland, arrived. He was sent 
by the pope to encourage the Catholic no- 
bility of Ireland to defend their religion : 
and also brought promises of assistance from 
Philip II., king of Spain. In order to fulfil 
his commission, the archbishop visited the 
princes and lords of Ulster, but generally 
resided with the prince of Fermanagh. 

Maguire, accompanied by the primate, 
entered Connaught sword in hand. Bingham, 
governor of that province, sent a detachment 
against him, under William Guelfert. Both 
armies having met in a place called Skiethna- 
Fheart, a brisk engagement ensued between 
the cavalry, but Maguire having forced his 
way through the ranks, killed Guelfert with 
his lance ; and the English seeing their chief 
fallen, took to flight, leaving the field of 
battle to Maguire. This nobleman's joy for 
his victory, was, however, changed into sor- 
row by the death of the primate, who was 
Jillled by some English that were retreating. 
The Irish of the Catholic party, determined 
to treat not only the English Protestants as 
enemies, but also the Irish Catholics who 
assisted them. On this principle, O'Rourke 
and Maguire marched together to Annaly, 
at present the county of Longford, belonging 
to the O'Ferrals ; where they destroyed every 
thing by fire and sword, and carried away 
immense booty. William O'Ferral, lord of 
that country,advancing with a body of cavalry 
to wrest the spoils from his enemy, was 
killed by Maguire, and his men put to flight, 

Fitzwilliam, lord-deputy of Ireland,owas 
recalled in August, and succeeded by Sir 
William Russel, youngest son of the earl of 
Bedford; who, on his arrival in Dublin, was 
sworn into office, and was informed by the 
council, of the state of affairs in Ireland. 

The disturbances continued in Ulster, 
where the Catholic party were gaining 
strength by the union of the lords of the 
province.* The English govemmentbecame 
alarmed, and dispatched an army against 
Maguire, who kept the field. The earl of 
Tyrone and the marshal B agnail were ap- 
pointed to head this expedition. The policy 
of Tyrone still prevented him from declaring 
against the queen, or even remaining neutral. 
Maguire seeing the preparations that were 
making against him, and the danger with 

* Hist. Cathoi. ibid. cap. 7. 



which he was threatened, sent to O'Donnel 
for assistance, who granted him a small body 
of Irish and Scotch, the former being armed 
with axes, and the latter with arrows ; but 
even with this reinforcement, the prince 
of Fermanagh's army was inferior in num- 
bers to the enemy. The English having 
reached the banks of the river Earne, began 
to cannonade the Catholic army, which was 
posted on the opposite side, from which the 
latter suffered severely, having but their ar- 
rows to oppose the enemy's artillery — at 
length, Tyrone having discovered a ford, 
crossed the river at the head of his cavalry, 
and broke Maguire's infantry ; but this ad- 
vantage was not important, in consequence 
of his being wounded by the arrow of an 
Irish archer in the thigh. Maguire having 
then rallied his cavalry and infantry, forced 
the enemy to cross the river. The old ani- 
mosities between Tyrone and Bagnall broke 
out anew on this occasion. Bagnall, as com- 
mander-in-chief, claimed the glory of the 
action, while the only advantage that was 
gained over the Catholics, was chiefly due to 
the bravery of the earl. O'Donnel having 
arrived in Maguire's camp with a fresh rein- 
forcement, the night after the battle, was 
desirous of attacking the English ; but was 
prevented by a secret express from Tyrone, 
who begged of him not to undertake any 
thing against the English army while he 
remained among them, as his liberty would 
be endangered. Tyrone left the camp shortly 
afterwards, and went to Dungannon to get 
cured of his wounds. 

In the mean time, Richard Bingham, gov- 
ernor of Connaught, laid siege to Inniskil- 
len.,--"a fortress belonging to Maguire.* He 
took possession of it much less by his valor, 
than by the treachery of one MacCraine, 
which implies Jtlius scropha — who was an 
officer of the garrison, and a favorite with 
Maguire. The disposition of this man cor- 
responded with his face, which was hideous. 
Being bribed by Bingham, he opened the 
gates of the castle to him, and was the only 
person that was spared by this general, who 
had every man, woman, and ehild (except 
the traitor) put to the' sword. After this 
expedition, Bingham garrisoned the castle of 
Enniskillen, and returned immediately to his 
province, to avoid meeting with O'Donnel 
and Maguire who were superior to him in 
strength. 

The Catholics of Leinster having been 
already persecuted under the government of 
John Perrott, the deputy, many of them were 

* Hist. Cathoi. ibid. 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



506 

forced to abandon their dwellings and take 
np arms to defend themselves against the 
rio-or of the laws that were enacted against 
them.* Sir Walter Fitzgerald, of the house 
of Kildare, was among the number. This 
knight was called Vater Riach, or the Brown, 
from the darkness of his complexion. He 
withdrew to Gloran, in the county of Wick- 
low, to Fiach Mac-Hugh O'Birne, whose 
daughter he had married. Fiach was a 
powerful nobleman, and always opposed to 
the English. He was one of the most im- 
portant allies of the celebrated Viscount Bal- 
tinglass, when that nobleman took up arms 
against Elizabeth ; but after the fall of the 
viscount, he was restored to favor with the 
government, and his house was an asylum 
for the persecuted Catholics. Several young 
gentlemen followed the fortune of Walter 
Fitzgerald, with whom he made war against 
the English. He defeated Dudley Bagnall, 
brother to the lord-marshal, who attacked 
him with the troops of the garrison at Leigh- 
lin, Dudley himself being found among the 
slain. He also made incursions into Ormond, 
where he defeated the Butlers and their 
chief, Peter Butler, nephew to the earl Or- 
mond ; and afterwards made inroads on Lein- 
ster and Meath, and became the terror of the 
English Protestants. In order to prevent the 
consequences of his rapid victories, the dep- 
uty proposed terms of peace, and a general 
amnesty , which he thought prudentto accept. 
Walter Fitzgerald lived in peace for some 
years ; but the war in Ulster giving rise to 
fresh persecution in Leinster, he again flew 
to arms,with Fiach O'Byrne.TerenceFeilim, 
and his son Raymond, George O'Morra, and 
others. These confederates had many skir- 
mishes with the Protestants, in which they 
were sometimes the conquerors, and were 
sometimes defeated; but being at length 
overcome by the superior number of their 
enemies, some of their chiefs, among whom 
was Walter Fitzgerald, fell into the hands of 
the English, and gave a glorious testimony 
of faith, by shedding their blood in its de 
fence. 

The war still continued to rage in Ulster. 
O'Donnel surrounded the castle of Enniskil- 
len which had been surprised some time be- 
fore by the English ; but had not the artillery 
necessary for carrying on the siege in form. 
The deputy received intelligence of this, and 
marching to the assistance of the town, had 
provisions conveyed to the besieged, and 
after losing a great number of his men, re- 
turned to Dublin. In the mean time the 

* Hist. Cathol. Ibern. ibid. cap. 2. 



prince of Tyrconnel deputed James O'Healy, 
archbishop of Tuam, to Philip II., king of 
Spain, to inform that prince of the state of 
affairs in Ireland, and remind him of the 
promises he made to the primate MacGau- 
ran, of assisting the Catholics in Ireland.* 
The prelate was kindly received by his 
Catholic majesty, who gave fresh assu- 
rances of aid, and dismissed him with 
presents ; but he had not the happiness to 
bring back the answer to O'Donnel, as he 
was lost on his passage to Ireland. 

O'Donnel still kept up the blockade of the 
castle of Enniskillen ;t his design being to 
reduce the place by famine. The garrison 
seeing themselves hard pressed, dispatched 
MacCraine, who had lately betrayed the 
place, with five others, to apprize the Eng- 
lish of their distressing situation. These 
emissarieshaving crossed the river in a small 
boat, fell into the hands of a party of the 
Irish, and were cut to pieces. The English 
government was well acquainted with the 
state of the garrison of Enniskillen, and re- 
solved to relieve it. Stores of biscuit, salt 
meat,cheese, and everything necessary,were 
provided ; the number of the troops raised 
for its relief amounted to two thousand five 
hundred infantry, and four hundred cavalry, 
commanded by Sir Henry Duke, governor 
and lord-marshal of O'Faly, who received 
orders to force the prince of Tyrconnel from 
his intrenchments. O'Donnel received in- 
telligence of the preparations that were ma- 
king against him, and being determined to 
meet the enemy, he dispatched a courier to 
the earl of Tyrone, with a letter, informing 
him of the danger to which he was exposed, 
and that he was resolved to shed the last 
drop of his blood in defence of his country's 
cause, against the English, adding, that he 
would consider him as his enemy, if he re- 
fused to assist him in so pressing an emer- 
gency. 

O'Neill convened his council, in order to 
examine the dispatches of the courier. He 
hesitated at first, from fear that O'Donnel 
had engaged too hastily in this war, and that 
he calculated on doubtful aid from the king 
of Spain ; on the other hand, he thought it 
wrong to forsake the prince of Tyrconnel in 
his dilemma, who was his ally, relative, and 
friend ; though he dreaded that if he were de- 
feated it would prove fatal to the cause of 
religion, in favor of which he intended im- 
mediately to declare himself. Tyrone there- 
fore dispatched Cormac O'Neill, his brother, 
at the head of one hundred horse, and three 

* War. ibid. c. 37. Hist. Cathol. c. 8. 
t Hist. Cathol. cap. 11. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



507 



hundred foot, to Tyrconnel. The latter im- 
mediately sent a detachment of a thousand 
foot, under the command of Maguire and 
Cormac O'Neill, to meet the English, who 
were approaching his camp with rapid 
strides. Maguire and O'Neill set out on 
their march, and arrived in the evening on 
the banks of the river Farna, where they 
saw the English army under Sir Duke, posted 
on the opposite side. Both armies passed 
the night in firing on each other. At break 
of day, the English general having discovered 
a ford, made his army cross the river, and 
marched towards the enemy in battle array. 
The battle began at eleven in the morning, 
and lasted till night, with great slaughter on 
both sides ; but the English were at length 
completely routed by the superior skill of 
the Irish generals, and the bravery of the 
soldiers under their command. Those who 
escaped the carnage, endeavored to repass 
the river, but being pursued by the Irish, sev- 
eral were drowned in endeavoring to escape. 
According even to their authors, the loss of 
the English was immense, which avowal 
from Englishmen is worthy of remark.* 
From O'Sullivan we learn, that they lost four 
hundred men. He even mentions the place 
where the battle was fought — -vadum biscoc- 
torum panum, or the ford of biscuits ; the 
confusion of the English being so great, that 
they were obliged to throw the biscuit which 
had been intended for the garrison of Innis- 
killen, into the river. This garrison having 
now lost all hopes of succor, from the defeat 
of their countrymen, opened the gates to 
O'Donnel. That prince restored it to Ma- 
guire, to whom it belonged. 

After the reduction of Enniskillen, Tyr- 
connel marched to Connaught to revenge 
the tyranny which had been practised in 
that province by Bingham, the governor. 
He carried terror wherever he passed, put- 
ting every English Protestant, from the age 
of fifteen to sixty, who could not speak Irish, 
to the sword. Tyrconnel afterwards entered 
Annaly, and burned the district of Longford, 
which belonged to the O'Ferrals. It had 
been usurped by an English Protestant 
named Brown ; so that the English in Con- 
naught who escaped the sword of the con- 
queror, being deprived of all they had 
amassed, except those who were under the 
protection of the garrisons and fortresses, 
were obliged to return to England, highly 
indignant with those who had induced them 
to seek their fortunes in Ireland. 

Theobald Burke, a powerful lord of Con- 

* Cambd. Elizab. ad an. 1594, page 658. 



naught, of the house of MacWilliam, was 
deprived about this time by the English, of 
the estates of his ancestors, and confined in 
a dungeon at Athlone. Being rescued from 
his captivity, he had recourse to O'Donnel, 
who gave him a body of men to assist him 
in recovering his patrimony. Burke thereon 
returned to his province, laid siege to Beal- 
like, one of his fortresses, which was in pos- 
session of the English, and defeated George 
Bingham and other chiefs, who were ad- 
vancing, at the head of an English army, to 
the relief of the besieged. Such was the 
state of affairs in Ulster. War was raging 
between the principal nobles of the province 
and the English. Disturbances also began 
to break out in the provinces of Leinster 
and Connaught. 

Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, had acted 
his part ably. He had spent seven years in 
organizing his forces, and in providing pro- 
visions and all sorts of warlike stores. He 
always appeared to act in the queen's inter- 
ests ; still the English distrusted him, while 
the Irish blamed his inactivity. He only 
waited a favorable moment to avow himself. 
Until this year, (a. d. 1595,) he had been 
thwarted by Tirlogh Linogh, cousin to Conn 
O'Neill, first earl of the name, and son of 
the brother of Con More O'Neill, who was 
father of the earl. Tirlogh assumed the 
name of O'Neill ; disputed the principality 
of Tyrone with Hugh, and was supported 
by the greater part of the tribe, who despised 
English titles, and considered the name alone 
to be much more honorable. On the death 
of his rival, he was acknowledged as the 
O'Neill. He then renounced the title of earl, 
removed the mask, and declared against the 
queen. He was afterwards nominated com- 
mander-in-chief of the league, which con- 
sisted of several branches of the O'Neills, 
Maguires, MacMahons, Magennises, Mac 
Donnels, 0'Cahans,0'Flannagans, andmany 
other powerful nobles of the province, with 
their vassals.* O'Donnel, on his side, com- 
manded the Tyrconnel faction. These 
princes sometimes acted separately, but al- 
ways for the good of the common cause, which 
was that of their religion and their country. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

The frequent victories which the Catho- 
lics of Ireland gained over the English, alarm- 
ed the court of England. The queen was so 

* Pet. Lombard, ibid, page 352. 



508 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



afflicted by these disasters, that she deter 
mined to put an end to them by subduing the 
Catholics. For this purpose, she sent for the 
old troops who were serving in the Nether 
lands against Philip II., and dispatched 
three thousand of them over to Ireland, un- 
der the orders of Sir John Norris, with the 
title of captain-general.* This diversion was 
highly favorable to Spain. Philip II. had 
given the command of the Netherlands to 
Cardinal Albert, archduke of Austria ; he 
collected the Spanish forces, under the pre- 
tence of raising the siege of Fere, in Picardy 
by which means he took the towns of Calais 
and Ardres, leaving to Henry IV. the oppor 
tunity of taking the town of Fere.f 

Norris having landed with his forces in 
Ireland, was joined by the deputy, and the 
troops under his command, in all amounting 
to about ten thousand men. The deputy 
requested that Baskervile should have the 
command of this reinforcement ; but the court 
thought proper to confer it on Norris, as 
being more experienced. He had already 
served in Ireland, as governor of Munster ; 
and having afterwards commanded the Eng- 
lish army in Brittany and the Low Countries, 
against the king of Spain, he was considered 
to be the ablest captain in England, and ca- 
pable of opposing Tyrone 4 He was so 
fully persuaded of this himself, that, in taking 
leave of the queen, he said he would reduce 
O'Neill to obey her majesty, or force him to 
leave Ireland. He did not, however, accom- 
plish his promise. 

O'Neill having heard that Norris was 
marching towards Ulster, collected his 
forces, and began hostilities, by taking a 
fort called Portmor, on the Blackwater, near 
the district of Tyrone, where there was an 
English garrison, the fortifications of which 
he destroyed. He then marched to lay siege 
to Monaghan. In the mean time, in order 
to vindicate his conduct, O'Neill wrote let- 
ters in the form of manifestoes, to the earl 
of Ormond, Wallop, and Russel the deputy, 
declaring to them that it was not his wish 
to make war, but to live in peace with the 
queen, provided he and his followers were 
allowed to profess the religion of their ances- 
tors, on which condition he was ready to lay 
down his arms.fy He wrote in the same 
terms to the queen and Captain Norris ; but 
the two last letters were intercepted and 

* Hist. Cathol. vol. 3, lib. 3, c. 1. Pet. Lombard, 
p. 389, et seq. Baker's Chron. cap. 383. 

t Abridg. Chron. of the Hist. France, by Presid. 
Hayn. on the year 1596. 

t Cambd. Elizab. part 4, ad an. 1597, page 701. 

§ Cambd. Elizabeth, ad an. 1595. 



suppressed by Marshal Bagnal, who, though 
O'Neill's brother-in-law, was his avowed 
enemy. However, instead of receiving fa- 
vorable answers to his letters, he was pro- 
claimed a rebel and a traitor to his country, 
with O'Donnel, O'Rourke, Maguire, and 
MacMahon. 

English writers, who turn every thing to 
the advantage of their own nation, allege that 
O'Neill became alarmed at the preparations 
that were getting up against him, and also 
at Norris's marching towards Ulster at the 
head of a veteran army. According to them, 
he wrote respectful and submissive letters to 
the English commander, and to other English 
chiefs, imploring their intercession with the 
queen, to procure him a general pardon for 
the past. The English policy required that 
this falsehood should be made public, in order 
to break off the treaty of alliance which the 
prince of Tyrone had concluded with the 
king of Spain, and to prevent him sending 
over the succors he had promised.* The 
plan was well laid. A messenger was sent 
to Brussels to publish the pretended letters 
patent of the queen of England, containing 
O'Neill's pardon, in order that the governor 
of the Low Countries might make known to 
his master, the king of Spain, the supposed 
peace between Elizabeth and Tyrone ; but 
the imposture was soon afterwards discov- 
ered, by the seal of England being affixed 
to them instead of Ireland, which was al- 
ways used to authenticate any act respecting 
that nation. It is probable that the report 
of O'Neill's reconciliation made some im- 
pression on the court of Spain, as they put 
off sending the succors which had been 
promised to O'Neill, and as the latter sus- 
pended for a while his warlike operations, 
and kept himself on the defensive. 

The English government was still desi- 
rous of treating with O'Neill and the other 
Catholic confederates ; for which purpose 
they agreed upon a truce of two months, 
from the 27th October till the beginning of 
January. In the mean time, the castle of 
Monaghan surrendered to the besiegers, 
commanded by Conn son of O'Neill, O'Don- 
nel, and MacMahon. The truce ended on 
the 1st January. On the 8th, the govern- 
ment sent a commission to Sir Robert Gar- 
diner and Sir Henry Wallop, with full power 
to conclude a treaty with the Catholics of 
Ulster. The commissioners repaired to 
Dundalk ; but the Irish, through distrust of 
the English, refused to meet them, so that 
they were obliged to hold the conference in 

* Peter Lombard, ibid, page 391, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



509 



a plain, in presence of the two armies. The 
Catholics demanded three things to be grant- 
ed : 1st, a general liberty of conscience ; 
2d, a full pardon for the past ; and lastly, 
the entire removal of their garrisons, their 
sheriffs, and other officers of justice from the 
province, except the towns of Newry and 
Carrickfergus. The English commissioners 
not approving of these articles, the confer- 
ence ended without coming to any decision, 
except that of renewing the truce till the 
first of April. 

At the expiration of this, Russel the dep- 
uty, and General Norris, led their army to 
Dundalk. The jealousy between these two 
noblemen about the command, was the cause 
of much disunion. The deputy left Dundalk 
with his army, to possess himself of Ar- 
magh ; but O'Neill, accompanied by Ma- 
guire, O'Cahan, the two sons of O'Hanlon, 
and other nobles, met him on his march. The 
action began at Killcluona with great fury 
on both sides, but the English were forced 
to retreat to Newry, leaving six hundred 
men dead on the field of battle. O'Neill's 
loss did not exceed two hundred men.* 

The ill success of the deputy in Ulster 
made him quit the province and return to 
Dublin. He gave up his command of the 
troops to Norris. The Catholics of Leinster 
were in arms ; Fiach, son of Hugh, chief 
of the O'Byrnes of Wicklow, and Donal 
Spaniagh, or the Spaniard, chief of the Ca- 
vanaghs, having united their forces, ravaged 
the whole country from Dublin to Wexford. 
The O'Connors acted in the same manner 
in Offaly. Connaught was disturbed, and 
the inhabitants being joined by a body of 
Scotch, carried terror wherever they march- 
ed. The deputy led his army to this pro- 
vince, and besieged Losmage castle, belong- 
ing to O'Madden. He summoned the gar- 
rison to surrender ; but was answered by 
the besieged, that were his army composed 
of deputies, they would hold out to the last. 
However, as it was not fortified, he made 
himself master of it, the besieged having 
lost about forty-six men. 

The deputy left the affairs of Ulster to 
Norris, who marched towards Monaghan, in 
which there had been a garrison since it was 
abandoned by the Irish. O'Neill, on receiv- 
ing intelligence of the march of Norris, in- 
tercepted him at Cluoin Tiburuid, in a plain 
at a short distance from Monaghan. Both 
armies were divided by a rivulet. The 
English general endeavored to force his 
passage, but was twice repulsed by the Irish 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 4. Peter Lombard, 
ibid, page 393. 



fusiliers ; he had a horse killed under him, 
and he, with his brother Thomas Norris, 
was wounded ; after which the action of an 
individual decided the victory. An officer 
called Segrave, belonging to the army of 
Norris, and a native of the county Meath, 
led on a detachment of cavalry to attack the 
quarter where O'Neill fought. In the midst 
of the engagement, Segrave forced his way 
to the earl of Tyrone, and engaged him in 
single combat. The two heroes having bro- 
ken two lances each on the shield of his 
adversary, fell. At this moment, O'Neill 
attacking his adversary with his sword, slew 
him, and by his defeat completed the defeat 
of the English, who left seven hundred men 
dead upon the field of battle. The loss of 
the Catholics was inconsiderable. The day 
following, Norris wishing to return to the 
charge, was repulsed with some loss at Bea- 
lach-Finnuis ; Monaghan surrendered to the 
Catholics, and the garrison marched out 
with the honors of war. 

While O'Neill was supporting the cause 
of religion so gloriously in Ulster, O'Don- 
nel marched to the relief of the Catholics in 
Connaught. Young George Bingham oc- 
cupied the castle of Sligo at that time, with 
a garrison of two hundred men, both Eng- 
lish and Irish. Bingham, who had an in- 
satiable thirst for wealth, left the command 
of the castle of Sligo to Ulick Burke, and- 
sailed, with part of the garrison on board 
two boats, for Tyrconnel. After coasting 
■for some days, he landed at Rathmullin, a 
municipal town belonging to MacSweeny 
Fanid, in the territory of Kilmacrenan ; this 
English pirate taking advantage of Mac- 
Sweeny's absence, who was in O'Donnel's 
army, pillaged the town, and the Carmelite 
convent,* and carried off considerable booty. 
On his return to Sligo, he divided part of 
these sacred spoils among his soldiers who 
had assisted vhim in the sacrilege. Ulick 
Burke observing this Englishman's partiali- 
ty, from his having withheld from the Irish 
any share in these favors, determined to be 
revenged. Having formed his plan, he ap- 
pointed a day for carrying it into execution ; 
the Irish belonging to the garrison attacked 
the English, slew Bingham, and gave up the 
castle to O'Donnel, who appointed Burke to 
the government of it. About the same time 

* This mention of the convent of Rathmullin is 
not an anachronism, though the suppression of 
monasteries is considered to have been completed 
in the time of Elizabeth. As the English had at 
that time no power in Ulster,. it is not surprising 
that a few of its convents escaped the rage of the 
reformers. 



510 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the castle of Baile-an-Mhota, or Ballimot, 
in the same county, (Sligo,) was torn from 
the elder Bingham by Tumultach and Cahal 
Mac-Donagh, to whom it belonged. After 
the taking of these two places, the affairs of 
the English in Connaught were in a very 
unpromising state. The army of O'Donnel 
kept them in check. In order to remedy 
this, the deputy sent a reinforcement of men 
to Sir George Bingham, governor of the pro- 
vince, to enable him to act.* Bingham's 
first care was to surround the castle of Sligo, 
both on account of the importance of the 
place, and to revenge the death of his rela- 
tives and friends, whom Ulick Burke had 
caused to be massacred. The garrison was 
in want of provisions, and Burke was fre- 
quently obliged to sally forth to procure 
them, which caused frequent skirmishes be- 
tween him and the besiegers ; but the arrival 
of O'Donnel at the head of sixteen hundred 
men, forced them to raise the siege. This 
prince encamped within view of the enemy, 
and sent his brother Roderick, Felim Mac- 
Davet, and another officer, to reconnoitre 
their strength. They were pursued by an 
Englishman called Martin, at the head of a 
detachment of cavalry ; MacDavet stopped 
in the middle of a stream which they were 
crossing, and struck Captain Martin dead 
with a blow of his lance. This action was 
followed by the raising of the siege of Sligo, 
and the retreat of the English army. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



As the queen and her council were par- 
ticularly desirous of making peace with 
O'Neill, commissioners were frequently ap- 
pointed to propose terms to him. General 
Norris and Geoffroy Fenton, secretary of 
state, were appointed to make overtures in 
1596. They repaired to Dundalk, where 
they had an interview with O'Neill. He had 
not confidence enough in the English to treat 
with them ; besides, the principal condition 
he required was a freedom of religion, so 
that this conference was not more successful 
than the preceding ones. Sir Edward Moor 
was soon afterwards intrusted to carry the 
queen's pardon to Tyrone, which he per- 
emptorily refused. 

Three small vessels, laden with powder, 
arrived about this time from Spain, for 
O'Donnel. They brought two hundred men 
also, and promises of more efficient aid. 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. 



O'Neill wrote letters on the common cause 
to Fiach, chief of the O'Byrnes, and other 
noblemen of Leinster, his allies, to which he 
received favorable answers. He kept up a 
correspondence, also, with the best-disposed 
characters in Munster, by means of the clan 
Shyhyes, whom he sent thither for that pur- 
pose with confidential letters from himself. 

His letters to many of the lords of Lein- 
ster had the desired effect. Fiach O'Byrne 
renewed hostilities, by taking the fort of 
Balli-ne-cor, the fortifications of which he de- 
stroyed. The O'Morras, O'Connors, O'Tools, 
Cavanaghs, and Butlers, took up arms like- 
wise, and demanded the restoration of their 
confiscated estates. The deputy marched 
against O'Byrne ; the Butlers were pursued 
by the earl of Ormond, who, after renouncing 
his religion, persecuted his relatives ; the 
O'Morras and O'Connors were exposed to 
the attacks of Sir Anthony St. Leger. Con- 
naught was in as great a ferment as Lein- 
ster ; Richard Bingham, governor of that 
province, having taken up arms against the 
Burkes and O'Rourkes. 

The king of Spain was aware that Eliza- 
beth had made frequent proposals of peace 
to O'Neill, O'Donnel, and the other Irish 
lords who were fighting for their religion.* 
His Catholic Majesty sent an agent to en- 
courage these princes to persevere, and to 
renew the promises he had already made to 
them. In the mean time, the English took 
Armagh by surprise, and placed a garrison 
in it. O'Neill beheld with sorrow this holy 
city, that was founded by St. Patrick, pro- 
faned by the reformers, to whom nothing 
was sacred. The garrison was strong, and 
protected by the army which was encamped 
near it, under General Norris. Tyrone not 
deeming it prudent to undertake a siege, 
brought Norris to an engagement near the 
church of Killoter. The English being con- 
fident in their strength, were eager to en- 
gage, but were vigorously repulsed and put 
to flight by O'Neill's forces, who pursued 
them as far as Armagh, and killed several 
of their men. After this, Norris left five 
hundred troops in the garrison, under the 
command of Francis Stafford, and withdrew 
with the remainder of his army towards Dun- 
dalk. O'Neill being master of the field, was 
enabled to intercept the provisions that were 
intended for Armagh, so that famine was 
the consequence. This was succeeded by 
a plague, which carried off their men in great 
numbers. The English of Dundalk hearing 
of the sad condition of their garrison in Ar- 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 5, 6, 7. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



isir] 



magh, sent a supply of provisions, under an 
escort of three companies of infantry and a 
troop of horse. O'Neill surprised the convoy, 
and put the troops that were guarding it to 
the sword. The penetrating mind of Tyrone 
guided him in turning everything to advan- 
tage. He now bethought of a stratagem in 
which he was most successful : he got some 
of his men, both foot and horse, to assume 
the uniform of the English who were killed, 
and ordered them to march with English 
banners towards a ruined monastery that was 
within a gunshot of Armagh. The prince 
pursued these supposed English with the 
rest of his troops, within view of the garri- 
son ; both parties began a discharge of their 
musketry, loaded only with powder, where- 
upon the men, as instructed, fell on every 
side, without sustaining any injury. This 
sham battle soon drew the attention of the 
garrison of Armagh ; Stafford, the comman- 
der, gave orders that half of the garrison 
should take up arms and advance rapidly to 
the field of battle, to the relief qf their sup- 
posed countrymen. The English found not 
only O'Neill's troops, but those to whose 
succor they came, drawn up in order of bat- 
tle, and ready to charge them ; while Conn, 
son of O'Neill, who lay in ambush with some 
infantry in the neighboring monastery, at- 
tacked them in the rear. The English being 
now between two fires, were cut to pieces 
within view of the garrison. Stafford, who 
was in Armagh, finding himself without any 
resource, submitted to Tyrone, who permit 
ted him to join, with the rest of the garrison, 
the English army at Dundalk. O'Neill after 
this made an attempt on the castle of Car 
lingford, in which he was unsuccessful ; 
however, he sent his son-in-law, Henry 
Ogue, with some troops, to make incursions 
on the English province, and to create a di- 
version in favor of the Catholics of Leinster, 
who had taken up arms. 

The continued complaints that were made 
against Sir Richard Bingham, governor of 
Connaught, for his cruelty and tyranny, hav- 
ing reached the throne, that infamous minis- 
ter was recalled, and replaced by Sir Conyers 
Clifford.* The Irish were but little skilled 
in the art of defending towns and fortifica- 
tions, and were obliged to remedy their un- 
skilfulness by a greater number of men. For 
this purpose O'Neill evacuated Armagh and 
Portmore, which were immediately taken 
possession of by Norris, who garrisoned 
them, and gave the command of the former 
to Sir Henry Davers. The English general 

* War. ibid. cap. 39. 



endeavoring to extend his conquests further 
was stopped by O'Neill, who lay encamped 
on his way. Norris then set his men to 
build a fort or intrenchment, since called 
Mount Norris, in the barony of Fews, between 
Armagh and Newry. They were frequently 
interrupted by the attacks of O'Neill's men ; 
but having at length completed it, Norris 
placed a garrison in it, under the command 
of Williams. He then returned to Dundalk 
with his army ; and Mount Norris, Armagh, 
and Portmore, which had been taken but 
lately by the English, surrendered to O'Neill, 
who sent the garrisons home. In vain did 
Norris return to attack him with his whole 
force ; he was completely defeated atMolach 
Breac by O'Neill, in the district of Orior, 
after having rallied his men three times. 
Maguire, the general of O'Neill's cavalry, 
contributed to the gaining of this battle. 
Norris himself was dangerously wounded 
in the action, which was his last against 
O'Neill. 

O'Donnel, accompanied by the Mac- 
Sweenys, O'Dogharty, the brave Maguire, 
O'Rourke, Mac William, O'Kelly, MacDer- 
mot, O'Connor Roe, and O'Dowd, entered 
Connaught with their troops.* He was also 
joined by Murrogh MacSweeny at the head 
of three hundred men, whom he assisted in 
a petty war with the English during two 
years in Munster. Clifford, who was ap- 
pointed the new governor of Connaught, had 
not yet arrived. General Norris was weary 
of serving in Ulster, where, instead of gather- 
ing fresh laurels, he was losing those which 
he had gained in foreign countries. Being 
desirous of trying his fortune in other parts, 
he undertook an expedition against O'Donnel 
into Connaught, either to make terms with 
him, or reduce him by force. For this pur- 
pose he repaired to Athlone, where he was 
joined by the earls of Thuomond and Clan- 
riccard, Theobald Burke, surnamed Na- 
Luing, or the Naval, from the trade he carried 
on by sea, and several lords of the English 
faction, with the Anglo-Irish of Munster, 
Leinster, and Meath. He also received a re- 
inforcement from England, which increased 
his army to ten thousand men. Norris knew 
that O'Donnel was in the neighborhood of 
Ballinroab, near lake Mask, at the head of 
five hundred men ; and having set out upon 
his march, he soon found himself in view 
of the enemy, from whom he was divided 
by a small river. The night was spent in 
firino-, and at break of day Norris demanded 
a conference with O'Donnel, in which peace 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 2. 



512 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



was -proposed between the general of the 
queen and the Catholic chiefs. The terms 
offered to O'Donnel were advantageous, but 
were not accepted. The conference lasted 
for some days, during which both armies 
kept up hostilities, and fought in detached 
bodies, without coming to a general engage- 
ment. Theobald the Naval, having attacked 
the right wing of the Catholic army at the 
head of a heavy detachment, was repulsed 
with the loss of three hundred men. The 
negotiation lasted for a month between the 
prince of Tyrconnel and Norris, without any 
thing being settled upon. The latter suf- 
fered heavy losses, both in skirmishing, and 
by the desertion of some nobles who joined 
the standard of the Catholics. After being 
harassed in his retreat by the troops of 
O'Donnel, he lost several of his men, and 
was forced to quit the province in disgrace.* 

The deputy undertook an expedition in 
May, into the county of Wicklow, where he 
surprised and killed Fiach MacHugh, chief 
of the illustrious tribe of the O'Byrnes, and 
the champion of the Catholic cause in Lein- 
ster.f Fiach left two sons, Felim and Ray- 
mond, who inherited his bravery and zeal 
for religion. Felim left the command to his 
brother, and went to visit O'Neill in Ulster, 
to ask him for assistance. The prince of 
Tyrone expressed great friendship for the 
young nobleman, and having condoled with 
him on the death of his father, gave him 
about three hundred and fifty men, under the 
command of Brian Riach O'Morra, a noble- 
man of Leinster. On returning with this 
reinforcement, Felim fought some skirmishes 
with the English, and took possession of his 
father's patrimony, which had been seized 
upon by these foreigners. After this expe- 
dition, Brian O'Morra marched with the same 
troops towards Loughgarme, (Wexford,) pil- 
laged all the English he met with on his 
march, and cut a large body of them to 
pieces, besides four hundred Irish auxilia- 
ries. 

After the death of the celebrated Rory 
O'Morra, who was killed in a battle against 
the English, as we have already observed, 
his sons Uoine, or Owen, and Edmond, were 
placed under the protection of Fiach O'Byrne, 
from whom they received an education suit- 
able to their rank. When Owen attained 
the age of manhood, Felim, son of Fiach, 
gave him a suitable retinue, and sent him to 
lay claim to his patrimony. This young 
nobleman having made himself known, was 



* Peter Lombard, ibid, page 395. 
t Hist. Cathol. ibid. 6, 10. 



acknowledged and proclaimed by his father's 
vassals the O'Morra, or lawful heir to the 
principality of Leix. Warham St. Leger, 
the English governor of that district, alarmed 
at these occurrences, marched his army to 
put them down ; but the inhabitants of Leix 
ranging themselves under the banners of 
their chief, O'Morra, gave battle to St. Leger, 
who, after an obstinate resistance, was forced 
to retreat, leaving five hundred men dead on 
the field. 

Some step was necessary to be taken, in 
order to restore the English power in Ireland. 
The queen recalled Russel, the deputy, and 
appointed Lord Burrough to succeed him. 
This new deputy received the sword in May, 
in St. Patrick's cathedral, and was invested 
with the supreme authority both in civil and 
military affairs.* He first exercised his 
power over General Norris, whom he sent 
back to his office of governor in Munster, 
forbidding him to leave it without his per- 
mission. Norris was too proud to brook this 
insult ; he had been already disgraced by 
O'Neill, who had deprived him of the high 
military reputation he had acquired abroad, 
and at length died, loaded with ignominy, in 
the country which had given birth to St. 
Rumold, first bishop and patron of Malines, 
whose relics he had profaned when com- 
manding the English army in the Nether- 
lands. 

Burrough was haughty and determined ; 
he commanded for a long time in Holland, 
against Philip II., whereby he became ex- 
pert in the art of war. A truce was made 
by this deputy, for one month, with O'Don- 
nel, O'Neill, and other Catholic chiefs, and 
terms of peace were offered to them, but in 
vain. The month being expired, the Eng- 
lish general marched to Ulster at the head of 
a powerful army. Besides the troops which 
served under Russel and Norris, a large re- 
inforcement was sent to him from England. 

The Anglo-Irish of Meath were zealous to 
signalize themselves in the cause of Eliza- 
beth : they assembled at Mullingar to the 
number of a thousand men, under the com- 
mand of Barnewall, baron of Trimlestown, 
and marched after the deputy. In their route, 
however, they met with a signal defeat. 

Richard Tirrell, who was of English de- 
scent, and lord of Fertullagh,in West Meath, 
served at that time in the army of O'Neill. 
He was a nobleman by birth, and strongly 
attached to the Catholic religion. His talents 
peculiarly fitted him to command a flying 
camp. From the rapidity of his expeditions, 

* Ware, ibid. cap. 40 



CHRISTIAN" IRELAND. 



513 



and capability of sustaining fatigue, he had 
already become formidable to the English, 
and his memory is still respected by the 
true Irish. 

The prince of Tyrone saw with calm re- 
flection the preparations that were in pro- 
gress against him ; the march of the deputy 
was known to him ; he therefore prepared to 
oppose him, and to cause a diversion. Cap- 
tain Tirrell was dispatched at the head of 
four hundred infantry, with orders to act in 
either Meath or Leinster, according to emer- 
gencies. Tirrell marched through the whole 
of Meath without meeting an enemy, and 
having reached Fertullagh, he encamped, in 
order to give his army some repose. The 
troops which had been assembled at Mullin- 
gar, as has been already observed, being ap- 
prized of TirrelPs march, determined to take 
him by surprise. The baron who command- 
ed them looked upon this expedition as un- 
worthy of himself, on account of the small 
number of the enemy he had to fight, and 
therefore commissioned his son to undertake 
it, thinking it a good opportunity for him to 
signalize himself, and thereby to make his 
court to the deputy. At the dawn of day 
Tirrell received information, through his 
spies, that the enemy were in full march to 
surprise him. Without losing a moment, he 
put himself in a state of defence, but made 
a feint of flying before them as they ap- 
proached ; by which movement he gained a 
defile covered with trees, which has been 
since called Tirrell's pass. He then de- 
tached half of his little army, and posted 
them in a hollow adjoining the road, giving 
the command to his lieutenant, O'Connor, a 
brave and intrepid man like himself. He 
then, in order to influence his enemy to 
pursue him, marched on with his division. 
While the English were passing the place 
where O'Connor lay in ambuscade, this 
officer sallied forth with his troops, and 
caused the drums and fifes to play Captain 
Tirrell's march. This was the signal agreed 
upon for an attack ; the English army hav- 
ing got between two fires, were cut to 
pieces ; and so general was the slaughter, 
that one soldier only escaped, through a 
neighboring bog, to carry the news to Mul- 
lingar, from .whence the army had set out 
three days before. Tirrell had sufficient 
generosity to spare the life of the young 
nobleman who commanded his enemy, but 
brought him a prisoner to O'Neill. During 
the action, O'Connor's hand became so swol- 
len, that it became necessary to cut off the 
handle of his sword with a file, before it 
could be disengaged. 



Burrough, the deputy, having reached 
Ulster with all his forces, his first step was 
to take possession of Armagh and Portmor, 
which O'Neill had abandoned after destroy- 
ing the fortifications.* The English gene- 
ral being afraid to proceed further, repaired 
Portmor, where he left a garrison of five 
hundred men, and drew off the remainder 
of his army. He boasted highly of this act 
of prowess, proclaiming everywhere that he 
held the key of Ulster, which he could enter 
at his pleasure. This boast was truly cha- 
racteristic of his countrymen, who considered 
the most trifling advantage a complete vic- 
tory. It was carefully circulated in foreign 
countries, where it was reported that the 
Irish had lost all their towns, and that they 
were obliged to escape into the woods and 
inaccessible places. A similar falsehood had 
been already published at Brussels, on the 
supposed reduction of O'Neill, the folly of 
which we will discover in the sequel. 

The deputy was on his way to Dublin, 
when he learned that Tirrell was besieging 
Portmor ; so he immediately returned, col- 
lected his forces, and crossed the Black- 
water, but was prevented from advancing by 
O'Neill, who divided his army and formed 
two camps, sufficiently near to assist each 
other. f The command of the first division 
he gave to his brothers Cormac and Art 
O'Neill, and MacMahon, at Droum-Fluich, 
on the road to Beaun-Bhoruib, at present 
Binburb, on the left bank of the river. The 
prince himself commanded the second camp 
at Tobuir-Masain, and was assisted by 
James Mac-Donnel, prince of the Glynns. 
The deputy endeavored, in spite of Tyrone's 
position, to force a passage ; but O'Neill's 
two divisions having united, they made a 
desperate attack. In the onset, Burrough 
was mortally wounded, and was carried to 
Newry, where he died in a few days. This 
battle was renewed several times. The earl 
of Kildare, on whom the command of the 
English army devolved after Burrough's re- 
treat, suffered the same fate : having been 
wounded, and twice thrown from his horse, 
his two foster-brothers were killed in endea- 
voring to put him again on horseback ; he 
fled from the field of battle, and died of his 
wounds a few days after. The carnage was 
dreadful ; numbers of the English lay dead 
upon the field ; many were drowned in the 
river, and very many wounded. The per- 
sons of note who fell upon this occasion, 
besides the deputy and the earl of Kildare, 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. Pet. Lombard, ibid, pages 
398, 399. 

t Hist. Cathol. ibid. Pet. Lombard, ibid. 



514 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



were Francis Waghan, the deputy's brother- 
in-law, Thomas Walen, and Turner. 

Clifford, governor of Connaught, received 
orders to march with his troops to the relief 
of the deputy in Ulster. He accordingly set 
out at the head of seven hundred men, but 
having the misfortune to meet with O'Don- 
nel, he was completely defeated. Clifford 
lost several men of rank on this occasion, 
among whom was the baron of Ineschete.* 

The queen saw her forces greatly dimin- 
ished in Ireland by the frequent advantages 
gained over them by the Catholics, and 
could not find persons qualified to succeed 
Burrough and Norris. She, however, nomi- 
nated provisional magistrates and officers 
for the administration of affairs. Sir Thomas 
Norris, president of Minister, was appointed 
lord-justice ; but his grief for the death of 
his brother caused him to resign in a month. 
The government then conferred that office 
jointly on Loftus, archbishop of Dublin and 
chancellor of Ireland, and chief-justice Sir 
Robert Gardiner, who were sworn in on the 
15th of November. On the same day they 
received an account of the state of affairs 
from the council, who informed them that 
the war was a general revolt of the Irish, 
with an intent to shake off the English yoke 
Thomas Duff Butler, earl of Ormond, ac^ 
cepted the commission of lieutenant-general 
Ambition being the guide of this nobleman's 
acts, he was drawn into a faction that was 
opposed to religion and his country, but he 
never enjoyed the reputation of being a great 
captain. Amongother instructions which the 
earl of Ormond received from the court of 
England, he was enjoined to endeavor to 
bring about a peace with O'Neill, for which 
purpose a truce for two months was agreed 
upon. They met at Dundalk, and O'Neill 
proposed the terms ; the first and principal 
one being the free exercise of the Catholic 
religion throughout the kingdom. The other 
conditions proposed by this prince, regarded 
the grievances of the Irish, and the repara- 
tion of the injustice which was practised 
towards them. These overtures were sub- 
mitted to the English council, and acceded 
to in every thing except the free exercise 
of religion ; whereon the truce was broken 
off and hostilities resumed. 

About the end of the summer, 1598, 
O'Neill collected all his troops and laid 
siege to the fort of Blackwater, called also 
Portmor. At the same time he sent fifteen 
hundred chosen men to assist his ally, 
O'Moore of Leix, who was then besieging 

* Pet. Lombard, ibid. p. 400. 



Porteloise, at present Maryborough, where 
there was an English garrison.* These 
movements produced a diversion, and com- 
pelled the earl of Ormond to divide his forces. 
He first dispatched three thousand men 
against O'Morra, commanded by James But- 
ler, nephew to the earl. Five thousand 
men were then sent against O'Neill of Ul- 
ster, commanded by Bagnal the marshal. 
The earl's object was the relief of Portmor 
and Porteloise, by throwing provisions and 
warlike stores into them ; but the result was 
not equal to bis hopes. Brian Riach O'Morra 
defeated the three thousand English that 
were sent against him ; fifteen hundred, be- 
sides the commander, being slain, and Por- 
teloise was taken. O'Morra died in a few 
days after from his wounds, and the com- 
mand devolved upon Owen O'Morra. 

During these transactions in Leinster, 
Marshal Bagnal, having the command of the 
army in Ulster, repaired to Newry, which 
was a general place of meeting for the Eng- 
lish.! Tyrone was then encamped with his 
army at Mollach-Ban, on the road to Ar- 
magh, and wishing to cut off all communi- 
cation between that place and the enemy, he 
sent his brother Cormac, with a body of five 
hundred men, to defend the passes. Bagnal 
was considered an able general ; he knew 
that O'Neill was waiting to give him battle, 
on his march to Armagh, which city he 
wished to relieve, but he deceived the prince. 
In order to avoid an engagement, which 
would probably have deranged his plans, he 
marched circuitously from Newry to Ar- 
magh, and supplied the garrison with pro- 
visions, in spite of the brave resistance of 
Cormac O'Neill, who maintained his ground 
for some time, but was at length forced to 
yield to superior numbers. Flushed at this 
trifling advantage, Bagnal determined to take 
O'Neill's camp by surprise ; and setting out 
by night, he put the enemy's advance-guard, 
consisting of twenty-four horsemen, to the 
sword. They then surrounded O'Neill's tent, 
who had escaped in his shirt, with some of 
his attendants ; but some servants that were 
left to guard it and the baggage, were killed. 
As soon as day appeared, O'Neill collected 
the forces that were near him, and having 
forced the English to abandon their booty, 
he then put them to flight. Both sides lost 
some men in this action. 

The English were masters of some towns 
in Ulster, which were favorable for their 
depredations, and afforded them a secure 

* Pet. Lomb. p. 402. Hist. Cathol. ibid. vol. 3, 
lib. 4, cap. 1 , et seq. 
t Hist. Cathol. ibid. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



515 



retreat ; the principal of them were Newry, 
Dundrum, and Carrickfergus. Sir John 
Chichester, the governor, marched about the 
same time, at the head of five hundred in- 
fantry and a troop of horse, to plunder the 
neighborhood. Coming up at Alfracha 
with James Mac-Donnel, prince of Antrim, 
who had with him about four hundred foot 
and sixty horse, to oppose these robbers, they 
came to an engagement which was fatal to 
the English. Their captain having fallen, 
they were cut to pieces, so that scarcely one 
remained to bring the intelligence to Car- 
rickfergus. About the same time, the baron 
of Trimlestown made some inroads on Mo- 
naghan, with the Anglo-Irish of Meath, and 
a few English troops, but was defeated by 
the Mac-Mahons.* 

The vanity and bad faith of the English 
will not suffer them to admit the victories the 
Irish Catholics gained over them. Their 
historians either pass them over in silence, 
or obscure them so as that the advantage 
may appear to be in favor of their country- 
men. Invectives are poured out against a 
generous people who fought for their reli- 
gion and their freedom, and the epithets of 
traitor, rebel, and barbarian, are heaped upon 
the Irish for not calmly yielding to a hate- 
ful yoke. An Englishman must be well 
beaten before he will admit of it. A bril- 
liant victory was gained this year over those 
foreigners, by O'Neill. The truth of this 
is not questioned even by the English them- 
selves, since they acknowledge that it was 
the bloodiest defeat they met with since 
their arrival in the island. 

O'Neill endeavored to bring the English 
marshal to an engagement, and being joined 
by O'Donnel, Maguire, the general of the 
cavalry, and other noblemen of the province, 
he laid siege to Portmor, having in this a 
double object in view ; first, to reduce the 
place by famine, by cutting off the supplies ; 
and secondly, to compel the English to fight, 
by forcing them to relieve it. The hopes of 
the prince of Tyrone were equalled by his 
success. In the beginning of August, Bagnal 
marched with the flower of his army to the 
relief of Portmor, and when arrived within 
a mile of Ardmach, he met with O'Neill, at 
a place called Beal-an-ath-a-buidh, between 
two plains, bordered by a bog on one side, 
and on the other by a thick wood. The 
battle commenced, and the rout was terrible. 
Marshal Bagnal,with twenty-four of his prin- 
cipal officers, and two thousand of his army, 
were killed upon the spot ; and the remain- 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 2. 



der of his forces put to flight. The loss of 
the English was heightened by an accident 
that happened in the beginning of the action, 
in the quarter where the reserve forces lay. 
The powder magazine having taken fire, five 
hundred men at least, who were guarding the 
baggage, were blown up. The spoils that 
were wrested from them also were very con- 
siderable. Twelve thousand pieces of gold 

■their warlike stores — thirty-four stand of 
colors — all their instruments of war — all 
their artillery, and provisions of every kind, 
fell into the hands of the Irish. In the army 
of Bagnal there were several Irishmen who 
ranged themselves under him from motives 
of self-interest ; among the number of whom 
was Maolmora, sumamed the Fair, a son of 
O'Reilly. This young nobleman had lately 
returned from England,wherehe surrendered 
into the hands of the queen all his estates, 
which she restored to him by letters patent. 
Through gratitude, he unhappily espoused 
her cause against O'Neill, and lost his life 
at the head of a troop, while he endeavored 
to rally them again to the charge. The Eng- 
lish who had the good fortune to escape, 
took the road to Ardmach. Several were 
slain in the pursuit, and both horsemen, and 
about fifteen hundred foot-soldiers, sought 
safety in the churches of that city. This 
victory cost O'Neill about two hundred men 
killed, and six hundred wounded, and was 
followed by the surrender of Portmor. 

These brilliant campaigns of Tyrone, and 
of the other princes and noblemen of Ulster, 
had opposite influences on the English and 
Irish Catholics ; the alarm of the former was 
great, while the joy of the latter was univer- 
sal. They looked upon O'Neill as the liber- 
ator of his country, the avenger of their 
freedom, and the protector of the Irish nobles 
who were persecuted by the English, or op- 
pressed by their own chiefs. In fact, Ray- 
mond, son of John Burke, baron of Leitrim, 
whose property the earl of Clanriccard in- 
vaded after he had put him to death, threw 
himself on the protection of O'Neill : and 
Dermod O'Connor, and his brothers Cairbre 
and Conn, having been dispossessed by the 
English, sought an asylum with him also ; 
but Tyrone being busily employed in de- 
fending his own province, and unable there- 
fore to afford them effectual aid, sent them 
to Owen O'Morra in Leinster, to assist in 
the war of that province. 

The queen's officers sent letters to her 
majesty, complaining of the sad state of 
things in Ireland, and saying, that so far from 
being able to maintain an offensive war in 
that country, they could not defend them- 



516 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



selves against, the enemy without speedy as- 
sistance, and more powerful resources than 
any that had been previously sent. The 
queen was averse to abandoning the cause of 
her English province in Ireland. She attached 
heavy blame to the earl of Ormond for not 
having gone in person against O'Neill ; and 
commanded Bingham, who had been lately 
removed from the government of Connaught 
for his cruelty, to repair to Ireland, and suc- 
ceed Bagnal in the office of marshal. Two 
thousand foot, and a hundred horse were, at 
the same time, dispatched thither, under the 
orders of Sir Samuel Bagnal. These troops 
landed at Wexford, and were harassed in 
their march to Dublin by the Catholics, who 
killed a great number of them. Bingham 
arrived in Dublin with great difficulty, where 
he died soon after. 

The example of the men of Ulster roused 
the fallen courage of the Catholics in other 
provinces of Ireland, particularly in Munster, 
where the bravery of the celebrated earl of 
Desmond was still fresh among his illustrious 
allies. This feeling it was necessary to en- 
courage, and to effect that object, Sir Peter 
de Lacy, a powerful nobleman in the county 
of Limerick, wrote to Owen, or Owny Mac- 
Rory-Ogue O'Morra, who had an army on 
foot ; and invited him, in the name of the 
Irish Catholics in Munster, to come to their 
relief. O'Morra, having consulted with 
O'Neill, undertook the expedition. He com- 
mitted the government of Leix to his brother 
Edmond, and, at the head of eight hundred 
infantry and some horsemen, set out on his 
march for Munster. Raymond Burke, baron 
of Leitrim, and his brother William, as also 
Dermod O'Connor, and his brothers Cairbre 
and Conn, with Richard Tirrel of Fertullagh, 
accompanied O'Morra in this expedition. 
The earl of Ormond, who had still the title 
of general of the English army, made a show 
of intercepting O'Morra, but whether by the 
rapidity of that chieftain's march, or the earl's 
fear for the result of a battle, he and his 
army arrived without interruption in the 
county of Limerick. Thomas Norris, who 
was then governor of Munster, was greatly 
alarmed by this invasion. His duty impelled 
him to attempt driving the enemy out of his 
province, and for that object he collected his 
forces and marched to Kilmallock, with a 
design of fighting O'Morra ; but dreading 
the result of an engagement with him, he 
placed a strong garrison there, after which 
he marched for Cork. He, however, had the 
mortification to witness his rearguard pur- 
sued by the light troops of O'Morra, through 
the whole of his march. 



The success of O'Morra produced an al- 
most universal rising of the noblemen in 
Munster against the queen. MacCarty More, 
the head of his illustrious tribe, was prevented 
by death from being of the number of the 
confederates. He left a legitimate daughter, 
named Helena, that was married to MacCarty 
Riagh, and a natural son called Daniel, who 
aspired to inherit the title and estates of his 
father. The earls of Thuomond and Ormond, 
and the baron of Inchiquin, inclined always 
to the side that gave hopes to their ambition ; 
and the desire of titles of honor and court 
favors prevented them from joining in any 
league against Elizabeth. The extensive in- 
fluence of these noblemen marred the good 
intentions of the MacMahons, MacNamaras, 
O'Connors, O'Loghlins of Thomond,0'D wy- 
ers,0'Fogartys,0'Meaghers,0'Moel-Ryans, 
O'Kennedys, and other noblemen of Tippe- 
rary, and withheld them from uniting against 
the queen of England. 

The other great men of the province being 
more liberally disposed, looked with con- 
tempt tipon dignities which interfered with 
their religion and freedom, and took up arms 
in defence of both. The chief men that 
formed a league against the queen, were 
Fitzmaurice, baron of Lixnaw ; William Fitz- 
gerald, knight of Kerry and lord of Kafinnin ; 
Edmond Fitzgerald, knight of the Glinn ; 
Sir Edmond Fitzgerald, called the white 
knight, with many other branches of that 
illustrious house ; Dermod and Donogh Mac 
Carty, rival candidates for the principality 
of Alia ; Daniel, son of MacCarty More ; 
Patrick Condon ; O'Donohoe More of On- 
achte ; O'Donoghoe of the Glinn ; Roche, 
viscount Fermoy ; Richard Butler, viscount 
of Montgarret, who had married the daughter 
of O'Neill ; and Thomas Butler, baron of 
Cahir. The same disposition animated the 
several tribes of the O'Sullivans, the O'Dris- 
cols, the O'Donnevans, and the O'Mahonys 
of Carbry,who signalized themselves in the 
common cause of their country. The con- 
federates appointed for their leader, James, 
son of Thomas Fitzgerald, surnamedthe Red, 
and acknowledged him as earl of Desmond. 
Thomas the Red was brother to Garret, last 
count-palatine of that illustrious family. He 
left a son named James, who had been given 
by the countess his mother as a hostage to 
the English, and who had been kept prisoner 
in the tower of London for seventeen years. 
James was lawful heir of the earl, and to his 
title of Desmond ; but so long an absence 
rendered him forgotten, and caused the title 
to be conferred upon James, son of his cousin 
Thomas ; who was therefore chosen as the 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



517 



leader of the Catholics in that province, 
where the memory of the earls of Desmond 
was still dear and respected. 

Religion was not the sole cause of the 
above alliance. The tyranny of the English 
governors, and the intolerable insolence of 
the adventurers who had been sent to occupy 
the estates of Desmond and other noblemen, 
contributed greatly to the undertaking. These 
adventurers became the first victims to the 
rage of the confederates. They were driven 
from their ill-gained possessions, and their 
castles razed to the ground. Finding them- 
selves now unprotected by the governor 
Norris, who was scarcely able to defend 
himself, they fled to Waterford, and em- 
barked for their own country. 

It was disgraceful in Norris to shut him- 
self up in Cork, and remain inactive while 
the war was blazing in the province, to the 
command of which he had been appointed. 
He felt heavily the shame of it, and in order 
to screen his character, he formed the reso- 
lution of attacking the Catholics. For this 
purpose all his forces, amounting to two 
thousand five hundred men, were mustered 
by him in Cork ; some nobles also in Mun- 
ster, attached to the court party, were com- 
manded by him to meet, and with these 
troops, which were formed into three col- 
umns — he marched upon Kilmallock. His 
plan was to draw from the garrison the vet- 
eran troops, and replace them with the new 
levies that were less experienced. He met 
many difficulties on his march. His rear- 
guard was attacked at a place called Bear- 
rach Abharrah, by William Burke, at the 
head of three hundred infantry, who killed 
several of the English, and made themselves 
masters of part of their baggage. Norris, 
however, effected his object concerning the 
garrison of Kilmallock, but was attacked on 
his return at Ard-Scieth, by the earl of 
Desmond, Viscount Montgarret, the barons 
of Cahir and Luochne, William Burke, and 
Richard Tirrell. It was rather a disordered 
retreat than a battle. The above chiefs 
pursued him the entire day for eight miles 
of his march. Many fell in the several skir- 
mishes, but the heaviest loss was sustained 
by the -fugitives, who, being favored by the 
night, were at length fortunate enough to 
get back into Kilmallock. 

Norris undertook a second expedition, 
which had no better success than the first ; 
he marched with two thousand four hundred 
foot, and three hundred horse, against Lord 
Roche, Viscount Fermoy. At first the vis- 
count abandoned Baile Androhid, a place 
not fortified, and withdrew to Bailean Cais- 



lean, which was stronger. His allies did not 
forsake him ; he was quickly joined byDariiel 
MacCarty, to whom the principality of Clan- 
carrha was given by the earl of Desmond. 
Dermod and William O'Connor also joined, 
with two thousand five hundred infantry, and 
nearly a hundred cavalry. This army en- 
camped to advantage for the Viscount Fer- 
moy : the place he occupied being made 
secure by it against an attack from the 
English. The two armies continued for 
twelve days in view of each other, and had 
frequent skirmishes, in which some soldiers 
were killed on both sides. Norris at length 
sent away some of his baggage by night, and 
took the route for Cork. He was pursued 
by the Irish, who killed two hundred of his 
men at Mainister-na-Mona. 

Some months after the expedition of Nor- 
ris, Thomas Burke, brother to the baron of 
Castleconnel, left the queen's party, and 
sought to be admitted into the Catholic army. 
For this purpose he applied to Raymond 
Burke, baron of Leitrim, and to his brother 
William ; and they appointed him to the 
command of two hundred men. With this 
little band Thomas wished to surprise some 
places belonging to the English in Muskerry 
Burke. He met with General Norris at Kill- 
tili, at the head of twelve hundred men. To 
avoid fighting was impossible ; and notwith- 
standing the disproportion of their numbers, 
he acted intrepidly, and by one bold stroke 
decided the affair. A young man named 
John Burke, having forced his way into the 
ranks, struck Norris with his lance and dis- 
abled him ; and the English army seeing 
their leader fall, dispersed. The English 
general was brought to Mallow, where he 
died in fifteen days of his wounds. This 
Thomas Burke being reconciled afterwards 
to the English, met with the same fate as 
Norris ; he and his brother, earl of Castle- 
connel, were killed by Dermod O'Connor in 
an engagement wherein these noblemen, 
who were much superior to him in force, 
refused him quarter, so true is it, that de- 
spair in an enemy is always to be feared. 

Donogh O'Connor having been dispos- 
sessed by the English of his principality of 
Sligo, went over to England to conciliate 
the protection of the queen. His affairs were 
kept for a long time in suspense at court ; 
but at length, Elizabeth, in order to lessen 
her enemies in Ireland, when almost the 
whole country were up in arms against her, 
sent him back with permission to repossess 
himself of his estates. On his arrival in 
Connaught, he found Clifford, the governor 
of the province, preparing an expedition 



518 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



against O'Donnel ; and through gratitude 
he joined him in his enterprise. Clifford, 
intending to besiege Ballyshannon, a strong 
place belonging to O'Donnel, marched with 
four thousand men, and some Irish auxilia- 
ries, the principal of whom were O'Brien, 
earl of Thuomond, Burke, earl of Clanriccard, 
and Morrough O'Brien, baron of Inchiquin. 
The army having arrived on the banks of the 
river Earne, Inchiquin was the first who 
sacrificed himself to the royal cause ; wish- 
ing to take the lead, he put spurs to his horse 
and plunged into the water, but being thrown 
in the middle of the river from his horse, he 
sunk and perished miserably before he could 
reach the opposite bank. Clifford having 
discovered a place that was fordable, crossed 
with his army, in spite of a detachment sent 
by O'Donnel to dispute his passage. He 
then laid siege to the castle of Ballyshannon 
with four pieces of cannon. Owen Craw- 
ford, a Scotchman, commanded the place, 
having eighty men under him, six of whom 
were Spaniards, and the rest Irish. The 
attack was a powerful one, and the defence 
equally determined. The troops of O'Don- 
nel were not assembled so as to be able to 
raise the siege. While this prince waited an 
attack from the enemy's cavalry, (in which 
O'Connor Sligo, who fought for the English, 
was dangerously wounded,) the cannon inces- 
santly played upon the castle, and the be- 
siegers, as often as they mounted the breach, 
were beaten back by the besieged. O'Don- 
nel caused frequent alarm to the enemy's 
camp ; so that Clifford being informed that 
O'Rorke was marching with his army on 
one side, and O'Neill upon another, to re- 
lieve the castle of Ballyshannon, that general 
decamped so precipitately thai he left be- 
hind him three pieces of cannon. He re- 
passed the river indeed in such disorder, 
that the place was called after him, "the 
route of heroes." He was pursued . by 
O'Donnel, and it is said that he lost in the 
one day three hundred men in killed and 
drowned. O'Donnel drove his conquests 
still further ; he penetrated, sword in hand, 
into the estates of Clanriccard ; scaled the 
walls of Athenry, and put the English gar- 
rison to the sword. After this, he devastated 
the lands of the baron of Inchiquin, of Tur- 
lough O'Brien, and the O'Shaughnessys. 

O'Neill beheld with pleasure the league 
that was formed in Munster, and the advan- 
tages already gained over the English, a. d. 
1599.* This prince, desirous of strengthen- 
ing the alliance which he had made with his 

* Peter Lombard, ibid, page 208. 



confederates, granted their demands for 
assistance, by sending them his brother Conn 
O'Neill, at the head of three thousand men, 
well provided with arms and ammunition. 
The English lay in ambush to dispute his 
passage, but Conn escaped their snares, by 
opening his way, sword in hand, through the 
enemy. After leaving two thousand of them 
dead upon the field of battle, he continued 
his march to Munster, where he acquired a 
high reputation for his military exploits. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

The state of affairs at this time in Ireland, 
says Cambden, was deplorable, the rebellion 
having become general through the kingdom. 
The sway of the English in Ulster was con- 
fined to a few strong fortresses. The greater 
part of the nobility in Munster were up in 
arms against them. The O'Morras, the 
O'Connors, the O'Byrnes, the O'Tools, the 
Cavanaghs, the Eustaces, and other chiefs 
of Leinster ; with the O'Molloys, the Ma- 
geoghegans, and the Tirrells of Meath, were 
leagued to revenge their freedom. The 
O'Rorkes, and some branches of the Burkes, 
besides some other chiefs in Connaught, took 
up arms for the same cause, so that Elizabeth 
saw herself, by this general revolt, on the 
eve of losing all her authority in Ireland. 
She had no person in that country capable 
of governing it. Marshal Bagnal was killed ; 
Richard Bingham, who had been sent by the 
court to succeed that general, died on his 
arrival in Dublin ; Norris, who governed 
Munster, and St. Leger, the president of 
Leix, perished by the sword of the Catholics. 
The earl of Ormond commanded the army ; 
his name, however, only, and not his capa- 
bility, was suited to his zeal in the cause of 
his mistress. In this position of her affairs, 
the queen consulted with her council on the 
choice of a man capable to remedy the dis- 
orders that prevailed in Ireland. Her ma- 
jesty, and most of her counsellors, cast their 
eyes on Charles Blunt, lord-baron Mountjoy. 
Robert d'Evereux, earl of Essex, whose am- 
bition knew no bounds, insinuated secretly, 
that Mountjoy was not fit for the undertaking, 
that he had not sufficient experience in- the 
art of war, and that he was too devoted to 
literature to be a good commander. This 
nobleman sought to make it appear, that 
some one of the highest nobility, who was 
rich, and dear to the army, and who had 
been commander-in-chief, ought to be sent 
to Ireland, by which qualifications he seemed 
to intimate his own claims. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



519 



Opinions were divided as to the choice 
of the earl of Essex to fill the office of 
lord-lieutenant of Ireland. His friends 
wished for an opportunity to satisfy his 
insatiable thirst for fame, of which he was 
the slave ; while others thought that it 
would not be prudent to give the command 
of the army in Ireland to a nobleman who 
was flattered by his creatures with the idea 
of being descended from the royal blood of 
Scotland and England, and consequently 
with having a higher claim to the crown 
than any of his predecessors. The ene- 
mies of Essex sought for a long time an 
opportunity of supplanting him at court, 
and the present appeared the most favora- 
ble that offered, through that very absence 
which he himself was eager to obtain. 

Essex, indeed, seemed to merit the ap- 
pointment : he had already established a 
reputation in his expeditions against the 
Spaniards, and being the favorite of the 
queen, the way to the vice-royalty was open 
to him : but instead of meeting in it the hap- 
piness he looked for, it proved fatal to him in 
the end. He was at length appointed lord- 
lieutenant, and with privileges more exten- 
sive than those of any of his predecessors. 
Her majesty invested him with the preroga- 
tive of pardoning any crime, even that of high 
treason ; besides the power of appointing to 
offices of trust ; of removing those who en- 
joyed them without a patent ; of suspending 
others from exercising them ; also of making 
military laws, and carrying them into execu- 
tion ; of conferring in fief, according to his 
pleasure, the confiscated estates of the Cath- 
olics, reserving a moderate and yearly reve- 
nue from them for the crown ; and in absence 
of the high-admiral of England, he had the 
command of the fleet, and the privilege of 
applying the money in the exchequer to any 
purposes without being accountable for it. 
A powerful and well-provided army was 
given to him ; it consisted of seventeen 
thousand foot, and thirteen hundred horse, 
which was the most powerful that had, up 
to that period, been sent to Ireland. 

All matters being arranged, the earl of 
Essex, accompanied by three young noble- 
men who wished to be partakers of his glory 
in the expedition, set out for Ireland from 
London, at the end of March, amidst the 
acclamations of the people. The fleet having 
sailed, they were overtaken and dispersed 
by a violent storm, by which many lives were 
lost. Notwithstanding this misfortune, he 
landed on the 15th of April in Dublin, where 
he took the usual oath, and received the 
sword of justice as lord-lieutenant. 



The principal instructions given to Essex 
were, first, not to confer the honor of knight- 
hood on any but subjects of acknowledged 
merit ; secondly, to block up Tyrone with 
all his forces, by placing strong garrisons in 
the forts of Loughfoyle and Ballyshannon.* 
He had scarcely landed in Ireland when his 
creatures began to publish in foreign coun- 
tries false accounts of his wonderful exploits ; 
at one time, that his arrival had filled the 
confederate Catholics with terror, causing 
them to conceal themselves in woods, and 
other inaccessible places ; at another, that 
almost every one of them were accepting the 
offers of pardon offered by him.t The false- 
hood of these vain boastings was, however, 
proved by the ill-success of his expedition. 

The first act of the jurisdiction of Essex 
in Ireland was to publish a proclamation in 
the queen's name, excluding the ancient 
Irish, her majesty's inveterate enemies, from 
all hopes of pardon.J As to the modern Irish, 
who had been forced by the tyranny of Eng- 
lish governors to have recourse to arms, they 
were declared capable of receiving forgive- 
ness, provided they would surrender without 
delay. In other respects, he began his ad- 
ministration with mildness ; he knew the 
difficulty of bringing back to obedience those 
who had declared against the queen on ac- 
count of religion, and of preserving the alle- 
giance of those who still adhered to her. The 
exercise of the Catholic doctrine became less 
restricted ; the holy sacrifice of the mass was 
celebrated in private families, and the other 
sacraments administered with more freedom ; 
his policy even induced him to set at liberty 
some priests who had been confined in dun- 
geons, and to confer the grade of knights of 
the golden spur on some Catholics with 
whose opinions he was acquainted. 

After making some regulations respecting 
the civil administration, Essex turned his 
thoughts to the campaign ; but did not fol- 
low the plan that was laid down for him in 
London. The first thing he did was to give 
the command of, the cavalry to the earl of 
Southampton. Instead of marching with 
all his forces against O'Neill, and the con- 
federates in Ulster, according to his instruc- 
tions, he divided them by giving three thou- 
sand foot and five hundred horse to Henry 
Harrington, to watch the movements of the 
O'Morras, the O'Birnes, and other confed- 
erates of Leinster ; and sent three thousand 
more to Clifford, governor of Connaught, to 
keep the nobles of that province in check. 

* Cambd. ibid. pp. 734, 735. 

t Peter Lombard, ibid. pp. 411, 412. 

t Peter Lombard, ibid, page 413. 



520 



HISTORY OF IRELAND'. 



These detachments reduced considerably 
the forces of the viceroy. Accompanied by 
three hundred gentlemen, who volunteered in 
London to accompany him, he set out from 
Dublin, on the 20th of May, with the re- 
mainder of his army, and marched towards 
Munster. In passing through Leinster, the 
rear guard of the English was severely han- 
dled in a defile, by Owen O'Morra, at the 
head of five hundred men, who killed several 
officers and privates ; the place where they 
fought was called after this, " Bearna na 
Gleti," which signifies the Pass of Plumes, 
on account of the quantity of them which 
the English lost in it. 

This check did not prevent Essex from 
continuing his march into Munster. He laid 
siege to the castle of Cahir, situate on the 
river Suire, in the county of Tipperary ; the 
place which gave the title of lord-baron to 
Thomas Butler. The confederate Catholics 
had in it but a garrison of seven or eight 
soldiers, without artillery, so that they were 
unable to maintain a siege against the army 
of Essex. The earl of Desmond, however, 
assisted by Raymond Burke, baron of Lei- 
trim, and his brother William, having ap- 
peared in view of the English, fought several 
skirmishes with them, and by this means af- 
forded to William Burke an opportunity of 
driving off a detachment that was guarding 
the bridge, and of throwing into the castle 
about fifty men, under the command of James 
Butler, brother to the baron of Cahir. This 
small force contributed only to prolong the 
siege ; Essex played upon the castle with 
his artillery ; several English nobles wishing 
to mount the breach, were killed by the mus- 
ketry of the besieged ; but James Butler, 
finding himself unable to defend the castle, 
surrendered it to the English general.* 

Essex had the castle of Cahir repaired, and 
leaving a strong garrison in it, with cannon 
and ammunition, he marched to the relief of 
Askeaton. His army received a considerable 
reinforcement by the junction of some nation- 
al troops, under the earls of Thuomond and 
Clanriccard, Mac-Pieris, baron, and Henry 
Norris. On his way back from Askeaton, 
he was pursued by Daniel Mac-Carty More 
and the earl of Desmond, at the head of two 
thousand five hundred men. These chiefs 
having attacked his rear guard, at a place 
called Baile en Finitere, the action was very 
bloody ; it lasted from nine in the morning 
till five in the afternoon : a great number of 
the English were killed, and Henry Norris, 
one of their leaders, was found among the 

* Pet. Lombard, p. 415. Hist. Cathol. ibid. 



slain. The loss on the side of the Catholics 
was not so great. After this battle, Essex 
encamped for a few days at Cruomui, to re- 
fresh his troops ; he then marched to Water- 
ford, and was pursued and harassed during 
six days by the^atholic army. 

General Harrington, in the mean time, 
received a heavy check in the principality 
of Leix. This general, who was appointed 
to restore peace to that district, having sur- 
rounded the troops of O'Morra, flattered 
himself that he would be able to reduce them 
with little loss to himself ; but the bravery 
of the Catholics snatched the victory from 
him. He lost in this engagement twelve 
hundred men, with all their officers, and, 
among the rest, Adam Loftus, son of the 
Protestant archbishop of Dublin, who was 
found among the slain. The remainder of 
his army was put to flight. 

Ware, Cox, and others, mistake the cir- 
cumstances of this victory, or confound them 
with a similar one gained over Harrington 
by the O'Birnes, in the glinns of the county 
of Wicklow ; after which, the viceroy, to 
punish the want of courage among the Eng- 
lish, had them decimated. They, however, 
are all agreed that the English were defeated 
by the Irish Catholics. Christopher Blanche 
was sent over at this time to Ireland as lord- 
marshal. Wishing to distinguish himself by 
some brilliant achievement, he marched to 
Offaly, where his army was defeated by the 
O'Connors, with the loss of five hundred 
horse, and he himself escaped with difficulty, 
having had a leg broken in the action. In 
the mean time the earl of Essex confined 
himself to the city of Cork. He was deeply 
affected by the ill-success of his arms, which 
is ingenuously acknowledged in his letter to 
the English council ; it was intercepted by 
the Catholics, and -contains the following 
words : " I am confined in Cork, where there 
is an abundance of warlike stores ; but still 
I have been unsuccessful : my undertakings 
have been attended with misfortune ; I do 
not know to what this can be attributed, ex- 
cept to an evil star that has led me here." 
The grief of Essex proceeded from two 
causes ; first, the queen expressed herself 
displeased with him ; secondly, she had 
conferred the office of master of the court 
of warden,* to which Essex had aspired, on 
Robert Cecil the secretary. He, however, 
concealed his displeasure for the present. 
Finding the forces diminished, he left Mun- 

* This court was instituted in the reign of Henry 
VIII., for the defence and protection of the persons 
and properties of those who embraced the reformed 
religion. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



521 



ster, without performing one deed worthy of 
his reputation. Towards the end of July, he 
returned with the wrecks of his army to Dub 
lin, where he learned that James Butler, 
brother to the baron, had retaken the castle 
of Cahir, and put the English garrison to the 
sword.* 

Essex endeavored to remove the impres 
sions which the queen had formed of his ad- 
ministration in Ireland ; for which purpose 
he wrote her a long letter, and informed her 
of the state of affairs in that country, and the 
character of its inhabitants. "The Irish," 
says he, " are stronger, and handle their arms 
with more skill than our people ; they differ 
from us also in point of discipline. They 
likewise avoid pitched battles where order 
must be observed, and prefer skirmishes and 
petty warfare ; they are not adapted either 
to defend or attack fortified places ; and are 
obstinately opposed to the English govern- 
ment ; they endeavor to shake off the yoke, 
and would efface every vestige of it ; they 
rely confidently on the promises of Spain, 
and hope that the Spaniards will make a 
descent upon England, to create a diversion 
in their favor, or send them assistance, to 
enable them to oppose your majesty's troops, 
and retake those places which they possess." 
The earl then laid down a plan to prevent 
the loss of Ireland. He proposed " that there 
should be provision stores along the coasts 
of England, and ships in readiness to carry 
them to Ireland in cases of need, and to serve 
as a check against the Spaniards ; the priests 
and Jesuits," continued he, " must be expell- 
ed, and strong garrisons maintained, in or- 
der that they might make occasional attacks 
on the country, and deprive the inhabitants 
of all means of subsistence." He added, that 
besides the expense, much time, care, and 
perseverance, would be required to bring the 
nation under complete subjection. 

Essex now turned his thoughts to Ulster ; 
but as his march to Munster had greatly di- 
minished his numbers, he wrote to the queen, 
in conjunction with the council, to ask for 
fresh reinforcements. At the same time, he 
sent for Clifford, governor of Connaught, to 
march with the troops under him towards 
the frontiers of Ulster, in order to create a 
diversion.! In. compliance, Clifford assem- 
bled his army at Athlone, on the Shannon ; 
their destination being Belick on the river 
Erne, between the Take of that name and 
Ballyshannon, whither they desired to draw 
O'Neill.J The governor thought it necessary 

* Cox, Hist, of Ireland. 

t Cambd. Reg. Elizab. part 4, Hist. p. 736 

t Hist. Cathol. ibid. o. 10. 



to keep the places in the rear free, for the 
security of his march ; and with that object, 
he determined to rebuild the castle of Sligo, 
which had been destroyed some time before 
by O'Donnel, and to give battle to him, if 
he endeavored to prevent its reconstruction. 
Clifford sent orders to Theobald Burke, sur- 
named the Naval, to have cannon and every 
thing necessary for the execution of his plans 
brought by sea from Galway to Sligo, while 
he would lead the army by land. In the 
mean time, O'Connor Sligo. who supported 
the queen's cause against his country,scoured 
the county of Sligo with a body of cavalry, 
to force the inhabitants to abandon O'Don- 
nel, whose cause they had espoused from a 
spirit of patriotism and religion, and to 
favor the designs of Clifford ; but meeting 
with some of O'Donnel's army, they were 
compelled to take refuge in Killmuiny, at a 
short distance from Sligo, where they were 
besieged by O'Donnel. 

Clifford being aware of the danger in 
whichO'Connor was of falling into the power 
of the enemy, reviewed all his troops. His 
army amounted to two thousand five hundred 
infantry, both English and their Irish auxi- 
liaries, and a few squadrons of cavalry. The 
principal chiefs of the auxiliary Irish were 
O'Connor Don, prince of Magherry Con- 
noght,Mehnor Mac-S weeny, prince of Tueth, 
who through some displeasure had abandoned 
O'Donnel, and gone over to the English, and 
Richard Burke, son of the earlof Clanriccard 
and baron of Dunkillin. Matters being thus 
arranged, Clifford set out from Athlone, by 
forced marches for Boyle. O'Donnel pur- 
posed to oppose the enemy : he put a strong 
garrison of four hundred infantry under the 
command of Mac-Sweeny Fanid and Mac- 
william Burke, into Sligo, and left two hun- 
dred cavalry to hold on the blockade of Kill- 
muiny; after which he marched with O'Dogh- 
arty, prince of Inisowen, and the remainder 
of the army to Corslieve mountain, where 
Clifford had to pass into the county of Sligo. 
Tirconnel possessed himself of the denies of 
this mountain, and had trees cut down to 
obstruct Clifford's passage ; he then en- 
camped with his army in an adjoining plain. 

In the mean time, Theobald Burke ap- 
peared with his little fleet before Sligo, but 
dared not enter. He thought prudent to 
await the arrival of Clifford's army. This 
governor being arrived at Boyle, he left his 
cavalry under the command of Sir Markham 
Griffin, since in passing the defiles of Cor- 
slieve they could not act. On the eve of 
Lady-day, O'Donnel was apprized of the 
movement of the English army. As the cause 



522 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of this pious prince was that of religion, he 
commanded, with the approbation of the 
ecclesiastics who were in his camp,that a fast 
should be kept on the eve of this festival, 
and that they should approach the tribunal 
of penance, in order to be worthy of receiving 
the communion on the next day, to implore 
the protection of the motherof God. Scarcely 
had the Catholics ended their devotion on the 
day of the assumption, when the English 
appeared to reconnoitre the plain. The prince 
of Tirconnel then ordered refreshments to 
his troops, and addressed them in the follow- 
ing words : " As we have already often de- 
feated the reformers through the intercession 
of the blessed Virgin Mary, we have reason 
to hope for similar success this day ; yester- 
day we fasted in honor of the Virgin ; this 
day we celebrate her festival, and thus let us 
combat her enemies, and we will be the con- 
querors." The Catholics were greatly ani- 
mated by this discourse. O'Donnel then sent 
Owen Mac-Sweeny with Giolla and Tulli 
O'Gallagher, at the head of six hundred in- 
fantry, to stop the enemy, while he himself 
was preparing to attack them in order of bat- 
tle. The engagement commenced at eleven 
o'clock in the morning, and continued for 
some time with equal slaughter and success, 
till O'Rorke appeared at the head of a body 
of infantry, and turned the scale of victory. 
The terror of the English was so great, that 
they threw their arms on the ground and fled. 
The rout now became general ; the Catholic 
troops pursued the fugitives for three miles : 
Markham, who continued at Boyle with the 
cavalry, came out to the relief of the Eng- 
lish ; he attacked and killed some of those 
who were engaged in the pursuit, but O'Rorke 
coming up drove him back, and though badly 
wounded, he got into Boyle. The English 
lost in this battle fourteen hundred men in 
killed, with Clifford, the governor of Con- 
naught, and Henry Ratcliffe, a young Eng- 
lish nobleman, who were found among the 
slain. One hundred and forty of the Catholic 
army were killed and wounded. After this 
defeat of the English,a great booty was found : 
and the conquerors became masters of a vast 
quantity of arms, colors, cannon, dress, and 
other warlike apparatus. O'Neill, who was 
on his march to the assistance of O'Donnel, 
arrived too late, by two days, to share in the 
glory of this victory. The news of the defeat 
of the English, and the death of Clifford, 
being spread, Burke the Naval set sail im- 
mediately from Sligo to return to Galway. 
O'Connor surrendered to O'Donnel, who put 
him into the possession of his demesne at 
Sligo, on his promising to assist thereafter 



against the English. English writersacknow- 
ledge that their countrymen were defeated 
in the Curlew mountains, by the Catholics, 
whom they style rebels, commanded by 
O'Rorke. They have candor enough also 
to allow, that Clifford, Ratcliffe, and others 
were killed in this action, but they strive 
to smooth the disaster, by giving mutilated 
accounts of it. " Though the rebels," say 
they, " were superior in numbers, still they 
were repulsed by the English ; but for the 
want of powder, the English were put to 
the rout."* 

The earl of Essexwas greatly disconcerted 
by the defeat of Clifford's army. He waited 
with anxiety for the arrival of a reinforcement 
from England ; a thousand foot-soldiers at 
length arrived in Dublin, in September, and 
all the forces then marched for the frontiers 
of Ulster. As soon as O'Neill heard of the 
movement of the viceroy, he put his own 
army in motion, and proceeded to the town 
of Louth, where he encamped on the banks 
of a small river which separated the two 
armies. The English, says Peter Lombard, 
seeing the Catholics so well prepared and 
eager to engage, were so panic-struck, (ac- 
cording to the words of some who were 
present,) that they were covered with shame, 
and afraid to hold up their heads .f 

The viceroy immediately dispatched a 
herald to O'Neill, to declare to him that he 
had not come as an enemy into his province ; 
on the contrary, that he came to offer him 
terms of peace, or at least a truce, and that 
he would send commissioners for that pur- 
pose, if he would accede to his doing so 4 
The prince of Tyrone having agreed to the 
proposal, two knights and a counsellorof state 
were dispatched for that purpose by the earl 
of Essex. These commissioners being ad- 
mitted to an audience with O'Neill, they- 
explained to him the purport of their mission. 
The prince replied, that he would not agree 
to any truce, nor engage in any treaty in 
which three specific conditions were not ad- 
mitted ; first, " that there should be no other 
religion but the Catholic, Apostolic, and 
Roman, throughout the kingdom of Ireland ;" 
second, " that the church properties which 
since the commencement of schism and here- 
sy had been annexed to the king's dominions, 
should be restored to the church, as well by 
the queen herself, as by the individuals who 
possessed them ;" third, " that the heirs of 
the original proprietors, who had been un- 
justly despoiled of their estates within the 



* Cambden, Reign of Elizabeth, p. 7 
t Pet. Lombard, p. 419. 
t Pet. Lombard, p. 420. 



736. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



523 



last forty years, should be re-established, to 
the utter exclusion of the usurpers." 

This reply of Tyrone being communicated 
to the viceroy, the earl dispatched a second 
herald to the prince, and proposed to meet 
him at a short distance from their respective 
armies. The prince accepted the proposal of 
meeting him, but not apart from ?his army. 
Essex, who was eager for an interview on 
any terms, gave up his stipulation : he sent 
away the greater part of his army to 
Drogheda, and proceeded towards the camp 
of O'Neill, accompanied by a few nobles and 
a small number of horsemen. The two chiefs 
being come, went down the river, where they 
might confer together. The conference lasted 
for some hours ; the viceroy looked for a 
truce till the month of May ; Tyrone an- 
swered, that his honor, which was pledged 
not only to foreign princes, but to the gran- 
dees of his own nation, would not allow him 
to accede to it. Essex reminded O'Neill of 
the ancient friendship that subsisted between 
the earl his father, and him, and consequently 
that he ought to feel some sympathy towards 
the humbled position of his son. The heart 
of O'Neill could not resist any longer the 
repeated solicitations of Essex, and the prince 
consented to a truce of six weeks, on condi- 
tion that each should be at liberty to break 
off by giving a notice of fourteen days. The 
truce being thus settled on, the two noblemen 
passed a few hours in mutual compliments 
and politeness.* 

The salutary admonitions of O'Neill to 
Essex merit the attention of the reader, as 
they were prophetic of the disasters which 
subsequently befell him. They were as fol- 
lows : ." Permit me, earl, to obtrude the ad- 
vice of one advanced in years, upon you who 
are young, and to forewarn you, for your 
own safety and peace of mind, of things that 
may arise in your course. I am not ignorant 
of the power you possess in your own coun- 
try, how dear you are to the queen, how 
pleasing to the English, and how honored 
and beloved by the army. The instability 
and fickleness of these advantages in Eng- 
land, are known to you ; and you are aware 
how intolerable is the tyranny of your queen, 
since no person has as yet lived secure under 
her power, except such as from their obscu- 
rity in life have escaped her attention, or 
those who are the instruments of her cruelty. 
Experience proves, how few of those that 
have been raised by her to the highest offices 
of trust, have escaped the abyss of ignominy 
and disgrace. You know likewise (as O'Neill 

* Pet. Lombard, pp. 421, 422, 423, 424. 



speaks it) that the state of your nation is 
very vacillating, and that if your old queen 
were dead, the strongest would be master. 
Under all these circumstances, it behooves 
you to take heed against your enemies. Be 
cautious too, lest the favor, the honor, and 
authority with which you are invested, be 
not yet the cause of your ruin. Accommo- 
date yourself to the times, and attach yourself 
to such as may render you services in the 
hour of need." The viceroy knew that the 
reasoning of the prince of Tyrone was true, 
but the means which he prescribed to avoid 
the danger, he found impracticable. 

Essex, pleased with his negotiations with 
Tyrone, took leave of that prince, and re- 
turned to Dublin, where he received a letter 
from the queen, dated the 14th of September. 
Her majesty reproached him and the council 
with mal-administration, and a contempt for 
her commands. This reproach was morti- 
fying to Essex. He placed the government 
of affairs in the hands of Adam Loftus, the 
chancellor, and George Carey, treasurer of 
war ; committed the command of the troops 
to the earl of Ormond, and departed for 
London, September 28th, accompanied by 
some of his friends ; among others, by South- 
ampton, (who resigned his command of the 
cavalry,) the baron of Dunkell, Christopher 
St. Laurence, son of the baron of Howth, 
Henry Danvers, Henry Docwray, and others . 
The day following he presented himself be- 
fore the queen, who received him coldly, and 
ordered him to keep his chamber till he 
would hear from her ; after this he was 
committed and detained in prison, according 
to Peter Lombard,* who was a cotemporary 
writer. The heads of the accusation against 
Essex were, neglect of the instructions given 
him respecting the war in Ireland ; the fa- 
vorable truce that he had granted the Irish 
rebels ; and his having left Ireland in despite 
of the orders of the queen. The history of 
the tragic end of that nobleman is sufficiently 
known : it will suffice to observe, that though 
one of Elizabeth's chief favorites, he was 
beheaded soon afterwards. 

After Essex had left Ulster, a Spanish 
captain arrived in that province with two 
ships laden with warlike stores, which his 
Catholic majesty had sent to the prince of 
Tyrone. He received the officer, and asked 
why the king had omitted so long to send 
the succors which he had promised, and 
why he did not send all at the same time. 
The officer answered, that his majesty in- 
tended it, but that the report of peace having 

* Hib. Comment, cap. 426, 427. 



524 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



been made between the prince of Tyrone 
and Queen Elizabeth, was the cause ; and 
added, that the king of Spain sent him for 
the express purpose (with these two ships) 
of bringing him an account of how affairs 
stood in Ireland. This reply did not satisfy 
O'Neill ; however, he concealed his disap- 
pointment with his accustomed prudence. 

Philip II., king of Spain, having died in 
the month of September of the preceding 
year, Philip III. succeeded to the throne. 
This prince,interested in following the plans 
of his brother in regard to the war in Ireland, 
sent over two legates, Matthew d' Oviedo, 
whom the pope appointed to the archbishopric 
of Dublin, and Don Martin de la Cerda, a 
Spanish knight. The legates were empower' 
ed to grant indulgences to the Irish who 
fought against the English in defence of 
their religion.* The sovereign pontiff also 
sent by the same opportunity, a crown of 
phoenix feathers to the prince of Tyrone 
chief of the league, in imitation of Urban 
III., who had sent, in the twelfth century, a 
crown of peacock's plumes to John, son of 
Henry II., who was styled lord of Ireland 
The legates brought twenty-two thousand 
pieces of gold from the king of Spain, for 
the payment of the troops. 

Encouraged even by this moderate assist- 
ance, and hoping for greater from the Span- 
iards, Tyrone resumed hostilities, after a 
notice of fourteen days, in pursuance of the 
truce made with Essex, a. d. 1600.f Hav- 
ing provided for the security of the princi 
pality of Tyrone, he marched through the 
whole of Leinster, at the head of seven 
thousand men : his motive for doing whicb 
was, according to some writers, his devo- 
tion for a particle of the true cross, which 
was preserved in the abbey of Holy-Cross, 
county of Tipperary. However this was, 
he advanced towards Cork, where he en- 
camped, and consulted with the earl of Des- 
mond, Florence Mac Carty Reagh, and 
other chiefs of the province, about the means 
of supporting the war.J He sent deputies 
to those whose sincerity he doubted, to so- 
licit them to join in the confederacy against 
the enemies of God, their religion, and their 
country. As a stronger inducement, he sent 
them an authentic copy of the sentence of 
excommunication which Pius V. had pro- 
nounced against the queen of England and 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 12. Ware, de Annal. 
cap. 42. Cambd. ibid. p. 743. 

t Pet. Lombard, ibid, page 430. Cambd. ibid, 
page 748. 

T Peter Lombard, ibid, page 431. Hist. Cathol. 
ibid. 



her adherents. Several were brought over 
by the reasoning of Tyrone ; particularly 
Finian Mac Carty, a powerful nobleman of 
the illustrious tribe of the Mac Carthys, 
who was always remarkable for his attach- 
ment to the religion of Ms ancestors.* Others, 
influenced by a different policy, though 
strongly attached to the Catholic faith, re- 
plied, that a subject of such moment ought 
to be suspended for a while, as the opinion 
of the see of Rome was not well known ;f 
adding, that though excommunication had 
been pronounced by Pius V. against the ad- 
herents of the queen of England, the miti- 
gation of the sentence by his successor, 
Clement XIII., in favor of Catholic sub- 
jects, was well understood, and that they 
might, with perfect security of conscience, 
adopt a course of moderation, till the pon- 
tiff who then governed the church would 
lay down other rules for them to follow, in 
which case they would be ready to obey. 
This brought forth a bull from Clement 
XIII., which was addressed to the spiritual 
and temporal lords and people of Ireland. 

Prince O'Neill, who deemed their policy 
injurious to religion, and their delay hurtful 
to the Catholic cause, expressed his displea- 
sure at the replies of these noblemen. Some 
of them he treated with severity, and de- 
vastated their lands, in order to deprive the 
enemy of subsistence ; others he compelled 
to give hostages for their future conduct.J 

During Tyrone's stay in Munster, the 
queen's troops kept in their garrisons and 
strong places, not daring to take the field, 
so that the time passed over without hos- 
tilities, except an affair between Hugh Ma- 
gaire, prince of Fermanagh, who command- 
ed O'Neill's cavalry, and St. Leger, presi- 
dent of Munster, in which both noblemen 
fell.§ Maguire attended only by Edmond 
Mac Caffry, his standard-bearer, Niall O'Dur- 
nin, and a priest, left the camp one day, 
either to take an airing or to reconnoitre the 
country ; having advanced too far, he met 
with St. Leger, at the head of sixty cavalry ; 
notwithstanding this difference in numbers, 
Maguire's spirit would not permit him to 
avoid fighting ; putting spurs to his horse, 
he forced his way through the enemy to 
their commander, who shot him through 
the body. Though Maguire's wound was 
mortal, he determined to be revenged ; 
struck St. Leger such a blow with his lance 
that he cleft his head through the helmet, 

* Pet. Lombard, ibid. p. 432. 
t Ibid. p. 433. 
t Petr. Lombard, p. 434. 
§ Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 12. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



525 



and then opened a passage for himself, sword 
in hand. Both generals died of their wounds 
a few days after, greatly regretted by their 
respective corps.* 

The Prince O'Neill, before he left Mun- 
ster, took the necessary measures for the 
defence of the province, and the security of 
the confederates. He placed some veteran 
troops among them, and returning through 
Leinster, he left a reinforcement with O'Mor- 
ra of Leix. Before this, he passed in view 
of Ormond, who commanded the English 
army. He arrived safe in Ulster, having 
honorably fulfilled the designs he had in 
view. 

The earl of Essex having given up the 
government of Ireland, it was of importance 
to appoint a successor to him, and a governor 
of Munster to succeed St. Leger, who was 
killed by Maguire. Charles Blunt, baron of 
Mountjoy, was therefore appointed viceroy, 
and Sir George Carew was named president 
of Munster. These two noblemen repaired 
to Dublin about the end of February. Ca- 
rew waited for his commission to undertake 
the duties of his appointment. In the mean 
time, the viceroy and supreme council of 
Ireland! had regulations drawn up for the 
guidance of the president and council of that 
province. The members of it were, the 
earls of Kildare, Ormond, and Thuomond, 
Viscount Barry, Lord Audley, the Protestant 
bishops of Cork and Limerick, Sir Nicholas 
Walsh, the chief-justice Saxey, Sir Francis 
Barkley, Sir George Thornton, Justice 
Goold, the queen's advocate-general, Sir 
Charles Wilmott, Garret Comerford, Esq., 
Ulick Cuffe, Esq., the bishops of Dublin 
and Meath, George Cary, Richard Wing- 
field, Anthony St. Leger, George Bourchier, 
Geoffry Fenton, and Francis Stafford. 

The president of Munster left Dublin on 
the 7th of April, and took the road that led 
to his province. The earl of Thuomond, who 
always sought for opportunities of displaying 
his zeal for the royal cause, with Lord Aud- 
ley, Captains Harvey, Browne, Dillon, and 
a force of seven hundred foot and a hundred 
horse, accompanied the president on his 
route. On the first day they arrived at 
Naas, on the next at Carlow, and on the 
third at Kilkenny, where they visited the 
earl of Ormond. Ormond had promised to 
meet Owen, son of Rory O'Morra, on the 
borders of Idough, at present the barony of 
Fessadining, in the county of Kilkenny, at 
a place called Corronneduffe, and the presi 
dent proposed to accompany the earl, with 

* Pet. Lomb. p. 435. 

+ Paeat. Hib. cap. 1, book 1, page 6. 



his attendants. All arrived, according to 
appointment, at the place of meeting. The 
troops of both parties were at a distance, 
when the conference began between Or- 
mond and O'Morra, which lasted for an 
hour without any thing being concluded. 
O'Morra had a Jesuit with him named Ar- 
cher, who was zealously opposed to the Re- 
formation,* with whom Ormond began a 
controversy on the score of religion, in the 
course of which he called the Jesuit a traitor ; 
saying, that under a semblance of religion 
he was seducing her majesty's subjects from 
their allegiance, after which he proceeded 
to abuse the pope and Church of Rome. 
O'Morra, no longer able to bear with lan- 
guage so indecent, and so foreign to the 
subject before them, seized the earl, dragged 
him from his horse, and made him prisoner. 
The president and Thuomond, with his other 
friends who were at hand, being alarmed, 
ran to his assistance and commenced fight- 
ing. Some of the English were killed, sev- 
eral wounded, and more made prisoners ; 
while the president and Thuomond took to 
flight, and owed their safety only to the 
swiftness of their horses. Thuomond was 
wounded in the back with a pike, as he com- 
plained in a letter to the council of England, 
wherein the circumstances of his misfortune 
in this affray are described. As soon as 
the two noblemen had got out of danger, 
they talked of revenge ; their drums and 
trumpets were ordered to rally the troops 
and renew the fight ; but the terror of the 
English was so great that none but Captains 
Harvey, Browne, Comerford, and some ser- 
vants, had the courage to move forward ; and 
consequently, they had no alternative but to 
submit to their misfortune. They then re- 
turned to Kilkenny, where they found the 
countess of Ormond inconsolable for her 
husband's capture. 

The deputy was in Dublin when he heard 
of this unhappy occurrence, and likewise 
that the sons of Montgarret and several other 
noblemen of the Butlers were up in arms. 
He at once dispatched Sir George Bour- 
chier and Christopher St. Laurence to Kil- 
kenny, with orders to collect the troops, and 
keep the peace of the city and its neighbor- 
hood. The president of Munster, on the 
arrival of these officers, set out with Thuo- 
mond for Waterford, where they arrived on 
the 16th of April. 

The O'Connors Faly laid siege at this 
time to the castle of Crouchan, which was 
situated in the principality of Offaly,f at the 



* Hist. Cathol. cap. 8. 



t Ibid. 



526 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



foot of a hill called Knock-Crouchan. Tho- 
mas Moor, a knight of the golden spur, and 
GifFard, both Englishmen, commanded the 
garrison. The besiegers having no artillery, 
scaled the walls with a hundred foot soldiers, 
and having entered, put the garrison, which 
consisted of Englishmen, to the sword, and 
became masters of the fortress. 

O'Neill,* who had begun the war only in 
consequence of repeated assurances of suc- 
cor both from the pope and the king of 
Spain, continued to apply to them for assist- 
ance, and sent his son Henry, who was still 
young, on a mission to his Catholic majesty. 
He wrote some urgent letters to the pope, 
representing to his holiness that the war in 
Ireland was the cause of God, and beseech- 
ing him to have public prayers offered in 
Rome for its success. He also prayed that 
the holy father would give his decision on 
the efficacy that the sentence of excommuni- 
cation pronounced by Pius V. against Eliza- 
beth and her partisans, ought to have, which 
might serve as a guide to the Catholics of 
Ireland for the conduct they should observe 
in the present war. In fine, he besought the 
pope that his holiness would be pleased to 
send a nuncio to Ireland, who would be ac- 
tive in supporting the Catholics in their 
faith, and who might allay their uneasiness 
in the present posture of affairs. f Clement 
VIII., who was then head of the church, an- 
swered his requests with the following bull, 
dated Rome, April, 1600. J " Pope Clement 
VIII., to all and each of our venerable breth- 
ren, the archbishops, bishops, and prelates ; 
also to our dearly beloved sons, the princes, 
counts, barons, and the people of Ireland : 
greeting, health and apostolical benediction. 

" Having learned that, through the ex- 
hortations of the Roman pontiffs our prede- 
cessors, and those of the holy see, and ours 
you have been encouraged to recover your 
freedom, and to defend and maintain it 
against the reformers ; also, that you have 
been, and are united to second and support, 
with all your means, first, James Fitzgerald 
of happy memory, who, as long as he lived, 
made generous efforts to shake off the cruel 
yoke of slavery which the English, who 
have deserted the holy Roman church, have- 
imposed upon you ; subsequently, John Fitz- 
gerald, cousin-german of the said James 
and latterly, our dear and illustrious son 
Prince Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, baron 
of Dungannon, and captain-general of the 
Catholic army ; and that these generals 

* Peter Lombard, p. 25. 
+ Peter Lombard, p. 465. 
t Cambd. ad arm. 1600. 



and their troops, aided by the God of ar- 
mies, have performed many heroic deeds, in 
fighting valiantly against their enemies, and 
are determined to persevere in opposing 
them ; in order, therefore, to secure your 
attachment, and that of your general, and 
of the said troops to this cause, it is our 
desire to bestow on you our spiritual favors, 
as our predecessors have done. Trusting 
in the mercies of God, and by the author- 
ity of his apostles Peter and Paul, we 
grant to each and every one of you, who 
follow the said General O'Neill, and his 
army, for the defence and support of the 
Catholic faith, to those who furnish him 
with their aid, in provisions, arms, or other 
warlike stores, or assist him in any manner 
whatever, provided you have confessed your 
sins, and if it be possible, have received the 
holy communion, the full remission of your 
sins ; and we likewise grant all the indul- 
gences which the Roman pontiffs have been 
accustomed to bestow on those who fight 
against the Turks for the recovery of the 
Holy Land, &c. 

" Given at St. Peter's, Rome, under the 
fisherman's ring, on the 16th of April, 1600, 
in the ninth year of our, pontificate." 



CHAPTER XL VII. 

The Catholics of Ulster were still in pos- 
session of that province, with the exception 
of a few forts which the English kept, and 
garrisoned. The deputy was commanded to 
reduce this province, but a want of energy 
in his operations excited the suspicions of the 
court. It was therefore deliberated in council 
whether he should be recalled, and another 
deputy appointed, or whether supplies should 
be sent to continue the war against O'Neill 
and his allies more vigorously, if he should 
refuse to make peace.* The latter plan was 
adopted, and a fresh reinforcement of troops 
was ordered to Ireland. In consequence of 
this, the deputy wrote to Tyrone, in April, 
proposing terms of peace in the name of the 
queen and council, which, so far as related 
to religion, and the reparation of the injuries 
that the Irish Catholics had sustained, ap- 
peared reasonable. The prince of Tyrone, 
however, knew too well the disposition of 
the English, to place any confidence in their 
promises ; he knew that nothing but the in- 
ability of acting otherwise, would influence 
them to keep faith with him ; and besides, 

* Pet. Lombard, ibid. p. 445, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



527 



lie expected daily the assistance that had been 
promised to him by the king of Spain, so that 
he rejected the overtures of the deputy. 

Mountjoy felt the necessity of removing 
the suspicions which were entertained against 
him by the court ; and finding the prince of 
Tyrone deaf to the proposals he had made, 
he saw that his only resource to redeem his 
honor lay in force. He therefore collected 
his troops to attack Tyrone by sea and land ; 
and in the month of March, a fleet of sixty- 
seven ships, under Sir Henry Dockwra, was 
ordered to take possession of a lake in the 
north of Ireland, called Loughfoyle, between 
the peninsula of Inisowen and ArachtyCahan, 
to cause in that quarter a diversion favor- 
able to the expedition of his forces by land. 
Five thousand infantry and three hundred 
horse were on board this fleet, well provided 
with ammunition and warlike stores. The 
English commander also had constructed, on 
the borders of Loughfoyle, four forts, from 
whence he made frequent incursions on the 
lands of O'Dogharty, and other noblemen. 

O'Neill, when informed of the movements 
of the English, assembled a council of the 
chief men of the province, to adopt measures 
against the enemy.. It was determined, that 
prince O'Donnel should oppose the attempts 
of the garrisons on Loughfoyle,while O'Neill 
himself would march against the deputy. A 
detachment of the Catholic army having met 
a party of the English who were guarding 
the baggage, attacked and killed a great 
number of them, and became masters of 
considerable booty. The deputy, alarmed 
at this event, returned immediately to Dub- 
lin, where, he remained for some time. 

The earl of Ormond was still a prisoner 
with O'Morra. His countess applied with 
eagerness for his liberation; for which pur- 
pose she addressed letters to the queen, and 
to the prince of Tyrone ; she reminded the 
latter of the friendship that subsisted between 
him and the earl, and begged, that in cou 
sideration of the services he had rendered 
him, he would procure him his freedom 
Tyrone paid regard to the entreaties of the 
countess, and procured her husband's liberty, 
on condition that he would no longer act 
against his religion or his country, and that 
he should give hostages for his fidelity. 

Mountjoy, who remained in Dublin since 
his last expedition to Ulster, proceeded to 
Kilkenny to visit the earl of Ormond after 
his liberation. He then marched at the head 
of some troops into Leix, and brought labor- 
ers with him to cut down the corn before it 
was ripe, in order to deprive the inhabitants 
of subsistence for the next winter,and thereby 



prolong the war. The Catholics of Leix ran 
to arms, and attacked both the reapers and 
the troops who were guarding them ; the 
lord-deputy was dismounted, and his horse 
killed under him, so that he saved himself 
with difficulty, on foot, through a neighbor- 
ing bog. The advantages to the Catholics 
from this victory, were not equal to the heavy 
loss that they sustained by the death of Owen 
O'Morra, who was killed in the action. This 
nobleman, illustrious by birth, was still more 
so from his virtue, and his attachment to the 
cause of God and his countryj he was the 
soul of the confederacy in Leinster, and his 
death produced such consternation through- 
out the province, that the principal leaders, 
except Raymond O'Morra who succeeded 
him, were obliged to beg peace from their 
enemies. The deputy being now freed from 
this formidable opponent, continued his de- 
vastations in Leinster ; the estates of Daniel 
Cavanagh, surnamed the Spaniard, suffered 
greatly ; and the O'Lalors, Redmond Keat- 
ing, and others, were forced to submit ; after 
which the deputy returned to Dublin. 

O'Donnel, who was appointed to watch 
the motions of the garrisons on Loughfoyle, 
acted with a prudence and valor worthy of 
the illustrious house of Tirconnel, of which 
he was the chief. He pursued several de- 
tachments from those places, and killed a 
great many of them. The forts were also 
surrounded by O'Neill's army. In the month 
of August this prince surprised fifteen hun- 
dred of their men who were foraging, and 
put the whole of them to the sword ; but the 
English being masters by sea, and the Irish 
having no fleet to oppose them, their losses 
were quickly repaired by fresh arrivals of 
men and arms from England. 

The successes of the English in Munster 
were more rapid, in consequence of the divi- 
sions that prevailed in that province. A 
kingdom divided must fall. Some of their 
chiefs had already embraced the reformed 
religion through interest and an ambition to 
please Elizabeth; the rest continued attached 
to the Roman church. Among the latter, 
however, were some political temporizers 
who would run no risk, and whose principle 
was to accommodate themselves to the times. 
The English government omitted nothing 
to excite disunion : they strove to reduce 
the Irish to the most abject wretchedness, 
by destroying their flocks, and the crops ne- 
cessary for their support ; and also by draw- 
ing out of Ireland all its gold and silver, and 
sending from England in lieu of it a new 
copper coin which would not pass in any other 
country, and which soon lost its value there. 



528 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Such was the situation of affairs and the 
position of the people in Munster, when 
Carew began his campaigns in that province. 
The president, who was witness to the inter- 
view between O'Morra and Ormond, when 
the latter was made prisoner, as has been 
observed, arrived at Waterford on the 16th 
of April.* The army which the council of 
England intended for Munster, consisted of 
three thousand infantry, and one hundred 
and fifty cavalry. The demonstrations for 
the war began to spread terror among the 
inhabitants. f Some noblemen of the county 
of Waterford dreading the consequences, 
made their submission to the president ; 
among the number of whom were Thomas, 
natural son of Sir James Fitzgerald, lord of 
Desie, and Thomas Power, the near relation 
of Lord Power. 

Carew foresaw two important advantages 
that must arise to him from the submission 
of these two nobles ; first, it was so much 
taken from the force of Desmond ; secondly, 
the communication was rendered free be- 
tween Waterford and Youghal, to which their 
power extended, and near which their estates 
lay. The president Carew set out fromWater- 
ford, April 20, attended by the earl of Thuo- 
mond, Lords Audley and Power, the lord of 
Desie, Sir Nicholas Walsh, Sir Anthony 
Cook, Sir Richard Masterson ; Captains Ro- 
ger Harvie, William Taaffe, Richard Greame, 
Fleming, Giffard, Dillon, O'Reilly, and 
several nobles, with nine hundred foot, and 
one hundred horse, and arrived the same day 
at Dungarvan, where he was joined by Sir 
George Cary's company. The day following 
he marched for Youghal, from which he set 
out on the 24th for Cork. Here he learned 
that Florence Mac-Carty, prince of Carbry, 
with the O'Driscols, O'Mahonys O'Donna- 
vans, and several of the principal nobility of 
the country, had taken up arms ; he imme- 
diately dispatched twelve hundred foot and 
one hundred horse against them, under Cap- 
tain Flower, who pillaged and burned the 
whole country as far as the neighborhood 
of Ross, without meeting an enemy ; on his 
return, however, he was attacked by Florence 
Mac-Carty and Dermod O'Connor- Don. The 
former headed the provincial troops, the 
latter the Bownoghs, that is, the mercenary 
forces of Connaught. These chiefs having 
placed themselves in ambush on the road the 
enemy had to pass, attacked them so vigor- 
ously, that they forced Captain Flower and 
his men to seek safety in an old castle, at 
the distance of half a league. The English 

* Hist. Pac. cap. 3. 
t War. cap. 43. 



sustained a heavy loss on this occasion, and 
had it not been for the skill of Flower, they 
would all have perished. To protect them, 
this officer sent Lieutenant Lane with a body 
of men to conceal themselves in an old ruin, 
and attack the Catholics in flank, while he 
himself attacked them in front with the rest 
of his forces ; being thus placed between two 
fires, they defended themselves bravely for 
some time, but Carbry O'Connor, Dermod's 
brother, and some of their other chiefs hav- 
ing fallen, and finding themselves overpow- 
ered by the enemy's cavalry, they took 
flight, and withdrew to the territory of 
Kinel-Meaky, where they encamped near 
the bridge of Bally ne Courcie. 

While the president was employed in 
holding a council in Cork, to deliberate on 
the affairs of the province, several skirmishes 
took place between the Catholics and the 
court party. Captain Francis Slingsby,who 
commanded the English garrison at Kilmal- 
lock, laid waste the country as far as the 
castle of Bruff, three miles from Kilmallock, 
and carried away large herds of cattle. He 
was, however, attacked by Peter Lacy, lord 
of the district, at the head of three hundred 
foot, and fifty horse. They fought for six 
hours with equal success, except that Conn 
O'Neill, natural son of Tyrone, was wound- 
ed on the side of the Catholics. About the 
same time, April 25, John Mac-Thomas, 
brother to the earl of Desmond, had the 
command of a small detachment of Catholics, 
and in oixler to punish Lord Barry, who had 
abandoned the cause of his country, he en- 
tered upon his estates, where he pillaged his 
vassals as far as Castle Lyons, and carried 
away large herds of cattle. Redmond Burke 
was not so successful in the barony of Kil- 
nemanna ; he marched some troops into that 
quarter against John O'Dwyer, to whom it 
belonged, and who had received protection 
from the English ; but was repulsed by 
O'Dwyer, who killed one hundred and 
twenty of his men. Burke returning soon 
after with fresh forces, burned and destroy- 
ed every thing in the district of Kilnemanna. 
On the 29th of the same month, Captain 
Slingsby left Kilmallock, at the head of a 
detachment, devastating the neighborhood 
of Loghguire, where he took possession of 
the castle ; a place in itself inconsiderable, 
but the situation of which on the road ren- 
dered it of importance to the English. 

Carew, the president, meeting with diffi- 
culties in the conquest of Munster, had to 
resort to stratagem to supply the want of 
force.* In order to gain over to him some of 
* Pac. Hib. cap. 5. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



529 



the confederates, and thus diminish the num- 
ber of his enemies, he pretended to prepare 
an expedition against Limerick, threatening 
to give up to his soldiers the property of the 
Catholics on his march ; in consequence of 
which, some lords whose lands lay along the 
route he was to take, to obviate the threat- 
ened calamity, made their submission. The 
president saw how important it would be to 
bring about a peace with Florence Mac-Carty 
of Carbry, who was a powerful prince of the 
province ; knowing that his submission would 
be followed by that of many others. He 
was aware that Mac-Carty had, in opposition 
to Daniel Mac-Carty, natural son to Mac- 
Carty More, earl of Clancar, applied for the 
estates of the latter, whose daughter and 
heiress he had married, in which he obtained 
the sanction of the queen. To accomplish 
his purpose, in effecting a reconciliation with 
the prince of Carbry, the president appointed 
the earl of Thuomond, Sir Nicholas Walsh, 
and John Fitz-Edmonds to treat with him. 
An express was forwarded to Mac-Carty, 
that they wished to confer with him on mat- 
ters of great moment. He agreed willingly 
to a conference, and appointed a certain day 
and place to meet them. Their present ob- 
ject was to prevail on the prince to come 
before the president. In this they succeeded ; 
and after a conference of two hours, he con- 
sented, under a solemn promise and an oath 
from Thuomond and Walsh for his safe re- 
turn ; he then accompanied them to Cork, 
and, on the 3d of May, arrived at the castle 
of Shandon where the president resided. 
Carew reproached Mac-Carty for his treason 
and ingratitude to the queen for all her fa- 
vors. Thuomond also played his part, and 
joined with the president to influence the 
prince to submit. He consented, finally, 
to observe a strict neutrality on the follow- 
ing conditions : first, that the queen should 
grant him the territories of Desmond to the 
same extent as she had done to his father- 
in-law the earl of Clancar. Second, that 
she would grant him the title of Mac-Carty 
More, or earl 6f Clancar ; and lastly, that 
she would furnish him with three hundred 
soldiers for his defence. To all these con- 
ditions the president refused his assent, and 
Mac-Carty returned home. 

The submission of the white knight, of 
Barret, Condon, and some others, and the 
visit that Florence Mac-Carty paid to the 
president, created jealousy and distrust among 
the confederates. These were still further 
heightened by the news of Carew's intended 
expedition, which made many consult their 
own safety. Peter Lacy, despairing of being 



able to defend his castle of Bruff against the 
president's army, caused it to be demolished ; 
Redmond Burke, who was at the head of five 
hundred men in the district of Connillo, upon 
the promise of the president that he would 
support him in his pretensions to the barony 
of Leitrim, withdrew from the confederacy, 
and retired to the district of Ormond. These 
defections did not, however, prevent the other 
confederates from meeting in the wood of 
Kilmore, between Mallow and Kilmallock, 
to oppose the English army on its route 
through Ballyhawry ; but instead of march- 
ing on the 6th, the president remained in 
Cork until the 21st of May, in order to de- 
ceive them ; want of provisions, therefore, 
forced them to decamp and return to their 
different quarters. 

The president being informed of their re- 
treat, set out from Cork on the 21st of May, 
and passing through Mallow, arrived the 
next day at Kilmallock ; on the 24th he 
reached Bruff, and on the 25th arrived in 
Limerick. In the mean time James Butler, 
brother of Lord Cahir, made himself master 
of Cahir castle, where there was an English 
garrison. On the 28th of May the president 
entered the district of Clanwilliam, burning 
and destroying all before him. He forced 
John and Theobald Burke to surrender ; 
after which he became master of the castle 
of Ballytrasny, which the Catholics had left, 
and found in it a quantity of corn and other 
provisions. He next sent five hundred soldiers 
to attack the patrimony of the O'Moel Ryans, 
which they pillaged and burned without 
mercy, and committed unheard-of cruelties. 
After these expeditions he placed garrisons 
in Kilmallock, Askeaton, and Likadowne,on 
the frontiers of Connillo, and returned with 
the remainder of his army to Limerick. Cap- 
tain Harvy arrived at the same time with a 
ship laden with money, warlike stores, pro- 
visions, and clothing, to the great joy of the 
president, who was beginning to be in want 
of every thing. 

The president was not yet satisfied ; to 
get James Fitzthomas, earl of Desmond, into 
his power, was a feat to be yet accomplished. 
Promises of reward appeared to him to be the 
surest means of effecting this, and by means 
of them he succeeded. James was betrayed 
by some of his own soldiers into the hands 
of the president, who confined him under a 
strong guard in the castle of Connillo, call- 
ed Castleishin, but he was soon rescued from 
his imprisonment by Maurice, baron of Lix- 
naw, Dermod Mac-Carty Reagh, the knight 
of Kerry, William Burke, Bernard O'Kelly, 
Peter Lacy, and other chiefs of the con- 



530 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



federacy, at the head of eight hundred 
men. 

The princes of Ulster were too busy in 
defending their own province to be able to 
afford any help to the Munstermen. O'Don- 
nel, prince of Tirconnel, had to watch the 
garrisons of Loughfoyle, commanded by 
Dockwra, with whom he had frequent skir- 
mishes. The English having got the city 
of Derry into their possession, made a vig- 
orous sortie, but were repulsed with loss. 
Dockwra, their commander, was danger- 
ously wounded in the head with a pike, by 
young Hugh O'Donnel, who cut his helmet 
through. After this battle the English re- 
laxed in their attacks, so that O'Donnel de- 
termined to cause a diversion in favor of 
Munster. To effect this, he left the defence 
of Tirconnel to John O'Dogherty, prince 
of Inis-Owen, Niall O'Donnel, surnamed 
Garve, and Daniel O'Gallagher ; after which 
he marched through Connaught, and in the 
month of June entered the country of Thuo- 
mond. The earl, who was then at Limer- 
ick, alarmed at the news of his approach, 
applied to the president for help to defend 
his district against him. Captain Flower 
was immediately dispatched with eight hun- 
dred infantry and sixty cavalry, to join the 
earl in repelling Tirconnel ; the two armies 
had frequent skirmishing, but O'Donnel 
plundered the country of Thuomond as far 
as Loophead, and, after taking great booty 
in cattle, he retired without meeting any 
disaster.* 

The expedition of O'Donnel to Thuomond 
had no greater effect than to retard the 
operations of the English in Munster, but it 
produced a serious change in his own affairs. 
The lieutenant of General Dockwra, having 
sailed out of Derry in the absence of the 
prince of Tirconnel, was killed by O'Dogh- 
arty, so that the English would have cause 
to repent of their conquest of Loughfoyle, 
if the Catholics had been more united. Ar- 
thur O'Neill, following the policy of his 
father, Turlough Linnagh, left the Catholic 
party and declared for the English. His 
example was soon followed by Niall Garve 
O'Donnel, though otherwise strongly at- 
tached to the religion of his ancestors. This 
nobleman gave up Lifford to the English, 
the command of which he had been appoint- 
ed to by the prince of Tirconnel. His trea- 
chery caused a divorce between him and his 
wife Nolla, the sister of Tirconnel. 

Niall Garve was brave and expert in war ; 
his ambition made him desire to obtain the 

* Hist. Cathol. cap. 5. 



title of the O'Donnel, or chief of the tribe, 
and he had cause to expect it if the English 
were victorious. They began indeed already 
to give him the title, and to make him great 
promises of reward if he would join in their 
interests. These foreigners knew well how 
to turn the affairs of this nobleman to their 
own profit. Niall had formed a private en- 
mity against his chief, O'Donnel, on the 
ground of his having taken from him, as he 
said, unjustly, the estate of Lifford, which 
belonged to his family, and did not feel suf- 
ficiently requited by the castle of Caislean- 
na-Finni, which the prince had given him 
by way of remuneration. This was the 
only plea that Niall Garve could advance to 
palliate his revolt and his attachment to the 
English. 

O'Donnel, who was projecting a second 
expedition against the earl of Thuomond, 
abandoned his design on hearing of the re- 
volt of Niall Garve,* and immediately post- 
ed his army near Lifford, in order to watch 
the enemy's motions. He frequently fought 
with success both against Niall Garve, who 
had gained over many adherents, and against 
the garrisons of Lifford and Derry, which 
often sallied forth against him. He sustained 
a heavy loss in the death of O'Dogharty, 
who was killed in one of these engagements. 
O'Dogharty having left only an infant son, 
O'Donnel, according to the custom of the 
country, created Felim O'Dogharty, his near- 
est relative, prince of Inisowen ; this act, by 
increasing the number of the discontented 
in Inisowen, diminished his allies there, and 
the principal town in the district was given 
up to the English. All O'Donnel's efforts 
against the rebels of Inisowen were ineffec- 
tual : he besieged them in Binnin, a fort to 
which they had withdrawn ; but from the 
inactivity of the Connaughtmen whom he 
had in pay, he was obliged to abandon the 
undertaking. In the mean time, Niall Garve, 
having collected all the natives belonging to 
his faction, and some English soldiers be- 
longing to the garrison, seized upon the 
Franciscan convent of Donegal, and having 
driven out the friars, made an arsenal of 
their house, in order to be able to hold out 
against O'Donnel. This prince sir-rounded 
him with his army, and kept him hemmed 
in for three months ; after which, the for- 
tress having taken fire during the night, 
about one thousand men perished by the 
flames, the swords of the besiegers, and the 
falling in of the building, among the number 
of whom was Conn O'Donnel, brother of 

* Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



531 



Nial Garve. The prince of Tircormel after 
marched his troops to Connaught ; he was 
attacked at Elphin by the earl of Clanric- 
card, at the head of an English corps, and 
after some skirmishing the earl withdrew, 
but little satisfied with the success of his 
arms. 

Mountjoy marched in July, at the head of 
his forces, towards the frontiers of Ulster ;* 
but this expedition was equally unsuccessful 
as the former. He reconciled the Magen- 
nises, O'Hanlon, Ever, son of Colla Mac- 
Mahon, lord of Fearna, and others, who 
were subjected to the incursions of the Eng- 
lish, from the contiguity of their frontiers — 
this was a kind of neutrality approved of 
by O'Neill in favor of these noblemen. 
The deputy then advanced towards Armagh 
and Portmor, the garrisons of which he re- 
lieved, but was deterred from proceeding- 
farther, as he dreaded O'Neill, who was 
strongly intrenched, which caused him to 
return to Dublin. f 

The deputy set out from Dublin in the 
month of August, with five hundred and 
sixty infantry, sixty horsemen, and some 
volunteers. He marched first to Naas, in or- 
der to join Oliver Lambert, who command- 
ed a body of troops at Philipstown in Offaly. 
The two commanders having united their 
forces, carried fire and sword everywhere 
as they passed, so that every step in their 
march was marked with cruelty and ty- 
ranny. 

Mountjoy, wishing to create a diversion in 
favor of his friends at Loughfoyle, march- 
ed in October for Ulster, at the head of six 
thousand fighting men. He did not proceed 
far into the province when he met with the 
prince of Tyrone. The two armies con- 
tinued in sight of each other for fifteen days 
without attempting any thing, after which 
two battles were fought ; one near Dundalk, 
and the other in the neighborhood of Car- 
lingford. These proved fatal to the Eng- 
lish ; they lost upwards of four thousand 
men, the deputy was dangerously wounded, 
and carried to Newry to be cured of his 
wounds. It was now that the English 
government set a price upon the head of 
O'Neill. A proclamation was issued, offer- 
ing a reward of two thousand pounds ster- 
ling to any one who would deliver him up 
alive, or one thousand pounds for his head. 

Carew, the president, who was still in 
Limerick, marched with his troops in the 
month of June into the district of Connillo, 
where he made himself master of the castle 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 4. 
t Hist. Cathol. cap. 4. 



of Croom, which the garrison had abandoned. 
After this he marched towards the castle of 
Glynn, situate on the banks of the Shan- 
non. This castle was the chief place belong- 
ing to the knight of the Glynn, a branch of 
the illustrious house of the Fitzgeralds of 
Desmond, and one of the principal confed- 
erate Catholic chiefs. The president laid 
siege to it, and having effected a breach, it 
was taken by assault, notwithstanding the 
most obstinate defence. The president, hav- 
ing placed a garrison in Glynn Castle, under 
Captain Mordant, determined to lay siege to 
Carrigofoyle, in Iraghticonnor, but was 
prevented by the voluntary submission of 
O'Connor Kerry, to whom it belonged. 

In the mean time, the president, in order 
to occupy the confederates in different places 
at once, sent fifty men into the county of 
Kerry, commanded by Maurice Stack, a na- 
tive of that district, a man of middle stature, 
but of tried courage.* He surprised the 
castle of Liscaghan, scaled the walls, and put 
the garrison to the sword ; he also burned 
Adare, and devastated the neighboring 
country, where he remained till the arrival 
of Sir Charles Wilmot, who came to his 
assistance. War is the scourge of a country 
which unfortunately becomes the theatre of 
it. The scarcity of provisions was so severe 
in Kerry, that the president was constrained 
to change his quarters ; he took possession 
of the castle of Corgrage, which had been 
abandoned, and gave the command of it to 
Oliver Stephenson, whose descendants, says 
Cox, have degenerated into real Irish ; he 
received the castle of Rathmore by capitu- 
lation, and having reinforced the garrisons 
of Askeaton and Kilmallock, he arrived in 
Limerick the 16th of July. 

During the absence of the president, the 
confederates made an attempt upon the 
castle of Liscaghan, of which Maurice Stack 
was the commander ; but their efforts were 
defeated by the garrison, who killed twenty- 
seven of their men in a sally. The president 
being informed at Limerick of the state of 
things in Kerry, marched on July the 23d, 
with his troops, amounting to a thousand and 
fifty infantry, and seventy-five cavalry — 
whether to avoid the badness of the roads, 
or the enemy, he took the route for the 
county Clare, and proceeded to Kilrush, on 
the right bank of the Shannon, opposite to 
Carrigofoyle, where the earl of Thuomond 
took care to have a number of boats con- 
structed to carry the troops and their bag- 
gage to the opposite side of the river. 

* Facat. Hib. ibid. cap. 10 



532 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



The army having reached Carrigofoyle, 
the president on the 29th July dispatched 
Wilmot with six hundred infantry, and fifty 
cavalry, on an expedition into Clanmorris. 
He took the castles of Lixnaw and Rathowen 
by surprise, and put garrisons into them, 
though Lord Fitzmaurice, to whom the castle 
of Lixnaw belonged, had it undermined some 
time before, and planks of wood placed so as 
to set fire to it on the approach of the Eng- 
lish army. After this Wilmot advanced 
upon Tralee, where he surprised a hundred 
and fifty laborers who were employed by 
the earl of Desmond to destroy the castle 
of Sir Edward Denny, in order to prevent 
the English from taking shelter in it. Wil- 
mot had no great difficulty in defeating these 
men, whom he took by surprise ; after kill- 
ing some, and dispersing the rest, he re- 
turned victorious to Carrigofoyle. 

The president received an account, that 
the provisions which he was expecting would 
be sent to Cork, had arrived at Carrigofoyle, 
in the county of Clare, opposite the river 
Cashin. The boats belonging to the earl of 
Thuomond served to carry them to Lixnaw. 

Patrick Fitzmaurice,who was truly zealous 
in the Catholic cause, dreading the conti- 
guity of the English, demolished his castle 
of Beaulieu, situate on the banks of the Shan- 
non, and within two miles of Carrigofoyle. 
He died soon afterwards, and was succeeded 
by his son, Thomas Fitzmaurice, who in- 
herited not only his title, but also his attach- 
ment to religion.* He married Honora-ni- 
Brien, sister of the earl of Thuomond. Of 
these two illustrious personages, English 
writers give a story equally revolting to 
humanity, and to the religion which they 
pretend was the cause of it. Honora-ni- 
Brien, according to their account, having 
invited Maurice Stack to dinner at her castle 
of Beaulieu, had him murdered ; and his 
brother, whom her husband, the baron of 
Lixnaw, had held as a prisoner for some 
time, hanged the day following. 

Florence MacCarty, who had hoped for 
some time to be able to remain neuter, be- 
gan now to appear upon the stage. He con- 
templated bringing about a marriage between 
James Fitz-Thomas, earl of Desmond, and 
the sister of Cormac MacCarty, lord of 
Muskerry, in order to unite all the branches 
of the MacCartys, who formed a numerous 
and powerful tribe. The president, appre- 
hending the consequences of such an alliance, 
left the government of Kerry to Wilmot, 
and marched straight to Cork, to counteract 

* Pacat. Hib. cap. 13. 



the intended connection between Desmond 
and the chief of Muskerry. To punish 
Florence MacCarty, he granted protection 
to Daniel MacCarty, and gave him the title 
of MacCarty More, to the exclusion of 
Florence, who had a prior claim to the 
title, as has been observed. 

Wilmot having besieged the castle of Ar- 
dart, in the county of Kerry, became master 
of it, after it had been defended for nine 
days by a feeble garrison. He strove to 
estrange several noblemen from the cause of 
their country, and succeeded with the knight 
of Kerry, who surrendered to him his castle 
of Dingle, the October following. The pre- 
sident, on his part, received the submission 
of the MacMahons and the O'Crowleys 
of Carbry. MacDonough, MacAuliff, and 
O'Keefe, also put themselves under his pro- 
tection, and the castle of Cahir was surren- 
dered by James Butler to the English. 

The earl of Desmond caused Castle island, 
and several strong places in the county of 
Kerry, to be demolished, in order to prevent 
the English from increasing the number of 
their garrisons. This nobleman had but six 
hundred infantry and a few cavalry, so that 
he was not able to attack the enemy openly, 
their numbers being much greater than his. 
He wrote pressing letters to Florence Mac- 
Carty to join him ; but being disappointed 
in this, he left Kerry and marched through 
Connillo to gain the woods of Arlogh, near 
Kilmallock, where there was an English gar- 
rison, commanded by Sir George Thornton. 
The officers under Thornton were Slingsby 
and Arundle ; Captains Dillon and O'Reilly 
commanded the foot, and Greame the horse. 
Desmond's intended march being known 
to the English, they made every prepara- 
tion in their neighborhood to attack him. 
Greame first, with his cavalry, prevented the 
earl from getting into the wood, and made 
himself master of the baggage, while Thorn- 
ton attacked him with the infantry. The 
action was briskly fought, but proved fatal 
to Desmond ; he lost two hundred of his 
men in lulled and wounded. Teague and 
Hugh O'Kelly, who commanded the Con- 
naught troops, were among the slain, and 
their heads sent the day following to the 
president. There remained now with Des- 
mond but four hundred men, who got into 
the wood in spite of the enemy ; after which 
they dispersed. The earl finding himself 
abandoned, withdrew into the country of 
Ormond, accompanied by Dermod Mac- 
Carty, bishop of Cork and Cloyne, who 
labored for twenty years to preserve the re- 
ligion of the country. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



533 



After the defeat of Desmond, religion be- 
gan to lose ground in Munster. Fitzmaurice, 
John Fitzthomas, brother to the earl, Peter 
Lacy, and other leaders, proceeded to Ul- 
ster to join O'Neill.* Several were par- 
doned, and among the number, MacCarty 
Riagh, O'Sullevan Beare, John O'Dwyer, 
James Fitzgerald, Teugue O'Brien, O'Moel- 
ryan, O'Sullivan More, the people of Mo- 
gelly, and the inhabitants of Kerry and 
Muskerry. By the defections the whole of 
the province was opened to the English, the 
places that had opposed them previously 
having surrendered ; among others, Castle- 
mayn, Clancoyne, and Listoel, opened their 
gates. Sir Richard Pearcy sent, in the 
month of December, a detachment from Kin- 
sale into Carbry, to plunder the districts of 
Kilco and Kinelmeaky. Dermod Moyle 
MacCarty, brother of Florence, and Moysmo 
O'Mahony, prince of the O'Mahonys of Ki- 
nalmeaky, being informed of the enemy's 
designs, assembled their vassals, and fought 
the English for two hours ; after which both 
armies withdrew, and the English returned 
greatly disconcerted in their designs. About 
this time some differences sprang up between 
the MacCartys of Carbry, and the O'Learys 
of Muskerry ;| they led to an action at 
Ahakery, in the district of Carbry, in which 
O'Leary, chief of his tribe, and ten of his 
men were killed on the spot. On the other 
side, the brother of Finin MacOwen Mac- 
Carty was dangerously wounded, and some 
of his people slain. 

The conquest of Munster was not secure 
while James Fitz-Thomas bore the name of 
earl of Desmond.:): It was of the first im- 
portance to the English to destroy his influ- 
ence among the people ; to effect which they 
raised a rival to him, who in fact possessed 
a higher claim to the title. This rival was 
James, son of Garret the last earl, who had 
been detained during a great many years 
prisoner in the tower of London. The queen 
now prepared and equipped him for Ireland, 
with the empty title of " earl of Desmond. "§ 
The name was imposing on the Irish, among 
whom it was still dear. They received him 
witharespect becoming his illustrious ances- 
tors, but, finding that he had conformed to 
the religion of the court, their admiration 
towards him was abated. Young Desmond 
was conducted to Ireland by Captain Price ; 
he landed at Youghall the 14th of October, 



* Cox, Hist, of Ireland, page 435. 
t Pacat. Hib. cap. 15. 
t Hist. Girald. cap. 25. 
§ Hist. Cathol. cap. 3. 



and arrived at Mallow on the 18th,* where 
he presented a letter from the queen to the 
president Carew, with her patent, restoring 
him to the dignity of his ancestors. The 
young earl expressing a desire to visit Lime- 
rick, was indulged by Carew, in order to 
sound the disposition of the people towards 
him ; he was accompanied by the Protestant 
archbishop of Cashel, and Boyle, secretary 
to the council. Having returned to Kilmal- 
lock on a Saturday evening, he was received 
with the acclamations of the people, who 
were collected in such crowds that he could 
scarcely get to the governor's house, whither 
he was going to sup, though the streets 
through which he passed were lined with 
troops . Their joy was, however, soon changed 
into sadness. The earl went the next day, 
Sunday, to hear the service in the Protestant 
church. On his return, the people who, the 
evening before, loaded him with blessings, 
heaped their imprecations and insults upon 
him, and even proceeded so far as to spit in 
his face. Abandoned now by the Catholics 
and the admirers of his ancestors, he was 
seen to walk in the streets like any private 
individual, without one to accompany him. 
" I give," says an English writer, " this nar- 
rative, that the world may perceive how our 
religion, and the professors of it, are abomi- 
nated by the rude and ignorant people of 
Ireland." 

The deputy Mountjoy marched in the 
month of December into the county of Wick- 
low, to chastise the O'Birnes and O'Tooles, 
who made frequent attacks upon the lands 
near Dublin. Having attempted, in vain, to 
get Felim, son of Fiach, into his power, he 
carried away with him as prisoners, his wife 
and eldest son;, after which he laid the 
whole country waste, burning the houses 
and their haggards as he passed along. He 
put garrisons into Tullow and Wicklow ; 
then marched to Monastereven, and after- 
wards visited Trim, Mullingar, Athlone, and 
Drogheda ; from which place he set out for. 
Dublin, on the 26th of April, after distri- 
buting the troops among the different garri- 
sons. An order was at this time sent to the 
deputy by the court of England, to confer 
on Nial Garve O'Donnel the principality of 
Tirconnel ; and that of Fermanagh, on Con- 
nor Roe Maguire, to the exclusion of the 
lawful princes. It was thus that Maguire 
was recompensed for having made Cormoc 
O'Neill, nephew and Tanist of O'Neill, a 
prisoner. By such means the queen dimin- 
ished the number of her enemies in Ireland. 

* Pacat. Hib. cap. 14. 



534 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



She supported the collateral branches against 
their chiefs; she caused divisions among them 
by exciting a thirst for riches, and found 
many degenerate enough to answer her pur- 
poses. Those who were so, were called her 
" proteges," and designated as the queen's 
O'Donnel, the queen's Maguire, to distin- 
guish them from the lawful chiefs. 

Morrison, governor of Dundalk, made 
some attempts upon the territory of Fews, 
whence he carried off as prisoner Turlogh, 
son of Henry O'Neill, chief'of the Fews, and 
brother to Tyrone. The submission of Tur- 
logh procured him the protection of the 
deputy, and a similar favor was granted to 
Ever Mac-Colla, to Mac-Mahon, lord of 
Fearny, to Hanlon, and the inhabitants of 
Brenny. 

The forces of the Irish were continually 
diminished by their frequent battles, and by 
their having no succors sent them from 
abroad, while those of the English were re- 
ceiving constant reinforcements from their 
own country. Information was sent by the 
lords of the English council, to Carew, 
that six hundred infantry had embarked for 
Cork. A complaint was also forwarded that 
several soldiers were passing from Ireland 
to England on a mere leave from their cap- 
tains. The president was therefore enjoined 
to send his orders to the seaports to permit 
no soldier to embark for England without a 
passport signed by himself. 

Dermod O'Connor Don, prince of Con- 
naught, learned that the young earl of Des- 
mond had arrived in Munster by orders of 
the court of England.* He wished greatly 
to see this young nobleman whose sister he 
had married, and to manifest to the queen by 
his services, how grateful he was for the 
favors conferred upon his brother-in-law. 
The president being informed of the wishes 
of O'Connor, sent him a guard to escort him 
and his attendants ; one from Sir Arthur 
Savage, a commissioner of Connaught, and 
another from the earl of Clanriccard, being 
likewise appointed to protect him in his 
march through their estates. The president 
sent a hundred men to the frontiers of Thuo- 
mond to receive and conduct him safe to his 
destination. But all these precautions were 
not able to save O'Connor's life. Having 
passed through Clanriccard without meeting 
any opposition, he was attacked upon the 
estate of O'Seaghnassy, by Theobald Burke, 
the Naval, who commanded a hundred men 
in the pay of the queen. Theobald, having 
killed forty of O'Connor's men, made that 

* Pacat. Hib. cap. 17. 



prince prisoner, and had his head cut off the 
day following, without any trial. This act 
of hostility drew upon Burke the censures of 
his friends at court, and he was in conse- 
quence of it deprived of his company. " Theo- 
bald Burke," says an English author, " did 
no injury to O'Connor while he was a rebel, 
but seeing him attach himself to the English 
government and likely to become very useful, 
he caused him to be shamefully murdered." 

The earl of Ormond had continued inactive 
since he got his liberty from O'Morra. To 
ingratiate himself with the president, he now 
offered his services against Redmond Burke 
and his companions who had retired into the 
territory of Ormond. The earl frequently, 
but in vain, endeavored to drive them from 
it ; at length, he employed Lord Dunboyne, 
Sir Walter Butler his nephew, and Captain 
Marberry, to undertake it with all the troops 
they could muster. They accordingly made 
great preparations against a handful of men 
scattered in the woods, and bereft of every 
thing ; a victory over whom could not be 
very glorious to the earl, nor add much to 
the laurels of his house. They fell upon the 
unhappy wanderers, and killed forty of them, 
among whom was Thomas Burke, brother of 
Redmond ; the rest were chased into the 
river Nore, which at that time, it being the 
month of January, overflowed its banks : 
many of them perished with their arms and 
baggage, and several were made prisoners ; 
among the rest, John Burke, also brother of 
Redmond, who was immediately afterwards 
put to death in Kilkenny. 

The president Carew, wishing to put the 
laws in operation, and let justice (which had 
been suspended on account of the war) take 
its course, held the assizes at Limerick, 
Cashel, and Clonmel ; the members who 
composed the tribunals in question were 
commanded to punish all those who were 
denominated rebels. When an enemy sits in 
judgment, innocence will not escape. The 
president also gave orders to the sheriffs to 
visit the counties, both to discover the male- 
factors who disturbed the government, and 
to procure provisions for the garrisons.* In 
compliance with this mandate, John Barry, 
sheriff of the county of Cork, attended by his 
retinue, entered that part of Desmond which 
belonged to Florence Mac-Carty, but was 
immediately repulsed by that nobleman's 
vassals, and forced to fly, leaving several of 
his attendants dead upon the spot. A de- 
tachment from the garrison of Kerry, intent 
upon plunder, crossed the river Mang, and 

* Pacat. Hib. ibid. cap. 18. Ibidem, cap. 19. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



535 



entered that district sword in hand, where 
they shared the fate of the sheriff's followers. 
These acts of violence rendered the conduct, 
of Florence suspicious in the eyes of the 
president, but finding it necessary to dissem- 
ble for a while, he passed over all that noble- 
man's acts in silence. 



CHAPTER XL VIII. 

The Catholics of Ireland had, to the close 
of this campaign, made the most noble exer- 
tions in defence of their religion and country. 
They had to contend, not only against the 
English, but also against domestic enemies, 
without any hope of assistance, so that the 
country was devastated and exhausted of men 
and provisions, particularly Minister, which 
had been for a long time the theatre of the 
war. Most of the noblemen in that province 
were obliged to submit to their enemies. 
Florence Mac-Carty seeing the necessity of 
yielding to the times, followed the example 
of the rest. Their submission, however, was 
but a sort of truce, while waiting for the 
arrival of the Spaniards. 

Don Martin Lerda was sent to Ireland by 
the king of Spain, in the beginning of the 
year 1601. He brought two vessels laden 
with arms, ammunition, and money.* This 
small succor, which seemed to give omen 
of greater, was sent to O'Neill ; and his 
Catholic majesty sent word to this prince, 
that he would immediately furnish him with 
troops, and every thing necessary to carry on 
the war. The vessels being arrived in the 
bay of Kilbeg, near Donegal, O'Neill divided 
the resources he received with the confede- 
rates, particularly with those of Munster. 
A gleam of hope seemed to revive the fallen 
spirits of the Catholics. They met, and de- 
liberated together ; and the earl of Clanric' 
card, who was at that time the only nobleman 
in Connaught attached to the queen's cause, 
began to espouse the interest of the confede- 
rates. 

That which caused such joy to the Catho- 
lics of Ireland, produced great alarm in the 
minds of the English Protestants. The pres- 
ident of Munster wrote urgent letters to the 
lords of the English council, informing them 
that Ireland would be soon invaded by the 
Spaniards, of which he received positive 
assurances from every quarter. " Many 
priests and monks of the Roman church," 
added he, " have already arrived in this 

* Pet. Lombard, ibid. pp. 452, 453. 



country, who are precursors of misfortune to 
Ireland, by their endeavors to estrange her 
majesty's subjects from their allegiance." 
After thus apprizing the court of the danger, 
he demanded the means of averting it. The 
council attended to his representations, and 
gave orders how he should act ; lenient mea- 
sures were adopted, at the same time, to 
conciliate the Catholics of Munster. As a 
specimen of the queen's disposition at the 
time, she wrote to the president, authorizing 
him to grant a general amnesty to all who 
would seek his clemency ; from it, however, 
James Fitz-Thomas, having the title of earl 
of Desmond, his brother John, Peter Lacy, 
knight of the Glynn, Thomas Fitz-Maurice, 
baron of Lixnaw, the O'Morras, and O'Con- 
nors Faly, were exempted. 

The English still kept up hostilities in 
Ulster ; Dockwra, governor of Lough Foyle, 
made himself master of Inisowen, the patri- 
mony of O'Dogharty ; and also pillaged the 
lands of Mac-Hugh Duff, from which he 
carried away a thousand head of cattle. He 
devastated too the possessions of the Mac- 
Sweenys, O'Boyle, Shane, son of Manus 
Ogue, O'Donnel, andO'Cahan, leaving every- 
where traces of his cruelty. In this conduct 
he was ably seconded by Nial Garve O'Don- 
nel, who forced feigned submission from 
most of those noblemen, who wished to 
escape his tyranny. 

The deputy left Dublin in May, for 
Drogheda, where he arrived on the 23d of 
that month ; on the 25th he proceeded to 
Dundalk, and on the 8th of June, passed 
through Moyri, where he had a fort built, 
which he garrisoned ; having left his camp 
at Fagher, on the 14th, he passed through 
Newry, and on the 15th entered Iveagh, the 
country of the Magennises. While Sir Rich- 
ard Morrison was taking the city of Down, 
the deputy entered Dundrum, which was 
given up to him by Felim Mac-Evir, to whom 
it belonged. This nobleman having made 
his submission, his example was followed by 
Mac-Cartane of DiuTerin, and Mac-Roy of 
Killiwarlin. The deputy having ended his 
tour through Iveagh, where he took some 
castles without meeting any resistance, re- 
turned to Newry, from whence he sent orders 
to Sir Henry Danvers, commander of Mount 
Norris, to seize upon the abbey of Armagh, 
and put an English garrison into it; but 
Danvers failed in the attempt. He was re- 
pulsed by the garrison, and forced to abandon 
his enterprise. 

On hearing of Danvers' ill-success in his 
expedition against Armagh, the deputy 
marched towards Mount Norris, where he 



530 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



was joined by the garrison. He then directed 
his march towards the river Blackwater, 
leaving Armagh on the right ; visited the 
neighborhood of that river, particularly the 
spot in which marshal Bagnal's army had 
been defeated a fewyears before by O'Neill,, 
and proceeded towards Armagh, which was 
abandoned by its feeble garrison on the ap- 
proach of his powerful army. He therefore 
became master of it without opposition. 
The deputy left an English force in Armagh, 
consisting of one hundred horse and seven 
hundred and fifty foot, under Danvers ; he 
then returned with the remainder of his army 
to Mount Norris, and encamped between that 
place and Newry, in expectation of a rein- 
forcement from the English province. 

The garrison of Armagh committed dread- 
ful excesses through the surrounding coun- 
try.* The detachments which sallied from 
it, pillaged and laid waste the lands of Brian 
Mac-Art, Magennis, Patrick Mac-Mahon, 
carrying away their cattle, forcing these 
noblemen to submit, in order to save their pro- 
perties. The deputy having abandoned the 
neighborhood of Newry, marched his army 
towards Armagh. On the 13th July he 
arrived on the banks of the Blackwater,which 
he crossed the day following, unopposed by 
Tyrone, who had his army posted in a wood 
near the river. It was his design to avoid 
an engagement, and remain on the defensive 
till the succors which he expected from 
Spain would arrive. On the 16th of the 
same month, the deputy sent Sir Christopher 
St. Laurence's regiment to the castle of Ben 
burb, where it was attacked by the advanced 
guard of O'Neill ; they fought briskly for 
three hours.within view of the English camp, 
though St. Laurence having received fresh 
assistance from that quarter, was superior in 
force. According to Cox, the English lost 
nearly a hundred men, and the Irish about 
two hundred ; he adds, that it cannot be 
cause of wonder that the loss sustained by 
both was so unequal, as the English being 
better provided with ammunition, the fire of 
their musketry was more closely kept up 
than that of the Irish. After this combat, 
the deputy had a new fort built on the river 
Blackwater, near the old one which was de- 
stroyed, and garrisoned it with a company 
commanded by Captain Williams. At this 
time, the deputy issued a proclamation from 
the queen that her majesty would not grant 
any terms to O'Neill, and that whosoever 
would take him alive should receive two 
thousand pounds reward, or one thousand 
for his head. 

* Cox, Hist, of Ireland, ibid. p. 438. 



In the beginning of April, eight hundred 
Catholics collected in Connaught, with the 
intention of marching into Munster, to raise 
a diversion in that quarter. They were 
headed by a portion of the Burkes, Hugh 
Mostian, and Peter Lacy ; and the lord of 
Kerry, Teugue Reagh MacMahon, and 
others, prepared to join them by sea. Carew, 
the president of Munster, was greatly alarm- 
ed at this. He knew that Sir John Barkly, 
governor of Connaught, in the absence of 
Sir Arthur Savage, was not able to oppose 
the enemy ; to avert, therefore, the danger 
which threatened his province, he dispatched 
Major-general Flower at the head of a thou- 
sand infantry, to dispute the passage with 
the Connaught troops. Flower marched 
into the county of Clare, where he was joined 
by the company of the earl of Thuomond ; 
he next proceeded towards Quinn, and hav- 
ing met the enemy, who were marching 
carelessly and in separate bodies, he fought 
them with success, killed some of their lead- 
ers, and dispersed the remainder. Teugue, 
son of Torlogh O'Brien, a near relative to 
the earl of Thuomond, who had joined the 
Catholic army a few days before, fell on this 
occasion by the sword of the English, fight- 
ing nobly for his country's cause. Ware 
and Cox, by whom this revolt of the Catho- 
lics of Connaught is mentioned, says they had 
fifteen hundred fighting men, including seven 
hundred from the north of Ireland, who were 
to act with them in the intended expedition. 
It is true the princes of Ulster, O'Neill and 
O'Donnel, at the request of Donagh Mac- 
Carty, prince of Alia, had sent seven hun- 
dred men towards Munster, under Teugue 
O'Rourke, and Raymond Burke, baron of 
Leitrim, to renew hostilities in that province, 
and revive the fallen courage of Desmond ; 
but it does not, however, appear that they 
joinedthe Connaught forces. The Ulstermen 
having lost the prince of Alia on their march, 
who was killed by a ball from some English 
that lay in ambush, and having heard that 
the Connaught army was defeated, and that 
Desmond was taken prisoner, returned to- 
wards their own province. They were ha- 
rassed on their march by the earl of Clan- 
riccard, who received a wound in a skirmish 
with them, of which he died a fortnight 
afterwards. 

The Catholic cause suffered considerably 
at this time, by the arrest of James, son of 
Thomas Fitzgerald, commonly called earl of 
Desmond, and Florence MacCarty, of the 
illustrious house of MacCarty Riagh, who 
had married the daughter and heiress of 
MacCarty More, baron of Valentia, and earl 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



537 



of Clancar. Desmond was taken about the 
end of May, in a cavern in the mountain of 
Slevegrot, by Fitzgibbon, chief of the Clan- 
gibbons, generally known as the White 
Knight, who gave him up to Carew in Cork. 
The knight had the baseness to accept of a 
thousand pounds from the president, as a re- 
ward for this infamous act. Florence Mac- 
Carty, who had become MacCarty More by 
the death of his father-in-law, in which digni- 
ty he had been confirmed by O'Neill, was ar- 
rested in Cork by orders of the president. 
These noblemen were sent, in the August 
following, under a strong guard, to the tower 
of London, where Desmond died after a con- 
finement of seven years.* His brother John 
Fitzthomas fled to Spain after the battle of 
Kinsale, where he died, leaving a son called 
Garret, or Gerald, on whom his Catholic 
majesty conferred the title of count. James, 
son of Garret, the real heir to the title and 
estates of Desmond, remained for some time 
in Ireland, but not finding that his affairs 
were making much progress, he returned to 
England, where he died soon afterwards, 
not without suspicion of his having been poi- 
soned. Thus ended the illustrious family of 
Desmond, who fell a sacrifice to their zeal in 
the cause of religion. There remain, how- 
ever, still in Munster, many noble families 
of the name of Fitzgerald, who are descended 
from that house. The apprehensions of the 
president of Munster were not removed by 
the imprisonment of Desmond and Florence 
MacCarty ; he knew that several noblemen 
of the province only waited the arrival of 
the Spaniards, to declare openly against the 
government. In order to defeat them in 
their hopes, .he appointed the assizes to be 
held in Cork on the 28th of July, under 
pretence of trying civil and criminal causes, 
and clearing the prisons. In the mean time 
he sent circulars to all the nobility and land- 
holders, requesting their attendance :f those 
whom he had principally in view, and whose 
allegiance he doubted, were, Dermod, son of 
Owen MacCarty, otherwise MacDonagh, 
Teugue, son of Dermod MacCarty, and 
brother to Cormac MacCarty, lord of Mus- 
kerry, MoilmoO'Maghon,(0'Mahony,) chief 
of the tribe of the O'Mahonys of Kinel- 
Meaky,and Dermod Moil MacCarty, brother 
to Florence MacCarty, already mentioned. 
The three first having repaired to the as- 
sizes, were immediately arrested and thrown 
into prison by orders of the president ; the 
fourth, Dermod Moil MacCarty, more cau- 

* Pacat. Hib. lib. 2, cap, 3, page 135. Eelat. 
Girald. cap 25. 

t Pacat. Hib. cap. 7. 



tious than the others, refused to enter the 
city ; his brother's fate was still present 
to his mind, and distrusting the English, he 
resolved to preserve his liberty, whatever 
might be the result. On hearing of the 
fate of his countrymen, he withdrew to his 
friends in Ulster. 

The deputy crossed the Blackwater in the 
beginning of August, and proceeded towards 
Dungannon ; but the badness of the road, 
and the frequent skirmishes he had to main- 
tain against the troops of O'Neill, forced 
him to direct his march towards Armagh. 
Danvers was ordered with three hundred 
men to burn a village that lay in their march, 
but was driven back by O'Neill's troops, 
and pursued to the English camp in spite of 
the succors that were sent to him. Some 
days after this, the Irish advanced with a 
design of attacking the enemy in their camp, 
but the deputy being apprized of it, placed 
four hundred men in ambush, who falling 
on them in flank killed several of them, and 
among the number, Peter Lacy, lord of 
Bruff, in the county of Limerick. This noble- 
man was descended from a noble family 
who had come over under Henry II., in the 
twelfth century, and settled in Ireland ; he 
was equally illustrious by his virtue as by 
his birth, and was, in the troubles of Ireland, 
one of the most zealous defenders of Catho- 
licity. His memory ought to be dear to the 
Irish church, and the loss it sustained from 
his death was most severe. After this expe- 
dition, the deputy placed his troops in gar- 
rison, and returned to Newry. 

During the stay of the deputy at Newry, 
Lord Plunket of Dunsany,who commanded a 
company in the queen's pay, set out from the 
fort of Liscannon, and proceeded to attack 
the estates of MacMahon, from which he was 
driving away sixteen hundred head of cattle, 
but MacMahon pursued him with a hundred 
and forty men, and obliged him to give up 
his booty, after a loss of about fifty men on 
each side.* Dockwra pushed his conquests 
into Ulster ;f retook the castle of Derry, 
and made himself master of Donegal. He 
maintained a siege for some days against 
O'Donnel, who, however, raised it to relieve 
Kinsale. Edward Digges, who commanded 
two companies at Asherow, took Ballyshan- 
non by surprise. The deputy came at the 
end of August to Trim, in the county of 
Meath, and brought the privy council from 
Dublin, to deliberate together on the general 

* The Count de Lacy in the service of the em- 
press queen, and so well known for his military 
exploits, is descended from this illustrious house. 

t Cambd. Elizab. part 4, page 826. 



538 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



state of affairs ; particularly in order to coun- 
teract the intentions of Captain Tirrell, who 
was planning an attack upon Munster. 

Such was the state of things about the end 
of August, 1601, between the Catholics of 
Ireland and the English. Munster had no 
longer any leaders after the imprisonment of 
Florence MacCarty and James FitzThomas, 
who were the centre of their union and were 
now banished. The people of Leinster were 
broken down ; Connaught was unable to 
attempt anything, and the only resources of 
the country lay in O'Neill and O'Donnel, 
whose forces were too few to stand against 
the English, and the unfaithful sons of Ire- 
land. In a word, the country was exhausted 
of men and means, from having sustained 
for many years the burden of a war while 
waiting for assistance that came too late, 
while sheherself was too weak to succeed. 
Reports were spread at this time, that a 
Spanish fleet, with troops for Ireland, was at 
sea ; which becoming known to the council 
of England,* reinforcements were imme- 
diately ordered for Ireland, and two thousand 
men were in consequence sent and landed, 
in September, at Cork and Waterford, while 
others were expected from England. The 
lord-deputy of Ireland and president of 
Munster, were not less alarmed than the 
council of England. On the 19th of Sep- 
tember they met together at Leighlin, to de- 
liberate on what measures they should adopt. 
From that they went to Kilkenny, and on 
the 23d they received an express from Sir 
Charles Wilmot at Cork, that the Spaniards 
had landed at Kinsale. Upon this news, 
Wingfield,the lord -marshal, was commanded 
to collect the troops in Leinster, and prepare 
ammunition and provisions for the army. Sir 

Henry Danvers and Sir Berkly, were 

sent to Navan and Armagh, to lead the gar- 
risons of these two places to Munster : and 
the deputy and president set out for Cork, 
which was the rendezvous. They arrived 
there on the 27th, and made the necessary 
preparations to besiege the Spaniards in 
Kinsale. 

Philip III., king of Spain, was eager to 
perform the promises that were held out to 
the princes O'Neill and 0'Donnel,t to re- 
lieve the oppressed Catholics of Ireland. 
For this object, he assembled what troops 
were necessary for the expedition, and gave 
the command of them to Dom Juan Del 
Aquila, a man well experienced in war. The 
fleet intended to convey the troops, was sent 
in the mean time to the islands of Terceira, 

* Pacat. Hib. cap. 10. 

t Hist. Cathol. vol. 3, book 6, cap. 7. 



for the protection of the galleons from 
America, which it was feared might be taken 
by an English fleet which had sailed for these 
islands also. This circumstance retarded 
the expedition to Ireland, and lessened both 
by desertion and sickness the anny of Dom 
Juan. The fleet which was commanded by 
Dom Diego de Brochero, having returned 
from Terceira, the rest of the army em- 
barked, and set sail for Ireland. As soon as 
the fleet had got into the open sea, it was 
dispersed and separated by a violent storm. 
One part of it, consisting of seven ships, 
laden principally with artillery and other 
warlike stores and provisions, was forced 
with the vice-admiral, Dom Pedro de Zu- 
biaur, to take shelter in the port of Corunna, 
in Gallicia. The other portion, with Dom 
Juan and two thousand five hundred infantry, 
(a small force for so great an enterprise,) 
arrived with difficulty in the harbor of 
Kinsale, on the 23d of September. As soon 
as the Spaniards had landed, Captain Wil- 
liam Saxeys, who commanded the English 
troops, withdrew to Cork. The inhabitants 
of Kinsale immediately after opened their 
gates to Dom Juan, who entered and took 
possession of the town. 

Kinsale is a seaport situated in the county 
of Cork, on the shores of the river Bandon. 
It is not a place of much strength ; the en- 
trance to the harbor is protected by two 
castles ; that upon the left is called Casian- 
ne-Park, and on the right the castle of Rin- 
charrain which signifies the point of a scythe, 
from its being built on the extremity of a 
tongue of land similar in form to that instru- 
ment. The Spanish general put a garrison 
into it with cannon taken from one of the 
ships, since the artillery intended for the in- 
vasion was on board that part of the fleet that 
had taken shelter at Corunna with Zubiaur. 

Dom Juan was not secure at. Kinsale, 
where he was, in fact, in need of everything : 
so he wrote to Spain by the fleet that was 
returning, and gave an account to the king, 
his master, of his voyage, and of the supplies 
he wanted. The Spanish general found 
none (except O'Sullevan) among the Catho- 
lics of Munster inclined to assist him. Some 
had been imprisoned, others gave hostages 
as a guarantee for their loyalty, and others 
opposed the cause of their country ; so that 
there was none but O'Sullevan, prince of 
Bearre and Bantry, who could make any 
attempt in favor of the Spaniards. This 
prince sent an express to Dom Juan, that he 
and his friends would furnish him with a 
thousand armed men, and that they would 
procure further aid if that general could 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



539 



supply them with arms ; with which force 
he would be able to prevent the English 
from besieging- Kinsale, while waiting for the 
aid from O'Neill and O'Donnel. The Span- 
iard answered prince O'Sullevan, that he 
could not supply them with arms, in conse- 
quence of his artillery being on board the 
vessels which Zubiaur had with him at 
Corunna, and that he was expecting to hear 
from the princes of Ulster. The general 
and Fra Matheo, titular archbishop of Dub- 
lin, who accompanied him from Spain, wrote 
to the princes of Ulster many letters after 
their arrival at Kinsale. The latter were 
eagerly solicited by the archbishop and the 
general, to march to their assistance with 
all expedition, and to bring horses, of which 
they were in extreme need. 

The deputy waited in Cork for the return 
of the officers who had been sent to Leihster, 
Connaught, and the garrisons in Ulster, to 
collect the government forces ; and at length 
Sir Benjamin Berry, Richard Wingfield, 
John Barkly, and Henry Danvers, arrived 
with their divisions. These troops amounted 
to about seven thousand six hundred men, 
comprising those of Munster. The English 
general marched with his army towards Kin- 
sale, having changed his camp two or three 
times. The third time he encamped on 
Spittle hill, where he intrenched himself, 
within a musket-shot of that place ; while 
at the same time, Button, the captain of a 
man-of-war, who had just escorted a vessel 
from Dublin laden with provisions, received 
orders to prevent any succors by sea from 
entering Kinsale. 

Every thing being prepared, the English 
laid siege to Rinncharrain and Caslan-ne- 
Park successively; the former of which 
castles surrendered on the 1st, and the other 
on the 20th of November. The months of 
October and November were spent in skir- 
mishing, the Spaniards making frequent sal- 
lies, and the English driving them back ; the 
latter, if we can credit their historians, being 
always successful. The account, however, of 
a cotemporary writer is different.* According 
to him, the Spaniards fought valiantly during 
the day, in defending their walls, and by 
night they sallied forth, killing the sentinels 
and advanced guards of the English, and 
carrying off their cannon ; by which means, 
continues he, the loss of the English always 
exceeded that of the Spaniards. Even could 
we suppose that the English had the advan- 
tage, the great disproportion in numbers be- 
tween the besieged and besiegers would tend 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. 



to lessen their boasted advantages consid- 
erably. There were but two thousand five 
hundred Spaniards in Kinsale, but we will 
admit even that there were four thousand ; 
the principal strength of the place was from 
a wall with towers at certain distances ; they 
had but three pieces of cannon, one which 
had been brought from one of their own 
vessels, and two were already in the town. 
The English appeared before Kinsale with 
seven thousand six hundred men ; their army 
was increased soon after to eight thousand, 
a reinforcement having been brought from 
England by the loyal earl of Thuomond.* 
The English artillery was numerous, and 
skilfully worked ; their camp abounded with 
provisions ; Captain Button guarded the 
mouth of the harbor till the arrival of an 
English squadron of ten vessels under Ad- 
miral Richard Levison and Sir Amias Pres- 
ton, vice-admiral, who were incessantly 
pouring broadsides on the town, while the 
army attacked it by land ; and still the siege 
of Kinsale lasted from the 17th October, to 
the 9th of January following. 

Vice-Admiral Dom Pedro Zubiaur, who 
was forced by a storm to touch with his seven 
ships at Corunna, in Gallicia, arrived on the 
coast of Ireland, December 3d. This officer 
entered a harbor called Cuan-an-caislan, in 
English Castle Haven, in Carbry, about 
twenty miles from Kinsale, where they were 
kindly received by five brothers of the 
O'Driscols, to whom the country belonged, 
and who gave him up one of their castles.f 

The news of the Spaniards having arrived 
at Castle Haven being spread, the deputy 
commanded Admiral Levison to engage them. 
Without losing a moment he sailed with six 
ships and some troops on board ; having 
reached Castle Haven he found the Spanish 
vessels unguarded by their crews, who were 
sleeping, and fatigued after a long voyage. 
The Spaniards being roused by the cannon 
of the English, which began to play upon 
their ships and upon the castle, returned, 
though in a confused manner, the fire with 
their artillery, and supported an engagement 
during two days, in which the English lost 
five hundred and seventy-five men. 

The English admiral not succeeding to his 
wishes in his attack upon their vessels, was 
about to land his troops and attack the Span- 
iards who were on shore ; but from this he 
was deterred by seeing them reinforced by 
the prince of Bearre with five hundred men, 
all ready to oppose him. He immediately 
sailed from Castle Haven, for Kinsale, where 

* Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. 

t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. c. 8. 



540 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



he vainly boasted of having been successful 
in his expedition. 

Many of the surrounding nobility took up 
arms to join the Spaniards ; the principal 
among whom were Finin O'Driscol and 
several others of the same name : the Mac- 
Cartys of Carbry ; Domnal O'Sullevan 
Bearre ; the eldest son of O'Sullevan More ; 
Domnal Mac-Carty, son of the earl of Glan- 
car, and other branches of the Mac-Cartys 
of Desmond ; the O'Donavans and O'Ma- 
honys of Carbry ; John O'Connor Kierry ; 
the knight of Kerry, and others. 

The number of Spanish troops that landed 
at Castle Haven did not exceed seven hun- 
dred men, but a hope of further aid sustained 
the Catholics and made them anticipate the 
moments of their freedom. To convince the 
Spaniards of their sincerity, the Irish de- 
livered up to them the strong places along the 
coast for garrisons. Donagh O'Driscol had 
already given them his castle of Castle 
Haven ; Finin O'Driscol gave them the castle 
of Donneshed at Baltimore, and that of 
Donnelong on the island of Innisherkan, 
which commanded the entrance to the har- 
bor. Domnal O'Sullevan surrendered them 
the strong castle of Duin Buith, otherwise 
Dunboy, which protected the harbor of 
Beerhaven. Among these castles were dis- 
tributed, by orders of Dom Juan Del Aquila, 
the artillery and the seven hundred Spaniards 
who had landed at. Castle Haven. 

Duringthe expedition of Levison at Castle 
Haven, a Scotch vessel entered the harbor 
of Kinsale ; this ship was separated at sea 
from the Spanish fleet, and had eighty 
Spanish soldiers on board. The commander, 
who was a Scotchman, informed Vice-Ad- 
miral Preston and treacherously surrendered 
to him his cargo. 

The princes of Ulster did not forget their 
promises to Dom Juan Del Aquila. They 
used every exertion to march to the relief of 
Kinsale. The distance was about eighty 
leagues, and the roads very bad from the 
continued rains. O'Donnel marched first 
with his army, amounting to two thousand 
six hundred infantryand four hundred cavalry- 
The leaders of this force were* O'Rourke, 
Mac-Sweeny Tueth, O'Dogharty, O'Boyle, 
Mac-Dermot,the two Mac-Donaghs,0'Kelly, 
the two sons of O'Connor Roe, Domnal, 
brother of O'Connor Sligoe, Raymond Burke, 
baron, and his brother\Villiam,the two broth- 
ers of O'Donnel, the two O'Flahertys, Hugh 
Moystian, Fitz-Maurice, lord of Lixnaw, 
John Fitz-Thomas, brother to the pre- 

* Hist. Cathol. cap. 9. 



tended earl of Desmond, Fitz-Gerald, knight 
of the Glynn, Dermod Moyle Mac-Carty, 
brother of Laurence, who was sent prisoner 
to the tower, and several others. 

The news of O'Donnel's march alarmed 
the English. The lord-deputy summoned a 
council to deliberate on measures for inter- 
cepting this prince's communication with 
Munster: and the president Carew was ap- 
pointed to this trust. He set out accordingly 
with four thousand five hundred infantry and 
five hundred cavalry, and advanced towards 
Ormond, where O'Donnel was to pass. After 
a march of a few days he stopped at Ardmail, 
to the north of Cashel. O'Donnel had already 
entered the county of Tipperary, through 
Ikerin, the country of the O'Meaghers, and 
encamped at Holy-Cross, not far from Ard- 
mail, where the president was stationed. The 
prince of Tirconnel wished to avoid fighting, 
and to deceive the enemy, he lighted a num- 
ber of fires in the camp, and began his march 
before day. He took his route through 
Slieve Phelim, along the side of the Shannon, 
and got into the county of Limerick through 
the defiles of the abbey of Ovvney, and from 
thence to the districts of the O'Moel Ryans, 
and reached the castle of Crome, which was 
twelve miles farther on, so that, on a calcu- 
lation, he marched in one day thirty-two 
miles, a very arduous exploit for an army 
followed by their baggage. The president 
being informed of O'Donnel's movement, 
marched with his forces the same* day, and 
crossed the country as far as the abbey of 
Owney, for the purpose of intercepting him, 
but understanding that he had passed the 
defiles of Connillo, he gave up the pursuit 
and returned to the camp at Kinsale, taking 
a shorter route, in order to be before O'Don- 
nel, to prevent any communication between 
whom and the Spanish garrison he likewise 
drew to the camp the earls of Clanriccard 
andThuomond,who were sent by the deputy, 
one with his regiment, the other with a troop 
of horse, to his assistance. 

Prince O'Neill set out from Tyrone, in 
the month of November, at the head of about 
three thousand men, to assist the Spaniards. 
The nobles who accompanied him were 
Mac-Mahon of Monaghan ; Coconaght Ma- 
guire of Fermanagh, whose eldest brother 
had been killed some time before in the 
county of Cork, in a skirmish with St. Leger ; 
Raynald Mac-Donnel, prince of Gline, Cap- 
tain Richard Tirrell, Magennis of Iveagh, 
and some others. O'Neill, on his march 
through the county of Meath, met some op- 
position from the Anglo-Irish ; Darcy, the 
lord of Plattin, being killed in the skirmish. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



541 



He continued his march, however, and on 
the 8th of December he arrived in the 
county of Cork, within a few leagues of the 
English camp. O'Donnel was expecting 
him in the district of Kinel Meaky, and these 
two princes encamped together on the 21st, 
between Cork and Kinsale, within a league 
of the English army. 

The united forces of O'Neill and O'Don- 
nel amounted to six thousand Irish, besides 
three hundred Spaniards, who had come 
from Castle Haven, under the command of 
O'Sullevan of Bearre and Dom Alphonso de 
la Campo. Their object was not to attack 
the English army, who were fifteen or six- 
teen thousand strong, a disproportion in 
numbers far too great ; they only proposed 
to themselves to throw in succor to the 
Spaniards, and enable them to hold out till 
the inclemency of the season must of course 
force the English to raise the siege, whereby 
the Spanish general would have the oppor- 
tunity to await further reinforcements from 
Spain. This was the subject of several let- 
ters from Dom Juan to the princes O'Neill 
and O'Donnel. They were advised by him 
to draw near the English camp, the Spanish 
general proposing to make a sortie on a day 
appointed, and by this means facilitate the 
above plan. Some of the letters, however, 
being intercepted by the English, the deputy 
ordered the guards to be doubled, and every 
thing to be put into a more secure state of 
defence. 

O'Neill, according to the plans fixed upon, 
made a movement on the night of the 23d 
of December. On approaching the part 
occupied by the English, he heard a noise 
of arms and warlike instruments, as if a battle 
were going on ; and proceeding immediately 
to the place that had been named by Dom 
Juan for making his sally against the Eng- 
lish, he found to his surprise that the enemy 
had returned into camp. At break of day he 
advanced a little to view their position more 
closely, but discovered that all was quiet, 
and no attack made by the garrison. Judg- 
ing from this that what he heard was for the 
purpose of inducing him to an assault, he or- 
dered his men to return, postponing his plans 
to another day. O'Donnel was engaged at 
the same time with a body of English horse 
that had crossed the river ; he forced them 
to retreat, but intending to surround them, 
he left the pass unguarded, and the English 
pretending to give way, returned quickly to 
charge his infantry, which threw them into 
a sudden panic ; so that their ranks being 
broken and beginning to fly, their leader 
found it impossible to rally them. The 



English horse pursued those that were fly- 
ing ; but an apprehension of falling into an 
ambuscade, prevented them from continuing 
the pursuit. They, however, boasted having 
gained a complete victory over the rebels ; 
but the only advantage that they obtained 
was that they prevented the Irish from join- 
ing with the Spanish garrison, which, in- 
deed, arose not from English valor, but a 
want of order among the Irish troops. 

O'Neill lost in the expedition about two 
hundred men. According to the English 
historians his loss amounted to twelve hun- 
dred in killed, eight hundred wounded, and 
a number of prisoners, among whom was 
Alfonso del Campo, who commanded the 
Spaniards. The prince of Tyrone having 
failed in his plans, and seeing the season too 
advanced to continue the campaign, returned 
to his own province to await a more favora- 
ble opportunity. Roderick, to whom his bro- 
ther O'Donnel gave the command of his army, 
marched for Tirconnel. He was attacked 
in West Meath by the English of Ballimore 
Loch-Sindil, who thought to prevent him 
passing ; but this militia of citizens was cut 
to pieces, and two hundred of them slain by 
O'Donnel's cavalry. O'Rourke being in- 
formed that his brother Thadeus intended, 
in his absence, to make himself master of 
Brefny, hastened to support his right against 
the usurper. Other chiefs of the Irish forces 
following the example, the Catholic army 
in Munster was reduced to a small body of 
Munstermen and Spaniards, commanded by 
O'Sullevan prince of Bearre, who kept with 
him Captain Richard Tirrell, William Burke, 
and a few other officers. 

The English having nothing more to fear 
from the Catholic army, returned to their 
camp before Kinsale, and made great re- 
joicings for their victory. The noise of their 
firing induced Dom Juan to march a part of 
the garrison to assist (as he thought) the 
reinforcement he was expecting, and which 
he imagined was engaged with the English. 
Seeing his error, however, he marched back 
into the town. It is worthy of remark, that 
the Spanish commander of Kinsale, whether 
from his having a knowledge of an action 
being fought near the town, or not, did not 
lead out his troops as had been previously 
agreed upon between him and O'Neill. The 
author of the " Pacata Hibernia"* mentions, 
on the authority of the earl of Thuomond, a 
singular prophecy respecting the battle of 
Kinsale. " There is no one less credulous 
than I am in this sort of prediction, which 

* Book 2, cap. 21, p. 235. 



542 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



is generally forged after tilings alluded to 
occur ; but as this has been verified by the 
event, I think the mention of it may be ad- 
mitted. I have frequently heard the earl of 
Thuomond say to the lord-deputy and others, 
that he read, in an old Irish book, a prophecy 
which marked the day and place, near Kin- 
sale, where a battle would be fought between 
the English and Irish, in which the former 
would be victorious." If this prophecy were 
not forged by the earl of Thuomond, it proved 
at least to be in accordance with his desires, 
and he cannot be reproached with any en- 
deavor to counteract its fulfilment. 

While the English were vigorously push- 
ing forward the siege of Kinsale, Hugh 
O'Donnel, after giving the command of his 
troops to his brother Roderick, embarked for 
Spain with Redmond Burke, Hugh Mostian, 
and others. Dom Juan not finding himself 
equal to hold out any longer, sent, on the 
last day of December, a letter, by his drum- 
major, offering to capitulate, which proposal 
was accepted by the English general, who 
immediately dispatched Sir William Godol- 
phin to treat with the Spanish commander 
upon the articles of surrender ; the principal 
of which were, that Dom Juan should give 
up to the deputy every place which he was 
in possession of in the province of Munster, 
viz., Kinsale, Castle Haven, Baltimore, 
Bearehaven, and Dunboy, and that the dep- 
uty should furnish transport vessels to convey 
Dom Juan to Spain, together with his forces, 
arms, ammunition, artillery, money, &c, and 
with colors flying. This capitulation was 
signed on one part by Dom Juan, and on the 
other by the deputy, the president of Mun- 
ster, the earls of Thuomond and Clanriccard, 
Richard Wingfield, Robert Gardiner, George 
Bourchier, and Richard Levison. 

The surrender of Kinsale had different 
effects on the Irish Catholics and the Eng- 
lish. The latter were disgusted with the 
siege ; independently of the inclemency of 
the season, it being the month of January, 
they had provisions for only six days ; their 
treasury was exhausted, their warlike stores 
worn out, and their artillery not fit for effect- 
ing a breach.* Nearly half of the English 
army — which, in the beginning of the siege, 
amounted to sixteen thousand men — had 
fallen, either by the sword of the enemy, or 
disease. The English fleet in the bay had 
suffered as much as the army on land. The 
deputy, therefore, having consulted with his 
council, considered the capitulation proposed 
by the Spanish general as the only means 

* Pacat. Hib. ibid. cap. 23, p. 244. Hist. Cathol. 
ibid. 



of saving the remainder of his army, and 
avoiding the disgrace of raising a siege 
which had been already so fatal to him. 

On the other hand, the possession of Kin- 
sale was of the first importance to the Cath- 
olic cause in Ireland ; the garrison under 
Dom Juan amounted to two thousand five 
hundred men, well provided with ammunition 
and provisions, and supported by the garri- 
sons of Baltimore, Castle Haven, and Bear- 
haven ; so that from the state of the English, 
he might have held out till the arrival of suc- 
cors from Spain, which would also have given 
time to O'Neill and the other Irish princes to 
assemble in the spring. The surrender, there- 
fore, of Kinsale and its dependencies, by 
shutting out all foreign aid, would necessa- 
rily injure the cause they wished to defend. 
O'Sullevan Bearre, apprehensive of these 
consequences, took possession of the castle 
of Dunboy, which belonged to him, but which 
he had given up as a garrison for the Span- 
iards on their arrival in the country. Being 
determined, therefore, that this fortress should 
not be surrendered to the enemy, he got 
Thomas Fitzmaurice,lord of Lixnaw, Dom- 
nal Mac-Carty, Captain Richard Tirrell, and 
William Burke, with some troops, into the 
castle by night, and took possession of the 
gates, without committing any hostility to- 
wards the Spaniards. He immediately dis- 
patched Dermod O'Driscol to the king of 
Spain, entreating of his majesty to be con- 
vinced that his motives were honorable in 
the taking of Dunboy ; and complained vehe- 
mently in his letter of the capitulation which 
Dom Juan had entered into with the English, 
calling it wretched, execrable, and inhuman. 

O'Donnel, who had sailed for Spain after 
the battle of Kinsale, was received on his 
arrival at Corunna, in Gallicia, with -every 
mark of distinction, by the Count de Caracena, 
governor of the province, who brought him 
to his palace, and gave him precedence at all 
his assemblies, an honor he would not con- 
cede in his governorship, to any duke or peer 
of the realm.* The king of Spain, when in- 
formed of O'Donnel's arrival, wrote instruc- 
tions to the Count de Caracena, respecting 
the reception he was to receive ; and alluded, 
in the same letter, to the affairs of Ireland, 
affirming that he would support the Catholics 
of that country at the risk even of his crown. 
O'Donnel having recovered from his fatigues, 
took leave of his host, who presented him 
with a thousand ducats ; he then continued 
his route for Compostella, where he was 
honorably received by the archbishop and 

* Pac. Hib. ibid. cap. 28, p. 268, et seq. Paeat. 
Hib. ibid. c. 27, p. 266. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



543 



citizens ; on the 29th of January, the prelate 
offered up a solemn high mass, at which the 
prince of Tirconnel was present, and received 
the holy communion, after which the prelate 
entertained him at a magnificent banquet, and 
gave him a thousand ducats to continue his 
journey. O'Donnel having arrived at court 
was received by the king and all his cour- 
tiers ; his majesty gave the necessary orders 
for an expedition to Ireland, and the troops 
intended for it began to march towards Co 
runna. 

Dom Juan de Aquila,the Spanish general, 
was still in Ireland ;* he sailed, however, 
with the remainder of his forces from Kin 
sale for Spain, on the 16th of March, with a 
fair wind. On arriving at Corunna, being 
suspected of having acted dishonorably in 
Ireland, he was arrested by order of the king, 
and confined to his ownhouse, where he soon 
afterwards died of grief. The suspicions 
formed against Dom Juan were founded on 
the facility with which he surrendered to the 
English Kinsale, and the other towns in 
which the Spaniards were : also on the friend- 
liness of a correspondence which he kept up 
with the deputy and Carew, and the reci- 
procal presents that were made between 
them, and finally, upon his having furnished 
passports to the English, who went from 
Ireland to Spain under pretence of trading, 
but who, in reality, were spies that brought 
home an account of all that was passing in 
Spain, relative to the affairs of Ireland : on 
proof of which an English officer, called 
Walter Edney, was arrested at Corunna. 
He had freighted a vessel at Cork, for Spain, 
and was provided with a letter of introduc- 
tion and presents from the deputy to Dom 
Juan ; but the latter having already fallen 
into disgrace, the deputy's plan was defeated ; 
the Count de Caracena profited by the pre- 
sents that were sent, and his letters, pass- 
ports, and papers were . forwarded to the 
Spanish court. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

Pope Clement VIII. wrote a letter at this 
time to Hugh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, 
complimentinghim on the confederacy which 
he had established among the Irish princes, 
for the defence of the Catholic religion 
against the reformers. 

The lord-deputy having ended his cam- 
paign in Munster, set out for Dublin, having 

* Pacat. Hib. ibid. c. 30. p. 278. 



appointed Sir Richard Percy counsellor for 
that province. He left Cork on the 9th of 
March, accompanied by the president Carew, 
slept at Clone with John FitzEdmonds, on 
whom he conferred the order of knighthood ; 
and then proceeded to Waterford, where he 
created Edward Gough and Richard Ayl- 
ward knights ; both of whom were noble, 
and old inhabitants of that city. The deputy 
arrived at Kilkenny on the 24th of March, 
(which at that time was the last day of the 
year,) slept at the earl of Ormond's, and 
arranged matters of government with the 
president. He fell sick here, and had him- 
self carried to Dublin in a litter, in which 
city he arrived on the 28th of the same 
month. 

The English troops in Ireland, a. d. 1602, 
amounted, notwithstanding their losses in 
the late campaign, to sixteen thousand nine 
hundred and fifty infantry, and a thousand 
four hundred and eighty-seven cavalry. The 
deputy, after having reviewed them, put them 
into convenient garrisons till the next cam- 
paign. 

In the beginning of June the deputy as- 
sembled his forces and marched into Ulster, 
where he got a bridge built over the Black- 
water, with a fort which he called Charle- 
mont, after his own name, and in which he 
placed Captain Caulfield with a garrison of 
a hundred and fifty men. He sent the regi- 
ment of Sir Richard Morison to make them- 
selves masters of Dungannon,but the inhab- 
itants of the place, on the approach of the 
English, set fire to it and reduced it to ashes, 
together with the beautiful castle of Tyrone. 
The deputy repaired thither with the re- 
mainder of his army, where he was joined 
by Dockwra. 

The prince of Tyrone withdrew to Castle 
Roe, on the river Bann. The English laid 
the whole country waste as far as Innis- 
killen ; they made themselves masters of 
Magherlowny isle, where O'Neill had a 
magazine, and took another island, in which 
they found three pieces of English cannon. 
Dockwra, who commanded a garrison at 
Ony, received orders to harass O'Neill in 
Dungeven in Araghty Cahan ; while Chi- 
chester, who led the troops from the garrison 
of Carrickfergus, brought the regiment of 
Morrison to occupy Toome, and the deputy 
himself guarded the road to Killetro ; but in 
spite of these plans, and the great superiority 
of the enemy, O'Neill, with six hundred foot 
and sixty horse, marched from Castle Roe, 
and reached Lough Earne unmolested. Being 
incapable of resisting the enemy openly, he 
remained on the defensive ; for which pur- 



544 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



pose he chose an inaccessible spot, called 
Gleannchonkein, near Lough Earne, where 
he intrenched himself in a manner that left 
him nothing to fear. The deputy hearing 
of this, contented himself with ravaging the 
surrounding country, and with breaking, at 
Talloghoge, the stone which was used as the 
inauguration seat of O'Neill.* 

The lord-deputy, satisfied with his exploits 
in the north, repaired to Newry on the 11th 
September, whence he set out for Dublin, 
leaving Ulster to the care of Dockwra, Dan- 
vers, and Chichester.t In November he 
undertook an expedition to Connaught, to 
quell the disturbances that agitated that 
province. Sir Oliver Lambert had already 
expelled the Burkes, with Mac William, their 
chief, from the county of Mayo.J The dep- 
uty now granted protection to O'Connor 
Sligoe, Rory O'Donnel, the O'Flahertys, 
MacDermots, O'Connor Roe, and others. 
The only chieftains that remained steadfastly 
attached to the cause of Tyrone, were 
O'Rourke, Maguire, and Captain Tirrell. 
The deputy had the fort of Galway com- 
pleted, and gave orders to send three differ- 
ent bodies of troops in pursuit of O'Rourke ; 
he then returned to Dublin, whence he dis- 
patched succor to Chichester, to enable 
him to oppose Brian MacArt, who had en- 
tered Killulta at the head of five hundred 
men. Chichester executed his commission 
with such cruelty, that a famine was the con- 
sequence. Cox says, " children were seen 
to feed upon the flesh and entrails of their 
mothers, who died of hunger," and add: 
that " the famine in Jerusalem was not more 
severe than what the rebels suffered on this 
occasion. "§ 

Notwithstanding that Dom Juan Del 
Aquila surrendered to the English the towns 
which he held in Munster, the inhabitants 
did not give up their arms, holding still the 
hope of receiving new succors from Spain 
Those English authors who never let pass 
any opportunity of inspiring their readers 
with contempt for a people that wish to 
escape from their tyranny, have filled their 
, writings with such injurious and insulting 
statements as should destroy, in the mind of 
the discerning and impartial reader, all re 
spect for them. || Their language on this 
occasion is as follows: "the rebels spread 
themselves everywhere, particularly through 
the districts of Carbry, Bearre, Desmond, 

* Hist. Cathoi. ibid. cap. 12 

X Ware, ibid. cap. 45. 

X Cox, ibid, page 448. 

§ Cox, page 449. 

|| Pacat. Hib. book 3, cap. 1. 



and Kerry. No place escapes them ; they 
have become desperate from their crimes ; 
they look upon themselves as children of 
perdition, and unworthy of her majesty's 
pardon." These are phrases in accordance 
with the imperious character of the English, 
who imagine that the world should obey 
them. The Irish whom they thus describe 
as rebels and children of perdition, did not 
seek the clemency of Elizabeth ; they, on 
the contrary, took up arms to defend their 
country against her tyranny and usurpation. 

Daniel O'Sullevan, prince of Bearre, be- 
came chief of the Catholic league in Mun- 
ster after the surrender of Kinsale and the 
retreat of the princes of Ulster. This prince, 
illustrious for his virtue and his birth, was 
in possession of Dunboy, and omitted noth- 
ing to put that fortress into a state of de- 
fence. The nobles who espoused with him 
the common cause, were Daniel MacCarty, 
son of the earl of Clancar ; Daniel, son of 
O'Sullevan More ; Cornelius and Dermod 
O'Driscol ; Dermod O'Sullevan ; Dermod, 
Donagh, and Florence MacCarty, of the 
family of MacCarty Riagh ; MacSweeny ; 
Donagh O'Driscol, and his brothers. The 
prince of Bearre was also joined by O'Con- 
nor Kerry, MacMaurice, baron of Lixnaw, 
the knight of Kerry, the knight of Glynn, 
John Fitzgerald, brother of the earl, James 
Butler, brother to the baron of Cahir, Wil- 
liam Burke, Captains Richard MacGeoghe- 
gan and Richard Tirrell. The former was 
appointed to command the fortress of Dun- 
boy, the latter to lead the army of observa- 
tion. 

This confederacy caused great alarm to 
the English ; the president Carew ordered 
her majesty's troops to assemble at Cork ; 
and the old and modern Irish who were loyal 
to the court party, were also commanded to 
meet. The principal among these were 
O'Brien, earl of Thuomond ; MacCarty 
Riagh, prince of Carbry; MacCarty of Mus- 
kerry ; Barry, Viscount Buttevant ; O'Do- 
novan ; Fitzgibbon, called the White Knight ; 
Owen O'Sullevan, the cousin, but inveterate 
enemy of O'Sullevan, prince of Bearre ; 
Dermod, brother of O'Sullevan More ; and 
Donagh and Florence MacCarty, who de- 
serted O'Sullevan Bearre. These auxiliaries 
and the English troops amounted to more 
than four thousand men. In March a de- 
tachment of two thousand five hundred infan- 
try and fifty cavalry, was sent under the 
command of the earl of Thuomond, who was 
commanded by the deputy to scour the 
countries of Carbry, Bearre, and Bantry ; to 
burn all the corn, to take away the cattle, 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



545 



and commit every species of hostility upon 
the rebellious inhabitants, but to spare those 
who surrendered, among whom were O'Dris- 
col, O'Donovan, and the sons of Sir Owen 
MacCarty. The earl likewise had orders to 
attack the castle of Dunboy ; to reinforce 
the corps of Captains Flower and Harvy, 
and to pursue O'Sullevan Bearre, Tirrell, 
Dermod Moyle MacCarty, and the O'Crow- 
lies. Thuomond being unable to act against 
Dunboy, in consequence of Captain Tirrell's 
light troops having possession of the moun- 
tains of Bearre, took post temporarily with 
Captain Flower, in an island called Fuidi or 
Whiddy, in the bay of Bantry. He left with 
him his own company, and those of Sir John 
Dowdal,Lord Barry, and Captains Kingsmill, 
Bostock, and Bradbury, making in the whole 
seven hundred men ; after which he returned 
to Cork, to giva the president an account of 
his expedition. After Thuomond's departure, 
Captain Flower intrenched himself in 
Whiddy Island, but fearing an attack from 
O'Sullevan, who cut off the communication, 
the English captain withdrew from it, after 
guarding it for two months. In his retreat 
he was pursued by O'Sullevan, who killed 
several of his men. 

The lord-president determined to besiege 
Dunboy, and set out the 23d of April from 
Cork, with more than 5000 men, besides the 
body of troops that was under Wilmot, in 
the county of Kerry. He arrived on the last 
day of the month, near Bantry, and encamped 
for a while on the plain of Gurtin-Rua, both 
to keep the enemy in check, and to await the 
arrival of eighteen ships of war and some 
transport vessels that were expected from 
Cork and England, and were to meet in 
Bantry bay. These were destined to carry 
troops and artillery to the island of Bearre, 
where Dunboy .was situated, and which the 
English general intended to besiege . Richard 
MacGeoghegan, descended from the ancient 
and noble house of Moycashel,was appointed 
by the prince of Bearre to the command of 
this castle ; he had under him but one hun- 
dred and twenty infantry. The English 
assert that the-garrison consisted of one hun- 
dred and forty chosen men. By their valiant 
defence of Dunboy, they have well merited 
the name and character of heroes. 

In the mean time Wilmot was successful 
in Kerry ; after Kinsale had surrendered, he 
was sent with seventeen hundred infantry 
and a troop of horse, into that part of the 
country, and surprised, between Askeaton 
and Glynn, Hugh MacSweeny with two 
hundred men, of whom he killed twelve, and 
put the rest to flight. He advanced towards 



Carrygfoyle, which he found deserted, and 
took possession, giving the command of it to 
Captain Collum. Wilmot afterwards crossed 
the river Cashin, in spite of John, son of 
Thomas Fitzgerald, the young Captain Tir- 
rell, Hugh MacSweeny, Owen O'Maily, 
Rory and Phelim O'Connor, and Gerald 
Fitzmaurice, brother of the baron. They 
assembled at Lixnaw with five hundred in- 
fantry and some horse, to dispute his pas- 
sage. The English captain laid siege to the 
castle of Lixnaw, which was garrisoned by 
forty-five men, who were determined to de- 
fend it, but want of water obliged them to 
capitulate. The forts of Ballyhow, castle 
Gregory, and Rahane, which belonged to the 
knight of Kerry, surrendered to Wilmot ; 
after which he marched into Desmond, as far 
as the castle of Listre, where he encamped, 
being unable to proceed fr<S»M|he badness' 
of the roads. Wilmot receWBl an order 
here, to arrange his affairs in Kerry, and 
march to join the president on a certain 
day. 

The fleet which was expected from Cork, 
arrived on the.llth of May,* in the bay of 
Bantry, freightsflk with all kinds of ammu- 
nition and proviiiQns*.. This event caused 
universal joy to flae" 1 English, who were be- 
ginning to be in n&ed of everything. Wil- 
mot's corps joinea7the grand army on the 
same day. On the 14th, the president as- 
sembled his principal officers, to concert 
measures for leading the army to Beerha- 
ven ;t when it was unanimously determined 
to carry the troops first to the great island 
in the bay, and from thence to Bearre. 

In consequence of this decision of the 
council, they struck their tents on the 31st 
May, and after putting their sick, who were 
numerous, into hospital, the army marched 
to Kilnamenoghe upon the sea-shore, in the 
district of Muintirvarry, where they en- 
camped. On the 1st of June, the earl of 
Thuomond and General Wilmot embarked 
with their regiments for the great island ; on 
the 2d, the regiment of Piercy embarked, 
which was followed by the president and the 
rest of the army ; after which the artillery 
was sent. The president proceeded with 
caution, and before he began the siege of 
Dunboy, resolved to secure the places in his 
rear. The Catholics had left some soldiers 
in the castle of Dunmanus, whom it was 
deemed prudent for this purpose to dislodge. 
Owen O'Sullevan was appointed by the 
English general to effect the dislodgment, 

* Pacat. Hib. cap. 4. 
t Pacat. Hib. cap. 5. 



546 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



and the two brothers, traitors to their coun- 
try, marched with a detachment to Dun- 
manus, surprised the castle, and after killing 
four of the garrison, and making themselves 
masters of it, gave it up to plunder. 

Richard MacGeoghegan, commander of 
the castle of Dunboy, is represented by an 
English writer as having had an interview 
on the great island where the English troops 
were then posted, with the earl of Thuomond . 
After speaking on the subject in a mysterious 
manner, he has this passage, " But of this I 
am sure, that the earl's meeting with him 
was not without the president's knowledge 
and allowance ; all the eloquence and arti- 
fice which the earl could use, however, 
availed nothing, for MacGeoghegan was re- 
solved to persevere in his conduct." 

It appears that the president was in the 
habit of r^taffing to dishonorable means 
for seducir^roose whom he had to fear most 
among his enemies. He met among the 
Irish themselves agents obsequious to his 
wishes. He had already sent, through Owen 
O'Sullevan, a pressing letter to the can- 
noniers of Dunboy. These were three in 
number, two Spaniards andin Italian, whom 
O'Sullevan Bearre, when Ire became master 
of the castle, took into his.pay. The deputy 
proposed to reward them liberally if they 
would spike the cannon and break the car- 
riages when the siege would have com- 
menced ; but they proved themselves honor- 
able to their trust, and incapable of being- 
influenced by his bribes. 

The president having failed in the over- 
tures made to the governor of Dunboy, sent 
his troops from the great to the lesser island, 
which was within about a hundred paces of 
Bearre, a position that afforded him the 
opportunity of viewing more closely the 
movements of the enemy. The Catholics 
were too few to be able to guard the entire 
coast ; they therefore confined themselves 
to one point, and intrenched themselves 
where they thought the landing would be 
attempted. To deceive them as to the place 
where this would be tried, the president en- 
camped on the opposite side to them, with 
his own regiment and that of the earl of 
Thuomond. At the same time the regiments 
of Percy and Wilmot were sent to the ex- 
treme end of the island, and landed between 
two rocks near Castledermot ; having done 
which, they formed themselves in order of 
battle. The Catholics having discovered 
their error, immediately left their intrench- 
ment, and proceeded to where the landing 
was effected ; but being retarded by the 
winding of the coast, the English had time 



to pass over their artillery. The Catholics 
charged the enemy with great bravery ; the 
battle lasted for some time, but being over- 
powered with numbers, and galled by the 
enemy's cannon, they lost twenty-eight of 
their men killed, while Captain Tirrell and 
a few more were wounded. The English 
rested upon their arms that night in the field 
of battle. 

A vessel was sent in the mean time by the 
court of Spain, to Kilmokillock, near Ardea, 
to discover if the castle of Dunboy still held 
out for his Catholic majesty. There were 
some passengers on board ; among whom 
was a friar named James Nelanus, and Owen 
MacEggan, who was appointed by the pope, 
bishop of Ross and apostolical vicar of Ire- 
land. This friar brought with him twelve 
thousand pounds sterling, to be distributed 
among the chiefs of the confederacy, and 
some warlike stores. He was sent by the 
Spanish court to assure the Catholics that 
the reinforcements intended for Ireland would 
be speedilyforwarded, and that two thousand 
troops had already assembled at Corunna 
for that purpose. The confederates, trusting 
to the promises given them, formed the reso- 
lution of supporting the siege of Dunboy 
against the English, and forwarded dis- 
patches to the king of Spain, to assure 
his majesty of their determination. Brien 
O'Kelly, and Donogh, son of Mahon O'Brien, 
sailed on the 15th of June, 1603, for Spain, 
with these dispatches of the confederates. 
After this O'Sullevan Bearre sent part of the 
ammunition that had come from Spain, to 
strengthen the garrison of Dunboy. 

Owen MacEggan, the apostolical vicar, 
at this time wrote a letter to Richard Mac- 
Geoghegan, commander of the castle of 
Dunboy, couched in the following words : — 
" The high character which you sustain gives 
me delight, and I have great confidence, with 
the assistance of the Lord, in the just cause 
which you defend. I would be particularly 
anxious to confer with you and your com- 
panions, and inform you of the state of things 
in Spain. Be assured, that nothing in this 
world is more acceptable to the king than 
your proceedings ; you know how pleasing 
they are to God, and how important to our 
country. You will have, in a few days, fresh 
succors from Spain — the grand army, con- 
sisting of fourteen thousand men, is ready to 
march. You all will be well rewarded by 
his Catholic majesty, while waiting the re- 
ward which God prepares for you in heaven. 
I came from Rome to the court of Spain 
with a father of the society, who has been 
appointed the pope's nuncio ; and who will 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



547 



arrive in that quality with the Spanish 
army." 

The deputy knew how important it would 
be to reduce the castle of Dunboy. It was 
the only place of moment which the Catho- 
lics of Munster still retained : it served them 
as an arsenal and a depot, and secured the 
means of holding a communication with 
Spain.* He marched, therefore, to within a 
mile of Dunboy, where his army encamped. 
Accompanied by Wilmot and a corps of in- 
fantry, he proceeded to reconnoitre the castle, 
and to seek a platform on which to erect a 
battery ; but the musketry of the castle forced 
him and his attendants to return to their 
camp. 

The English general, anxious to shelter 
his troops, and to make the artillery advance 
against the castle, caused a trench to be 
opened. The work was frequently interrupt- 
ed by the besieged, who continually sallied 
out and kept up a constant fire from the castle. 
The English at length established their trench 
within a hundred and forty paces of the place. 
A battery of five pieces of cannon was then 
raised, which played upon the castle, while 
two falconets, placed on a point of land, de- 
stroyed the outworks. The president, in the 
mean time, sent Captain John Bostock, Owen 
O'Sullevan, and Lieutenant Downings, with 
a hundred and sixty men, to attack Dorsies 
Island. There was a small fort in it belong- 
ing to the Catholics, and garrisoned by forty 
men. After a vigorous defence from the be- 
sieged, the English made themselves masters 
of this fort, and found in it a few barrels of 
powder, three pieces of cannon, and some 
warlike stores. Eour of the besieged were 
killed in the action, two were wounded, and 
the rest made prisoners. These latter were 
executed immediately afterwards, though 
they had surrendered. The cruelty of the 
English was not confined to the defenders 
of tire castle ; they massacred, without dis- 
tinction, all the inhabitants of the island. A 
mother and the infant on her breast were 
murdered ; the children were barbarously 
stabbed, and raised half dead on pikes, for a 
spectacle ; others were tied, hand and foot, 
and thrown from the top of lofty rocks into 
the sea. This is but a faint description of 
the cruelties exercised by the English upon 
the inhabitants of Ireland — a specimen of 
the way in which they reformed the morals 
of the people. 

The English battery played incessantly 
upon the castle of Dunboy. Part of it had 
already fallen, and the besiegers supposing 

* Pac. Hib. cap. 8. 



that the breach was effected, an attack was 
ordered. They were repulsed, however, with 
vigor ; several were killed on both sides, and 
the English were forced to retire. The fire 
from the battery was still kept up, by which a 
part of the vault fell in, and drew those that 
surrounded it into the ruins. The besiegers 
entered in crowds upon the breach, and re- 
newed the battle, but, as before, without suc- 
cess ; they were driven off" with heavy loss, 
and hurled from the top of the breach : a third 
attack was equally unsuccessful as the two 
first ; for after gaining the hall of the castle, 
the English were forced to abandon it. It 
will be admitted that the garrison of Dunboy, 
which consistedof but one hundred and forty- 
three fighting men, must have been considera- 
bly weakened from the continued assaults of 
the enemy. It might, indeed, be supposed, 
that they would easily have been crushed by 
the overwhelming force of five thousand men 
with a powerful artillery ; and though the 
efforts of the brave Captain Tirrell, with his 
flying camp, frequently alarmed the English, 
they were not sufficient to save the garrison 
from the unhappy lot that awaited them. 

The president, Carew, seeing the obstinate 
and determined defence the castle of Dunboy 
maintained, ordered a fourth attack, better 
planned than the preceding ones. For this 
purpose a body of fresh troops was chosen, 
taken by lot from the regiment of the lord- 
president ; this body was to be supported by 
the remainder of the same regiment, and that 
of the earl of Thuomond, while those of Percy 
and Wilmot had orders to hold themselves 
in readiness to march, both to protect the 
camp, and to act with the others if necessary. 
The English artillery continued to play upon 
the castle from five in the morning until nine, 
when a turret of the castle, in which there 
was a falconet which greatly annoyed the 
English battery, was seen to fall. However, 
the firing was kept up still against one of the 
fronts of the castle till one in the afternoon, 
when the breach being effected, and the plan 
of assault fixed upon, the detachment which 
was to begin the attack advanced ; the Catho- 
lics disputed the entrance by the breach for 
a long time, but were at length forced to yield 
to the overwhelming numbers of the English, 
who planted their standards on one of the 
turrets. Roused by despair, the besieged 
renewed the battle, and fought with despera- 
tion until night, sometimes in the vaults of 
the castle, sometimes in the great hall, the 
cellars, and on the stairs, so that blood flowed 
in every quarter : several of the besieged 
fell during the attack, among whom was 
Mac-Geoghegan, their commander, whose 



548 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



valor equalled the greatness of his mind and 
hio-h birth.* The castle was not yet in the 
possession of the English ; they returned to 
the assault the day following, and pretending 
a desire to spare the further effusion of blood, 
terms were proposed to the besieged. The 
few belonging to the garrison who escaped 
the preceding day having lost their chief, 
and being unequal to defend the castle, ac- 
cepted the proposed conditions of having 
theirlives spared. Richard Mac-Geoghegan, 
the commander, however, although mortally 
wounded, would not listen to any terms ;f 
and seeing the English enter in crowds, he 
rose up, though already struggling with 
death, and snatching a lighted match, made 
an effort to fire a barrel of powder which was 
placed near him ; his intention being to blow 
up both himself and the enemy, rather than 
surrender. He was prevented, however, by 
a Captain Power, in whose arms he was 
basely and inhumanly stabbed by the Eng- 
lish soldiers. Mac-Geoghegan knew that no 
confidence could be placed in any treaty with 
the English, and preferred to die fighting, 
rather than surrender to men in whose honor 
he could repose no trust. " The whole num- 
ber of the ward consisting of one hundred and 
forty-three chosen fighting men, being the best 
of all their forces, of the which no man escaped, 
but were either slain, executed, or buried in the 
ruins." This garrison was not composed 
of mere mercenary soldiers, taken by lot, but 
of men of honor and principle, who willingly 
laid down their lives in defence of their re- 
ligion and country : the English themselves 
admit, that so obstinate and resolved a defence 
hath not been seen within this kingdom. $ 
They were worthy to have been citizens of 
ancient Sparta, from the mode in which they 
sacrificed themselves for the good of their 
country ; and if their example has not been 
followed by others, it will be at least a sub- 
jectof reproach and self-confusion to those of 
their countrymen who took up arms against 
them. The siege of Dunboy lasted for fifteen 
days. It cost the English, according to some 
authors, a loss of six hundred men, more or 
less. Authors differ on it, and also respect- 
ing the time of this event ; some say it was in 
June, others in September ; the castle, how 
ever, was, by orders of the president, razed 
to the ground after four days, and not a ves 
tige of it suffered to remain. § 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. 

+ Pacat. Hib. ibid. p. 316. Hist. Cathol. ibid, 
page 184. 

t Pacat. Hib. ibid. Cox, Hist, of Ireland, pp. 
450, 451. 

§ Hist. Cathol. ibid. 



The Spanish army which was intended 
for the expedition to Ireland, amounted to 
fourteen thousand men ; they had assembled 
at Corunna, and were ready to sail, when in- 
telligence was received of the fall of Dunboy ; 
on which the Spanish court sent orders to the 
Count de Caracena, governor of Corunna, to 
countermand for the present the sailing of the 
troops.* The queen of England had her 
emissaries in Spain, who informed her of all 
that had occurred : she therefore ordered 
her fleets that were cruising on the coasts of 
Spain to be revictualled, and to continue to 
watch the motions of the Spaniards till the 
end of September ; she also sent two thou- 
sand more troops to Ireland, to reinforce the 
president's army in Munster. 



CHAPTER L. 



The fall of Dunboy did not prevent the 
prince of Bearre from still acting a brave 
and noble part.f Dermod O'Driscol having 
returned from Spain, Cornelius, son of O'Dris- 
col More, was sent in his stead to solicit 
speedy assistance. In the mean time the 
prince and Captain Tirrell marched with a 
thousand men into Muskerry, and made them- 
selves masters of Carraig-na-Chori, Duin 
Dearaire, and Macrumpe, where they placed 
a garrison ; after which he prevailed upon 
O'Donoghoe of the Glinne to join in the 
confederacy. He then made incursions into 
the district of Cork, and returned laden with 
booty. 

Cormack, son of Diarmuid Mac-Carty, 
prince of Muskerry, had adopted the base 
policy of the earls of Ormond, Thuomond, and 
others. He was descended from Heber by 
Oilioll-Olum, king of MunsterJ in the second 
century, and by Diarmuid More Mac-Carty, 
prince of Muskerry, who was killed in 1367 
by the O'Mahonys of Carbry, who were from 
the same stock of ancestors. The politic 
conduct of Cormac did not secure him against 
suspicions of his loyalty, and he was accused 
of holding secret intrigues with O'Neill, 
O'Donnel, Florence Mac-Carty, James Fitz- 
Thomas, O'Sullevan Bearre, and other ene- 
mies of the English. His accuser wasTegue, 
son of Cormac Mac-Teugue Mac-Carty, his 
near relative. This man was first in the ser- 
vice of the queen's troops ; but he left this 
service during the siege of Kinsale, and joined 
the Catholic cause. After receiving part of 

* Pacat. Hib. ibid. cap. 11 
t Hist. Cathol. cap. 4. 
t Keat. Genealogy. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



549 



the money that was sent from Spain for the 
Catholics of Ireland, he changed sides again 
and sought to be reconciled to the president ; 
while to make his submission the more im- 
portant, he turned informer against his own 
relation, in whose conduct he had been pre- 
viously a partaker. 

The president, after consulting with the 
council, caused Cormac Mac-Carty of Mus- 
kerry to be arrested. He wished also to take 
possession of his castle of Blarney, which 
design Wilmot and Harvey were appointed 
to carry into effect. While proceedings were 
going on against Cormac Mac-Carty, Captain 
Taaffe, who possessed his confidence, was 
sent to propose to him to surrender the castle 
to the English. The proposal was a critical 
one : Mac-Carty was a prisoner ; his wife 
and children were also arrested, and his 
eldest son was pursuing his studies at Ox- 
ford. He was of course averse to surrender 
his. castle, which was an asylum in cases of 
emergency, and the sacrifice seemed great, 
but his circumstances appeared to make it 
imperative. Every thing being maturely 
weighed, he sent a communication to the 
governor of the castle, to surrender it to 
Captain Taaffe. The abbey of Kilcrey and 
the castle were given up, at the same time, 
to the president, of which he gave the com- 
mand to Captain F. Slingsby. Macrumpe 
was a strong place in the centre of Muskerry, 
and maintained a siege against Captain 
Flower, and subsequently against Wilmot. 

O'Donnel continued still in Spain, where 
he was actively employed at court in behalf 
of his country. He wrote at this time the 
following letter, dated Corunna, to O'Connor 
Kerry : " The doctor and Dermod O'Driscol 
will give you an account of every thing that 
is passing here. The king sends you money 
and stores. Believe me, that his majesty 
will omit no opportunity to gain Ireland, 
were it to cost him even the greatest part 
of his kingdom. Endeavor to secure this 
monarch's good opinion by your services. 
I beg that you will inform me of the news in 
Ireland, and against whom the queen's forces 
are now employed."* 

Cormac Mac-Carty was still a prisoner in 
Cork. The witnesses against him were ex- 
amined, and his life was in danger. It was 
of course natural that he should have wished 
to recover his liberty. His design was com- 
municated by several to the deputy ; the 
Protestant bishop of Cork, and Dominick 
Sarsfield, the queen's advocate in Munster, 
being the leading informers. The president 

* Paoat. Hib. cap. 13. 



caused the keeper of the prison, who had 
Mac-Carty in his charge, to be brought to 
him, and gave him fresh instructions for se- 
curing him : his precautions, however, were 
disappointed. The prince of Muskerry was 
rescued by a young nobleman named Owen 
Mac-Sweeny, who got in by night to his 
chamber, and having cut with a file the irons 
that bound his legs, let him down through a 
window, while six companions received him 
with their mantles before he touched the 
ground. The conspirators then got him over 
the wall of the city, notwithstanding that the 
sentinels went in pursuit of him. He very 
soon after this arrived in Muskerry, where 
he met O'Sullevan Bearre at the head of a 
small detachment, and both princes entered 
immediately into an alliance against the com- 
mon enemy. O'Sullevan then besieged Car- 
rig-an-phouca, which was guarded by the 
sons of Teugue Mac-Carty, who obtained 
terms from the English by his treachery 
against the prince of Muskerry, whose rela- 
tive he was. O'Sullevan reduced it, and two 
more places in Muskerry, which he gave up 
to be garrisoned by his ally, and returned to 
his own country of Bearre. 

The escape of Cormac Mac-Carty greatly 
alarmed the president Carew. He knew 
that he was very dear to the inhabitants of 
Muskerry, most of whom were his vassals 
and ready to follow his fortune, and that, if 
an alliance were made between him, O'Sul- 
levan Bearre, and Captain Tirrell, it might 
cause Wilmot's communication with Cork 
(who was then besieging Macrumpe) to be 
cut off. The president, therefore, imme- 
diately forwarded an express to Wilmot, 
saying, that if he should not be master of 
Macrumpe castle in twenty-four hours, he 
must raise the siege, and withdraw the troops 
from before it ; orders being sent likewise to 
Lords Barry and Roche, to keep a close watch 
in their districts, which were strongly at- 
tached to the cause of Cormac Mac-Carty. 

The president's letter brought sad news to 
Wilmot ; that general being eager to reduce 
Macrumpe, and thinking it dishonorable to 
raise the siege. An unforeseen occurrence, 
however, proved favorable to his views. The 
castle having taken fire, and it being impos- 
sible to subdue the flames, the garrison was 
obliged for their safety to rush into an ad- 
joining yard, which exposed them to the fire 
of the besiegers. Their twofold danger 
now roused the besieged into despair, and 
opening a way through the enemy, sword in 
hand, they effected their escape with a small 
loss on their side. The fire of the castle 
being extinguished, Wilmot left a few com- 



550 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



panies in it in garrison, and took, the day 
following, the road to Cork, with the re- 
mainder of his army. 

The liberty which Mac-Carty enjoyed 
since his escape from prison, was not suffi- 
cient to allay his apprehensions ; his eldest 
son was imprisoned in England ; his wife 
and younger son were prisoners in Cork ; 
his castles of Blarney, of Kilcrey, and Ma- 
crumpe, were in the hands of the English, 
and the whole of Muskerry was laid waste ; 
so that he had in his favor at least the ap- 
pearance of necessity for surrendering to the 
English, notwithstanding the alliance con- 
cluded between him and O'Sullevan Bearre. 

If the submission of Mac-Carty of Mus- 
kerry was fatal to the Catholic cause in 
Munster, the news of the death of Hugh 
O'Donnel, prince of Tirconnel, was still 
more disastrous. After the battle of Kin- 
sale, that prince passed into Spain, where he 
attended ably to the interests of his country, 
arrived at high favor at court, and was (on 
the eve of his death) about to reap the fruits 
of his zeal. The confederates of Munster, 
upon receiving the sad news, saw themselves 
deprived of all hope on the side of Spain ; 
their courage was broken down ; Daniel 
Mac-Carty the knight of Kerry, Daniel, son 
of O'Sullevan More, and others, sought to be 
reconciled to the English government. Cap- 
tain Tirrell led his troops into Connaught, 
which raised the courage of the English ; 
five thousand of whom were collected, and 
the command given to Wilmot, with the title 
of governor of Bearre. He accordingly led 
the army to that part of the province, and 
encamped at Gort-na-cailli, in a valley called 
Gleaunn Garaibh, where he published a 
proclamation in the queen's name, promising 
pardon to all who would abandon O'Sullevan 
Bearre's standard. This prince was now 
forsaken by his allies ; and his Connaught 
troops having left him, with their commander 
Thomas Burke, to return to their province, 
he deemed it more prudent to follow them 
with the few that remained, than yield to an 
inhuman enemy.* 

On the last day of December, O'Sullevan 
Bearre, with O'Connor Kerry, and a few 
other noblemen, having joined his troops 
with those of Connaught, the whole amount- 
ing to scarcely four hundred men, set out 
upon their march,f intending to take refuge 
with Hugh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone. 
Though his shortest route would have been 
through Leinster, still, that province being 
in the power of the English, who had their 

* Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 6. Pacat. Hib. cap. 26. 
t Hist. Cathol. cap. 8. 



garrisons in every quarter, he determined to 
gain the Shannon, inorderto reach O'Rourke, 
prince of Brefny, through Connaught. The 
badness of the roads, and scarcity of provis- 
ions, were not the only difficulties the prince 
of Bearre had to encounter. He was con- 
tinually obliged to fight his way with the 
enemy ; on the frontiers of Muskerry he 
was pursued by the Mac-Cartys ; after this 
by the people of Duhallow ; again at Slieve 
Louchra by the garrison of Captain Cuff, the 
Barrys, and Clan-Gibbons ; and lastly, at 
Slieve Feilim, in the country of the O'Car- 
rols, by a detachment sent by the earl of 
Ormond. We read nothing in history which 
more resembles the expedition of young 
Cyrus and the ten thousand Greeks, than 
this retreat of O'Sullevan Bearre.* 

The prince having overcome the difficul- 
ties of a long and painful march, arrived on 
the 7th of January in the forest of Brosnach, 
above Limerick, near the Shannon, where 
he encamped with his little army. He here 
convened a council of war, to deliberate on 
the means of crossing the river ; in which 
it was decided that a number of boats made 
of osier and the branches of trees, should be 
constructed for the troops ; while in order 
to prevent them from sinking, they were 
covered with skins of horses, provided for 
the purpose. These boats were used by the 
ancient Irish, and were called Curraghs, or 
Nevogues. The boats being completed, they 
were brought during the night to Portlaughan, 
on the banks of the Shannon, opposite to 
Portumny, and commenced crossing the 
river. O'Maily, who went by the first, was 
upset with ten soldiers, but the rest reached 
the opposite shore in safety. On reviewing 
his men, O'Sullevan found them reduced 
to two hundred. He marched, however, 
through Galway to Mainech, the country of 
the O'Kellys, where he had to contend with 
fresh enemies. f Having met Captain Malby, 
an Englishman, Sir Thomas Burke, brother 
to the earl of Clanriccard, and other chiefs, 
near Aughrim, at the head of a body of 
troops superior in number to his own, a 
battle began between them with equal ani- 
mosity ; but Malby, the English general, 
having been killed, victory declared in favor 
of the Catholics. O'Sullevan continued his 
march to Brefny, where he was honorably 
received by O'Rourke. 

Wilmot commanded the Munster troops 
in the absence of the president, who had 
been called on affairs of business to Galway. 
Immediately after the retreat of O'Sullevan, 

* Hist. Cathol. cap. 9. 

t Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 10, 11, 12. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



551 



he sent four hundred men from Cork, under 
the White Knight and Captain Taaffe, to lay 
waste the districts of Bearre and Bantry. 
They took possession of the castles of Ardea 
and Caraignesse. Captain Fleming was dis- 
patched with his vessel and a few soldiers 
to the isle of Dorsie, where he pillaged 
O'Sullevan's magazines, and put the inhab- 
itants to the sword. 

The people of Carbry, alarmed by the 
cruelties which the English were committing 
in their neighborhood, took up arms, headed 
by the MacCartys of that district, Dermod, 
son of O'Driscol, Thadeus, son of O'Mahony 
of Carbry, and the MacSweenys. They set 
out on their march, and meeting the English 
army at Cladach, several days were spent in 
skirmishing, with equal success. Teugue 
O'Mahony, who had the glory of beginning 
the action, repulsed those who opposed him ; 
the cavalry of MacCarty and MacSweeny 
performed a distinguished part ; but a de- 
tachment of MacCarty's infantry was sur- 
rounded by a body of English horse, and cut 
to pieces. Teugue O'Howley, who com- 
manded part of the Catholic army, signalized 
himself in a combat with the White Knight. 
Owen MacEggan, apostolical vicar from the 
pope, who had been appointed bishop of 
Ross by his holiness, was shot in the skir- 
mishing. He was particularly zealous in the 
Catholic cause, which was considered a 
crime by the English. In order to disparage 
his character, their writers allege that he 
was killed fighting at the head of a body of 
troops, with a sword in one hand and a bre- 
viary in the other : less prejudiced authors 
mention his having a breviary and beads. A 
holy priest called Dermod MacCarty, en- 
deavoring, through charity, to exercise the 
duties of his ministry, by exhorting and pre- 
paring the wounded for death, was taken by 
the English and brought to Cork. Great 
rewards were offered him to embrace the re- 
formed religion ; but his refusal gained him 
the glory of martyrdom. He was tied to 
the tail of a mad horse, and after being 
dragged through the city, was hung on a 
gibbet ; when half dead, he was quartered, 
his entrails were torn out, and his limbs ex- 
posed in the public streets. It was thus these 
reformers preached their gospel. 

This struggle of the inhabitants of Carbry 
was the last during this reign that was made 
in the province of Minister, in favor of re- 
ligion and liberty. It was too weak to have 
succeeded. The MacCartys having failed, 
solicited pardon from the president, through 
Captain Taaffe, and obtained it ; but Tegue 
O'Mahony, less politic, was surprised by the 



English, and beheaded. Fitzmaurice, with 
a body of light troops, defended himself for 
a long time in Slieve-Luachra against the 
English ; and was afterwards so fortunate 
as to redeem his property and title of baron 
of Lixnaw, by his surrender. Thus ended 
the war in Munster. 

O'Sullevan was not the only unfortunate 
prince who sought safety with O'Rourke ;* 
on his arrival there he met the son of Wil- 
liam Burke, chief of the noble family of the 
Mac Williams of Connaught, and Connanacht 
Maguire, prince of Fermanagh, who had 
been dispossessed by the English. In order 
to justify their conduct, they raised a rival 
against him, in his cousin, Connor Rua Ma- 
guire, who had espoused their cause and 
was under their protection, and placed gar- 
risons in the neighborhood of lake Erne, to 
favor his pretensions. On account of his 
attachment to the interests of the court, the 
Irish called this chief Maguire Galda, or 
English Maguire. The same fate having 
brought O'Sullevan Bearre and Maguire to- 
gether, they determined to have recourse to 
O'Neill, and induce him to renew the war 
against the English. Having, therefore, 
taken leave of the prince of Brefny, they set 
out, attended by Captain Tirrell and a few 
cohorts of armed men, and notwithstanding 
the severity of the season, and the badness 
of the roads, they proceeded as far as the 
banks of lake Erne. They were then obliged 
to force the several posts belonging to the 
English, in which they were successful. 
Maguire afterwards got possession of his 
principality of Fermanagh. 

While the princes of Bearre and Ferma- 
nagh continued victorious on the banks of 
lake Erne, Lord Mountjoy, the deputy, re- 
ceived intelligence from England, of the 
queen's approaching dissolution .f The depu- 
ty was alarmed ; he knew the instability of 
human affairs, particularly among a haughty 
and seditious people like the English ; and 
apprehending a change of government, he 
wished particularly to put an end to the war 
in Ireland. Hugh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, 
was the great obstacle to a general peace : 
he still kept up his troops in Ulster, and con- 
tinued on the defensive for some time, ex- 
pecting foreign aid ; the deputy, therefore, 
considered it of importance to gain him over, 
and made, through his friends, proposals to 
him. The terms were flattering ; a general 
amnesty was offered to him, and to his allies, 
with the free exercise of their religion, and 
the peaceful enjoyment of their estates, on 

* Hist. Cathol. vol. 3, lib. 8, cap. 1, 2, 3, 4. 
t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. cap. 5. 



552 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



condition that they would lay down their I the court of England, they received an order 
arms. Tyrone and his friends having ac- to return to Ireland and to be content with 



cepted the terms that were offered, entered 
again into the possession of their inheritances, 
and enjoyed them for some years in peace. 

A celebrated patent of Queen Elizabeth, 
addressed to Rory O'Donnel, prince of Tir- 
connel, is stated to have been granted about 
this time : from the tenor of it, it appears to 
have been given by the advice of the lord- 
deputy Mountjoy, and the council of Ireland. 
It was written in the Latin tongue, and in 
Gothic characters. In this patent the queen 
offers to O'Donnel, and a great many noble- 
men, proprietors of estates which were held 
under that prince, a general amnesty and 
forgiveness of their crimes. After the dif- 
ferent branches of the Donnels, the chief 
noblemen who are named in the act are, the 
O'Boyles, the O'Cahans, the O'Kellys, the 
O'Galtowes, the O'Crinanes, the O'Carwels, 
the MacNenys, the O'Kennidies, the O'Mul- 
renins, the O'Rowartys, the O'Tiernans, the 
0'Creanes,the 0'Dwyers,the 0'Kierans,the 
O'Moyleganes, the O'Ruddies, the Mac- 
Awardes, the O'Dunneganes, the O'Meal- 
lanes, the O'Murrys, the O'Doghartys, the 
O'Miaghans, the O'Clerys, the MacGlagh- 
lins, the O'Sheridans, the O'Cassidys, the 
O'Cashedians, and many others. This patent, 
which is in my possession, is dated Dublin, 
26th February, about a month before the 
death of the queen — it is sealed with the 
great seal of England, and signed Philip. 
O'Neill, O'Donnel, O'Sullevan Bearre, and 
some other Irish chiefs, went the next sum- 
mer to England, to make their submission to 
James I., who had just succeeded Elizabeth, 
and to compliment him upon his accession to 
the throne of England. O'Sullevan being 
unable to obtain his pardon, sailed for Spain, 
and was well received by Philip III., who 
created him knight of the military order of 
St. Jago, and afterwards earl of Beerhaven. 
There is at present in Spain a count of 
Beerhaven, heir to the name and title of 
that prince. 

The king of England confirmed to O'Neill 
the title of earl of Tyrone.* Rory, or Rod- 
erick, who had become head of the illus- 
trious house of O'Donnel, by the death of 
his brother Hugh, which occurred some time 
before in Spain, was created earl of Tircon- 
nel.f Niall Garve O'Donnel, the near rela- 
tion of O'Donnel and his rival for the prin- 
cipality of Tirconnel, was one of those who 
went to pay homage to the new king. While 
he and some other Irish noblemen were at 

* Cox's Reign of James I., page 8. 

t Hist. Cathol. Hib. book 3, cap. 11, book 6. 



their ancient patrimonies and titles of baron ; 
this title Niall indignantly refused, and on 
Ms return to Dublin, he presented himself 
before the council, and inveighed against the 
perfidy of the English who requited him thus 
for his services.* 

The whole of Ireland became subject to 
the sway of the English, a. d. 1603. They 
boast of the conquest of Ireland after a war 
of four hundred years, while they will not 
admit that England was conquered in a single 
day at Hastings, by William the Conqueror. 
The Irish fought for their freedom till the 
end of Queen Elizabeth's reign — some of 
their chiefs still kept troops on foot ; new 
succors from Spain were expected ; and 
the people did not lay down their arms un- 
til they received terms which were favora- 
ble, f Such was the conquest of Ireland of 
which the English vainly boast. 

Queen Elizabeth died on the 24th of March, 
the last day of the year, old style4 She 
lived sixty-nine years, six months, and seven 
days ; and reigned forty-four years, four 
months, and seven days. Symptoms of rage 
and heavy affliction, fy preceded her death. 
English writers represent the infirmities 
which accompanied the last daysof Elizabeth, 
as the effects of melancholy and sadness. |] 
The winter of life had already come upon 
her ; she saw herself abandoned by her cour- 
tiers, who were proceeding by crowds into 
Scotland to worship the rising sun ; nothing 
more was necessary to afflict an aged woman 
whose ruling principle was, to her last sigh, 
ambition. .She now looked upon herself as 
abandoned, and was heard to say with an- 
guish, " they have bound me by the neck, 
there is none in whom I can any longer con- 
fide ; how sad is the change in my affairs !" 

Robert Naughton, an English writer, gives 
in his l; Regalia Fragmenta," a true picture 
of Elizabeth, and ascribes her last afflictions 
to the ill-success of her arms in Ireland. This 
Englishman was created Sir Robert Naugh- 
ton, secretaiy of state, and master of the 
court of wardens, under James I. He lived 
about the period of her reign, and was deeply 
conversant in political secrets. 

" The war in Ireland, which he says may 
be styled the distemper of the reign of Eliza- 

* Ibid, book 8, cap. 5. 

t English writers, according to their usual tone, 
represent the terms entered into between Prince 
O'Neil! and the deputy, as a conquest. 

t Baker's Chronicles on Elizabeth. 

§ Hist. Cathol. vol. 3, book 8, cap. 4. 

|| Cambd. part 4, Hist, of Elizab. ad an. 1603. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



553 



beth, having continued to the end of her life, 
proved such an expenditure, as affected and 
disorganized the health and constitution of 
the princess, for, in her last days, she became 
sorrowful, melancholy, and depressed. Her 
arms which had been accustomed to conquer, 
meeting with opposition from the Irish, and 
the success of the war for so long a time be- 
coming not only doubtful but unfortunate, 
afflicted her to distraction. On her accession 
to the crown of England, she encouraged, for 
the purpose of causing a diversion in her 
own favor, the rebellion of the states of 
Holland against the king of Spain, who, by 
way of reprisal, favored and encouraged 
the Irish to oppose Elizabeth. 

" It may be imagined that England was 
at the time equal to undertake and maintain 
by her resources the war against the Irish. 
If we take a close view of the state of things 
at the period, and the number of troops in 
Ireland, as also the defeat at Black Water,* 
and the expenditure attending the attempts 
of the earl of Essex, the reduction of Kinsale 
under General Mountjoy, and of a short time 
subsequently, we will discover, that in horse 
and foot the troops amounted to twenty 
thousand men ; independently of the naval 
armaments connected with them. The queen 
was obliged to keep up a constant and pow- 
erful fleet, to watch the coasts of Spain and 
blockade its harbors, in order to prevent 
the succors which were intended for Ireland 
from being forwarded. The expenses there- 
fore attending the wars of Elizabeth against 
the Irish, amounted at least to three hundred 
thousand pounds sterling a year, which was 
not half her expenditure in other quarters ; 
an expense which could not be longer sup- 
ported without the aid of the public. The 
frequent letters of the queen, and the con- 
stant requests to General Mountjoy to dis- 
band the forces as speedily as possible, fur- 
nish an irrefragable proof to what an extre- 
mity this princess saw herself reduced." 

Opinion is divided upon the character of 
Elizabeth ; every writer speaks as he feels 
affected. The partisans of the reformation 
consider her the founder of their religion, 
and call her the divine Elizabeth ; the king 
of Scotland himself, son of Mary Stuart, has 
published her praises ; what a subject of 
edification ; what a triumph to the queen's 
party ! 

As to political government, it cannot be 
denied that Elizabeth possessed great talents; 

* This is a river in Ulster : by the defeat of 
Black Water is understood a signal victory gained 
by Hugh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, over the Eng- 
lish at Benburb, on the borders of that river. 



in her education she was well cultivated and 
had a knowledge of several languages, par- 
ticularly the Latin, which she spoke fluently : 
she was fond of reading the Scriptures, 
which she frequently quoted in controversy, 
in accordance with her principles. Convers- 
ing one day in Latin, it is said that she 
hastily made use of faminilem sexum, instead 
of fmmineum, and perceiving her mistake, 
she added, " we ha.ve made, by our royal 
authority, Latin of this unusual word."* 

Elizabeth had able ministers, who shared 
her cares in government, and contributed to 
render her reign brilliant. These were, Lei- 
cester, Sussex, Burleigh, Sidney, Walsing- 
ham, Willoughby, Bacon, Norris, Knowles, 
Perrot, Effingham, Packington, Hunsdon, 
Rawleigh, Crevil, Essex, Sackvil, Blunt, 
Cecil, Vere, Worcester, &c. The court of 
this princess was a theatre in which each 
played his part with skill ; and though their 
object appeared to be the public welfare, 
and the glory of their nation, there never 
was a court more devoted to intrigue, so that 
Higgins, an impartial writer, says it was the 
most wicked ministry that ever was known in 
any reign.f 

The talents of Elizabeth were obscured by 
the wickedness of her disposition, which was 
a compound of ingratitude, jealousy, cruelty, 
and duplicity, of which her treatment towards 
Essex and some other favorites affords am- 
ple proofs. The desire of being admired by 
men, was her predominant passion, which 
was heightened by the flattery of her cour- 
tiers. Mary Stuart, queen of Scots, and 
dowager of France, (whom she considered a 
rival,) gave her most uneasiness ; Mary was 
witty and accomplished, and surpassed Eli- 
zabeth in beauty, which was the cause of her 
tragical end. Melvin and Higgins mention 
an absurd trait of Elizabeth, which will les- 
sen the notions that English historians put 
forward concerning the magnanimity and 
strength of mind of this princess. Melvin 
being asked one day by Elizabeth, if her 
sister of Scotland danced well, replied, "ex- 
cept your majesty, the queen of Scots is the 
best dancer in the world." Elizabeth feeling 
how untrue the compliment was, changed 
countenance, and withdrew to her closet, 
where she wept bitterly for two hours. 

An extract from the tragical history of the 
queen of Scots, will suffice to expose the 
jealous and cruel heart of Elizabeth. 

On the death of Francis II., his queen, 
Mary Stuart, returned from France to Scot- 



* Relat. Girald. cap. 26, p. 197. 
t Short View, p. 218. 



554 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



land. After having been brought up at the 
most polished court in Europe, she was 
forced to live among her fanatic subjects. 
The Scotch Puritans wishing to alter the 
reformation of the church of England, af- 
forded by their religious disputes an oppor- 
tunity to Elizabeth of exciting a faction 
against Mary, and fomenting a rebellion 
against legal authority. " We leave it to 
casuists and lawyers," says Higgins, " to 
decide whether a prince ought to assist the 
rebellious subjects of a neighboring power, 
with whom he is at war ; but exciting those 
subjects to rebel, at a time he is on good 
terms with their king, is a violation of the 
laws of nations and all that is sacred among 
men."* 

The queen of Scotland being too young 
to remain a widow, chose Henry Darnly 
from among the many matches that were 
proposed for her. He was son of Matthew 
Steward or Stuart, earl of Lenox, and Mar- 
garet Dowglas, niece of Henry VIII., by 
Margaret, that monarch's eldest sister, who 
was first married to James IV., king of 
Scotland, by whom she had James V., and 
secondly, to Archibald Dowglas, earl of 
Angus, by whom she became mother to the 
countess of Lenox. t Mary had sound motives 
for marrying Lord Darnly ; as her near rela- 
tive, she considered him heir to the crown 
of England, after herself, and thought an 
alliance with him necessary to render her 
claim to that throne incontestable. Elizabeth 
was opposed to this marriage, as she wished 
Mary to marry the earl of Leicester. The 
queen of Scots persevering in her first reso- 
lution, created Darnly a knight, and confer- 
red on him successively, the titles of Lord 
Armanack, earl of Rosse, and duke of Roth- 
say, (this was the title of the eldest son of 
the kings of Scotland ;) she then married 
him, and had him declared king, with the 
consent of most of the peers of Scotland. 

The earl of Murray, the queen's natural 
brother, was the first to rebel against that 
princess. Having collected his adherents, he 
proposed the following seditious questions : 
" Whether a popish king could be chosen ? 
whether the queen of Scots might choose a 
husband, according to her own will ? and 
whether the lords ought not to nominate one 
for her, by their own authority'?" At last 
he took up arms against his sovereign ; but 
the rebels being soon put down by the roy- 
alists, and having taken refuge in England, 

* Ibid. p. 210. 

t Cambd. Elizab. part 1, Hist, ad an. 1564. 
Baker, Chron. of England on the reign of Elizab. 
p. 334, et seq. Cambd. ibid, ad an. 1565. 



received protection from Elizabeth. The 
queen of Scots had a son by her second mar- 
riage, who was afterwards James VI. of 
Scotland, and I. of England. 

Murray not being able to succeed by open 
force, endeavored to sow discord between 
the king and his queen.* He attacked the 
queen's fidelity, of which accusation David 
Rizzio, an Italian, and secretary to that prin- 
cess, was the victim, being stabbed by the 
king himself. Dandy repented afterwards 
of his rashness, and resolved to take revenge 
on Murray, who had instigated him to com- 
mit the horrid act. Murray, however, having 
discovered his design,t averted the blow, by 
having the king strangled in his bed, and the 
body being thrown into the garden, the 
house was immediately blown up. 

The news of the king's murder having 
spread, the public ascribed it to the earls of 
Murray, Morton, and their associates ; while 
they, in order to exculpate themselves, laid 
it to the charge of the queen. Buchanan, 
to ingratiate himself with Murray, wrote a 
dialogue, entitled " De jure regni apud 
Scotos," in which he sounded the alarm-bell 
of sedition. By this he endeavored to prove 
that the people have a power to choose or 
to depose their sovereign, and then launched 
into scandalous attacks upon the queen, 
which he afterwards, when dying, retracted. 
Mary finding her situation precarious, mar- 
ried Hepburn, earl of Bothwell, at the soli- 
citations of Murray, Morton, and their 
friends, who rose up in arms afterwards 
against her. Bothwell was forced to fly into 
Denmark, where he died of grief ; the queen 
was then seized by the fanatics, and thrown 
into prison at Lochlevin. The mother of 
Murray was appointed her keeper — this 
woman called herself the wife of James V., 
though she was but his concubine, and re- 
presented her son as heir to the crown 
of Scotland. 

The cruel policy of Elizabeth was the 
cause of Mary Stuart's misfortunes ;% she 
secretly and often openly abetted Murray 
and his adherents in their rebellion. To con- 
ceal, however, her wicked intentions under 
the veil of kindness and pity, she sent Sir 
Nicholas Throgmortonfy into Scotland, to 
upbraid the confederates with the cruelty 
they exercised against their sovereign, and 
to devise means of restoring her to liberty. 
The knight witnessed the fury of the fanatics, 
who were divided in their opinions, as to the 

* Cambd. ibid, ad an. 1567. 
t Cambd. ibid. 

t Higgins' Short View, page 210. 
6 Cambd. ibid. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



555 



treatment of Mary Stuart. Some were dis- 
posed to have her banished for life ; others 
wished to have her brought and examined 
before the judges, that she might be con- 
demned to perpetual imprisonment, and to 
have her son proclaimed king ; others, still 
more inhuman,were eagerto have her stripped 
of all royal authority, and put to death. The 
celebrated Knox, a violent enthusiast, was 
for adopting this last mode of punishment : 
he was eager to evince his gratitude for the 
protection which Murray afforded him in his 
efforts to establish the doctrine of the Puri- 
tans on the ruin of the old religion : for 
which purpose he preached in public against 
the authority of princes and the hierarchy of 
the church, and maintained that the nobles 
possessed the power to suppress idolatry, 
and to compel the prince to observe what 
the laws prescribed. 

Throgmorton applied his eloquence in 
vain to bring these fanatics to reason. He 
quoted passages from Scripture in support 
of the obedience due to princes, and ob- 
served, " the queen is subject to no tribunal 
but God ; she is not accountable to any 
power on earth ; on the contrary, all au- 
thority in Scotland has emanated from her, 
and could be revoked at her will." 

These remonstrances tended only to make 
her persecutors more furious ; her imprison- 
ment was more rigidly enforced, and she 
would not be permitted to see her child. An 
accusation containingthreeheads,viz., incon- 
tinence, tyranny, and the murder of the 
king, was threatened against her, if she did 
not abdicate the crown. The fear of death 
made Mary sign the act of abdication in 
favor of her son, who was scarcely thirteen 
months old, constituting, at the same time, 
her opponent Murray regent during the 
minority. Five days after this compulsory 
measure against Mary Stuart, her son James 
VI. was crowned, and Murray put into pos- 
session of the regency. The regent's first 
care was to have some persons who were 
attached to the earl of Bothwell put to 
death, under pretence that they had been 
concerned in the murder of the king, but 
they asserted to the last moment, that Mor- 
ton and Murray were the authors of it, and 
that the queen was perfectly innocent.* 

After a confinement of eleven months in 
the castle of Lochlevin, the queen of Scots 
recovered her liberty, by the contrivance of 
George Dowglas.f Several of the nobles 
then met, and published a manifesto, de- 
claring that the abdication which had been 

* Baker, ibid, page 337. t Ibid. 338. 



forced from her during her imprisonment 
was null and void. Six thousand of her faith- 
ful subjects crowded to the standard of their 
sovereign, but were soon defeated by the 
superior forces of the regent. 

Mary Stuart no longer found herself se- 
cure in her native land, and determined to 
seek an asylum in another quarter.* Eng- 
land seemed to her the most secure retreat, 
as she believed that honor, conscience, and 
consanguinity would induce Elizabeth to 
protect her ; but in this she was mistaken. 
The unfortunate princess, after escaping from 
her faithless subjects, gave herself up to an 
ungenerous and implacable enemy; she sailed 
with Lord Heris and Fleming, for England, 
and arrived on 17th May at Wickinton, in 
Cumberland, from which she immediately 
wrote to Elizabeth, and sent her a diamond 
ring which she had formerly given her as a 
pledge of mutual friendship, imploring her 
protection against her rebellious subjects ; 
while at the same time she solicited an au- 
dience, in order to clear herself of the 
calumnies of her adversaries. Elizabeth re- 
turned an apparently kind and consolatory 
answer to the queen of Scots, promising to 
assist her against her enemies ; but refusing 
her permission to appear at court. She was 
jealous of the beauty of so illustrious a rival, 
and feared it would make her appear to still 
more advantage if they were seen together. 
These base and unworthy sentiments made 
her condemn Mary Stuart to be imprisoned 
in the castle of Carlisle, under pretence of 
securing her from the insults of her enemies. 

Though Elizabeth expressed compassion 
for Mary Stuart, she still kept her in con- 
finement, and concealed her malice under 
an appearance of clemency. She frequently 
appointed commissioners to try the unhappy 
princess, and often held assemblies, hoping 
to have her found guilty. 

Elizabeth at length demanded from the 
most determined of the Scotch malecontents, 
why they had deposed their sovereign.^ 
Murray, the regent, having been assassinated 
some time before, the fanatics were now 
headed by James Dowglas, earl of Morton, 
Pernare, abbot of Dumfermelin, and James 
MacGrey, who sent a long document, by 
way of answer, to the queen of England, to 
the purport, that " according to the ancient 
liberties of Scotland, the people were above 
the king ; that the magistrates of the people 
were, according to Calvin, intended as a 
check upon princes, and that they possessed 
not only the power of imprisoning bad kings, 

* Higgins' Short View, page 212. 

t Cambd. Elizabeth, part 2. Hist, ad an. 1571. 



556 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



but likewise of dethroning them." An appeal 
to the magistrates was the general resource 
of these Scotch fanatics against legal au- 
thority, knowing, that when corruption 
reached that body, it was perpetuated by 
the same spirit which united the members. 
Elizabeth received the remonstrances of 
the rebels with a show of indignation. 

These proceedings, however, forboded evil 
to the queen of Scots, as it had been already 
determined that she should perish. Matthew, 
earl of Lenox, who succeeded Murray in the 
regency, had been likewise murdered ; he 
was succeeded by John Erskine, earl of Mar, 
who lived but thirteen months. This office 
having remained vacant for some time, was 
filled through the interference of Queen Eli- 
zabeth, by James Dowglas, earl of Morton, 
Mary's avowed enemy, and who was sus- 
pected of havingbeen concerned in the death 
of Lord Darnly, the young king's father.* It 
seems that this suspicion was well founded ; 
he was accused soon afterwards of high 
treason, at the instigation of the earl of Arran, 
put into confinement, convicted of having 
been an accomplice in the murder of Darnly, 
and condemned to be beheaded ; when he 
avowed his crime on the scaffold. Elizabeth 
exerted her influence to save this nobleman's 
life, and the interest she took to preserve 
from the scaffold a man who had been con- 
demned for so heinous an offence, gave rise 
to an opinion that she was not innocent of 
participating in the crime for which he was 
condemned. f At all events, from the con- 
cern she manifested for the murderers of 
the king, she shared in the infamy of their 
conduct. 

Mary Stuart was continually soliciting her 
liberty from Elizabeth, and was supported in 
her solicitations by the French and Spanish 
ambassadors, but in vain. Truth, however 
prevailed over calumny, in favor of Mary's 
innocence, through the declarations made by 
Morton, Bothwell, and many others, in their 
last moments, when every man is believed to 
speak truly . There was no longer any ground 
of accusation against this innocent victim in 
Scotland, but conspiracies were plotted in 
England against Elizabeth, of which, though 
in prison, she was accused.J Walsingham 
succeeded by his emissaries in engaging a 
few Catholics in a plot to rescue the queen of 
Scots by open force, of which Babington and 
a few nobles became the victims. Com 
missioners havingbeen appointed to examine 

* Higgins, pages 219, 220. Cambd.ad an. 1580 
t Baker, ibid, page 358. Higgins, ibid. 
t Higgins, ibid. pp. 220, 221. Baker, ibid, pages 
367, 368. 



into the affair, they repaired in October to 
Fotheringay castle, in Northamptonshire, 
where Mary was confined : that princess 
appealed against their authority, as being a 
sovereign, and independent of any earthly 
tribunal : but, on the threat that she would 
be condemned for contumacy, she submitted, 
declaring, at the same time, "that despairing 
of her freedom, she had endeavored to es- 
cape, in doing which she considered herself 
justified by the laws of nature and self-pre- 
servation ; but, that as to any attempts against 
the person of the queen, or her authority, 
she was wholly innocent." Nevertheless the 
commissioners assembled, who having put 
the questions, and read to Queen Mary the 
charges which had been brought against her, 
she still maintained that she was a sovereign, 
and not subject to a law made in England for 
her destruction ; and demanded to be heard 
in open parliament, in presence of Elizabeth. 
The commissioners had not sufficient au- 
thority to concede this request, and repaired 
immediately to Westminster, when an infa- 
mous verdict was pronounced in the Star 
Chamber against the unhappy princess. In 
the decision which was signed and sealed by 
the commissioners, it was set forth, that since 
the 1st of June, Anthony Babington and 
others had, with the consent of Mary queen 
of Scots, heiress to the crown of England, 
engaged in a conspiracy tending to the ruin 
and death of Queen Elizabeth. 

To give the efficacy of law to the sentence 
passed by the commissioners, it was neces- 
sary to convene the parliament ;* the whole 
nation was to be made partaker of this great 
and infamous crime,! and Elizabeth was to 
be appealed to by the parliament to consent 
to the death of Mary Stuart. The peers 
distinguished themselves on this occasion ; 
they presented a petition to Elizabeth to cause 
the sentence of the commissioners to be car- 
ried into effect against the queen of Scotland, 
and to strengthen their appeal, they instanced 
the judgments of God against Saul and 
Ahab,J for having spared Agag and Benha- 
dad. It was thus they perverted the Scrip- 
tures to the destruction of an innocent wo- 
man. This extraordinary appeal, which was 
more suited to fanatics than to men of honor 
and principle, must give us a strange opinion 
of English nobility at the time.fy 

Elizabeth eagerly sought for the death of 
Mary, without wishing it to appear that she 
was the cause of it. She was ashamed to 

* Cambd. ad ann. 1586. 

t Baker, page 360. 

1 Higgins, page 222. 

§ Higgins, ibid, page 222, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



557 



admit in public "what she secretly desired. 
She appeared at one time to reject the me- 
morial of the peers ; at another to suspend 
her decision ; but she was too wicked to be 
sincere, and inherited too much of the cruel 
and ferocious temper of her father, Henry 
VIII., to show either humanity or feeling. 
Wearied, as* she said, by the repeated solici- 
tations of her people, she consented to the 
death of Mary, queen of Scots. Having thus 
acted her part, she gave Davison, the secre- 
tary, a letter signed with her own hand, and 
sealed with her seal, authorizing the death of 
that princess :* the commission was sent to 
the earls of Shrewsbury, Kent, Derby, and 
Cumberland, with orders to have the sen- 
tence of the law executed on the unfortu- 
nate queen. 

The earl of Leicester was not more con- 
scientious than the others, but was more 
prudent ; he besought Elizabeth not to com- 
mit so barbarous a deed, which would even- 
tually recoil upon herself, and which was 
unworthy the majesty of a monarch.! The 
queen then asked him how she ought to act. 
" Send an apothecary, madam, rather than 
an executioner ; if she must die, let decency 
be regarded." 

We have now arrived at the close of the 
tragedy of tbe queen of Scots. |: The noble- 
men who had been appointed by the court to 
attend to her execution, arrived at Fotherin- 
gay ; on appearing before the princess they 
informed her of the object of their journey, 
and having read the warrant, told her that 
she should be prepared to die on the follow- 
ing day. Without any appearance of dis- 
may, she returned the following reply : " I 
did not think that my sister of England would 
have consented to the death of a person who 
was not amenable to her laws ; but since it 
is her pleasure, death will be welcome to me." 
She then asked for permission to converse 
with her spiritual father, and Melvin, her 
steward, but the commissioners carried their 
barbarous cruelty so far as to deny her what 
would have been granted to the meanest 
criminal, " which was looked upon," says 
Baker, " as a species of tyranny unheard of." 

The noblemen having retired, the queen 
of Scots gave orders to prepare supper, of 
which she partook moderately, as usual. She 
then retired to rest at the accustomed time ; 
and after taking a few hours repose, she spent 
the remainder of the night in prayer. On 
the 8th of February, the fatal day of her ex- 
ecution being arrived, the princess dressed 

* Baker, ibid, page 371. 

t Higgins, ibid. 223. 

t Baker, ibid, pages 370, 371. 



herself and withdrew to her closet, where 
she continued to implore with abundant tears 
the mercies of God, until the sheriff, Thomas 
Andrews, came to announce to her that the 
fatal moment was arrived. She left hercloset, 
and advanced with a majestic and sprightly 
step, having a veil upon her head, and in her 
hand an ivory crucifix. She was received 
in a gallery by the nobles who had been ap- 
pointed to superintend her execution ; and 
who led her into a hall where the sad instru- 
ments for her death — namely, an arm-chair, 
cushion, and block covered with black cloth, 
were prepared. The princess having recited 
a prayer, and the psalm, " In te, Domine, 
speravi," her head was cut off in a most 
barbarous and indecent manner ; and even 
after her death, her maids of honor were 
not suffered to attend in order to take charge 
of her body. 

Such was the melancholy fate of Mary 
Stuart, queen of Scots, and dowager of 
France, at the age of forty-six years ; nine- 
teen of which she spent in prison.* 

If the manner of the death of this princess, 
her greatness of soul, and resignation to the 
will of God, have filled the world with vene- 
ration for her memory, so are the authors of 
her barbarous and cruel death covered with 
infamy and disgrace. " It was reserved," 
says Higgins, " for the English nation to 
give this example of cruelty."! " Queen 
Mary," says Baker, " possessed in an emi- 
nent degree all the fine qualities of mind 
and body, so that were she a private woman, 
or the queen of Scotland only, she would, 
perhaps, have been happy ; but her right 
as heiress to the crown of England, and 
a jealousy towards her person, were the fatal 
causes of her destruction. "J r 

As soon as the news of Mary Stuart's ex- 
ecution and death was known, Elizabeth 
fell into a state of alarming melancholy ;§ 
she appeared inconsolable, and avoided all 
society. This, however, was mere pretence. 
She wrote also to James VI. of Scotland, in 
order to remove the stigma of having borne 
a part in the murder of the princess his 
mother. Every artifice and deceit was made 
use of to remove from herself, and to fix 
upon her ministers, the odium of the foul 
deed, as if they could have effected it without 
her approval. || The king of Scotland was 
justly and deeply affected for the execution 
and death of his mother : at first he refused 

* Higgins, pages 224, 225. 

t Baker, page 372. 

X Baker, ibid. 

§ Cambd. page 494. 

|| Higgins, pages 225, 226. 



558 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



to admit into his presence the messenger who 
brought the letter from Elizabeth. He, how- 
ever, relaxed in his determination, and from 
a weakness of principle inherent in his fami- 
ly, and which afterwards proved fatal to his 
posterity, he even formed a sincere and solid 
friendship for the queen of England. 

The subversion of the ancient religion, 
and establishment of the reformation in her 
states, formed the most remarkable feature 
in the reign of Elizabeth. The character of 
this princess will be more or less affected by 
the impression which that change produces 
in different minds. The incredulous, no 
doubt, look upon the pretended reformation 
in religion as a matter of indifference, since 
they do not believe in any creed ; the re- 
formers give to the event a pre-eminent place 
among the virtues of Elizabeth ; while others, 
after weighing well the nature and circum- 
stances of the enterprise, tell us, that the 
memory of this queen will be for ever, from 
that occurrence alone, covered with infamy. 

It is not the part of our history to decide 
this controversy, nor to give an opinion 
whether religion required to be reformed, or 
whether the reformation were a meritorious 
act. The character of Elizabeth is the matter 
now before us ; according to that, therefore, 
our opinion must be shaped. The means 
which she made use of to effect that refor- 
mation, must be weighed with those of honor, 
conscience, and other qualities which render 
us pleasing before God and man. 

If we review closely the opinions of Eliza- 
beth, an indifference will be discovered in her 
as to the choice of a religion. Brought up 
in her first years in the court of her father, 
Henry VIII., of which debauchery, sacri- 
lege, and tyranny formed the prevailing 
characteristics, nothing less than a miracle 
could have saved the young princess from the 
contagion. Whatever was in conformity with 
her interest, constituted the religion of Eliza- 
beth. In the reign of her brother Edward, 
she was a Calvinist ; during the reign of her 
sister Mary, the mass, confession, and other 
tenets of the Catholic doctrine accorded with 
her ideas. Such was her conduct until she 
ascended the throne. She then began by 
declaring herself favorable to the reforma- 
tion — the motives for which choice can be 
inferred from circumstances. She was in- 
formed, that an attachment to the ancient 
religion would be a ground to dispute her 
right to the crown ; as the nobles who had 
accumulated fortunes at the expense of 
church property, feared for their posses- 
sions, while others dreaded the ancient and 
rigid discipline of the church. These, united 



to other human motives, caused the balance 
to incline in favor of the reformation. Upon 
the topic of religion, the necessity of tem- 
porizing and of managing the two parties, 
was plain to Elizabeth : her grand principle 
was, that " to know how to reign, she must 
know how to dissemble ;" " Qui nescit dis- 
simulare, nescit regnare." For this object, 
her privy council was a mixed body ; at the 
same time that she had her cabinet council, 
which consisted of men who were partial to 
reformation, and who sapped, imperceptibly, 
the foundations of the Catholic faith. To 
conceal more efficiently her double motives, 
she amused Spain, France, and other powers, 
with entertaining the overtures of marriage 
which were made to her ; by which mode 
she succeeded in having the cause of reli- 
gion neglected for the prospects of so flat- 
tering an alliance. 

An attempt to make men change their 
manner of thinking, under pain of death or 
confiscation of property, gives a true idea of 
tyranny ; for no power upon earth can ac- 
complish such a change. The will, say the 
philosophers, cannot be coerced in its acts : 
of this the greatest conquerors have been so 
convinced, that they were content with the 
submission of those whom they conquered, 
without seeking to interfere with their right 
of conscience. 

Elizabeth thinking herself competent to 
undertake any thing, began the great work 
of reform. She abolished a religion that had 
subsisted since the first ages of Christianity, 
and substituted in its place one of a new fab- 
ric. The dogmas of the latter received their 
shape from a parliament which refused to 
the bishops that power which was given them 
by Jesus Christ to guide his church in its 
doctrine and spiritual concerns.* Collier,t 
in his Ecclesiastical History, says, " When 
secular men prescribe to the church, when 
those who are strangers to antiquity give laws 
for discipline, 'tis no wonder if they mistake 
in their devotion."^ 

Queen Elizabeth caused, by the authority 
of parliament, some volumes of penal laws 
to be published against those who refused to 
submit to the reformation. Under these laws 
no one was secure in his life or freedom ; it 
was in the power of any profligate to accuse 
his neighbor before a judge, when the in- 
former was certain of being attended to, and 
the innocent party oppressed. To these were 

* Baker's Chron. Reign of Elizabeth. 

t He was an English Protestant. Collier's Hist. 
Ecclesiast. vol. 2, 558. 

t Dodd's Hist, of the Church of England, vol. 2, 
part 4, book 1, art. 6. Dodd, ibid. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



559 



added other laws equally barbarous and in- 
human : to refuse to acknowledge Eliza- 
beth's ecclesiastical supremacy, to take holy 
orders in a foreign country, to afford an asy- 
lum to the clergy, to be reconciled to the old 
religion, or to be present at such reconcilia- 
tion of another, was deemed high treason ; 
while, at the same time, every method was 
resorted to to bring the unhappy Catholics 
within the range of this sentence. The 
prisons were continually crowded with sup- 
posed cidprits, many of whom suffered upon 
the scaffold. According to the most correct 
calculations, the number, even of the Eng- 
lish, that were put tr?death, amounted to two 
hundred and twenty-seven ; among whom 
were one hundred and ninety-seven ecclesi- 
astics, comprising four Jesuits and a Fran- 
ciscan friar.* 

The preceding reign, indeed, affords ex- 
amples of the same kind ; several partisans 
of the opposite sect having been put to death 
during it, who are considered martyrs of the 
reformation. The case, however, was very 
different : he who defends his own right is 
less criminal than he who encroaches upon 
that of his neighbor : the English had, for 
many centuries, professed the Catholic doc- 
trine, which Queen Mary wished to uphold ; 
for which purpose she was constrained to 
have some innovators, who were disturbing 
the old religion and everywhere publishing 
new doctrines, put to death. t Elizabeth, on 
the contrary, was desirous of abolishing the 
ancient religion, the profession of which had 
been authorized by so many kings her prede- 
cessors, and substituting one that flattered 
her ambition. On Mary's accession to the 
throne, she rejected the absurd title of head 
of the church, which had been usurped by 
her father, Henry VIII. Elizabeth con- 
sidered this title as the brightest gem in her 
crown, and had several condemned to death 
for having denied her that dignity. If, there- 
fore, we judge of the merits of an act by the 

* Dodd, ibid. lib. 3, art. 7. 

t This position is certainly bad. If the persecu- 
tions under Mary had been dictated by a determi- 
nation to suppress the doctrine of the reformation, 
they would be just as culpable as those of Eliza- 
beth. Interference with freedom of conscience is, 
in all cases, unjustifiable ; and quite as touch so 
when the object is to coerce people to retain an old 
religion, as when it is to make them adopt a new 
one. The recent researches of historians seem to 
show that the executions in the reign of Mary arose 
wholly from political causes, and can be defended 
on this ground. Had they been the result of reli- 
gious bigotry, they would have fully merited for her 
the title of " Bloody Mary," so frequently (but, as 
it now appears, improperly) bestowed on her. — Note 
hy Editor. 



motives that produce it, we will discover a 
great difference between Mary and Eliza- 
beth. 

Thereformers in Ireland did not yield to 
their brethren in England, in cruelty ; they 
caused as many to suffer martyrdom, besides 
the thousands of men, women, and children, 
who suffered death for their religion, either 
by war or famine.* To judge of the dispo- 
sition of Elizabeth by her propensities and 
caprices, she was violent in the extreme ; 
the ferocity of her father, who could not 
bear to be controlled, was discoverable in 
the daughter : when any thing went con- 
trary to her wishes, she gave vent to her 
rage in transports of phrensy, and swore in 
a manner little suited to her sex — her gene- 
ral oath being " God's death."f 

If political motives prevented Elizabeth 
from marrying, the occurrences of her life 
are far from sustaining a predilection for vir- 
ginity : she had many favorites whom she 
selected from their appearance, and with 
whom her familiarity furnished cause for 
doubting her virtue ; her inconstancy proved 
sometimes fatal to them. It was thus Eliza- 
beth amused the nobles of her court, while 
she was forwarding the reformation : she had 
always the advantage of skilful ministers to 
guide her government ; but as to religion, 
and the general rights of mankind, Dodd 
says, " never was a nation more unfortunate 
than England during her reign." 

The praises which panegyrists have be- 
stowed upon Elizabeth, with respect to her 
pretended wisdom in government, and which 
have been implicitly believed by foreigners, 
are known to us. It is true that the length 
of her reign was favorable to great under- 
takings ; she participated largely in the for- 
mation of the republic of Holland, and was 
persevering in her efforts to succor the Hu- 
guenots in France ; but the civil war which 
she fomented in Scotland, and the murder of 
the queen of that country, tarnished the glory 
of her reign. She gained many advantages 
over the Spaniards in the war which she 
carried on against them ; this, however, was 
a war of plunder, by which a few individuals 
were enriched, but from which England reap- 
ed no solid advantages. The war in Ire- 
land cost her, for some years, half of her 
revenues, without her witnessing the Irish 
people reduced to obedience. 

From the above slight sketches of mat- 
ters which characterized Queen Elizabeth's 
reign, we leave it for the impartial reader to 

* Analecta Sacra de Process. Mart, part 3. 
t Nauton fragment. Regalia, Dodde, ibid. lib. 1, 
art. 6. Dodde, ibid. 



560 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



determine whether an advantageous opinion 
of her merit can be entertained, or whether 
the means which she made use of for the 
attainment of her designs were conformable 
to honorable and upright principles. She 
ended her career in despair ; and God, in 
his justice, allowed her who had caused so 
much sorrow to others, to die without one to 
console her. 



CHAPTER LI. 

On the death of Queen Elizabeth, a. d. 
1 603, James VI ., king of Scotland, inherited 
the throne of England, as descendant of Mar- 
garet, eldest daughter of Henry VII. He 
was son of Mary Stuart, who was beheaded 
under Elizabeth ; her father, James V., was 
son of James IV., king of Scotland, and 
Margaret of England above mentioned. The 
father of James VI. was Lord Darnly, son 
of the earl of Lenox, who was descended 
from Robert Stuart, the successor of David 
Bruce, king of Scotland, about the middle 
of the fourteenth century. We have given, 
in our account of the preceding reign, the 
misfortunes and tragical end of Lord Darnly, 
who had married Mary Stuart. 

The right of all the British kings, de- 
scended either from the Saxons, Danes, or 
Normans, was united in the person of James 
I., so that no prince in Europe had a more 
incontestable claim to royalty, than this 
prince had to the crown of England. 

By the accession of James to the throne 
of England, the two rival nations, England 
and Scotland, which had been divided for so 
many centuries, became united under one 
king, and from that period the English mon- 
archs took the title of kings of Great Bri- 
tain and Ireland. Clement VIII. filled the 
papal chair at the time of James's accession ; 
Rodolphus II. was emperor of Germany; 
Henry the Great ruled in France, and Philip 
III. was king of Spain. 

James was proclaimed in London on the 
14th March, with every demonstration of joy. 
The same ceremony took place in Dublin on 
the 6th April, by order of Lord Mountjoy, 
deputy of Ireland, in obedience to letters 
which he had received from the council in 
England to that effect. The same loyalty 
was not manifested in other cities and towns 
of Ireland ; as many wished to understand 
the king's disposition towards the Catholic 
religion, before they would acknowledge him 
for their sovereign. Captain Morgan was 
sent to Cork to have him proclaimed in that 



city as in Dublin, under the title of James I. 
Morgan was joined in Cork by Sir George 
Thornton, one of the commissioners forMun- 
ster, who presented his orders to Thomas 
Sarsfield, who was then mayor. That magis- 
trate answered, that " according to the char- 
ters of the city, time was permitted to delib- 
erate on the subject." Thornton answered, 
that " as the king's right was incontestable, 
and as he had been already proclaimed in 
Dublin, the smallest hesitation on their part 
might be displeasing." " Perkin Warbeek," 
said Sarsfield, " was proclaimed in Dublin, 
and the country suffered by its precipitancy." 
Saxy, chief-justice for Munster, being pre- 
sent, desired to support Thornton, and said, 
" that whosoever would refuse to have the 
king proclaimed, ought to be arrested." To 
this Mead, the constable, replied, " that none 
present possessed an authority to arrest 
them." 

The example of Cork was followed by 
Waterford, Clonmel, Wexford, Limerick, 
and Kilkenny. The Catholics began by 
taking possession of the churches, and by 
having the divine mysteries performed in 
them ; but these attempts could not be sup- 
ported — the law of the strongest prevailed. 
The lord-deputy marched some troops, and 
subdued the commotions, by having some of 
the most turbulent put to death. In the 
mean time Thornton and Lord Roche, at the 
head of eight hundred soldiers, proclaimed 
the king in the vicinity of Cork. 

The ancient Irish revered the Milesian 
blood which ran in the veins of James VI., 
and looked upon him as a prince descended 
from themselves ; they knew, likewise, that 
Edward Bruce, brother to Robert Bruce, 
king of Scotland, from whom James was 
descended, had been chosen in the 14th cen- 
tury, by their ancestors, to be their sovereign ; 
it was well known, too, that Edward had been 
actually crowned king of Ireland. These 
things, added to their submission to James, 
appeared to them to be a good title to the 
crown of Ireland ; at least it was equal to the 
right he derived through the kings of Eng- 
land, his predecessors, who were never uni- 
versally acknowledged by the ancient Irish.* 

The modern Irish looked upon James as 
rightful heir to the crown of England, and 
consequently to that of Ireland, in virtue of 
his descent from Margaret, eldest daughter 
of Henry VII. ; so that the two races who 
inhabited Ireland at this time, forgetting 
their former animosities, submitted with one 

* Analeet. Sacra, de reb. Cathol. in Hib. pp. 220, 
276. Ogyg. epist. dedicat. Walsh, prosp. epist. 
dedicat. Kennedy on the house of Stuart. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



561 



accord to the new king. These were the 
causes of the general submission of the Irish 
at this time to the crown of England. 

Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, who had 
destroyed so many of the English, went to 
England the summer following to make his 
submission to James. The king received 
him with honor, and issued a proclama- 
tion that all his subjects should treat him 
with reverence and respect. Rory O'Don- 
nel, brother to Hugh, who died in Spain 
after the siege of Kinsale, as we have already 
mentioned, accompanied O'Neill to Eng- 
land ; he was received with distinction at 
court, and created earl of Tirconnel by the 
king.* The Latin patent of this creation is 
written in Gothic characters, dated Dublin, 
February 10th, in the first year of the reign 
of James I. of England, and has the great 
seal of Ireland affixed to it. Modesty pre- 
vents Count O'Donnel, an officer in the ser- 
vice of her Imperial Majesty, from assuming 
the title of earl of Tirconnel ; but he is the 
direct heir of the title and extensive posses- 
sions of the house of Tirconnel. 

Mountjoy, the deputy, was appointed at 
this time lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and 
member of the privy council in England. 
His deputies in Ireland were, Sir George 
Carey, treasurer at war, and afterwards 
Sir Francis Chichester, who was sworn in, 
February, 1604. 

The Irish were sanguine in their hopes 
that the king would protect them in their 
religion and liberty. Previous to his ascend- 
ing the throne of England, he gave cause 
to the Catholics of the three kingdoms to 
expect special protection ; he had written a 
letter, signed with his own hand, and sealed 
with his seal, to Clement VIII., assuring 
that pontiff of his intentions on that head, 
and his wish of embracing the Catholic re- 
ligion, as soon as he would be established 
on the British throne ; however, all this 
proved to be of no avail, through the arti- 
fice of Cecil, secretary of state,f which 
minister found means to withdraw the letter 
from the pope, and to estrange the king 
from his Catholic subjects. 

From the moment the inhabitants of Eng- 
land and Scotland separated from that unity 
which characterizes the true church, every 
sort of sectarians found partisans in those 
countries, and became formed into societies. 
There were, however, two principal sects, 
denominated Protestant and Episcopalian. 

* Baker, Chron. of Eng. Reign of James I,, p. 
404. Ireland's Case briefly stated, p. 9, et seq. 
Cox, Hist, of Ireland, Reign of James I. 

t Ireland's Case, ibid. 



The first constituted the Church of Eng- 
land, and formed a compound of all the 
errors that appeared in the reign of Eliza- 
beth. That princess took something from 
every innovator of her day, to construct 
this new religion, in which she still allowed 
the authority of bishops, and the hierarchy 
which belonged to the Catholic church to 
remain. From thence arose the name of 
Episcopalian. 

The latter, namely, the Presbyterians, 
are so called from their having no bishops, 
and being governed in religious matters by 
the elders of their sect, who have no mis- 
sion but the choice which is made among 
them for this duty ; they are also called Pu- 
ritans, either from the affected purity of 
their manners and morality, or from having, 
as they say, purified Christianity from the 
superstition which they ascribed to the 
Roman Church. 

James had been brought up in Presby- 
terian principles, which he professed in 
Scotland, but on coming to England he 
adopted the Episcopalian. He had some 
inclination to embrace the Catholic tenets, 
but the fancied consequences of adopting 
that religion alarmed this weak prince.* His 
repose, however, was disturbed by two con- 
spiracies. The object of the first was the 
total overthrow of the government, and the 
placing of Arabella Stuart, the king's near 
relative, and, like him, descendedfrom Henry 
VII ., upon the throne. t Two priests, namely, 
William Watson and William Clerk, Lord 
Cobham, and his brother George Brook, 
Lord Grey, Sir William Rawleigh, Sir 
Griffith Markham, Sir Edward Parham, 
Bartholomew Brookesby, and Anthony Cop- 
ley, were accused of being the leading con- 
spirators. The plot being soon discovered, 
the Catholics were immediately accused of 
it. If any were concerned they were priests, 
whose only share in it was an accusation 
(without any proof) of their having known 
it by means of confession ; the others, it is 
believed, were but a few who had been 
bribed by Cecil and his emissaries. There 
were also Episcopalians and Puritans en- 
gaged in this conspiracy. In general, con- 
spirators are of the same mind, but we have 
here an odd mixture of clergy, laity, Catho- 
lics, Protestants, Puritans, and nobles of 
every rank. The world beheld with surprise 
men of such opposite interests united in the 
same cause. Several members of the con- 

* Ireland's Case, ibid. 

t Baker's Chron. Reign of James I., p. 404, et 



562 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



spiracy were arrested, and some of them 
put to death; among the latter were the 
two priests and George Brook; Cobham, 
Grey, and Markham were pardoned at the 
foot of the scaffold, and brought back to the 
tower, where Lord Grey died ; Cobham and 
Markham were liberated shortly afterwards ; 
the former was deprived of his property, and 
the latter died abroad, in great distress : 
Rawleigh was never pardoned ; he continued 
in prison, and afterwards terminated his 
career upon the scaffold. 

The second conspiracy, called the gun- 
powder plot, was more dangerous than the 
first ; the king and parliament were to be 
blown up at the same time, a. d. 1605.* 
Though this nefarious plot was projected by 
the Puritans, whose principles are opposed 
to monarchy, it was a fatal blow to the in- 
terests of Catholicity in England, and suited 
to the views of Cecil, the secretary.! This 
minister was small in person and deformed ; 
but nature indemnified him for these defects 
by his talents ; he was considered in Eng- 
land one of the ablest ministers of the day, 
and well fitted for conducting any intrigue. 
England abounded at that time with men of 
his kind ; Burleigh, Walsingham, Cromwell, 
and Shaftesbury, were always ready to as- 
sist in the formation of any design.:): Cecil 
was a deadly foe to the Catholics ; he in- 
tended to exterminate them altogether, in 
order to confiscate their estates ; and to 
render them odious to the king and the peo 
pie of England, he accused them of a con' 
spiracy, of which he himself is supposed to 
have been the principal. $ The Catholics 
denied the charge, as appears by many 
tracts which were written at that time, in 
vindication of their innocence. However, 
the discovery of the plot procured for Cecil 
the order of the garter, and the office of 
high-treasurer. The chief sufferers for the 
gunpowder-plot were, Catesby, Piercy, Tho- 
mas Winter, Fawkes, Keyes, Bates, Robert 
Winter, Grant, Rookwood, Digby, and 
Tresham, all men of rank. Tresham died 
in the tower. Garnet was among those 
who suffered : according to Baker, his crime 
was his having concealed his knowledge of 
the plot. ]| 

Cecil, flushed with his success against the 



* Ireland's Case, ibid. 

t Higgins' Short View, pp. 235, 236. Hume, 
Hist, of the Stuarts, vol. 1. 

X Sanderson's Life of King James. Lond. edit, 
in 1655. 

§ Apol. of the Cathol. printed in 1674, p. 399. 
Osborn, Hist. Mem. of the year 1658, pp. 26, 37, 38. 

|| Chron. page 509. 



British Catholics, and wishing to obtain new 
favors, turned his machinations towards 
Ireland, which he now designed to involve 
in some treason. The instrument he chose 
to effect his wicked purpose was Christopher 
St. Laurence, baron of Howth, generally 
called the One-Eyed ; who received instruc- 
tions to invite to a secret conference the 
leaders of the Catholics, in order to entrap 
them. The earls of Tyrone, Tirconnel, 
baron of Delvin, and some other Catholics 
of distinction, appeared at this mysterious 
meeting ; St. Laurence made them swear 
not to divulge what he would communicate 
to them for their own safety. He then said, 
that he had information through a channel 
which admitted of no doubt, that the court 
of England was determined to eradicate the 
Catholic religion out of Ireland, and force 
them to become Protestants ; that he him- 
self, from a concern for their safety, ad- 
vised them to defend themselves against the 
threat, until positive assurances would be 
obtained that no change would be attempt- 
ed against their religion. The noblemen 
present, however, struck with alarm, unani- 
mously replied, that nothing would shake 
their loyalty to the prince, in whose royal 
word they reposed every trust, he being their 
legitimate sovereign. 

These protestations of loyalty were not 
sufficient to protect them against St. Lau- 
rence ; he accused them to the king as ca- 
pable of forming secret designs against his 
majesty and the state, though destitute of 
means to attempt any thing, having neither 
troops on foot nor a hope of receiving suc- 
cors from Spain. Tyrone and others were 
summoned before the council. The Catho- 
lics declared that the accusation was a 
calumny; but seeing themselves confronted 
by St. Laurence, they acknowledged that 
they attended the meeting, much less for 
the purpose of entering into any plot against 
the king, than to hear what this treacherous 
man, who had brought them together, intend- 
ed to propose ; whose infamy they had unani- 
mously condemned on sufficient causes, of 
which the present is an illustration. Having 
been severally examined, and only one wit- 
ness produced against them, the council did 
not think prudent to put them under an ar- 
rest ; but ordered them to appear on the 
day following. During this short interval, 
some false friends who were of the council 
advised them underhand to consult their 
own safety ; stating, that one more witness 
only, who might be easily suborned, was 
necessary to convict them. The perfidious 
advice was but too readily followed by the 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



563 



earls of Tyrone and Tirconnel.* Upon this 
they were proclaimed rebels, and not only 
their individual estates, but six whole coun- 
ties in the province of Ulster, were confis- 
cated for the benefit of the crown, without 
examination or trial. These counties were 
divided between several English and Scotch 
Protestants, under such regulations as were 
obviously intended to produce ruin both to 
the people and their religion. Besides the 
pecuniary fines that were inflicted, and the 
other penalties that were enacted against 
Catholics, it was specifically inserted in the 
patents, that no portion of these lands should 
be sold, transferred, or farmed, except to 
and by Protestants exclusively. St. Lau- 
rence himself, who had hitherto affected a 
tendency in favor of the Catholic religion, 
declared himself a Protestant, and by doing 
so became a partaker of the spoils. t 

This iniquitous proceeding being end- 
ed, Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, Rory 
O'Donnel, earl of Tirconnel, Maguire of 
Fermanagh, and some other noblemen, cross- 
ed over into France. J The English am- 
bassador of that court demanded of Henry 
IV. that these fugitives should be sent back 
to the king his master. The French king, 
however, generously replied, that it was 
beneath the dignity of a monarch to arrest 
a stranger who seeks to save himself by 
flight ; upon this the earls took their de- 
parture for Flanders, where they were re- 
ceived with distinction by the archduke 
and archduchess, viz., Albert and Elizabeth, 
who governed the Low Countries. Thence 
they proceeded to Rome, where his Catho- 
lic Majesty provided abundantly for their 
support, by pensions proportioned to their 
rank. O'Donnel and Maguire died after 
some time, the one at Rome, the other at 
Geneva, on his way to Spain. Nugent, 
baron of Delvin, was thrown into prison in 
Ireland. However, through the interces- 
sion of his friends and the influence of money, 
he obtained his liberty, and was restored to 
favor. Charles O'Neill and O'Cahan were 
summoned to appear in Dublin, whence 
they were sent'to England, and confined in 
the tower of London. 

Persecution was becoming more and more 
violent against the Catholics ; and new pro- 
clamations were issued against the bishops, 
Jesuits, and seminarians. James was as tena- 
cious of the title of head of the church as any 
of his predecessors who had usurped it ; to 
deny it being made a capital crime. His 

* Ireland's Case, p. 17. 

t Ireland's Case, p. 18. 

t Hist. Cathol. Hibem. book 1, k. 4. 



oppressive tyranny at length drove Cahir 
O'Dogherty, chief of Inishowen, to take up 
arms in defence of the Catholics, a. d. 1608. 
He was a young nobleman, aged about 
twenty years, and the most powerful in the 
north of Ireland, after the earls of Tyrone, 
Tirconnel, and Maguire had left the country. 
He raised what forces he was able, and at- 
tacked by night the city of Derry, which he 
took, and put the garrison, together with the 
commander, George Palet, to the sword, 
after setting the Catholics at liberty. He 
then marched against Culmor, which was a 
strong castle built on the borders of Lough 
Foyle, adjoining the sea. Of this he also 
became master, and found in it twelve pieces 
of cannon — he put a garrison into it, and 
gave the command to Felim MacDavet ; 
after which he ravaged the lands of the Eng- 
lish, over whom he gained several battles, 
and spread terror through the whole prov- 
ince. 

O'Dogherty kept up the war for some 
months ; his object was to create a diversion, 
and occupy the English till the return of 
O'Neill and O'Donnel, and the arrival of 
succors which were expected from some of 
the Catholic princes. In the mean time, 
Winkel, an English field-marshal, appeared 
with four thousand men before Culmor, to 
lay siege to it ; MacDavet, the commander, 
seeing his own inferiority in numbers, and 
that the place was defenceless, and being 
without any hope of aid from O'Dogherty, 
set fire to the castle. He then sailed with his 
little garrison on board two transport vessels, 
which he loaded with corn and other provi- 
sions, for Derry. He also carried off some 
of the cannon of Culmor castle, and had the 
rest thrown into the sea. 

Winkel finding the castle of Culmor de- 
molished, marched against the castle of 
Beart, with the intention of besieging it. 
Mary Preston, the wife of O'Dogherty, and 
daughter of Viscount Gormanston, was in 
the place. A monk who had the command 
of it, either from distrust in its strength, or 
to save the lady from the frightful effects of 
a siege, surrendered the castle on condition 
of the garrison being spared, and suffered to 
retire : but the English, regardless of the 
treaty, put every soul to the sword, except 
those who had means of purchasing their 
liberty. The wife of O'Dogherty was sent 
to her brother the viscount, who belonged 
to the English faction. The taking of this 
place was of importance to Winkel ; it served 
him for a retreat, from which he made oc- 
casional incursions upon the districts of 
Inishowen, spreading desolation everywhere 
as he passed. 



5G4 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



The destruction committed by the English 
caused O'Dogherty to come to the relief of 
Inishowen, which was, for many centuries, 
the principality of his house. This noble- 
man had but fifteen hundred men ; he fought 
several skirmishes with the English, in which 
he behaved valiantly ; but his rashness at 
length cost him his life and the victory. His 
troops seeing themselves without their chief, 
fled, and some of them surrendered to the 
conquerors. Thus ended this war, which 
lasted for almost five months, and excited 
great alarm to the English. 

We must in this place introduce the his- 
tory of a young heroine of the house of 
O'Donnel.* When Rory O'Donnel, earl of 
Tirconnel, had been obliged to fly his coun- 
try in 1605, on account of a conspiracy of 
which he was falsely accused, his wife, the 
countess, was in a state of pregnancy. Wish- 
ing to accompany her husband to foreign 
countries, whither he had fled, she strove to 
leave Ireland secretly, but was prevented by 
the viceroy, who had her sent to England 
under a strong guard, where she lay-in of a 
daughter, who received the name of Mary 
at her baptism. The king being informed 
of the circumstances, though he had perse 
cuted the earl of Tirconnel, wished to honor 
the father in the person of the child, and 
having taken her under his royal protection, 
commanded that she should be called Mary 
Stuart, instead of Mary O'Donnel, which 
was her real name. 

The earl of Tirconnel having died at 
Rome, the countess, his wife, obtained per- 
mission of the court to return to Ireland 
with her daughter. This virtuous mother 
took care to give her child a Christian edu- 
cation, and had her well instructed in the 
religion of her ancestors. She often repre- 
sented to her that the misfortunes which 
arose to her father, were produced by his 
attachment to that religion for which the 
grandeur of this world must be sacrificed. 
Mary was twelve years old when she was 
invited to England by her grandmother, the 
countess of Kildare, who presented her to 
the king. This monarch gave her a large 
sum, intended as her marriage portion, and 
the countess of Kildare, who was very rich, 
made her heiress to her fortune, so that the 
protection of the king towards the young 
princess, her illustrious birth, and her bril- 
liant fortune, caused many noblemen in Eng- 
land, of the first distinction, to seek her in 



* This history was written hy Dom Albert Hen. 
riques, in the Spanish language, and printed at 
Brussels ; it was subsequently translated into 
French by Abbe MacGeoghegan. 



marriage. Among those who sought the 
hand of Mary, there was one who had been 
particularly attentive, and had applied to 
her relative and guardian, the countess of 
Kildare ; but his being of the reformed re- 
ligion, made a deep impression upon the mind 
of the young princess, and estranged her 
affections from him. Finding herself per- 
secuted by the countess and her other re- 
lations in favor of an alliance that she 
thought incompatible with her honor and 
religion, this illustrious heroine formed the 
noble resolution to escape from them, and 
an unexpected occurrence favored her de- 
sign. 

A violent persecution was in progress 
againstthe Catholics of Ireland. O'Dogherty 
was up, in arms to defend them ; some 
Catholic leaders who were suspected of being 
concerned, were arrested and brought prison- 
ers to England, to prevent them from join- 
ing in the cause of O'Dogherty. Constan- 
tine O'Donnel and Hugh O'Rorke, rela- 
tives of Mary Stuart, were of the number. 
In spite of their keepers, these two noblemen 
escaped, and found means to get over to 
Flanders. Suspicions were immediately set 
afloat that Mary Stuart assisted in effecting 
the escape of her friends ; a nobleman at 
court informed her that the only mode of 
safety for her, was to marry one of those 
who professed the religion of the state ; and 
also to conform to it herself, as this alone 
would satisfy the king and her grandmother, 
the countess of Kildare. After this Mary 
was summoned before the council to account 
for her conduct. 

Mary saw now that it was time to provide 
for her safety. She communicated her in- 
tentions to a young Catholic lady, who was 
her companion and attendant, and in whose 
fidelity and prudence she could confide. Her 
purpose was to go to Flanders to seek her 
brother, the young earl of Tirconnel, who 
was at the court of Isabella, the infanta of 
Spain, by whom the Low Countries were 
then governed, and by whom an asylum was 
afforded to all who were persecuted for their 
religion. Being obliged to change her ap- 
parel, in order to conceal her sex, Maiy 
procured the clothes necessary for herself 
and the young lady who was to accompany 
her ; she then took the name of Rodolphus 
Huntly, her companion that of James Hues, 
and their servant they called Richard Stratsi, 
by which names they were known during 
their voyage. 

Every thing being prepared, and horses 
provided, they set out from London before 
day, and after many adventures, as related 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



565 



by the author of this account, Mary and her 
companions sailed from Bristol ; after a long 
and dangerous voyage they arrived at Ro- 
chelle, where being refreshed from her fa- 
tigues, she continued her journey through 
Paris to Brussels, at which place she met 
her brother, who presented her to the in- 
fanta, who received her with all possible 
marks of distinction. The report of the in- 
trepid conduct of Mary Stuart was soon 
spread throughout Europe : she was com- 
pared to Euphrosine of Alexandria, Alde- 
gonde, and other Christian virgins of anti- 
quity; and Urban VIII., who was then pope, 
addressed to her the following letter : 

" Urban VIII., to our dear daughter in 
Christ, Mary Stuart, countess of Tirconnel, 
greeting, health, and apostolical benediction. 

" The sacrilegious mouth must be at length 
silenced, which has dared to affirm that the 
inspirations of Christianity enervate the soul 
and check the generous emotions of the 
heart. You, our dear daughter, have given 
to the world a proof of the contrary, and have 
shown what strength and courage are im- 
parted by the true faith — how superior to all 
dangers, and to the very efforts of hell itself. 
This heroic courage is worthy the protection 
of Rome, and the praises which fame confers. 
Your horrors of an alliance with a Protestant 
have been nobly displayed, and resemble that 
terror which an apprehension of fire pro- 
duces. The allurements of a court, and 
menaces of its sovereign, have tended only 
to excite your abhorrence for both. The sea, 
and its accompanying terrors, have produced 
no obstacle to your flight, the honor of which 
is more glorious than a triumph ; even though 
mountains were overwhelmed and buried i^ 
the deep, your confidence in the mercies of 
the Lord would be still unshaken, that coun- 
try being yours where religion sits triumph- 
ant. You have succeeded in escaping from 
the persecution of English inquisitors, and, 
protected by angels, you have been preserved 
from every accident throughout your jour- 
ney ; accompanied by our paternal regards, 
you have arrived at the court of the infanta, 
where religion hath received you into its 
bosom. We therefore implore the Lord 
who has been your support, to reward you 
as your virtues have merited. We write with 
a hope of dispelling the remembrance of 
your fatigues and suffering, which are worthy 
to be envied, since they have earned for you 
a crown of glory. Receive our most tender 
benedictions, and, as you have abandoned 
both relatives and country in obedience to a 
love for Jesus Christ and us, receive also 
our assurance that, instead of exile, you have 



found a mother that loves you tenderly — you 
yourself know that such is the name and 
character of the Roman church ; she will 
cherish you as her worthy daughter, who 
does honor to the British isles. Given at 
St. Peter's, under the fisherman's ring, on 
the 13th February, 1627, the fourth year of 
our pontificate." 

Hume, an author less esteemed at Oxford 
than in Paris, says in his history of Great 
Britain, that "James I. considered his gov- 
ernment of Ireland a masterpiece of policy." 
If we examine the subject closely, it will 
appear, on that head, that his vanity was 
unfounded. 

Hume's assertions may obtain belief among 
foreigners, but cannot make the same im- 
pressions on those who are acquainted with 
the history of the times ; to the Irish, in par- 
ticular, his history is a paradox. 

The king of Scotland, before his accession 
to the throne of England, encouraged the 
Irish to rebel, and furnished them secretly 
with aid against Queen Elizabeth, either for 
the purpose of securing to himself (by re- 
ducing her power) the succession to the 
crown of England, or to be revenged for the 
cruelties that had been inflicted upon his 
mother, Mary Stuart. When seated upon 
the British throne, he viewed things in an 
altered position. The revolt of the Irish, 
which appeared to him in Scotland an act 
of heroic bravery, seemed to him now, when 
king of England, an act of aggression. The 
most solemn submission of the Irish, par- 
ticularly of their leaders in Ulster, was not 
able to avert the thunder which was ready 
to crush them. This prince, without any 
other trial or investigation than the testimony 
of a vile and obscure character named Le- 
nane, confiscated to the use of the crown 
six counties in Ulster, as has been observed, 
under a pretext of a conspiracy, evidently 
fabricated by his own ministers. He sent 
over a body of English and Scotch fanatics, 
among whom he divided the confiscated es- 
tates. He liberally bestowed on indigent 
favorites the lands which had belonged, 
during many centuries, to the O'Neills, 
O'Donnels, Maguires, MacMahons, O'Reil- 
lys, O'Doghartys, O'Cahans, O'Hanlons, 
Mac-Canns, Mac-Sweenys, O'Boyles, Mac- 
Bradys, Mac-Caffrys, O'Flannegans, O'Hag- 
hertys, and several other ancient nobles of 
Ulster. James had the misfortune of con- 
ferring estates on ungrateful men, who were 
afterwards the most inveterate enemies of his 
family. It was thus that God, whose ways are 
inscrutable, made these favorites the instru- 
ments of his vengeance for oppressed inno- 
cence. 



56G 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



" The whole province of Ulster," continues 
Hume, " having fallen to the crown by an 
act of proscription against the rebels, a new 
company was established in London, for 
sending over fresh colonies of English and 
Scotch to that fertile province. The Irish 
were removed to the flat country, from the 
mountains and places that could be defended ; 
they were instructed in agriculture and the 
arts, and provided with settled habitations. 
Thus, from being the wildest and most re- 
bellious province in the kingdom, Ulster 
soon became the most civilized and best 
cultivated." 

This parade does not tell much for the 
glory of the English monarch ; his zealous 
panegyrist endeavors to make the most fla- 
grant injustice appear a meritorious act, and 
the ruin of a whole province to have been 
a glorious performance. Under pretext of 
civilizing the inhabitants of Ulster, James I. 
reduced them to beggary, depopulated their 
country, and dispossessed men of high birth, 
to enrich needy courtiers whose origin was 
scarcely known. A certain author says, that 
" had the mountains in Scotland been more 
popidous, it is probable a pretext would have 
been discovered for confiscating six or seven 
more counties,to enlarge the Scotch colonies 
in Ireland."* 

May we not ask, what good has James 
done for the Irish, and what gratitude can 
he claim from them ? It will be answered, 
that James introduced agriculture and the 
arts ; and that he brought them from moun- 
tains and places where they would have been 
able to defend themselves, to inhabit a flat 
country. What good would a knowledge of 
arts and agriculture be to men who had no 
land to cultivate ? Were the descendants of 
noble families to become artisans, laborers, 
and servants, to cultivate what had been their 
own estates, for the benefit of adventurers 
on whom they were conferred by James I. ? 
He boasted of his administration in Ireland ; 
but, in spite of all that Hume can advance, 
his vanity was groundless ; and if gratitude 
be measured by kindness, the Irish have 
cause to detest the memory of this prince. 

" James I.," says Hume, " introduced hu- 
manity and justice among a people who had 
previously been buried in the most profound 
barbarism." Similar phrases are frequently 
repeated in the works of this learned histo- 
rian ; but a close examination is needed to 
form a just opinion of them ; let us first refer 
to what has been frequently observed in the 
course of this history, and remember what 
has been admitted by all reasonable men, 

* Ancient and modern state of Ireland, page 58. 



that a lettered and Christian people have 
never been considered barbarous. 

According to the English themselves, the 
Irish were celebrated in the sixth, seventh, 
and eighth centuries, for their love of reli- 
gion and literature. " The Irish," says the 
venerable Bede, " received with kindness 
strangers who came from every country, at 
these periods, to be instructed among them ; 
and supplied them with every thing, even 
with books, gratis."* 

The Anglo Saxons, says a celebrated au- 
thor, went to Ireland at this time, as if to 
purchase science. " The disciples of St. 
Patrick," continues he, " made so rapid a 
progress in Christianity, that in the suc- 
ceeding age Ireland was called the island 
of saints."! 

According to Usher, Ireland took prece- 
dence of every nation in Europe in religion 
and learning.f Every discerning man will 
give credit to such historical testimony. 
They were Englishmen who have given 
these accounts, so opposite to Hume, who 
pretends that the Irish had remained in a 
state of barbarism till the reign of James I. 

In continuation of this subject, let us ex- 
amine into the state in which Ireland was 
in those ages which immediately preceded 
the arrival of the English. Religion and 
literature suffered greatly in the ninth and 
tenth centuries by the frequent invasions of 
the Danes ; but after the total overthrow of 
these barbarians, in the beginning of the 
eleventh century, they flourished anew in all 
their former lustre, and Ireland produced 
men of the first order for piety and learning ; 
among whom were St. Celsus, archbishop 
of Armagh and primate of Ireland in the be- 
ginning of the twelfth century,^ who was ac- 
knowledged, even by the English cotempo- 
rary writers, to have been a man of universal 
learning ; St. Malachy, archbishop of Ar- 
magh, so well known from his life written by 
St. Bernard ; St. Laurence, archbishop of 
Dublin, who was canonized by Pope Hono- 
rius III ; Christian, bishop of Lismore ; Gil- 
bert, bishop of Limerick, and apostolical 
legate ; and Maurice, or Mathew, archbish- 
op of Cashel, who, according to Cambrensis, || 
was a learned and discreet man. We might 
here mention many others, both prelates and 
holy persons, who studied in Ireland, without 
being indebted to a foreign country for their 
education ; they all flourished in the century 

* Hist. Eccles. lib. 3, cap. 17. 

+ Cambd. Britan. page 730. 

X Usser. Primord. Eccles. 17, page 899. 

§ War. de Arcbiepis. Ardmaeh. 

|| Topograph. Hib. cap. 32. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



567 



immediately preceding the invasion of the 
English, and some of them lived till the 
coming of these strangers. The Irish were 
a literary people from the time they received 
the gospel in the fifth century, till the twelfth : 
they were consequently polished ; as it is 
allowed that religion and learning are the 
source of cultivated manners, and that the 
nation which enjoys this double advantage 
is considered civilized, and not barbarous. 

Hume has not given the period in which 
the gross barbarism commenced, from which, 
according to him, the Irish were rescued by 
James I. If he were candid he would ac- 
knowledge that such a state must be dated 
from the time of the English invasion. The 
cruelties practised during four hundred 
years, particularly throughout the fifteen 
years of Elizabeth's reign, were sufficient 
to make the most civilized sink into a state 
of barbarism and ferocity. The force of truth 
draws from Hume himself, in spite of his 
prejudices, a justification of the Irish ; the 
following are his words : " The English 
carry their ill-judged tyranny too far ; in- 
stead of inviting the Irish to participate in 
the most polished custom of the conquerors, 
they deny them the privileges of the laws, 
and treat them altogether as strangers and 
enemies : unprotected on the side of justice, 
the wretched inhabitants see no security but 
in force ; flying from the vicinity of their 
towns, which they dare not enter with safety, 
they seek in the woods and bogs an asylum 
against the insolence and tyranny of their 
masters, who have changed them into wild 
beasts." 

The denial of the protection of the laws 
to the Irish, was productive of the most 
frightful consequences ; from this arose 
usurpation, rapine, murder, and a violation 
of all law, human and divine. To kill a 
mere Irishman, or a wild animal, were 
crimes of equal import ; the murderer was 
acquitted by saying, " the person killed was 
a mere Irishman, and not of free blood ;" 
consequently the judge pronounced accord- 
ing to the law, and the criminal was freed. 
Of this many examples have been extracted 
from the archives in the castle of Dublin, by 
Davis, who was himself an Englishman. In 
the most polished nations there are barbari- 
ans and monsters that disgrace humanity by 
their crimes ; but these are individuals only, 
whom the law visits with a severe punish- 
ment according to their guilt. But here is a 
case in which the most inconceivable cruel- 
ties are sanctioned by the law against a 
whole nation. Such has been for many cen- 
turies the conduct of the English towards the 



people of Ireland ; they have the hardened 
audacity to treat as barbarous, men whose 
only crime has been to defend their religion 
and properties against the criminal attempts- 
of usurpers. If the deeds of the two people 
be weighed in the scale of reason, the Eng- 
lish will be found to be the more barbarous. 

While the Irish groaned beneath the yoke 
of English tyranny, they were no longer free. 
Surrounded on every side by a merciless 
enemy, who kept them in continual alarm, 
they lost all hopes of being able to cultivate 
the fine arts. Hostilities and the devastation 
inseparable from war — with their concomi- 
tant attendants, misery, poverty, and famine 
— have certainly helped to make the Irish 
people less civilized, without, however, fall- 
ing into that depth of barbarism which Hume 
ascribes to them. 

Our author says that " Ulster was at this 
period the wildest province in Ireland." This 
is the style of the English ; they framed their 
opinion of the Irish according to the oppo- 
sition they met with from them. The people 
of Ulster were free and warlike, and would 
not bend to slavery ; they distinguished them- 
selves against the English, particularly du- 
ring the last fifteen years of Elizabeth's reign ; 
consequently these usurpers considered them 
more wild and savage than the rest of the 
kingdom. " But thanks to James I.," says 
Hume, " Ulster soon became civilized, and 
was the most highly cultivated part of Ire- 
land." 

On account of some of their customs, our 
author deems the Irish barbarous ; " accord- 
ing to the law which they called Brehon, no 
crime, not even the most enormous, was pun- 
ished with death ; the culprit escaped by pay- 
ing a fine. As murder itself was liable to no 
other punishment, every person had a price 
set on his person, in proportion to his rank. 
Whoever was inclined to pay the fine, had 
nothing to fear for assassinating his enemy. 
The price of each Irishman was called his 
Eric." 

How absurd it is to tax a nation with bar- 
barity, for customs which prevailed among 
the most polished nations. That with which 
the Irish are reproached, was formerly in use 
among the Franks, examples of which are to 
be met with in the Salic law. Athelstan, a 
Saxon king of England in the tenth century, 
one of the legislators and great princes who 
governed that kingdom, enacted a law by 
which he fixed the price of homicide, ac- 
cording to the different ranks of the clergy 
and laity, which they called Weregild ; it 
was the same as the Eric of the Irish.* 

* Seld. tit. Honor, part 11, cap. 5, page 342. 



568 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



" Gavelkinde and Tainistry," continues 
Hume, "two other customs relating to prop- 
erty, were equally absurd." Gavelkinde 
prevailed in the county of Kent, and in other 
parts of England ;* instead of the eldest alone 
inheriting, the lands were equally divided 
between the brothers, which custom was con- 
firmed by William the Conqueror, in imita- 
tion of his predecessors. France, under the 
first race, was divided into as many king- 
doms as there were princes. 

The reign of James was considered peace- 
ful, from his having been engaged in no war 
with his neighbors. His prodigality left him 
in a state of continual indigence. The court 
was always the scene of the intrigues of fa- 
vorites, and of luxury, masquerading, balls, 
and other similar amusements, so that his 
love of pleasure, his effeminacy, and perhaps 
a want of courage, inspired him with that 
aversion for war, which he was desirous 
might be thought the result of his talents, 
prudence, and refined policy. Opinions vary 
as to this prince's character ; some load him 
with praise, others with abuse ; according to 
some, he was an accomplished, wise, and just 
king, the friend of his people, and compara- 
ble only to Solomon ; while others maintain 
that he was a monster of impiety and tyranny. 
The ideas of James respecting religion and 
government were extraordinary ; he thought 
his own power should be without bounds, and 
had adopted the system of an indifference in 
doctrine ; he was neither a good Protestant 
nor a good Catholic, but looked upon amy 
religion to be good which inculcated implicit 
obedience to the sovereign. His principal 
object was the establishment of his despotic 
authority : he had scarcely ascended the 
throne of England, when his acts proved 
the servitude that he intended to establish, 
whereby he lost the confidence and good will 
of his new subjects ; and so tyrannous was 
his reign, that his people detested, and for- 
eigners despised him. 

James was violent in his persecution of 
the Catholics ; he caused many severe laws 
to be enacted against them, and made them 
feel their full force. His weakness was known 
to the Puritans, who were, in principle, ene- 
mies to monarchy ; he suffered them to mul- 
tiply, and this indolence proved fatal to his 
family. This prince received but a moderate 
education, little suited to his rank ; and what 
he did know, savored so much of pedantry, 
that it was said he was better adapted to be 
employed at Oxford than to govern a king- 
dom. 

* Bak. Chron. Reign of William I., p. 21. 



James died on the 27th March, 1625, aged 
59 years, 22 of which he reigned in England. 
He was married to Anne, daughter of Freder- 
ick II., king of Denmark, by whom he had 
two sons, Henry and Charles ; the former 
died before his father, and the latter suc- 
ceeded him upon the throne of England ; he 
had likewise a daughter named Elizabeth, 
who was married to Frederick V., count- 
palatine of the Rhine. He had several other 
children by the same marriage ; among the 
rest was Sophia, who was married to Ernest 
of Brunswick, duke of Hanover, from whom 
is descended the present lung of England. 

Charles I., only son of James I., succeed- 
ed him on the throne of England, a. d. 1625. 
In May following, he married Henrietta, 
daughter of Henry IV., king of France and 
Navarre. The high endowments of Charles 
I. portended a happier reign than that in 
which this unhappy prince terminated his 
career ; but all his misfortunes arose from 
the fanaticism of his subjects. 

Puritanism, which was a reformation of 
the English Church, and which produced 
the melancholy fate of Mary Stuart, made 
rapid strides in Scotland during the minority 
of her son James, who, when he became 
king of Great Britain, endeavored to check 
the increase of the sectarians, and unite his 
English and Scotch subjects in one religion.* 
For this purpose he composed a liturgy or 
form of common prayer, with the consent of 
the general assembly of Aberdeen, which he 
sent to Scotland to be used in the churches 
there ; but his death, which took place in the 
interval, prevented the execution of his de- 

si s n - ... 

In imitation of his father, Charles I. or- 
dered the English liturgy to be adopted in 
his chapel at Edinburgh, and took measures 
to establish it throughout the kingdom of 
Scotland. The bishops and nobles of the 
king's council in Edinburgh ordered it to be 
read in the principal church on the 23d of 
July, and to have it announced to the people 
on the preceding Sunday. The congrega- 
tion was immense ; the dean of Edinburgh, 
who was to read the liturgy, ascended the 
pulpit, but had scarcely opened the book, 
when he was interrupted by the cries and 
hisses of the multitude ; an old woman called 
Jane Gaddis got up in the crowd, and threw 
the stool upon which she had been sitting 
at the preacher, crying out, Begone, per- 
fidious thief, are you going to say mass 
for us ? The bishop of Edinburgh then 
mounted the pulpit, to appease the tumult 

* Baker's Chron. of Engl, on the year 1637. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



569 



by reminding them of the sanctity of the 
place ; but he too met with similar insults. 
All his remonstrances were in vain ; the pop- 
ulace became more outrageous, and threw 
every thing they could meet with at the pre- 
late, whose life would have been in danger 
but for the provost and town officers, who 
succeeded in driving the mob away, after 
the windows of the church had been broken. 

We have now come to the decline of re- 
gal authority in England and in Scotland, 
a. d. 1638. The Scotch openly resisted the 
king's mandates, and held meetings, in 
which, under the mask of religion, they 
shook off the yoke and prepared for war. 
They applied to the neighboring states for 
assistance, and sent to Sweden and Holland 
some Scotch generals to take command of 
their armies. They made themselves mas- 
ters of the castles of Edinburgh, Dumbar- 
ton, and other fortifications. Arms and am- 
munition were taken from the king's arsenal 
at Dalkeith, and the command of the Scotch 
army given to Alexander Lesly, a man of 
some experience in war. 

Charles I., having collected a considerable 
army, marched towards Berwick, to punish 
the insolence of his Scotch subjects, and 
encamped about two miles from that town, 
a. d. 1639. General Lesly and his forces 
were at a short distance, but being badly 
prepared for battle, they sent proposals to 
the king, which he had the weakness to ac- 
cept of, on condition of laying down their 
arms. This pretended peace did not extin- 
guish the rebellion ; it broke out anew with 
increased violence in 1640. The fanatics 
entered England, defeated the king's troops 
at Newburn, and seized upon Newcastle. 

" The king," says Lord Castlehaven,* 
" alarmed by this success of the rebels, re- 
paired to York, where he held a council 
composed of all the peers of the kingdom ; 
a conference was held at Rippon, to treat 
for a suspension of hostilities, which was 
concluded, to the disgrace of the English 
nation, on condition of paying to the 
Scotch twenty-five thousand pounds ster- 
ling a month." 

The Scotch fanatics had friends in Eng- 
land, even among the lords of the council, 
who turned every thing to their advantage.! 
They carried their insolence so far as to 
publish an edict at the head of the army, 
expressive of their determination not to lay 
down their arms till the reformed religion 
(Puritanism) should be established on a firm 
footing in both nations, and the Protestant 

* Memoirs of Lord Castlehaven, pp. 6, 7, et seq. 
t Baker, ibid. 



bishops and lords who had been opposed to 
it punished according to the laws, partic- 
ularly the archbishop of Canterbury and 
the earl of Strafford. This seditious declara- 
tion was published in London, and in all 
the principal towns of the kingdom. 

The people demanded a parliament. The 
king, having dismissed the peers, gave or- 
ders for the convocation of the bloody par- 
liament, as an English author term's it, 
which met at Westminster on the third of 
November following. They condemned the 
king to death, and by an extraordinary re- 
volution overthrew the monarchy and the 
monarch. The poison of Puritanism having 
crept into this body, particularly the com- 
mons, fanaticism was supported, while the 
king was contradicted in all his acts. On 
the opening of the first session, the king re- 
presented that the Scotch fanatics, without 
any legitimate motive, had entered England 
sword in hand, and were devastating the 
country with impunity. His Majesty pro- 
posed to the two houses to concur with him 
in every thing that would be necessary to 
put down the rebellion and protect his faith- 
ful subjects. The proposal was badly re- 
ceived ; it tended only to inflame the fac- 
tions more and more ; instead of calling 
those traitors and rebels who were armed 
against their sovereign, they were treated as 
dear brethren, and three hundred thousand 
pounds given for their good services . When 
it was debated in the house how this sum 
was to be paid, Gervasus Holies,* a mem- 
ber of the assembly, was driven out by a 
majority of voices, for having said " the 
better way of paying the rebels was to drive 
them out of the country with arms." So 
highly favored were the Scotch fanatics by 
those of England, that the friends of the 
king were despised ; while the more this 
weak prince yielded to their demands, with 
a hope of bringing them back to their duty, 
the more insolent and imperious they be- 
came, as nothing less than a total subver- 
sion of the government could satisfy their 
ambition. The king granted at first a privi- 
lege (till then unknown in the kingdom) of 
holding triennial parliaments, which after- 
wards he declared perpetual ; by which 
means he ceased to be any longer their mas- 
ter. The Protestant bishops were sent to 
the tower, an act which at once lost the mon- 
arch twenty-six voices in the parliament, 
and left the intentions of that body concern- 
ing the monarchy no longer doubtful. f 

The unfortunate Charles was betrayed on 

* Memoirs of Castlehaven, ibid. 

t Baker's Chronicles of Engl, on 1637. 



570 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



all sides ; every thing portended his misfor- 
tunes and the fall of the monarchy. The 
Scotch fanatics of Ireland, whom his father 
had loaded with favors at the expense of 
the Catholics, as has been already observed, 
conspired with their English and Scotch 
brethren to destroy him. Seeing that the 
abolition of episcopacy and the monarchy 
was determined upon by the Puritans both 
of England and Scotland, those of Ireland 
thought that the opportunity would be favora- 
ble for destroying Catholicity in their own 
country. A petition, signed by many thou- 
sands, was presented for that object to the 
rebellious parliament of England ; its prayer 
being that the Irish Papists should be obliged 
either to turn Protestants or quit the king- 
dom, and that those who would not sub- 
mit to that law should be hanged at their 
own doors. So certain were the Puritans 
in Ireland of carrying their design, that 
they boasted in public that at the end of the 
year there would not be a single Catholic in 
the kingdom. 

These Irish fanatics forwarded to Ulster 
their wicked petition, to have it signed by 
their partisans in that province ; it fell, 
however, into the hands of some Catholics, 
through a minister named Primrose, who 
was struck with the horror of their designs. 
The discovery alarmed the Catholics, who 
now saw that they must lay before the gov- 
ernment their complaints of these violent 
proceedings, so contrary to the repeated 
assurances of protection that were held out 
to them. This, however, was of no avail. 
Sir William Parsons and John Borlase, 
chief-justices, governed the country in the 
absence of the viceroy.* These were both 
rigid Presbyterians; they had openly de- 
clared themselves favorable to the parlia- 
ment that opposed the king, and consequently 
were averse to listen to any complaints 
from the Catholics. The king's affairs in 
England at the time were so embarrassed, 
that he could afford no remedy to the com- 
plaints of the Catholics, particularly in Ire- 
land, while the House of Commons carried 
so high a hand against the Protestant bish- 
ops and clergy of England. Such was the 
state of things in Ireland before the massacre 
of 1 64 1 . The consternation among the Catho- 
lics was great ; they saw themselves aban 
doned to the fury of their enemies, and no 
remedy or protection to be expected. 
While the Catholics of Ireland were de 

* The earl of Strafford was viceroy of Ireland till 
March ]2th, 1641. After he was beheaded in Eng- 
land, the lord-lieutenancy was given to the earl of 
Leicester. 



liberating among themselves what should lie 
done at so alarming a crisis, the king saw, 
though too late, that his parliament in Eng- 
land was plotting his destruction. He there- 
fore appointed the marquis of Antrim to 
proceed to Ireland with orders for the earl 
of Ormond, who was then lieutenant-general 
of the royal forces there. Ormond was in- 
structed to concert with the most faithful of 
the king's subjects in Ireland, the means 
proper for seizing the chief-justices, who 
were parliamentarians, and to declare in 
favor of his majesty against the proceedings 
of the English parliament. 

The earl communicated his commission to 
a select number of Catholics and Protestants . 
After some meetings held upon the subject, 
the 16th of November, on which day the 
Irish parliament was to meet, was fixed upon 
for the execution of their plan. 

To avoid a confused recital of facts, we 
must follow the order of events, and the 
motives which produced them. The rising 
of the Irish against the government of the 
parliamentarians, the attempt to seize the 
castle of Dublin, the hostilities in Ulster by 
the forces of Phelim O'Neill, and the horri- 
ble massacre that ensued, will be given in 
course. 

The ancient Irish, towards whom the earl 
of Ormond observed a deep secrecy, were 
greatly offended as soon as his projects were 
whispered among them. They thought 
themselves as well entitled to the confidence 
of the king as any of his subjects, and there- 
fore such a distinction was unseasonable and 
injurious to the cause. Sir Phelim O'Neill ; 
Rory O'Morra, to whom Ballina, in the 
county of Kildare, belonged ;* Connor Ma- 
guire, lord-baron of Inniskillen ; MacMahon 
of Monaghan ; Philip O'Reilly, the chief of 
Cavan, and several other noblemen of Ul- 
ster, formed a resolution to anticipate the 
plans of Ormond. They determined to 
effect by their services, not only the free 
exercise of their religion, as the Scotch con- 
spirators had some time before obtained for 
themselves, but likewise therecoveiy of their 
properties which had been so unjustly wrested 
from them about thirty years before, by the 
English and Scotch Presbyterians, whose 
predilection for the rebellious parliament 
was manifest to all. 

These noblemen appointed, the 23d of 

* He was descended from the illustrious tribe of 
the O'Morras of Leix, so celebrated for their at- 
tachment to the interests of religion and their 
country, and by their noble efforts in favor of 
both, particularly during the reign of Elizabeth. 
This house is not yet extinct. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



571 



October, 1641, for the execution of the 
measures they had planned, viz., seizing 
upon the castle of Dublin and the lords- 
justices at the same time, together with some 
forts in the north.* Lord Maguire and some 
others of the nobility were appointed to head 
the attack on Dublin ; the plot, however, 
was betrayed the day before which it was to 
be carried into effect, by his own servant, 
named Connelly. This traitor was amply 
remunerated ; and having embraced the Pro- 
testant religion, he earned for his descend- 
ants, by his perfidy, considerable possessions 
in Ireland. Maguire and MacMahon were 
taken prisoners, sent to England, and hang- 
ed at Tyburn. Sir Phelim O'Neill was 
more fortunate in Ulster, where he made him- 
self master of Charlemont, and other forts. 

The earl of Castlehaven gives an account 
of the grievances of these noblemen, and the 
motives which induced them to rebel.f He 
says, first, the English governors in Ireland, 
so far from treating the Irish as free subjects, 
looked upon them as a conquered people, 
and adds, that when a nation is dissatisfied, 
and cruelly treated, the inhabitants will con- 
sider themselves bound only to obey as long- 
as they are constrained, but will feel them- 
selves justifiable in attempting to regain 
their freedom, on the first opportunity that 
may arise. 

Secondly — These noblemen were indig- 
nant in consequence of James I. having con- 
fiscated, six counties in Ulster to enrich the 
Scotch, without in the least indemnifying the 
old proprietors, several of whom had never 
been implicated in Tyrone's rebellion, which 
was the pretended motive for this confisca- 
tion. 

Thirdly — The tyranny of the earl of 
Strafford, who was viceroy of Ireland in 
1635, alarmed the Irish nobility. In order 
to enrich himself and his dependants, this 
nobleman determined to show the titles of 
many proprietors of Leinster, Munster, and 
Connaught, who had enjoyed their estates 
for centuries, to be imperfect. One instance 
will suffice to make the reader acquainted 
with the injustice of his attempts. The 
O'Brenans, who were proprietors of an ex- 
tensive territory called Idough, in the county 
of Kilkenny, were declared to keep unlawful 
possession of that district, on the pretence 
that Henry II. had claims upon it nearly five 
hundred years before. This was sufficient 
■ to procure the sentence of expulsion against 
these supposed retainers of the property of 
others. Sir Christopher Wandesford, a rela- 

* Memoirs of Castlehaven, page 9. 
t Memoirs, page 10, et seq. 



tive to the viceroy, obtained the whole ter- 
ritory, with letters patent confirming the 
donation. However, experience shows that 
men whose estates have been seized upon 
and confiscated, will not be restrained, by 
either religion or allegiance, from embracing 
the means of resisting the power that op- 
presses them. The following is an example : 
the Trivernates, who were crushed by the 
Romans, sent ambassadors to Rome to de- 
mand peace. On appearing before the senate 
they were asked, what peace a people who 
had so often violated it, could expect from 
the Romans ? The deputies answered with 
firmness, " If the peace be honorable, it will 
be lasting ; if not, it cannot continue long ; 
do not think that a people will submit to 
terms which oppress them longer than they 
are forced to do so."* 

Fourthly — After the meeting of the Eng- 
lish parliament, penal laws were enacted 
against the Catholics of Great Britain, and 
a great number of petitions were presented 
to have the Catholics of Ireland treated with 
the same rigor. It required nothing more 
to alarm a people so warmly attached to their 
ancient religion. 

Lastly — The Scotch having taken up arms 
against their lawful prince, under pretext of 
having their grievances redressed, succeed- 
ed not only in obtaining new privileges, 
(among which was the exercise of a new 
religion,) but also the sum of three hundred 
thousand pounds, and eight hundred and 
fifty pounds a day for several months. Is 
it then to be wondered at, says Lord Castle- 
haven in conclusion, if the Irish were roused 
by the example of the Scotch 1 their case 
was infinitely more deplorable ; they took 
up arms, not against their sovereign, but 
against his rebel subjects : their endeavors 
were not to introduce a new religion into the 
state, but to enjoy in peace that which they 
had professed for ages. 

The conspiracy of Maguire and other Irish 
Catholics, afforded great satisfaction to the 
lords-justices and council.! They were too 
deeply interested, and, at the same time, too 
politic, to let so favorable a moment escape 
them of enjoying the opportunity for confis- 
cation. In order to save appearances, pro- 
clamations were issued against the rebels of 
Ulster, and all the king's faithful subjects 
were invited to unite insuppressingthe rebel- 
lion, though in reality they wished it would 
extend to the other provinces, and involve 
all in a similar crime of violating the laws. 

In the mean time the parliament met on 

* Livy, book 8. 

t Ireland's Case, page 30, et seq. 



572 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the 16th of November, 1641, in the castle of 
Dublin. It was composed of Catholics as 
well as Protestants. The lords-justices. 
Parsons and Borlase, having laid before the 
members the horrors of the revolution which 
had just broken out, and how necessary it 
was to prevent the consequences which it 
threatened, both houses protested unani- 
mously against the rebellion, and passed an 
act, by which they bound themselves to sacri- 
fice life and fortune in defence of his majesty's 
interests, and of the tranquillity of his gov- 
ernment. This, however, did not suit the 
designs of the lords-justices, who were fre- 
quently heard to say, " the more rebels the 
more confiscations."* The parliament was 
therefore prorogued, to the great disappoint- 
ment of both houses, and of all good men. 

This proceeding raised the courage of the 
malecontents, who began the tragedy ; they 
flew to arms, and soon became a formidable 
army, capable of laying siege to Drogheda. 
Major Roper was sent from Dublin to the 
relief of that town, at the head of seven or 
eight hundred men ; he was defeated at Gil 
lianstown by the Cavan troops under Philip 
O'Reilly, chief of the ancient tribe of the 
O'Reillys of that district. The conqueror; 
put the neighboring country under a weekly 
contribution for their support, as the Scotch 
had done the preceding year in the north of 
England ; but this act, which was thought 
pardonable in the Scotch in England, was 
considered criminal in the Irish. 

The refusal of arms by the government to 
the Catholics, shows that they wished to feed 
the flames of rebellion in the north, in hopes 
that it would extend itself to the whole king- 
dom. Notwithstanding that many made 
offers of their services to the king, and pro- 
posed to enter into security for their alle- 
giance, they were treated more like rebels 
than as subjects. The violence exercised 
against them was so great, that the earl of 
Castlehaven, who ventured to speak against 
their oppressors, was arrested, and kept 
several months in prison, where he would 
probably have spent the remainder of his 
life, or perhaps have lost his head, if he had 
not had the good fortune to escape from the 
hands of his keepers. 

The king, who had been kept in profound 
ignorance of affairs in Ireland, discovered, 
when too late, the cause of the disturbances.! 
He saw that they emanated from the same 
source as the revolt of the republican party 
in England and Scotland, who had formed 
the project of destroying both himself and 

* Memoirs of Castlehaven, page 31, et seq. 
t Ireland's Case, page 32, et seq. 



his government. In the twelfth chapter of 
his Eikon Basilike, the king expresses him- 
self in the following words on this subject :* 
It is certainly the opinion of many sensible 
men, that the extraordinary rigor and unjust 
severity made use of by some people in 
England, caused the discontent which had 
long existed in Ireland to degenerate into 
rebellion ; when discontent is turned into 
despair, and oppression into a fear of extir- 
pation, rebellion will naturally succeed, in 
order both to escape present tyranny, and 
to counteract those evils which threaten, 
through the interested zeal or fanaticism of 
those who think that it is a proof of the truth 
of their religion to admit of none but their 
own." " There is," continues the prince, 
" a kind of zeal that looks upon compassionate 
moderation as disinterestedness, some pre- 
ferring the idea of cruelty to that of indif- 
ference ; and that to lull a bear for his skin 
is better than for any injury he has done ; 
the confiscation of estates is more advan- 
tageous than that charity which enjoins us 
to save the lives of those to whom they be- 
longed, and reform their errors. I consider 
those who have excited rebellion in my other 
kingdoms highly criminal in not checking 
the awful effusion of blood in Ireland." 

Charles I. himself exculpates the Irish 
Catholics ; he ascribes their revolt to the 
mad zeal of some who wished to restrain 
them in the exercise of their religion, and 
to the cupidity of others who forced them to 
rebel in order to confiscate their properties. 
The king was so fully persuaded of this, that 
he sent orders to the lords-justices of Ireland 
to publish, in his name, a general amnesty 
to all who would submit within forty days. 
This order filled with dismay these leeches, 
who hoped to gain extensive estates by the 
revolt of the Irish. In obedience to the 
king, they, however, published his orders ; 
but with certain restrictions ; thus, instead 
of forty days, they allowed the Irish but ten 
to make their submission ; and, instead of 
extending the monarch's pardon to all ranks 
and conditions, they excluded, by their own 
authority, all those who were landed pro- 
prietors. The impossibility of repairing 
from the distant parts of the kingdom to 
Dublin within ten days, and the unjust ex- 
clusion, contrary to the lung's commands, of 
landed proprietors, proved the wicked inten- 
tions of the Irish rulers; who,however,finding 
themselves supported by the fanatics in Eng- 
land and Scotland, permitted nothing to im- 
pede their designs. In order to prevent for 

* Memoirs of Castlehaven, pp. 20, 21. Ireland's 
Case, pages 32, 33. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



573 



the future, the king's interference with the 
affairs of Ireland, they determined to punish 
severely whomsoever would dare to give him 
any account of them. Sir John Eead, who 
undertook to promise the Catholics that he 
would make their grievances known to his 
majesty, was taken by the earl of Ormond 
and sent to Dublin ; on being questioned by 
the justices, he avowed every thing, and 
was sent to prison, where he was put to the 
rack by order of these tyrants. They per- 
suaded themselves that they would be able 
to force him, by tortures, to accuse even the 
king and queen of having encouraged the 
Irish to rebel.* About the same time Patrick 
Barnwall, lord of Killbrew, aged 66 years, 
experienced similar treatment ; his crime 
being that of appearing on the faith of the 
amnesty which had been proposed to all 
who would submit within ten days after the 
proclamation — not having had any appre- 
hension that landed proprietors could be 
looked upon as criminal on account of their 
estates, or should be excluded from the king's 
amnesty. 

The Irish who had taken up arms in "Ul- 
ster, confined themselves to pillaging and 
despoiling the Protestants who had not ap- 
peared in arms against them, without de- 
priving any man of life. The testimony of 
Sir John Temple on this subject is conclu- 
sive. " The Irish in Ulster," says he, " had 
killed but few Englishmen in the beginning, 
and during the first days of the rebellion. 
They contented themselves with forcing 
their houses, taking their properties, and 
seizing upon their flocks. "f " The lords- 
justices and council of Ireland wrote to the 
viceroy, who was then in England, on the 
subject : this letter is dated October 25th, 
1641 . In this letter, which is quoted by Sir 
John Temple in his history of the rebellion, 
these governors gave the viceroy an account 
of the rebellion of the Irish, which they had 
received from some persons of rank in Ul- 
ster. They simply mention " that in the 
commencement of the revolt the Irish had 
pillaged and burned the houses of the Eng- 
lish." They say nothing of the English 
being killed, but that acts of pillaging and 
burning had been committed. Lord Blaney, 
Sir Arthur Terringham, and other English 
chiefs, were then in Ulster, and took care to 
inform the lords-justices of what they wit- 
nessed ; it is therefore very improbable that 
they would have omitted so dreadful a cir- 
cumstance as the pretended massacre of 
several Protestants ; nor is it more probable 

* Memoirs of Castlehaven, pages 38, 39. 
t History of the Rebellion 



that they could have been unacquainted with 
any outrage which had occurred. 

After the discovery of the plot to surprise 
the castle of Dublin, the lords-justices, find- 
ing that few except those who had been de- 
prived of their properties in Ulster in the 
preceding reign were concerned in the re- 
volt, wished to implicate all those of the na- 
tives who still possessed good estates. For 
this object they dispatched troops to different 
quarters, while others hovered around the 
capital who coincided but too closely with 
the criminal views of their chiefs. In the 
beginning of November, 1641, they massa- 
cred about eighty persons, without distinc- 
tion of either age or sex, in the villages of 
Santry, Clontarf, and Bullock, near Dublin. 
The garrison of Carrickfergus, shortly before 
this, had massacred in one night every in- 
habitant of a peninsula in the county of An- 
trim called Oilean Magee, amounting to two 
or three thousand men, women, and children.* 
This was the signal for the destruction of an 
unoffending population, who had not taken up 
arms against the government, and whose only 
crime was, that they possessed an extensive 
territory. Similar cruelties were practised 
by Lord Broghill, in the counties of Cork and 
Waterford and the neighboring districts ; by 
Coote in the county of Wicklow ; by Captains 
Peasly, Brown, and others, in the county of 
Tipperary ; and, in general, by all the Pro- 
testant garrisons of the kingdom. 

It was not till they heard of the cruelties 
inflicted on their countrymen, that the Irish 
who had taken up arms in the north began 
to revenge the death of their fellow-citizens. 
Though the chiefs were not so barbarous as 
to wreak their vengeance on the innocent, 
they could not restrain their men from making 
reprisals. These were resolved to treat the 
Protestants in the north in the same manner 
as the Catholics of the other provinces had 
been treated. It was thus that each party, 
in revenge for the death of friends and 
neighbors, committed many acts of cruelty 
in cold blood. 

It would be desirable for the honor of the 
two parties, that these atrocities were buried 
in oblivion. Though, however, both are with- 
out an excuse, still they who began the trage- 
dy are most criminal. The barbarous orders 
of the Protestant commanders to their sol- 
diery, when sending them in pursuit of the 
Catholics, are well known ; they commanded 

* Ireland's Case, page 37, et seq. Account of 
the troubles in Ireland, page 3. Collection of the 
massacres committed on the Irish, printed in Lon- 
don, 1662, pp. 1, 8, 9, 15, 19, 23, &c. Memoirs of 
Castlehaven, p. 37. 



574 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



them to spare neither sex nor age, not even 
a child, were it but a hand high ; which was 
the expression of Coote when sending Ms 
troops to scour the country.* 

The conduct of the Catholic leaders was 
very different ; they saw with horror the cru 
elties that were practised against Protestants, 
and those who committed them were disown- 
ed, and many put to death for disobedience 
of orders. f The truth of this statement is 
supported by the authority of the earl of Cas 
tlehaven, who witnessed what was passing 
in Ireland at that time. It is also confirmed 
by the remonstrances presented, in the name 
of the nation, on the 17th March, 1642, by 
Viscount Gormanstown and Sir Robert Tal- 
bot ; and also by the offers of the Catholic 
agents in London, after the restoration of 
Charles II. ; who proposed to have the 
murders committed on both sides investi- 
gated, and the authors punished according 
to the laws. The uneasiness which this 
proposal caused to the Protestants, proves 
how much they had to reproach themselves 
with on that head. They were not easy until 
they found that none but a few regicides, 
and the Catholics of Ireland, were to be ex- 
cluded from the amnesty. 

It cannot be calculated with precision how 
many perished during the twelve years that 
this cruel scene lasted, with more or less vio- 
lence. Protestant authors ascribe all the 
infamous conduct to the Catholics. The 
absurd and exaggerated catalogue given by 
Sir John Temple, and others, of three hun- 
dred thousand Protestants having been mas- 
sacred in a single province, is both absurd 
and impossible. 

Hume draws a horrifying, but incorrect 
picture of the Irish massacre in 164 14 in 
which the Irish alone are accused. All that 
he advances is a mere repetition of what had 
been previously extracted by the republican 
and fanatic writers of his own country from 
Sir John Temple, whose statements had 
been already refuted. 

This part of Hume's history is carefully 
written : his style is striking, his descrip- 
tions are lively, and it is obvious that he 
strives to convince ; but truth will always 
triumph by its own eloquence. The energy 
with which he condemns the Irish, shows 
the spirit by which he is actuated : accord- 
ing to him, none of them were massacred ; 
the English alone were the sufferers. Were 
we to resort to recrimination, how great 

* Memoirs of Castlehaven, p. 29. Ireland's 
Case, p. 53. 

t Memoirs of Cast. ibid. Ireland's Case, ibid. 
t Reign of Charles I. 



would be our advantage over Hume ! we 
would discover sufficient matter to confute 
him in the conduct of his country towards 
Charles I. He that lives in a glass house, 
ought not to throw stones at his neighbor ; 
we may be permitted to mention, with re- 
gard to the remark of Hume, that the Irish 
never either sold, or put their king to death. 

Although we discover, from history, ex- 
amples of bloody scenes in other nations, 
the massacre of Ireland was one of the most 
cruel and barbarous that has been recorded 
among Christians, both on account of its 
duration, and the fury of those who were 
the authors of it. If it be true, as every one 
believes, that both sides were culpable, it is 
equally true that the aggressors were more 
criminal than those who resorted to retalia- 
tion by revenging the death of their country- 
men. Hume ought to have made some dis- 
tinction between the parties. Different opin- 
ions, too, ought to be quoted on a contested 
subject, in order that the impartial reader 
may decide ; but the bad faith of this author 
has made him pass over in silence respecta- 
ble writers, by whom his positions would 
have been refuted. 

We will now give the authentic testimony 
of Lord Castlehaven. "In the mean time," 
says this nobleman, " the justices and coun- 
cil of Ireland sent detachments from Dublin, 
and other garrisons in Ireland, with orders to 
kill and destroy the rebels : the officers and 
soldiers, without distinguishing rebels from 
subjects, killed indiscriminately, in many 
places, men, women, and children ; which 
exasperated the rebels, and induced them to 
commit, in turn, the same cruelties upon the 
English." It is evident, from the assertion 
of Lord Castlehaven, that the English were 
the aggressors, by order of their commanders, 
and that the crime of the Irish was, their 
having followed so barbarous an example. 

" I cannot believe," says Castlehaven, 
" that there were at that time in Ireland, 
without the walls of the towns, a tenth part 
of the British subjects whom Temple and 
others mention to have been killed by the 
Irish. It is evident that he repeats two or 
three times, in different places, the names 
of persons, and the same circumstances, and 
that he puts down some hundreds as having 
been massacred at that time, who lived for 
several years afterwards. It is therefore right 
that, notwithstanding the unfounded calum- 
nies which some have circulated against the 
Irish, I should do justice to their nation, and 
declare that it was never the intention of 
their chiefs to authorize the cruelties which 
were practised among them." 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



575 



The author of the "Catholic Vindication" 
is in accordance with Lord Castlehaven on 
this head. This writer, who is an English- 
man of discernment, has done every thing 
to clear up the question; after indefatigable 
researches he concludes by saying, " all the 
hundreds of thousands who were represented 
to have been massacred in the north, did not 
exceed three thousand." 

Sir William Petty, who was an English 
Protestant, and secretary to the usurper, 
Cromwell, who appointed him surveyor-gen- 
eral of Ireland, assures us, that after the most 
minute research, the number killed on both 
sides, either in battle or by massacre, during 
the civil war, did not exceed thirty-six thou- 
sand. After these respectable authorities, 
we look to the justice of the reader, who will 
balance the proofs, and not submit to the 
prejudices of Hume, who is palpably guilty 
of injustice and partiality. 

It is a matter of surprise that a writer of 
Hume's merit would descend to be the echo 
of English tumult and clamor, which have 
been so often refuted ; his character ought 
to rank above that of scribblers, such as Lord 
Castlehaven speaks of, and whom he re- 
proaches with having borrowed their ac- 
counts from Temple. 

The stranger who cannot be always on his 
guard against the false insinuations of an 
accredited author, may be easily imposed 
upon. He has not the opportunity to dis- 
cover the truth of what is set forth by either 
the prejudiced or the partial historian, and 
he only who is acquainted with the history of 
the times, can discover the imposture. 

From the manner in which Hume describes 
the massacre of 1641, it appears that he was 
determined to disparage the Irish at the en- 
tire expense of truth, which should be ever 
dear to the historian. 

" The astonished English," he says, " liv- 
ing in profound peace and security, were, 
without opposition or provocation, massacred 
by their nearest neighbors, with whom 
they had lived for a long time in habits of 
mutual friendship and kind offices. Neither 
tortures, such as refined cruelty could de- 
vise, nor the agonies of the soul, or of de- 
spair, were sufficient to assuage the people's 
vengeance, which was excited without cause, 
nor allay their cruelties, which were inflict- 
ed without provocation." 

Itisnotsurprisingthatin so horrible a com- 
motion some innocent people lost their lives 
on both sides ; nothing can be more innocent 
than a child of a hand high. Still, there 
were no exceptions in the barbarous orders 
which Coote and other English officers had 



given to their soldiery, who were let loose 
to make their bloody hunts among the Irish 
Catholics. 

We cannot but feel surprised at the air 
of confidence with which Hume speaks of 
the massacre the Irish committed upon the 
English, without provocation, without in- 
jury, or cause given by the latter; but is 
Hume's authority alone sufficient to convince 
the reader ? 

The example of the Scotch in a great de- 
gree caused the Irish Catholics to rebel; 
who were already dissatisfied at seeingthem- 
selves on the eve of either renouncing their 
religion or quitting their country. A peti- 
tion to this effect, signed by many thousand 
Protestants of Ireland, and presented to the 
English parliament, justified their fears. It 
had been already boasted of in public, that 
before the end of the year there would not 
be a single papist in Ireland , this produced 
its effects in England. The king having, by 
a forced condescension, surrendered his Irish 
affairs to the parliament, that tribunal made 
an ordinance on the 8th December, which 
promised the entire extirpation of the Irish ; 
it was decreed that popery would not be 
any longer suffered in either Ireland, or any 
other of his majesty's states. This parlia- 
ment likewise granted, in February follow- 
ing, to English adventurers, in considera- 
tion of a certain sum of money, two millions 
five hundred thousand acres of profitable 
lands in Ireland, without including bogs, 
woods, or barren mountains, and this at a 
time when the number of landed proprietors 
implicated in the insurrection was exceed- 
ingly small. To satisfy the engagements 
entered into with the English, as above, 
many honest men, who never conspired 
against the king or state, were to be dispos- 
sessed, and the money raised by such means 
was subsequently applied to make that war 
against the king which at last brought him 
to the block. 

The Irish, particularly those of Ulster, 
had not forgotten the unjust confiscationof six 
whole counties, within the forty years im- 
mediately preceding ; they looked upon the 
new possessors as unjust possessors of the 
property of others, and if the means to drive 
out these intruders happened to arise, might 
they not have said what Simon the high 
priest said to the ambassador of Antiochus ? 
" We have not usurped the lands of others, 
we are not keeping properties which belong 
to others ; we look only to the inheritance 
of our fathers, which has been for some 
time in the unjust possession of our enemies." 
The ancient Irish proprietors saw with pain 



576 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



their inheritance, which had been for many 
centuries in the possession of their ancestors, 
become the property of a troop of adven- 
turers, taken for the most part from the 
dregs of the people, whose prosperity and 
riches, no doubt, excited the jealousy of 
those at whose expense their fortunes had 
been raised. These ancient proprietors could 
say with Jeremiah, " Our inheritance and 
our houses have fallen into the hands of 
strangers." The grief of these old proprie- 
tors was changed into revenge ; they seized 
upon the houses, the flocks, and the furni- 
ture of the new comers, whose fine and com- 
modious habitations, erected on the lands of 
the Irish, were destroyed either by force or 
by the flames. 

Such were the hostilities committed against 
the English by the Irish in 1641. There 
was not a question about massacre until the 
English began to set the example, which 
then indeed was too closely copied by the 
Catholics of Ulster, and the contagion soon 
spread itself throughout the kingdom. It 
was no longer a dispute between two neigh- 
bors ; it was a national hatred and anti- 
pathy between two people, viz., the Irish 
Catholics and English Protestants ; this ha- 
tred was founded upon motives of religion 
and self-interest — motives which often stifle 
every sentiment of humane and social sym- 
pathy even between the nearest relatives 
and friends. 

Such was the origin of that unhappy war 
that cost so much blood — such were the mo 
tives of the Irish insurrection in 1641, which 
was accompanied with such horrible conse^ 
quences. In support of the truth of what 
has been set forth, writers whose testimony 
must be conclusive from their having been 
witnesses of what they stated, are intro- 
duced. Still they are not to Mr. Hume's 
taste ; proofs have no influence on him ; he 
mutilates and decides ; and according to 
him, the Irish Catholics were the sole 
actors in this tragedy. 

To enter more deeply into its causes and 
effects would exceed the limits of our his- 
tory ; it is, however, manifest, that the num- 
ber of Catholics murdered during this war 
was six times greater than that of the Pro- 
testants. They, being scattered through- 
out the country parts, were of course ex- 
posed to the rage of a licentious soldiery, 
while the Protestants, who lived principally 
within walled towns and castles, were se- 
cured from the attacks of the insurgents. 
After the rebellion had broken out too, a 
great many Scotch and English returned to 
their own countries ; so that those who were 



massacred by detachments sent from the 
English garrisons, whose orders were to 
spare neither sex nor age, must have been 
infinitely the more numerous. The Catho- 
lics who were put to death by the Cromwel- 
lians on account of the massacre were not 
very many ; consequently, the number of 
Protestants who were killed in the begin- 
ning could not have been very great. So 
soon as the war had ended, courts of justice 
were held to convict the murderers of the 
Protestants. The whole who were convict- 
ed amounted to one hundred and forty Catho- 
lics, who were chiefly of the lower classes ; 
though their enemies being the judges, wit- 
nesses were suborned to prosecute, and sever- 
al among those found guilty declared them- 
selves innocent of the crimes for which they 
were sentenced to suffer. If similar investi- 
gations had taken place against the Protest- 
ants, and witnesses from among the Catho- 
lics admitted against them, nine parliamen- 
tarians out of every ten would have been in- 
evitably convicted (before a fair tribunal) of 
murder upon the Catholics. 

The lords of the English pale took no part 
as yet in the disturbances : they were gen- 
erally Catholics, who, viewing the dangers 
which threatened their religion and king, 
were driven to the sad alternative of rising 
in their own defence ; circulars were sent to 
the Catholic chiefs of the other provinces, 
inviting them to assemble at Kilkenny in the 
beginning of May, 1642.* It was there that 
the celebrated association, called the Catholic 
Confederates of Ireland, was formed. From 
the state of affairs, it was clearly proved that 
the remed3 r must be as violent as the disease ; 
but to avoid precipitancy at so important a 
crisis, and to act in accordance with religion 
and justice, the bishops and Catholic clergy 
who were present were consulted upon the 
expediency of the war which they were about 
to undertake : the following was the opinion 
of the ecclesiastics : " Inasmuch as the war 
which is declared by the Catholics of Ireland 
against Sectarians, and particularly against 
the Puritans, is intended for the defence of 
the Catholic religion, the preservation of our 
sovereign, King Charles, his just rights and 
prerogatives, and her majesty the queen, and 
the safety of the royal family, so basely 
persecuted by the fanatics, and also for the 
defence of our lives and fortunes, and the 
just liberties of our country, against usurpers 
and oppressors, particularly the Puritans — 
we consider and pronounce this war to be 
just and lawful : if, however, any one engage 

* Vindiciarum Cath. Hiber. lib. 1, cap. 1. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



577 



in it through avarice, hatred, revenge, or 
other evil views, or from wicked advice, 
they are guilty of mortal sin, and merit the 
censures of the church, if, after being ad- 
monished, they continue to be guided by the 
above motives." 

The church having declared the war to be 
lawful, the assembly appointed a council, 
called the supreme council of Kilkenny, 
who were invested with authority to govern 
the state, and whom all the representatives 
of the nation bound themselves by oath to 
obey. Orders were then given for the levy- 
ing of troops, and generals were appointed 
for the four provinces, viz., Thomas Pres- 
ton of the house of Gormanstown for Lein- 
ster, Colonel James Barry of Barrymore for 
Minister, Colonel John Burke of the house 
of Clanriccard for Connaught, and Owen 
Roe (Eugenius Rufus) O'Neill for Ulster ; 
while in order to establish the confederacy 
on a firm basis, laws were enacted, which 
were admitted, even by their enemies, to be 
just and equitable. 

The second meeting of the confederates 
was appointed for the 24th of October fol- 
lowing ; it resembled a parliament without 
distinction of houses, in which every act of 
the council since May was approved of. It 
was settled- that the council should consist 
of twenty-four members, six from each pro' 
vince, and that after each general assembly 
the council should be confirmed or changed 
according to the will of members. It was 
also decreed that each province should have 
a council, to meet according to the exigency 
of affairs. In order to sanction the commis- 
sions and other public acts which emanated 
from this tribunal, a seal was made, called 
the seal of the council. 

The Catholic confederates of Ireland hav- 
ing thus arranged their form of government, 
wished by a solemn act to secure the fidelity 
of those who composed the assembly, and at 
the same time to justify their proceedings 
by proving to the world that their intentions 
were upright, and far from being a rebellion 
against their lawful prince. An oath, in the 
following terms, was for this purpose sub 
scribed to by each member of the confed- 
eracy : 

" I swear in the presence of God, and of 
his angels and saints, to defend the liberty 
of the Roman Catholic and Apostolical rell 
gion, the person, heirs, and rights of his 
majesty King Charles, and the freedom and 
privileges of this kingdom, against all usurp- 
ers, at the peril of my life and fortune."* 

* Vindiciar. Cath. Hib. c. 1, p. 6. 



When the general assembly of October 
had broken up, the council deputed ambas- 
sadors to the courts of France, Spain, and 
Rome.* M. Rochford was sent to France, 
and was succeeded by Geoffrey Barron ; 
the reverend father James Talbot, of the 
order of St. Augustin, was sent to Spain ; 
and Sir Richard Belling to the pope : he 
was succeeded by Nicholas French, bishop 
of Ferns, and the latter by Sir Nicholas 
Plunket. These princes received the am- 
bassadors of the confederates favorably, and 
sent representatives to Ireland as proof of 
their satisfaction. M. de la Monarie was 
sent by Louis XIII., king of France ; he 
was succeeded by M. Dumoulin, and the 
latter by M. Taloon. Philip IV. of Spain 
appointed M'Fuysott, a native of Burgundy ; 
O'Sullevan Bearre, earl of Beerhaven, was 
deputed after him, and lastly Dom Diego de 
Los Torres. The envoy of Pope Urban 
VIII. was Starampo, an ecclesiastic ; he 
ontinued in Ireland till the arrival of Ri- 
nuccini, archbishop and prince of Fermo, 
who was sent as legate by Innocent X. in 
1645. 

In the mean time the confederate army 
commenced their operations. t They were 
in the beginning badly provided with arms, 
artillery, &c, necessary for carrying on the 

r ; and for some time their success was 
doubtful ; however, they made themselves 
masters of several towns that had been in 
the hands of the Protestants, and in less 
than two years the latter were driven out of 
the interior of the country, and forced to take 
refuge in the seaports. 

The king saw that the Irish Catholics 
had no design to withdraw their allegiance 
from him, and that they were forced by his 
own and their enemies to resort to arms. 
He therefore immediately recalled the lords- 
justices, and appointed the earl of Ormond 
viceroy.| 

The Catholic confederates expected a 
great deal from this change of government. 
They consented to lay down their arms, and 
agreed among them to advance thirty thou- 
sand eight hundred pounds to the viceroy for 
the purpose of sending the Protestant army 
to England. § The viceroy, a more zealous 
Protestant than an able minister, refused the 
services of the Catholics, and would scarcely 
permit two thousand of them to proceed to 
Scotland to reinforce the royal party under 
the marquis of Montrose, where they had a 

* Memoirs of Castlehaven, pp. 59, 60. 
t Vindiciar. Cath. Hib. ibid. 
t Ireland's Case, ibid. p. 48, et seq. 
§ Vindieiarum Cath. ibid. cap. 2. 
73 



578 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



share in the heroic actions which that great 
man performed in the services of his king.* 

The supreme council deputed Lord Mus- 
kerry, (afterwards earl of Clancarty,) Sir 
Nicholas Plunket, and a few others, to Eng- 
land, to lay their grievances before the king, 
and solicit his majesty in behalf of their re- 
ligion and liberty. The king received these 
deputies with distinction, and sent them back 
to the viceroy, recommending to him to se- 
cure a peace with the Catholic confederates. 
His majesty afterwards wrote to him to put 
an end to the war in Ireland, to offer to his 
Irish subjects the free exercise of their re- 
ligion, to annul Poyning's Act, and to grant 
a general amnesty for the past ; in fine, to 
make peace on any terms. Charles judged 
well, that this would enable his Irish subjects 
to send him assistance against his rebellious 
parliament. The viceroy,however,neglect- 
ed all his orders, and would make no peace 
with the Irish, till the king's affairs became 
irremediable.! 

The Catholic confederates carried on the 
war with vigor against the Irish parliamen- 
tarians.! Murrough O'Brien, baron of Inchi- 
quin, was among the number of their ene- 
mies. This nobleman had been in the king's 
service, and sought the presidency of Mun- 
ster ; but the king having given preference 
to the earl of Portland, he deserted the royal 
standard, and the towns under his command, 
and declared for the parliamentarians, from 
whom he received the command of the prov- 
ince of Munster, with the title of president. 
It may be observed, that the houses of Thu- 
omond and Inchiquin had imbibed, with their 
English titles, all the malignity of the Eng- 
lish against the Irish. Under the auspices 
of a rebellious parliament, Inchiquin fought 
against his countrymen more like a robber 
than the general of an army ; he destroyed 
every thing with fire and sword in his march 
through Munster. The holy city of Cashel, 
where the apostle of Ireland baptized the 
first Christian king of the province, did not 
escape his fury ; in vain the terrified inhab- 
itants sought safety in the cathedral church, 
the sanctity of which was no security against 
the tyrant. Inchiquin having given orders 
for an assault, commanded his soldiers to 
give no quarter, so that, between the carnage 
in and outside of the church, not one escaped. 
Twenty clergymen, with a vast multitude of 
people, perished on this occasion. He took 
pleasure in burning whole villages, houses, 

* Hist, of the Life of Montrose, Lond. edit, in 
1652,c.5,6,7,8,9,10,ll. 
t Ireland's Case, p. 50, et seq. 
X Memoirs of Castlehaven, pp. 96, 98, 114. 



and the properties of the inhabitants ; from 
which he was called Murrough an toithaine 
— that is, Murrough the incendiary, by which 
name he is still known in that province, 
where his memory is execrated. 

The successes of Inchiquin in Munster 
alarmed the supreme council ;* they dis- 
patched the earl of Castlehaven to take the 
command of that province, instead of Barry, 
who was unsuccessful and unfit to serve, 
from his great age. In order to open the 
campaign early, Castlehaven collected his 
forces at Clonmel, amounting to five thou- 
sand infantry and one thousand cavalry, with 
some pieces of cannon. Having set out on 
his march, he seized upon several towns 
without reaching Inchiquin. The principal 
places he took were Caperquin, Michaels- 
town, Mallow, Donerail, Liscarrol, Milltown, 
Rostellan, Castle-Lyons ; and after reducing 
the country as far as Youghal, he returned 
to Kilkenny in November. 

After the battle of Naseby, and other bat- 
tles which the king had lost by means of the 
English rebels, he was forced, in May, 1646, 
to throw himself upon the mercy of the 
Scotch rebels who were then at Newark. It 
was contrary to the interest of these fanatics 
that the king should make peace with the 
Irish Catholics, who might assist Mm against 
his enemies ; and taking advantage of his 
misfortunes, they forced him to write to Or- 
mond on the 11th of June, recalling all the 
authority he had previously given him for 
making peace with the Irish. 

The council of the Catholic confederacy, 
alarmed at the postponement of the peace 
which Ormond was commanded to make, 
sent to demand a final answer. Ormond 
replied that he had received counter-orders 
from his majesty ; however, he changed his 
decision soon afterwards, being determined 
to deny what he found contrary to his inter- 
est, under a pretext that his power had been 
annulled before the exchange of the articles. 

Peace was at length proclaimed by Or- 
mond ; but the pope's legate, who had just 
arrived, having called a meeting of the pre- 
lates at Waterford, the latter finding that his 
majesty refused to acknowledge the commis- 
sion of the earl of Glamorgan, as also that 
nobleman's negotiations with them, on which 
alone they could rely respecting the affairs 
of the church, and perceiving that this pre- 
tended peace contained nothing to secure 
freedom of conscience, nor the maintenance 
of the Catholic religion, they protested open- 
ly against it, and pronounced sentence of ex- 

* Memoirs of Castlehaven, p. 100, et seq. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



579 



communication against all who would agree 
to it, as guilty of voluntary perjury ; since 
in the beginning of the association, they had 
sworn to accede to no terms without the ap- 
proval of all, in a general assembly, which 
was held every year for the regulation of 
public affairs.* 

The opposition of the clergy operated 
powerfully among the officers of the army 
and nobility throughout the kingdom, and 
the peace was universally condemned. The 
council having examined the articles, rejected 
it, and put the commissioners by whom it had 
'been negotiated into prison. Sir Edward 
Butler, lord of Graig-Duiske, was created a 
peer of Ireland by the king about this time, 
under the title of lord-viscount of Galmoy. 

The English parliamentarians, and their 
brethren the Scotchfanatics,were as strongly 
opposed to any accommodation with the Irish, 
as the Nuncio and the Catholics had been, 
but their motives differed. The refusal of 
the latter to make peace, arose much less 
from a spirit of revolt than to secure the free 
exercise of their religion : while the former 
hoped to build their greatness upon the ruin 
of others. They were dissatisfied with the 
conclusion of a war, the continuance of which 
would be productive of numerous confisca- 
tions : while a peace would be contrary to 
their plans, since it would raise assistance for 
the king against themselves. With these 
views, the English parliament took ten thou- 
sand Scotch into their pay, a. d. 1642, and 
sent thein to the north of Ireland under Ma- 
jor-General Robert Monroe, rather to watch 
the movements of the Irish, than to reduce 
them completely .f This reinforcement was 
joined by five or six thousand Scotch who 
were already settled in the country , under Sir 
Robert Steward, and some English troops 
under Sirs Awdly Mervin, Theophilus Jones, 
and others, who had refused to agree to the 
truce which had been made with the Irish. 
Their army amounted to about twelve thou- 
sand men. According to the accounts of the 
lords-justices, they consisted of nineteen 
thousand. The English officers were subor- 
dinate to Monroe, who had the chief com- 
mand, according to the agreement with the 
English parliament. 

Monroe landed in Ireland in May. He 
marched to Carrickfergus, and seized on the 
castles of Newry and Carlingford, where he 
placed garrisons. The English commanders 
represented to him that the opportunity was 
favorable for continuing the conquest, and 

* Ireland's Case, pp. 59, 53. Memoirs of Castle- 
haven, pp. 56, 57, 58, 118, 119. 
t Memoirs of Castlehaven, p. 81 



reducing the whole province, but he refused 
to cross the river Bann, in which refusal he 
followed the directions of his masters . Having 
condemned sixty men, eighteen women, and 
two priests to death in Newry, he returned 
to Carrickfergus, and on his march laid waste 
the lands of Lord Iveagh and Maccartan. He 
carried away four thousand head of cattle, 
and other property : the English forces ex- 
pected a share in the booty, but the Scotch 
seized on all during the night ; and the Eng- 
lish seeing themselves deceived, mutinied, 
and would no longer join the Scotch in their 
robberies. 

The Scotch general, after refreshing his 
troops at Carrickfergus, resumed hostilities 
in Antrim : he drove off with him five thou- 
sand head of cattle, burned Glenarme, and 
devastated the estates of the marquis of An- 
trim. Instead of going to fight an enemy, 
he enriched his country, (Scotland) with the 
fruits of his plunder. About the same time, 
Sir Phelim O'Neill, together with Alexander 
Mac-Donnell, surnamed Colkittagh, i. e. 
left-handed, collected some troops ; they 
were attacked the 19th of June, by Sir Wil- 
liam and Sir Robert Steward. The action 
was very brisk, but the former were obliged 
to withdraw after losing five hundred men. 

In the mean time the Scotch army in Eng- 
land* treated with the parliament to sell them 
the person of their king. He was accordingly 
given up to his enemies for the sum of two 
hundred thousand pounds sterling,! on the 
8th of February, 1646 ; and in a few months 
afterwards, the earl of Ormond surrendered 
to the commissioners from the parliament, 
the castle of Dublin, with the sword and 
other appendages of royalty. He, and the 
others who guarded it for the king, thought 
the castle was no longer tenable. This act 
procured for the earl a chain and medal of 
gold, besides the sum of thirteen thousand 
pounds sterling, as the earl of Anglesey, one 
of the commissioners, acknowledged. 

Owen O'Neill was commander of the 
Irish troops in Ulster. He agreed with the 
pope's nuncio| regarding the peace of 1646, 
and the motives which influenced that min- 
ister to oppose it. In the spring of this 
year he travelled to Kilkenny to consult 
with that prelate on the state of religion and 
the country ; and having received the suc- 
cors he expected, he returned to Ulster. 

This general collected his forces in the 

* Ireland's Case, pages 54, 55. 

t Commentaries on the English rebellion, by R. 
Manlius, part 1, lib. 2, p. 175, published in London, 
A. d. 1686. 

X Life of Ormond, vol. 1, lib. 4, p. 575. 



580 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



month of May, amounting to about five 
thousand infantry, and five hundred cavalry, 
with which body he marched towards Ar- 
magh. Monroe led his army, consisting of 
six thousand infantry and eight hundred 
horse, Scotch and English, and encamped 
within ten miles of the same place. Being 
informed that O'Neill was on his march, 
with a design of taking the city by surprise, 
the Scotch general decamped on the 4th of 
June, and advancing towards the city, ar- 
rived at midnight with a view of attacking 
O'Neill. Being informed that O'Neill was 
encamped at Benburb, Monroe marched the 
next day to attack him ; but though superior 
in numbers to O'Neill, he sent orders to his 
brother, George Monroe, who commanded a 
force at Coleraine, to come and join him at 
Glaslough, near Benburb. O'Neill having 
information of the time he was to pass, im- 
mediately dispatched Colonels Bernard Mac- 
Mahon, and Patrick Mac-Nenay, with their 
regiments, to meet him and prevent a junc- 
tion with General Monroe. These two offi- 
cers performed their trust to the satisfaction 
of their commander. They cut the enemy, 
commanded by young Monroe, to pieces, 
and returned next day to Benburb, where 
they shared with O'Neill the honor of the 
victory they had gained over the Scotch and 
English. O'Neill was favorably posted be- 
tween two hills, his rear being enclosed 
by a wood, and his right extending itself 
along the Blackwater. Being apprized that 
Monroe was at Glaslough, O'Neill moved 
his cavalry to a height, from whence he 
viewed the Scotch army on the opposite 
banks of the river. In the mean while, the 
Scotch crossed the river where it was ford- 
able, near Kinard, and were marching to 
Benburb. O'Neill sent Colonel Richard 
O'Ferral to occupy a defile through which 
the enemy had to pass, but their cannon pre 
vented him from keeping it, and he was 
forced to retire, which he did in good order. 
The two armies began to prepare for 
battle ; O'Neill kept the enemy employed 
for a while with light skirmishing and mus- 
ketry, while waiting for the sun, which an- 
noyed his troops during the day, to go 
down. He was expecting also the arrival 
of a detachment, which he sent the prece 
ding evening against some of the enemy at 
Coleraine. When Monroe saw this force 
arrive, he thought that they were comin 
to join himself from the same place, but 
found his mistake on seeing them enter 
O'Neill's camp. O'Neill now commanded 
his men to advance within reach of the pike 
and to begin with close fighting. His or 



ders in this were most valiantly executed. 
The English regiment commanded by Lord 
Blaney, after a vigorous defence, was cut to 
pieces; and the Scotch cavalry being broken 
by those of O'Neill, the rout became gene- 
ral. There was but the one regiment of Sir 
James Montgomery that retired in a body, 
the remainder of the army that escaped be- 
ing thrown into the greatest disorder. Colonel 
Conway, who had two horses killed under 
him, accompanied by Captain Burke and 
about forty horsemen, reached Newry. Lord. 
Montgomery was taken prisoner, besides 
twenty-one officers, and about a hundred 
and fifty soldiers ; three thousand two hun- 
dred and forty-three of the enemy fell on 
the field of battle, and several were killed 
the day following in the pursuit. The loss 
on the side of O'Neill amounted to about 
seventy men killed and two hundred wound- 
ed. The whole of the Scotch artillery, arms, 
tents, baggage, and thirty-two stand of co- 
lors were taken. The booty was immense ; 
it consisted of fifteen hundred draught horses, 
and provisions of every kind for two months. 
General Monroe saved himself with diffi- 
culty on horseback, and fled without either 
hat or wig. After this defeat he burned 
Dundrum, and abandoned Portdown, Clare, 
Galway, Downpatrick, and other strong 
places. The consternation of his army was 
so great, that numbers fled to Scotland for 
safety. 

The victory gained by General O'Neill 
seemed to portend the complete conquest of 
Ulster. His respect, however, for the or- 
ders of the nuncio, lost to him the fruits of 
his success. His excellency wrote to him in 
June, complimenting him on the victory he 
had gained, and beseeching him to march 
into Leinster, to the support of those who 
opposed the peace. The messenger found 
O'Neill at Tenrage, ready to fall upon the 
Scotch. However, in obedience to the nun- 
cio's request, he assembled a council of war, 
when it was decided to march directly to 
Kilkenny, in conformity to which decision 
he issued his commands. His army was 
considerably increased upon their march. 
The general that acted with Preston, who 
commanded th# Leinster troops, supported 
during some time the cause of the nuncio 
against his opponents. Preston, however, 
though attached to the cause of religion, did 
not cease to be a faithful servant to the king, 
notwithstanding that he lost the battle of 
Dungan Hill, near Linches-knock, in the 
county of Meath, against Jones, a general 
of the parliamentarians ; he was created by 
Charles II. a peer of Ireland, under the title 
of Viscount Tara. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



581 



The confederate Catholics being inform- 
ed that, the king was kept a close prisoner 
in England, while his enemies were seek- 
ing his destruction, and that the prince of 
Wales fled to France, whither the queen 
had withdrawn some time before, sent a 
deputation to that princess and her son. 
The marquis of Antrim and Lord Muskerry 
were commissioned to make known to the 
queen and the prince of Wales how eager 
they were to conclude a peace, and to assist 
in rescuing his majesty from imprisonment. 
Upon this the marquis of Ormond, who was 
then in France, was sent back to Ireland, 
about the close of September, 1648, and a 
peace was concluded, January 17th, which 
was called the peace of '48. This was im- 
mediately agreed to by the confederate 
Catholics, with the exception of a few who 
were headed by Owen O'Neill. He was 
offended with Ormond (who was jealous of 
his merit) for having refused him a post 
in the army, although allowed by all who 
knew him to be the bravest and most expe- 
rienced general in the kingdom. 

A scene of cruelty and barbarism, of which 
no history furnishes an example, was now 
going forward in England. A king sold by 
his fanatic subjects of Scotland to their 
English brethren for a sum of money, drag- 
ged from prison to prison, and at length pub- 
licly executed upon a scaffold. Such was 
the scene, and such the tragical end of 
Charles I. The limits we have proposed to 
observe in this concise history of the Stuarts, 
do not permit us to penetrate more deeply 
into circumstances which perpetuate the in- 
famy of the perpetrators. "I could wish," 
says Cox,* " to throw a veil over the 30th 
day of January, that frightful day on which 
the father of his country suffered martyr- 
dom. O ! that I could say they were Irish- 
men who committed the abominable deed, 
and that it could be laid at the door of the 
papists ; but though they might have parti- 
cipated indirectly in the crime, it is at least 
true that others were the. actors, and we 
may say with the poet, 

' Pudet hoc opprobria nobis 

Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli.' " 

This exclamation of Cox displays fully 
his disposition towards a people whose his- 
tory he attempts to write. 

While these proceedings were being car- 
ried on against Charles I. by his rebellious 
subjects, and during his trial and execution, 
the confederate Catholics drove the war 
vigorously forward against the parliamenta- 

* Reign of Charles I. p. 206. 



rians.* They reduced every place in the 
kingdom to the king's power, except Dublin 
and Londonderry. Ormond intending to 
besiege the capital, marched his army in 
June to Finglass, a village within two miles 
of Dublin. The garrison, commanded by 
Colonel Michael Jones, was reinforced by 
some troops from England. These troops 
consisted of a regiment of horse and two 
of infantry, under the command of Colonels 
Venables and Hunks, well provided with 
provisions and warlike stores. The city 
being difficult of attack from the side of 
Finglass, Ormond crossed the river above 
the bridge with his army, and encamped at 
Rathmines. By the advice of his council 
he seized upon an old castle at Baggetrath, 
which commanded the entrance to the har- 
bor. This gave him a twofold advantage, 
viz., it facilitated his approach, and pre- 
vented any succors arriving by sea to the 
besieged. He next sent workmen to repair 
the castle, and a force to protect them. This 
manoeuvre greatly alarmed the garrison, and 
allowed the governor to see into its design 
and consequences. On the morning of the 
2d of August, he made a sally in good order, 
retook the castle, and put the troops who 
were guarding it to the sword. This first 
success animated the garrison, the remain- 
der of which marched against the camp. In 
vain did Sir William Vaughan oppose the 
enemy with a body of horse : they were 
routed, and he himself killed ; and the panic 
having reached the rest of Ormond's army, 
he himself, his cavalry and infantry, were 
all shamefully put to flight. 

The monarchy and house of lords being 
overthrown in England, the government of 
Ireland became an object of dispute to all 
the parties. The Presbyterians were for 
conferring it on Waller, the Independents 
were inclined towards Lambert ; but after 
some debating, they all finally agreed that 
Oliver Cromwell was fittest for that impor- 
tant trust. He was accordingly nominated 
lieutenant. His departure for that country 
immediately followed, and accompanied by 
his son-in-law Ireton, he set out with a pow- 
erful army, consisting of seven regiments 
of infantry, four of cavalry, and one of dra- 
goons, f Cromwell having landed in Dublin, 
marched straight to besiege Drogheda, of 
which Sir Arthur Ashton was the command- 
er. A summons to surrender the town being 
rejected, Cromwell ordered a breach to be 

* Baker, Chronicles of England, on the Reign 
of Charles II. 

t Flegellum, or the Life of Cromwell, published 
in London, 1672, p. 48, et seq. 



582 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



attempted, and a general assault made.* He 
was, however, twice repulsed with heavy 
loss : a third attack succeeded, and the city 
was taken on the 10th September. - ) - Orders 
being issued to give no quarter, the garrison 
was accordingly put to the sword. Ashton 
the commander, Sir Edmond Varney, Colo- 
nels Wale, Warren, Dunne, Tempest, Fin- 
glass, and several other officers of distinc- 
tion, besides three thousand soldiers, were 
slain. After this expedition Cromwell re- 
turned with his army to Dublin. 

The marquis of Ormond, who was still 
lord-lieutenant for the royal cause, appealed 
now to General O'Neill for his assistance, 
offering to grant him any terms he could 
wish for, besides those he had previously 
refused him.| Colonel Daniel O'Neill, 
nephew to Owen Eoe O'Neill, was appointed 
to negotiate the affair with his uncle ; but 
the untimely death of that general, who was 
alone able to cope with the tyrant Crom- 
well, rendered the hopes of Ormond, and 
those of the Catholic confederates, abortive. 

Cromwell having refreshed his troops in 
Dublin, gave the command of the city to 
Colonel Hewson, and marched through the 
county of Wicklow. On his route he took 
Arklow, Ferns, Enniscorthy, and some other 
places, and on the 1st October he arrived 
before Wexford, and summoned it to sur- 
render. Colonel David Synot, who com- 
manded the town, in order to divert Crom- 
well, proposed terms of capitulation, which 
were refused. The delay furnished an op- 
portunity to the earl of Castlehaven to get 
in a regiment of infantry, and after a few 
days a further reinforcement of a thousand 
men arrived from the marquis of Ormond, 
under the command of Sir Edmond Butler. 
The treachery of Captain Stafford, however, 
frustrated all their plans of defence. Being 
commander of the castle, he surrendered it 
to Cromwell ; and the garrison, in their en- 
deavors to escape, were butchered by that 
tyrant to the number of about two thousand. 
Sir Edmond Butler was killed by a musket 
ball while swimming to save himself. Every 
step of Cromwell was marked by the most 
savage ferocity ; two hundred ladies of Wex- 
ford, who sought with tears, and upon their 
knees, to propitiate the tyrant's rage, were 
massacred at the foot of the cross in the 
public square. 

From Wexford Cromwell marched to 

* Heath's Chron. of the Civil "War, part 1, an. 
1649, p. 244, et seq. edit. Lond. an. 1676. 

t Cox, Hist, of Ireland, Reign of Charles II., p. 
8, et seq. 

X Ireland's Case, pages 56, 57. 



Ross, which was commanded by Luke TaafF : 
this place being untenable, and a breach ef- 
fected, terms were given to the besieged, and 
they were allowed to retire with their arms. 
Cromwell had not the same success before 
Duncannon, where Colonel Edward Wogan 
commanded an intrepid garrison ; he was 
forced to raise the siege and return to Ross. 
Here he had a floating bridge constructed 
upon the river Barrow, both to watch -the 
movements of Ormond, and keep up a com- 
munication with Munster, where he had his 
spies. Cork, Youghal, and other places 
garrisoned by Englishmen, who calculated 
upon receiving rewards and promotion, de- 
clared in favor of Cromwell, and deserted in 
bands to range themselves under his stand- 
ard. Martin, the commander of Carrick, 
also in a cowardly manner surrendered it to 
him. Ballyshannon was sold to him too, 
but he was repulsed at Kilternan. The 
garrison of Kilkenny, after making a noble 
stand, surrendered by capitulation. 

The last expedition of Cromwell in Ire- 
land was against Clonmel, which was de- 
fended by sixteen hundred Ulstermen, under 
the command of Major-general Hugh O'Neill, 
nephew to Owen Roe O'Neill. He served 
under his uncle in foreign countries, and was 
deemed an able captain.* Cromwell now 
commenced the siege, and having effected a 
breach, ordered an assault, contrary to the 
advice of his council .f The bravery of the 
besieged defeated his attempts, and he was 
repulsed with a loss of two thousand five 
hundred of his best soldiers. The hypocrite 
was himself the first to perceive his rashness. 
In accordance with his usual phrensy he 
called in religion to aid him in his misfor- 
tune, attributing his defeat to too great a 
confidence in human arms ; and to atone for 
such impiety, he commanded a fast to be 
observed by the whole army. Hugh O'Neill 
still defended the place with extraordinary 
valor, but seeing himself unable to hold out 
for want of powder, he crossed the river by 
night with his garrison, and withdrew to- 
wards Waterford. According to authors of 
the day, the failure of powder in the garrison 
of Clonmel was fortunate for Cromwell, who 
would have been otherwise obliged to raise 
the siege. The next day after the garrison 
retreated, the citizens offered to capitulate, 
and the besiegers not knowing the state of 
things within, readily granted their demands. 
During this siege Cromwell received orders 
from the parliament to return speedily to 
England, where his presence was necessary 

* Scourge of Ireland, page 87. 

t Heath, part 1, an. 1649, page 259. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



583 



to make head against the Scotch royalists. 
He therefore embarked at Youghal, the 
29th May, and left the command of the 
army to Ireton, his son-in-law.* 

Charles, prince of Wales, son of Charles 
I., and true heir to the crown of Great 
Britain, was then at Breda. Commissioners 
were sent to him to treat for his restoration 
to the throne of Scotland.! The marquis of 
Montrose, who had laid down his arms by 
orders of the late king, was at the time 
travelling through France, Germany, and 
the Low Countries. It was there he heard 
of the tragical end of Charles I., and at the 
same time received from the young king the 
commission of captain-general of the royal 
army in Scotland. He then applied to the 
courts of Denmark and Swedenf for assist- 
ance, which they gave him in money, and 
likewise arms for fifteen hundred men. He 
then sailed for Scotland with five hundred 
Germans, and after encountering a violent 
storm, and losing two hundred of his men, 
and some warlike stores, he landed in the 
Orkney islands with the remaining three 
hundred that escaped shipwreck. The in- 
habitants of the Orkneys received arms from 
him, and with this little force he marched to 
Caithness, in the northern extremity of Scot- 
land.§ The army of Montrose was too small 
for his enterprise; and he was abandoned 
and betrayed by those who had promised him 
their aid : Colonels Ogleby and Corkrain 
wasted the money which he gave them to 
raise troops in Amsterdam and Poland ;|| 
Colonel King who was commissioned to come 
to his assistance with a body of Swedish 
cavalry, disappointed him ; Lord Pluscardy 
was prevented by the rebels from collecting 
two thousand men that he had promised, 
and the Highlanders, harassed by the war, 
were not to be relied upon ; so that the ruin 
of Montrose had now become inevitable. H 

The news of his being in Scotland gave 
great alarm to the parliament which was 
then sitting at Edinburgh. An army was 
immediately dispatched against him under 
the command of Lesley and Holborn, Colo- 
nel Straughan being sent first with an ad- 
vance guard of cavalry. He surprised the 
royalists, who were unable to defend them- 
selves against this unexpected attack, and 
were all either killed or made prisoners 
Montrose striving to escape in a Highland 

* Cox's Reign of Charles I., p. 17 

+ Baker's Chron. Eng. arm. 1649. 

t Baker, ibid. 

§ Life of Montrose, edit. Lond. an. 652, p. 171. 

|| Heath, Chron. part 2, an. 1649, 1650 

1T Life of Montrose, p. 175. 



dress, wandered three or four days among 
fields, without taking food ; till he had the 
misfortune to fall into the hands of a traitor.* 
This man was lord of Aston, formerly at- 
tached to the service of Montrose ; deter- 
mined to receive the reward which was 
offered, he arrested, and dishonorably gave 
him up to his enemies. The trial of this 
great man was short ; he was condemned, 
under the name of James Graham, to death, 
and hung on a gibbet thirty feet high, deeply 
regretted by the king his master, and all 
good men. 

While the fanatics of Scotland were ex- 
ercising their rage against the Icing's best 
subjects, their deputies were treating at Breda 
for his restoration ; the terms of which were 
both hard and insolent. First, the king was 
to banish from court all excommunicated 
persons ;t second, he should affirm by his 
royal word, that he would accept of the cov- 
enant ;| third, he should bind himself to 
ratify all the acts of parliament which de- 
creed the government to be Presbyterian, 
and confirm the tenor of worship, the pro- 
fession of faith, and catechism in the king- 
dom of Scotland, as they had been approved 
of by the general assembly of the kirk, and 
by the parliament of the kingdom, and should 
himself conform to all these matters in his 
private and domestic habits ; fourth, he 
should admit all civil causes to be decided 
by the parliament of Scotland, and all eccle- 
siastical affairs by the kirk.§ 

Charles was placed in an embarrassing 
dilemma. His friends were divided in opin- 
ion what plan would be most prudent for 
him to pursue ; some being opposed to such 
hard and disgraceful terms, while others, 
who had suffered banishment in his cause, 
and were desirous of returning to their 
country, urged him to accept of the condi- 
tions. The queen-dowager and prince of 
Orange were of this opinion ; he therefore 
adopted their advice, which was in accord- 
ance with his own wishes, and submitted to 
the terms proposed by the commissioners. 
A frigate commanded by Van Tromp the 
younger, was ready to receive him at Ter- 
heyden, near the Hague. Van Tromp him- 
self accompanied the prince on board, and 
enjoined his son to use all skill in his voyage 

* Life of Montrose, pages 178, 179. 

t Those who had exposed their lives in defence 
of the king were excommunicated. 

t The covenant signified a solemn compact made 
by the Puritans or Scotch fanatics for their mutual 
defence : its object was the extirpation of popery 
and prelacy. 

§ This was an assembly of ministers of the 
Presbyterian Church. 



384 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



with the prince ; there were but two men-of- 
war to escort the frigate, and the English 
fleet was at sea ready to oppose them. The 
able commander, however, surmounted every 
obstacle ; and after encountering a heavy 
gale, which cast them on the coast of Den- 
mark, the prince was landed safe on the 16th 
of June, 1650, in a place called the Spey, 
in the north of Scotland. 

Charles was received by his unkind sub- 
jects of Scotland with much show, but little 
sincerity : he was obliged to sign the cove- 
nant, and dismiss his faithful followers ; he 
submitted, however, in every thing to these 
fanatics, without security for either his life 
or freedom. In either spiritual or temporal 
matters the king was not consulted, so that 
he was treated more like a school-boy who 
feared the authority of his master, than as a 
king who was to govern his subjects. 

The news of the arrival of prince Charles 
soon reached England. The republicans 
being alarmed, collected an army, the com- 
mand of which devolved on Lord Fairfax 
but he refused it, under the plea of infirmity, 
and thus laid the foundation of Cromwell's 
greatness. On this general's return from 
Ireland, where he left the command to Ireton 
his son-in-law, he was appointed commander- 
in-chief of the army intended for Scotland, 
and about the end of June he marched 
towards Berwick, in order to be near the 
frontiers. • 

The people of Scotland determined to 
raise an army to oppose Cromwell, and having 
but a small regular force, ten thousand foot 
and twenty-seven troops of cavalry were 
ordered to be levied.* Generals were ap 
pointed ; the earl of Levan was to command 
the infantry ; Holborn was to act under him 
as major-general ; David Lesley was nomi- 
nated lieutenant-general of the cavalry, and 
Montgomery major-general ; the chief com- 
mand was reserved for Prince Charles, who 
was proclaimed king of Scotland on the 
15th July, at the cross of Edinburgh. 

Cromwell entered Scotland towards the 
end of July, at the head of sixteen thousand 
men, and marched through Mordington, as 
far as Haddington ; the Scotch army, con- 
sisting of six thousand horse, and fifteen 
thousand foot, being encamped between 
Edinburgh and Leith. Cromwell saw, that 
besides their superiority in numbers, the 
Scotch were advantageously posted; he 
marched therefore towards Musslebourgh, 
and from thence to Dunbar, closely pursued 
by the Scotch army. The English forces, to 

* Mem. Hist. ibid. Baker's Chron. Reign of 
Charles II. ^ 



the number of twelve thousand, arrived at 
Dunbar on Sunday the 1st of September ; 
the Scotch, amounting to twenty- four thou- 
sand men, encamped the same day on a 
height near the town. The English were at 
first dismayed, but as despair often inspires 
courage, they drew up in order of battle, and 
spent that and the next night under arms ; 
on Tuesday morning the attack began ; the 
engagement was bloody, and the ground 
bravely disputed ; the English remained 
masters of the field of battle ; and the loss 
of the Scotch amounted to four thousand 
slain, nine thousand prisoners, with all their 
arms and baggage. In consequence of this 
signal victory, Cromwell took possession of 
Edinburgh, Leith, and other places, but was 
prevented from continuing his conquests by 
the approach of winter. 

The portion of the Scotch army that es- 
caped withdrew to Stirling. Having deter- 
mined to crown their king, the ceremony 
was performed on the 1st of January follow- 
ing, at Scone, with the approbation of all 
the royalists. Charles supposed he ought to 
be then his own master, but he soon discov- 
ered that he was subject to the most rigid 
covenanters and capricious fanatics. Weary, 
therefore, of his subjection, he determined 
to return to the continent, preferring his 
freedom to the empty title of king.* For 
this purpose he withdrew secretly to Middle- 
ton, who commanded some royalists in the 
mountains, but he was persuaded by Mont- 
gomery and other friends, to abandon an 
enterprise which might injure his cause. 

The royalist army was still encamped at 
Torwood, near Stirling, which was an ad- 
vantageous post, and from which Cromwell 
strove in vain to dislodge them.t He made 
different movements, all tending to straiten 
the royal troops. The prince, in conse- 
quence, resolved to carry into effect a pro- 
ject he had contemplated for some time. He 
relied much upon his friends in England, 
but the tyranny of the parliament entirely 
obstructed their interference. 

While, therefore, Cromwell was besieging 
Johnston and some places north of Stirling, 
the king decamped on the last day of July, 
with his army, amounting to fourteen thou- 
sand men, and advanced by forced marches 
towards England. Having arrived at Car- 
lisle, he was proclaimed king of Great Brit- 
ain ;J he then published manifestoes grant- 
ing a general amnesty to his English sub- 

* Higgins' Short View, p. 270. Baker, Chron. 
ibid. 

t Heath's Chron. ibid. p. 292. Baker, ibid. 
t Heath's Chron. ibid. p. 294. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



585 



jeets, except Cromwell, Bradshaw, and 
Cook, being the most criminal in the mur- 
der of the king his father. Among the Eng- 
lish who accompanied the prince in this 
expedition were, the duke of Buckingham, 
the earl of Cleveland, Lords Wentworth 
and Wilmot, Colonels Wogan and Bointon, 
Major-general Massey, and some others. 

The king continued his march to Worces- 
ter. He was pursued by detachments com- 
manded by Lambert and Harrison, who also 
proceeded by forced marches from Scotland. 
They were joined by the militia and some 
troops newly raised by orders of the parlia- 
ment. Cromwell having left General Monk 
and seven thousand men to complete the 
conquest of the Scotch, marched likewise 
in pursuit of the king. Worcester was 
speedily reduced by him, and on September 
3d the royal troops were defeated near that 
city. The king escaped and fled, and hav- 
ing encountered in disguise a variety of 
adventures, he found a vessel ready to sail, 
and by this means got safe to France. 

The Irish royalists, among whom were 
Catholics as well as Protestants, still kept 
themselves under arms. The marquis of 
Ormond, who was commander-in-chief, be- 
sides being lord-lieutenant, always mani- 
fested a distrust of the former, and was dis- 
pleased that the king had granted them any 
freedom in their religion. Finding himself 
unable to oppose Ireton, he surrendered the 
command of the army to the earl of Clan- 
riccard, and embarked for France, a. d. 
1650. Ireton, in the mean time, laid siege 
to Limerick,* but was obliged to abandon it 
on account of the winter. The English 
general resumed the siege soon after, but 
the noble defence made by Hugh O'Neill, 
who had previously caused a heavy loss to 
Cromwell's army before Clonmel, made him 
feel dearly the taking of Limerick. 

The parliament of England saw how im- 
portant it would be to their object to detach 
the Irish from the cause of the king ;t they 
therefore made them such offers as appeared 
fair and reasonable ; but these zealous roy- 
alists rejected them unanimously, at a meet- 
ing which was held at Loughreagh. It was 
debated whether the war should be pro- 
longed, in order to favor the king's march 
into England.^ Under this hope, the Irish 
continued under arms till 1653, when it was 
found impracticable to protract the war any 
longer. Most of the Irish army then pre- 

* Heath's Chron. part 2, an. 1651, p. 305. 
t Memoirs of Castlehaven, p. 164. 
t Ireland's Case, part 1, pp. 57, 58, 59, 60 ; part 
2, pp. 68, 69. 



ferred to leave their country, rather than to 
live beneath the rule of regicides who had 
stained their hands in the blood of their 
prince. They therefore sought permission 
to depart from the kingdom, being deter- 
mined to render those services to their king 
in a foreign country that they could not at 
home. Circumstances favored their pro- 
posal, Cromwell being busily employed in 
forming a new mode of government called 
the protectorship. By his own authority he 
granted the Irish army their request, and in 
consequence, many of them embarked for 
France and Spain ; those, however, whom 
age and infirmities rendered unable to ac- 
company their countrymen, and share in the 
fortunes of the prince, were treated with the 
most savage barbarity ; from fourteen to 
twenty thousand, both soldiers and country 
people, were sold as slaves and transported 
to America, as had been previously done 
with the Scotch prisoners taken at the battle 
of Worcester. The Catholic officers and 
nobility were forced to abandon their estates 
in the other provinces and cross the Shan- 
non into Connaught and the county Clare, 
where Cromwell enjoined them to remain, 
under pain of death, without express per- 
mission to leave them. Here they were sub- 
jected to the insolence, oppression, and cru- 
elty of the tyrants who ruled over them. 

Cromwell, in the mean time, either wish- 
ing to conciliate the Irish by kindness, or 
give them a favorable opinion of his be- 
nevolence, established at Athlone a court 
of claims, by which it was decreed to grant 
in those parts of the kingdom, to the pro- 
scribed proprietors of lands, (who would be 
found not to have been implicated in the 
rebellion.) a portion of land sufficient for 
their subsistence, and befitting their quality 
and pretensions. By this regulation it hap- 
pened that some of these noblemen enjoyed 
in Connaught and the county of Clare a 
fourth, others a third, and some one-half of 
the revenues they possessed at home. Such 
grants, though moderate, excited the enmity 
of their persecutors.* They often determined 
to cut off at a blow the wretched remains of 
the unhappy Irish, and it was by a peculiar 
favor of Providence that they escaped their 
wicked designs. 

The Catholics of Ireland groaned for many 
years beneath the yoke of tyranny. Their 
only consolation was in a hope of seeing 
their prince restored. They anticipated from 

* The soldiers of Cromwell, who were put into 
the possession of the estates and properties of the 
Catholics, felt, while seeing them exist, self-con- 
demnation and reproach. 



586 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



so happy an event the end of their suffer- 
ings ; and calculating upon his justice, they 
calculated also upon a restitution of property, 
so generally sacrificed in his cause ; but, 
unhappily, the event produced a sorrowful 
reverse in their hopes.* 

Oliver Cromwell, who had been the in- 
strument of abolishing monarchy in the three 
kingdoms, now turned his arms against his 
masters. He suppressed, by his own au- 
thority, the parliament to which he was in- 
debted for his power : attended by armed 
men he entered the hall, and after expatia- 
ting upon its necessity, and his motives for 
dissolving them, they were ordered to with- 
draw, and the doors of the house were closed 
— guards being stationed, at the same time, 
to cut off all communication with the ave- 
nues that led to the house. He ordered the 
mace to be taken away as a mere bauble, 
and forbade it to be used at any of their 
ceremonies. The only sensation which this 
unexpected event produced among the Eng- 
lish, was one of raillery ; it became a sub- 
ject of amusement at their meetings, and 
songs were composed, accompanied with the 
chorus of " Twelve parliament men for a 
penny." Cromwell after this assumed the 
title of Protector. The English, who would 
not bear the mild and peaceful government 
of their lawful king, submitted to the despot- 
ism of a tyrant, which continued till his death, 
September 3d, 1658 — -a day memorable in 
his history for the victories he obtained over 
the king's forces at Dunbar and Worcester. 

After the death of the usurper, the pro- 
ceedings of General Monk seemed to por- 
tend the speedy restoration of the prince. 
Public affairs were in too desperate a state 
to continue as they stood : at such a crisis, 
some of course had their fears, some their 
hopes, according to their respective interests 
Among the former were the Cromwellians 
in Ireland. Broghil and Coote, their lead 
ers, dispatched emissaries to England to 
sound the disposition of the people, in order 
that they might act as would best suit their 
own views. Having found that they were 
for the most part in favor of General Monk, 
and inclining towards the restoration, they 
repaired to Dublin, where they called a meet 
ing of the parliament, which was composed 
of their own creatures and united by the 
same interest — they being all usurpers of 
the goods of others. They deliberated on 
the means of sustaining their usurpation, and 
preventing the Irish nobility from regaining 
their estates, so liberally bestowed upon 
themselves by Cromwell. They foresaw 
* Ireland's Case, p. 60. 



that as soon as the king would ascend the 
throne of his ancestors, he would, or at least 
ought, to reinstate the ancient proprietors in 
their rights ; they resolved, therefore, to 
counteract this by putting in confinement all 
the Irish who had any claims, with the view 
of preventing them from affording succor to 
their prince in the event of the parliamenta- 
rians forcing him to recur to arms. To give 
a color of justice to their proceedings, Sir 
John Clotworthy, an intriguing character, 
and very influential among the Presbyteri- 
ans, was sent to England to excite alarm 
among the English by insinuating how dan- 
gerous it would be to restore the Irish to 
their ancient possessions to the prejudice of 
the English Protestants already settled in 
the country. Clotworthy, who was an ar- 
dent persecutor of the Catholics, and op- 
posed to the monarch, acquitted himself ably 
of his commission. On his arrival in Lon- 
don a report was spread that a rebellion had 
broken out in Ireland, in confirmation of 
which, letters of the same import were sent 
to merchants at the exchange, and copies of 
them circulated in every quarter of the city. 
This imposture gave rise to a proclamation 
against the Irish papists, which the parlia- 
ment presented to Charles II. on his restora- 
tion, though it was well understood that the 
report of an insurrection was founded only on 
the eagerness which some Catholics evinced 
in taking possession of their estates without 
any formality of law, which they considered 
as useless in resuming what they had been 
despoiled of a few years before, by a tyrant 
who acknowledged no law but that of the 
strongest. 

The writers of this party boast of the ex- 
ertions which Broghil, Coote, Clotworthy, 
and other Cromwellians in Ireland, made in 
favor of the restoration. They sent com- 
missioners to the king at Breda, to assure 
his majesty of their allegiance and devoted- 
ness to his cause. He received them with 
apparent kindness, but afterwards manifested 
displeasure towards Broghil, when he went 
to congratulate him on his restoration. The 
submission of those traitors was caused by 
the determination of the English to restore 
their lawful prince, and was made at a time 
when they could not oppose his return. 

Cox, and other writers of his party, speak 
in a different tone. " The convention," says 
Cox, "published a decree on the 12th of 
March for a free parliament to assemble on 
the 14th of May ; they consented to the 
declaration made by the king at Breda on 
April 14, and joyfully agreed to his restora- 
tion. The Irish papists had no part in this 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



587 



great revolution, but wishing to enjoy the 
fruit of the labors of other people, many of 
them took possession of their patrimonies. 
The evil became so general that the conven- 
tion was obliged to issue a proclamation on 
the 20th of May, 1660, for the security of 
peace and property." May not we ask these 
writers, what was the nature of the posses- 
sions which the convention was obliged to 
secure by a decree, and what were the titles 
of those who held them ? The length of pos- 
session did not exceed ten or twelve years, 
and they had been given by Cromwell as a 
reward to the accomplices of his crimes. The 
right of the possessors was the same as that 
which had authorized the tyrant to have his 
lawful sovereign beheaded. We leave the 
reader to decide on the right which could be 
derived from such a title and possession. As 
to the Irish who resumed their estates, the 
complaint of Cox is both unjust and absurd ; 
he allows that they were the ancient patri- 
monies of those Irish papists. According to 
Carte, they were generally Irish noblemen 
who had been dispossessed by Cromwell, 
notwithstanding their acquittal by the tri- 
bunal which that tyrant established at Ath- 
lone, to investigate the crimes of those who 
had been concerned in the rebellion.* Having 
been banished to Connaught, and the county 
of Clare, continues Carte, they considered 
themselves authorized to take possession of 
their estates and expel the usurpers on the 
death of the tyrant. The only claim of these 
men on the properties of the Irish was founded 
on rebellion : they all served against their 
king under Cromwell, from whom they held 
their commissions. Broghil was a member 
of parliament for the county of Cork. He 
continued the faithful servant of the tyrant, 
and after his death became a firm supporter 
of his son Richard Cromwell ; he was like- 
wise member of the privy council of the new 
protector, till the extinction of his power. t 
No longer supported by the power of the 
Cromwells, and viewing the dispositions of 
the English towards their king, he then re- 
turned to Ireland, and in union with others 
of his faction, went over to the strongest side. 
The prejudice of Cox makes him ascribe the 
resumption of their properties by the Irish, 
to the labors of other people. 

In the month of May, 1660, Charles, eldest 
son of Charles I., ascended, by the wise and 
disinterested conduct of General Monk, the 
throne of his ancestors, under the name of 
Charles II. He was received by all states as 

* Life of the duke of Ormond, vol. 2, lib. 6, p. 
205. 

t Harris's History of Ireland. 



lawful heir to the crown of Great Britain. 
In gratitude Charles restored the house of 
lords, and had a general amnesty passed 
which was received with universal applause. 
The monarch gave his consent that the par- 
liament alone should punish the murderers 
of his father, and out of so many who had 
contributed to the catastrophe of Charles I., 
ten only were executed, the rest being 
judged worthy of the king's pardon. 

Although the majority of the Scotch peo- 
ple were guilty of disloyalty to Charles,* the 
marquis of Argyle, Guthry, a celebrated 
minister, and Captain Giffan, were the only 
victims. The marquis sold the king to the 
English, and consented to the usurpation ; 
Guthry was a preacher of sedition, and 
known to have been violently opposed to 
Montrose and the royalist party, and Giffan 
was entirely devoted to Cromwell. The 
two last were hanged at Edinburgh. 

Charles ascended the throne under very 
flattering auspices. The people, struck with 
a conviction of their barbarous treatment to 
the late king, thought they could not praise 
the son too much for his clemency ; they had 
groaned also for many years under the sway 
of tyranny, while now peace, liberty, order, 
and the laws, were re-established in Eng- 
land and Scotland, so that no prince ever 
enjoyed more fully the affections of his 
subjects than Charles II. 

The restoration of a legitimate sovereign 
would seem likely to terminate the misfor- 
tunes of Ireland too. Many ofher people nobly 
participated in the sufferings of their prince. 
From twenty-five to thirty thousand of his 
faithful Irish subjects having crossed the seas 
to escape from the tyranny of their rulers, 
crowded to receive his orders. While the 
prince remained in France, they signalized 
themselves in the service of that crown. 
When it became necessary for the English 
monarch to seek an asylum among the Span- 
iards, his command to all his Irish regiments 
to follow him to the Low Countries was in- 
stantly obeyed, at a time when all his other 
subjects had abandoned him. Their fidelity 
drew upon them, in his exile, the admiration 
and esteem of strangers. The words of the 
prince himself, in his address to both houses, 
after his restoration, sufficiently ^attest these 
truths, so praiseworthy in the Irish people. 

On the 27th of July, 1660, King Charles 
II. thus expressed himself: "I think it is 
not necessary to observe, that the people of 
Ireland deserve to be partakers of our cle- 
mency ; they have displayed their affection 

* Heath's Chron. p. 4, ad an. 1661, p. 497. 



588 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



for us in foreign countries : you will there- 
fore pay a regard to our honor and the prom- 
ises which we have made to them." On 
the 30th of November, in the same year, the 
king's remarks on the affairs of Ireland were 
as follows : " lastly we are mindful, and shall 
always remember the deep affection which a 
great part of that nation had manifested for 
us during our sojourn beyond the seas : the 
Irish troops have always received our com- 
mands with alacrity and obedience, submit- 
ting to the services which have been pointed 
out to them as beneficial for our interests, 
which conduct on their part is most worthy 
of our protection, favor, and justice." It is 
right now to investigate what was the extent 
of that protection, justice, and favor, which 
the Irish had merited from the prince's own 
acknowledgment, and what were the benefits 
which accompanied their merit. Charles, 
when in possession of the throne, resolved to 
compensate by his pleasures for the years of 
his exile. For this end, he reposed all his 
confidence in a wicked ministry, which had 
its own interests more deeply at heart than 
the honor and glory of so good a master 
The matter to be decided was, whether the 
Cromwellians who brought Charles I. to the 
scaffold, and compelled Charles II. to pass 
twelve years in sorrowful exile, ought to be 
supported in peaceful enjoyment of those 
estates conferred upon them for their hos 
tility to the crown ; or whether the ancient 
proprietors, who had proved their loyalty to 
the king, ought to have their estates restored 
to them, which they had lost for their zeal in 
the royal cause. The right of the former to 
properties which they had been in possession 
of but about twelve years, was founded on 
regicide ; that of the latter, on an uninter 
rupted possession of many centuries, which 
was confirmed by the public sanction of a 
solemn treaty with Charles I., called the 
peace of 1648, and the repeated promises of 
Charles II. during his exile ; no question 
therefore could be more easily determined 
In the beginning, the king seemed disposed 
to be just, but through the influence of" Cla- 
rendon, the prime minister, and a few nobles 
of the court, his. opinions became biased by 
degrees in favor of the opposite party, 
who made,him gradually abandon to their 
enemies, those who had been the faithful 
adherents of his misfortune. Not content 
with forgiving his sworn enemies, the mur 
derers of his father, the cruel persecutors of 
all the royal family, from whom he himself 
had a miraculous escape, he granted them 
favors, and loaded them with the estates 
honors, and dignities of his most loyal sub- 



jects, many of whom had lost both their 
lives and fortunes in supporting his interests 
against these new favorites. Such were the 
protection, justice, and favor, with which 
the zeal and loyalty of the Irish were re- 
warded, by the king's proclamation for the 
settlement or regulation of Ireland, at White- 
hall, on the 30th of November, 1660. 

The declaration of the king for the settle- 
ment of Ireland, was, in reality, the settle- 
ment of rebels and traitors, and consequently 
the ruin of his majesty's most faithful sub- 
jects :* it was followed by orders to have it 
put into force ; then came the commentary 
of the parliament, and to crown the whole, 
the famous explanation act, which was well 
calculated to complete the destruction of 
those whose right appeared to be incon- 
testable. 

The Irish Catholics who should have been 
reinstated in their inheritance, were distin- 
guished into three classes ;f the first was 
called innocent, signifying those who had 
never joined the confederates before the 
peace of 1648 ; the second comprised what 
were called ensignmen, implying such as had 
served beyond the seas, under his majesty's 
standard during his exile ; the third was 
composed of the confederates, whom the 
faith of a solemn treaty authorized to recover 
their patrimonies . The king appeared deter- 
mined to do justice to the three classes. With 
respect to the innocent, even their enemies 
could not oppose the restitution of their 
properties. The claims of those who had 
distinguished themselves in a military capa- 
city in the services of their prince, were so 
recent and present to the mind, that none 
would dare to demand their exclusion from 
his majesty's favors . There remained, there- 
fore, but a third class, viz., the confederates, 
whose pretensions were founded on the 
peace of 1648, J that could not seek in- 
dulgence. The king felt the injustice that 
would be caused by a dereliction of his en- 
gagements to fulfil a peace in which his con- 
science and his honor were concerned, as 
he himself had expressed in his declaration. 
" We cannot," said the prince, " forget the 
peace which we were ourselves necessitated 
to make with our Irish subjects, at a time 
when those who wickedly usurped the gov- 
ernment of this country had erected the 
odious tribunal which took away the life of 
our dear father. We cannot therefore but 
consider ourselves bound to the fulfilment of 
peace towards those who have honorably 

* Ireland's Case, ibid, page 85. 
t Ireland's Case, ibid, page 87. 
t Ireland's Case, page 88. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



589 



and faithfully performed what they pro- 
mised," &c. 

The Cromwellians, on the other hand, and 
the partisans whom they purchased at court, 
seeing the king so decided on this point, 
and not daring to oppose in a direct way 
such generous and worthy motives, pretend- 
ed to enter into the opinions of the prince, 
being convinced that their unjust policy 
would not fail in the moment of need, and 
that this would furnish them with the oppor- 
tunity of bringing the prince into their views. 
It was first affirmed by his wicked ministers 
that there were more confiscated lands in 
Ireland than ought to satisfy all those whose 
pretensions were just. It was next ad- 
vanced, that the Protestant adventurers 
(which implied those recently established 
in the country) should be preferred to the 
other pretenders, or, at least, that they were 
entitled to the next place after the innocent 
papists. On the faith of these two articles, 
which were granted as the foundation of the 
whole edifice, these sectarians, the most 
savage and decided fanatics of the three 
kingdoms, whose principles were always 
equally fatal to the true religion and monar- 
chical government, became, all of a sudden, 
beneath the mantle of Protestantism, the 
minions of the church and state — a conver- 
sion far too sudden to be sincere. 

The Protestants who were to be made 
secure in their possessions in Ireland,* were 
also of three sorts : the first consisted of 
adventurers,t who had been merchants and 
citizens of London, and, relying on acts 
made in the 17th and 18th years of the reign 
of Charles I. for the reduction of Ireland, 
had advanced considerable sums upon the 
lands of that country, the acquirement of 
which cost themselves very little. The 
money thus obtained was never sent to Ire- 
land, but was applied by the rebellious par- 
liament to the raising of an army, which 
defeated the king's forces at Edgehill ; and 
the application of the money in that way 
was approved of by the adventurers them- 
selves, assembled at Grocers' Hall, in Lon- 
don. This was no secret ; Charles I. was 
not ignorant of it, since he reproached the 
commissioners of the parliament with the 
treaty of Uxbridge, and their perfidy was 
the reason why the prince never mentioned, 
in his different projects for pacifying the 
Irish confederates, any title which the con- 
federates could advance to the said lands, 
and that he took care to make no provision 
for them. Charles II. was equally convinced 
* Ireland's Case, ibid, page 90. 
t Recit. exacte et fidele, p. 39, &e. suiv. 



of the defect of their titles. His declaration 
is illustrative of his notions on that head : 
" In the first place, if, to satisfy those who 
have advanced their money, we examine 
into the titles by which they enjoy their 
possessions, they would be found defective 
and invalid, not being in conformity with 
the acts of parliament on which they rest ; 
still, as we are strongly inclined to provide," 
&c. Notwithstanding, however, the enor- 
mity of their crimes, and the invalidity of 
their titles, they were to be upheld in their 
unjust possessions. The claims of these 
first adventurers being so unfounded, what 
opinion can we form of those who afterwards 
advanced their money to excite rebellion, 
without any other authority than that of the 
lower house, which usurped the government? 
According to the laws of the state, the com- 
mons had neither the power of effecting loans 
in the name of the nation, nor of governing 
without the consent of the king and the other 
house ; the king was in exile at the time, and 
the upper house suppressed, still the latter 
class was placed on an equal footing with 
the former, and both parties (viz., the ad- 
venturers and those who lent their money 
to excite rebellion) made secure in their pos- 
sessions, acquired in the manner described. 
Thus have these persecutors of their king 
been liberally rewarded at the expense of 
the faithful Irish. 

Cromwell's soldiers were the next to re- 
ceive rewards. The tyrant was, it is true, 
deeply indebted to them, since, with the 
assistance of their brethren in England, 
they had raised him from obscurity to abso- 
lute power over the three kingdoms.* His 
gratitude was equal to their zeal ; he divided 
twelve entire counties between these fana- 
tics, the cruel ministers of his tyranny, and 
the avowed enemies of the king. It would 
seem, however, that it was by mortgages he 
settled with those mercenary miscreants, in 
payment of arrears due to them, and that he 
would never grant patents to confirm their 
possessions. These precarious tenures in- 
duced several of the new nobility to sell their 
titles to estates for a trifle, whenever an op- 
portunity occurred ; and in the sequel the 
purchasers were confirmed for ever in pos- 
session of the rewards of their infamy by the 
king's declaration ! It can sc^ely be con- 
ceived how Charles II., orr being restored to 
the throne of his ancestors, could bring him- 
self, as he did, (unfortunately for his family,) 
to reward the murderers of his father by an 
unbounded donation of lands, while he per- 

* Ireland's Case, ibid, pages 92, 93. A correct 
account, page 48, et seq. 



590 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



mitted their true and lawful owners (of 
whose fidelity he boasted) to die in want 
and misery. 

Allusion is next made to the officers who 
had served the king before June 5th, 16495! 
and whose arrears, according to th^ir own 
calculations, amounted to one million eight 
hundred thousand pounds sterling. Though 
this appears to have been an unfair and an 
enormous demand, still it was admitted by 
the adventurers, whose maxim was, " Do us 
a kindness and we will do you another" Un- 
der pretence of repaying these arrears, all 
the confiscated lands in four counties border- 
ing the Shannon were bestowed upon forty- 
nine officers, besides houses and other privi- 
leges in every town and cityof the kingdom. 
These kindnesses are the more surprising, 
as they were conferred on men who were, 
during and antecedent to the summer of 
1649, in actual rebellion against their king : 
among them were the earls of Orrery, Moun- 
trath, Lords Kingston and Coloony, Sirs 
Jones, Saint George, Coles, &c, who de- 
serted the king's standard to join the usurper. 
Those who were principally instrumental in 
surrendering the towns and fortresses to 
Cromwell, were singularly included in the 
act of settlement as entitled to have their 
arrears allowed. No distinction was made 
between the forty -nine officers and the Cath- 
olics, in the king's declaration for the pay- 
ment of arrears ; with the exception, how- 
ever, of the marquis of Clanriccard and Sir 
George Hamilton, the Catholics (who never 
deserted the standard of their king, and who 
were always opposed to the usurper) were 
excluded by subsequent acts of parliament 
from all favor. 

Thus these ministers of iniquity found 
means to lead the king to commit, against 
his will, the most crying acts of injustice. 
He himself, so far from wishing to despoil 
the Catholics of Ireland of their patrimonies, 
evinced from the beginning an inclination to 
do them justice ; but he suffered himself to 
be deceived by those in whom he reposed 
confidence, and who, under the specious 
show of loyalty, always preferred their own 
interests to the glory of their prince. 

A court of claims was established in Dub- 
lin, after the same plan as that which Crom- 
well establflfted at Athlone in 1645, in favor 
of the Catholics transplanted into Connaught 
and the county of Clare, with this difference, 
that the court of the usurper was the less 
partial of the two ; for, whether from want 
of money to suborn false witnesses, or being 
unacquainted with the art of employing mis- 
creants who live by perjury, it is well known 



that few or none of such characters were 
made use of at Cromwell's court, and that 
they were seen in crowds, and employed by 
the court of claims in Dublin. The court 
at Athlone was not limited as to time, while 
that of Dublin had but from February 15, 
.1663, till the August following, allowed to 
any claimant from any part of the kingdom 
to make his appearance. During that short 
interval almost a thousand Catholics were 
examined, of whom at least one half were 
declared innocent, notwithstanding the rigor 
of the qualifications required, and the unbri- 
dled, license of false witnesses. One example 
out of a hundred will be sufficient to develop 
the profligacy of both witnesses and judges. 

Mr. Francis Betagh of Moynalty, who 
lived in 1663 at the court of St. Germain- 
en-Laye,* and whose ancestors possessed 
considerable landed property in the county 
of Meath during many centuries, was ac- 
cused of having, at the head of a company of 
foot, sacked and pillaged in 1641 his Pro- 
testant neighbors ;f although in the month of 
October of the same year it was well known 
that he was but nine years old, an age at 
which he was very unlikely to be concerned 
in a crime of that nature. Besides this, one 
of the witnesses produced against him was 
but three years old in 1641. Neither this 
obvious perjury, nor the innocence of the 
gentleman, of which the nobles of the coun- 
try were witnesses, could make any impres- 
sion upon the judges ; and though Sir 

Rainsford, one of the commissioners of the 
court, expressed his conviction of the pro- 
ceedings being unjust, the marquis of Antrim, 
the earl of Limerick, and others who were 
present, restrained him by their rebukes from 
making reparation. By such abominable 
proceedings some hundreds of ancient fami- 
lies, equally eminent for their noble extraction 
as for their loyalty to their king, have been 
robbed of their patrimonies, and reduced to 
the dire necessity of either begging.or em- 
bracing occupations unsuited to their birth. 

The time for examining those interested 
having expired, Rainsford, the chief com- 
missioner, thought to continue the court till 
further prorogation would be obtained, to do 
justice to all whose rights could not have 
been discussed within the time prescribed. 
There were seven thousand to be still heard, 
whose claims deserved to be attended to 
equally with the others, since " every man 
should be looked upon as innocent till the 
contrary be proved," particularly when he 

* His son is major in the Irish regiment of the 
chevalier Fitz-James, in the service of France, 
t Ireland's Case, pages 102, 103. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



591 



submits to so severe a tribunal. However, 
Clarendon, the prime minister, refused any 
further length of time to the court, which 
was thus forced to cease its functions and to 
separate. Clarendon then instituted another 
tribunal, whose members were all usurpers, 
from whom the lawful proprietors were to 
seek restitution. When the judges and the 
party consist of such characters, what hope 
could there be for a claimant? To shut 
against him the doors of justice altogether, 
the parliament next made a law to interdict 
for the future every appeal for the restora- 
tion of property or the recovery of estates. 

The Cromwellians having gained their 
point, and secured to the adventurers and 
soldiers the enjoyment of their possession of 
the estates of the Catholics, began to bestow 
the confiscated lands upon the earls of Or- 
mond, Anglesy, Orrery, and upon Lords 
Coote, Kingston, and other favorites, who 
had been bad servants to the crown. To 
create more friends by the mammon of ini- 
quity, large donations of land were appro- 
priated to pious uses ; the revenues of the 
university of Dublin were increased, and 
free schools established. Some bishops and 
ministers were enriched, and extensive hold- 
ing conferred on many, though they derived 
no titles from the king's declaration. The 
estates that were possessed for some time by 
Miles Corbet and other regicides, were 
given to the king's brother, the duke of 
York. Thus were the lands wasted by pro- 
fuse largesses, whereby resumptions were 
defeated, and consequently the Cromwel- 
lians continued in the enjoyment of their 
usurpations. Fifty-four persons, called the 
denominated, were not better treated than 
others, for want of lands to be given them. 
They were called denominated, because a 
clause was inserted in the explanation act, 
(specifying the names,) which entitled them 
to repossess their baronial houses and two 
thousand acres of land adjoining. The earl 
of Orrery sarcastically remarked, that they 
had a name but not the reality. In or- 
der to defeat every future prospect, a law 
was made, " that when any doubt should 
arise upon the clauses of said act, it should 
be explained in favor of Protestants, who 
it was intended should remain secure and 
undisturbed."* 

It is incredible to think how the king was 
influenced to act contrary, not only to jus- 
tice, but even to the interests of his house.f 
Princes have been often known, from mo- 
tives of policy, to pardon rebellious subjects, 

* Statutes of Ireland, p. 38. 
t Ireland's Case, pp. 73, 74. 



after returning to their duty and submis- 
sion ; but to heap upon them the rich patri- 
monies of faithful subjects, by which the 
latter are reduced to the extreme of indi- 
gence, is unexampled in history. 

Policy, it will be said, precluded Charles 
from acting otherwise, on account of the 
great number of parliamentarians wickedly 
disposed towards him, and whom, being at 
the time possessed of new properties, it 
might be dangerous to irritate with arms in 
their hands. 

This mode of reasoning was often urged 
in council by the chancellor Clarendon. 
Might we not ask the earl, why he did not 
observe the same conduct towards England 
and Scotland 1 Was the party less formi- 
dable in these countries than in Ireland 1 
The minister forgot that his political reason- 
ing gave the same ground for confirming 
the Cromwellians in their usurpations in 
England. They had usurped the royal au- 
thority; they were in possession of the lands 
of the crown, of the church, and of those 
of many English nobles and gentlemen ; 
they appropriated to themselves, by crime, 
rebellion, and parricide, the properties of 
others ; and notwithstanding all this, were 
they not put down without danger or oppo- 
sition, though they at the time had arms in 
their hands, possessed likewise all the for- 
tresses of the kingdom, were superior in 
numbers, well provided with every thing, 
and consequently more formidable than their 
brethren in Ireland ? If the king, before his 
departure from Breda, had promised to pay 
the arrears of the officers and soldiers of 
General Monk, could they not have satisfied 
them in Ireland by public taxes as they did 
in England, without depriving so many 
widows and orphans of subsistence, and so 
many gentlemen of their inheritance, who 
by signal services merited rewards, instead 
of being stripped of their patrimonies ? So 
crying an injustice could not be the result of 
a sound policy, nor even of common pru- 
dence, which frequently made Clarendon 
say before the king, " do good to your ene 
mies, your friends will not injure you." To 
proceed in this way was contrary to sound 
policy, honor, and justice. The king, how- 
ever, acted in all this according to the ad- 
vice of his council and his courtiers. 

We cannot find in history the example of 
a king so generous and beneficent to infa- 
mous rebels, as Charles II. has been to the 
Cromwellians of Ireland — but so far from 
their gratitude being proportioned to the 
goodness of their prince, they were con- 
tinually plotting against him. Conspiracies 



592 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



were got up against his person, one in 1663, 
another in 1671 ; these were put down in 
their birth, and three of the meanest of the 
conspirators put to death, while the princi- 
pal were pardoned, who were always full of 
the spirit of republicanism, and were avow- 
ed enemies to monarchical government. 
Such was the fruit of Clarendon's policy, 
" do good to your enemies." 

The injustice, or rather the indolence of 
Charles II., was feit not only in Ireland, 
but also in England, where the cavaliers 
were treated with deep ingratitude. " The 
foulest stain," says Hume, " attached to the 
character of Charles II. in the opinion of 
judges, was his neglect of the cavaliers, 
whose zeal and sufferings in his cause 
knew no bounds. Poverty, to which the 
most zealous royalists were reduced, dimin- 
ishing their respectability, rendered them 
less fit to support the measures of the king, 
and made him look on them as a useless 
burden. The greatest number of the royal- 
ists were still laboring under distress and 
disappointment, aggravated by the loss of 
their lawful hopes, and the torment of see- 
ing favors and influence heaped upon their 
deadly enemies. With respect to the acts 
of indemnity and oblivion, the first was in- 
tended for the enemies of the king, the lat- 
ter for his friends."* Our author discovers 
in the character of Charles the cause of his 
conduct towards his faithful subjects. Some 
people of penetration, he says, began to re- 
mark that his virtues, by which he had at 
first dazzled and almost enchanted the na- 
tion, possessed less solidity than splendor ; 
that his judgment lost much of its power 
from want of application ; that his goodness 
appeared rather the effect of an easy dispo- 
sition than true generosity of character ; 
that although he displayed good-will to all 
who approached him, his heart was incapa- 
ble of sincere friendship, and that he se- 
cretly nurtured a wicked opinion of, and 
distrust in mankind. The English cavaliers 
had less to complain of than the Irish royal- 
ists. Some of the principal of them receiv- 
ed pensions, and the parliament distributed 
sixty thousand pounds among the rest, while 
the Irish were excluded from all favor or 
consideration. 

The reign of Charles II. was moderately 
long. Though the Catholics of Ireland 
were loaded with severe oppression, they 
were always faithful to that prince. Charles, 
in order to allay somewhat of their suf- 
ferings, undertook to indemnify them on 

* Hist, of Great Britain. Charles II., chap. 1, p. 



the score of religion, as far as circumstances 
would permit. During his reign he had the 
administration of the penal laws suspended, 
which the parliaments renewed from time to 
time in all their rigor. The Catholic peers 
were allowed to sit in parliament ; ecclesi- 
astics instructed in public, and taught the 
youth the principles of their religion, which 
all were allowed to practise, though the 
penal laws had not been repealed. 

Charles II., after a few days illness, died 
the 6th of February, 1685. It is said that 
he manifested great indifference for the bish- 
ops of the English Church, who displayed 
their zeal about him by their intense ex- 
hortations. Some Catholic priests were 
brought to him, from whom he received the 
sacraments according to the rites of the Ro- 
man Church ; thus making it appear that he 
dared not to die in that religion which he 
professed upon the throne. As soon as 
Charles II. breathed his last, his brother, 
the duke of York, received the homage of 
the lords. He was proclaimed king in Lon- 
don and all the provinces, under the name of 
James II. Public rejoicings were made in 
all the towns, in which inclination and duty 
seemed to combine. The news of James 
II. 's accession to the British throne having 
reached Ireland, the duke of Ormond, being 
lord-lieutenant, assembled the council in 
Dublin, and the day following the Icing was 
proclaimed with great solemnity in the city. 

The new sovereign convened his council 
in England ; he made a speech to them 
which delighted all his subjects, and in- 
creased their attachment to his person. " I 
will endeavor," he said, " to preserve the 
government of church and state, in the man- 
ner by law established : I know that the 
Church of England is favorable to mon- 
archy, and those who are members of it 
have made it appear on various occasions 
that they were faithful subjects : I will take 
particular care to defend and support it. I 
know, likewise, that the laws of the king- 
dom are sufficient to make the king as great 
as I could wish. As I am determined to 
preserve the prerogatives of my crown, so I 
will never deprive others of what belongs to 
them. I have often hazarded my life in de- 
fence of the nation : I am still ready to ex- 
pose it to preserve its rights." These prom- 
ises were preceded by bitter complaints 
against the malice of his enemies, who were 
the authors of impressions that were spread 
concerning the principles of despotic power 
with which they asserted him to be imbued. 

This address of the king was received 
with pleasure ; it was universally considered 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



593 



condescending, noble, and sublime. Soon 
after this, addresses poured in from every 
quarter, rilled with assurances of loyalty 
and gratitude for his solicitude respecting 
the Church of England and the liberty of 
the people. Cities, corporations, and uni- 
versities, were all lavish in their praises 
and congratulations. 

The parliament of England and Scotland 
met at the same time, to the great satisfac- 
tion of both nations. That of Scotland, of 
which the duke of Queensbury was presi- 
dent, having confirmed the acts that had 
been passed in the preceding reign for the 
security of the Protestant religion, granted 
to his majesty the same revenues which his 
brother had enjoyed : it was enacted, that 
the duty on all domestic and foreign goods 
should be annexed to the crown of Scotland. 
In the same session, the sum of two hundred 
and sixty thousand pounds a year, for life, 
was voted to his majesty. 

England vied with Scotland in generosity ; 
the parliament secured to the king, during 
life, the revenues which his brother had en- 
joyed, at his death, together with the funds 
which were allowed him while duke of York. 
It was proposed to take down the names of 
those who, in the parliaments of the pre- 
ceding reign, had voted to exclude him from 
succeeding to the throne ; but one of the 
secretaries having declared that the king 
pardoned all who had been opposed to him, 
the declaration elicited new praises. On 
receipt of the intelligence of the rebellion 
of Argyle, and the invasion of the duke of 
Monmouth, they were both declared guilty 
of high treason ; and being taken in arms, 
the earl of Argyle was put to death in 
Edinburgh, and Monmouth in England. 
The parliament renewed the trial of Oates, 
who had been brought to justice in the pre- 
ceding reign on charge of perjury, and never 
was a culprit more clearly convicted. He 
was condemned to pay an exorbitant fine, 
to be flogged, to stand in the pillory, and to 
be imprisoned for life. 

This auspicious beginning seemed to 
promise to the king a happy sway. His ene- 
mies defeated, a powerful army on foot, his 
subjects submissive and kind, and foreign 
princes seeking his alliance, these were 
happy omens of a peaceful and glorious 
reign. During the first six months he 
reigned in the hearts of his people, but the 
aspect of his affairs was soon changed. 

James was a Catholic, and protected that 
religion ; he was very partial to those who 
professed it, and caused mass to be said in 
the palace. This zeal for the true religion 



was contrary to his worldly policy ; but his 
real imprudence was the unbounded confi- 
dence he reposed in some members of his 
council, who secretly betrayed him. He 
considered it an imperative duty to protect 
his own faith, and he also considered that 
the Catholics ought to take advantage of his 
reign to rescue themselves from the oppres- 
sion to which they had been so long exposed. 
James had two objects in view : first, to 
grant the Catholics freedom in the exercise 
of their religion ; and secondly, to enable 
them to hold public offices, from which they 
had been unjustly excluded. The English 
became alarmed, and the last step the king 
took in favor of his religion was considered 
by the Protestants as the destruction of their 
own. Some noblemen busied themselves 
in fomenting discontent among the people, 
and James was ruined by a plot which Lord 
Shaftsbury had projected under Charles II. 

The duke of Ormond, lord-lieutenant of 
Ireland, having confided the government to 
the primate and the earl of Granard, set out 
for London in March, 1685. Shortly after- 
wards the court sent over to Ireland the earl 
of Clarendon, the king's brother-in-law, as 
lord-lieutenant, and Sir Charles Porter as 
chancellor. Clarendon was recalled in 
February, 1686, and Richard Talbot, earl 
of Tirconnel, who already commanded as 
lieutenant-general, was appointed lord-dep- 
uty of Ireland. The Catholic religion began 
to be openly professed, the priests and friars 
appeared in public in the dress of their or- 
der, the ancient proprietors took possession 
of their estates, which had been usurped 
by the Cromwellian soldiers, and Catholics 
as well as Protestants were appointed to 
public offices. 

The league against the king gained 
strength every day in England. The Eng- 
lish nobles belonging to the faction had al- 
ready crowded to Holland, to the prince of 
Orange, the king's son-in-law ; and the con- 
spirators solicited him to come to their as- 
sistance for the defence of their religion and 
liberty. Henry Sidney, and Sir Pey- 
ton, and Sir Gwyn, arrived secretly* 

at the Hague, where they were favorably 
received. The intercourse being free, other 
noblemen proceeded to Holland under vari- 
ous pretexts. 

The prince of Orange, well convinced of 
his finding partisans in England, and con- 
spirators to favor his views, commanded an 
armament to be got ready, and gave the 
necessary orders for an expedition to Eng- 
land. Before he embarked he published a 
manifesto, dated October 1st, specifying his 



594 



HISTORY OP IRELAND. 



motives, and what induced him to undertake 
it. The complaints of the English Protest- 
ants against their king were enumerated ; the 
means that were taken, but in vain, to remedy 
the disorder, were pointed out, and the object 
of the present enterprise set forth. Many 
charges were artfully embodied, in order to 
prove that the king intended to destroy the 
religion, laws, and liberty of the nation. 

France saw the misfortunes that threaten- 
ed the king of England. Louis XIV., of glo- 
rious memory, apprized him of them often. 
The French monarch loved dearly the un- 
happy king of England, and gave proofs of 
it by offering to assist him. M. Bonrepos 
was commissioned to propose to send thirty 
thousand troops, and vessels to carry them 
to England. This offer was rejected by the 
advice of the earl of Sunderland, who point- 
ed out that to introduce a foreign army into 
England would destroy the confidence of the 
people ; but this was already lost, inasmuch 
as bribery and a spirit of revolt pervaded 
both the troops and other portions of them. 
Though Sunderland was secretary of state 
and president of the king's privy council, he 
was not loyal. He was a determined foe to 
the policy of his master, and had urged more 
anxiously than any other the exclusion of 
that prince from the throne, when that ques- 
tion was debated in the preceding parliament. 
He was, however, resolved to follow the 
ruling power while it would be his interest, 
and under James II. he professed himself a 
Catholic, to be enabled to serve the Protest- 
ants by betraying his master. All things 
being prepared for the expedition to Eng- 
land, the prince of Orange took leave of his 
states, and put to sea with a favorable wind, 
about the end of October. Fifty ships of 
war, followed by four hundred transport 
vessels, besides twenty frigates and some 
smaller craft, composed the fleet ; from 
twelve to thirteen thousand troops, and arms 
for twenty thousand men, were on board. 
Admiral Herbert, an Englishman, com- 
manded the van ; in the rear was vice-ad- 
miral Evertzen, and the prince was in the 
centre. All these vessels bore the English 
flag with the arms of the prince of Orange 
around which were these words, "For reli- 
gion and liberty," and at bottom was the de 
vice of the house of Nassau, "I will main- 
tain." A great number of English noblemen 
were on board the fleet. Among the gen- 
eral officers was Count Schomberg, marshal 
of France,* accompanied by his son Count 

* Marshal Schomberg left France on account of 
his religion, and entered the service of the elector 
of Brandenburgh, in the country of Cleves. 



Charles Schomberg, Monsieur Caillemotte, 
son of the marquis of Ruvigny, and about 
three hundred French officers who were 
refugees in Holland. The fleet had pro- 
ceeded to sea, when a violent storm, which 
lasted for twelve hours, dispersed the ships, 
and forced them to take shelter in their own 
ports ; several foundered with their cargoes ; 
one man only, however, and five hundred 
horses, perished. This loss being soon re- 
paired, and the wind favorable, they put to 
sea a second time, on the 11th of November. 
Admiral Dartmouth, an Englishman, assured 
the king that he would intercept the enemy, 
instead of which he did not appear against 
them, and the prince of Orange having gained 
Torbay road, landed without opposition. 

Immediately after landing, the prince be- 
gan his march ; but on arriving at Exeter, 
he discovered the tardiness of the people to 
declare for him. The bishop and dean of 
Exeter, with the inferior clergy, had fled ; 
the magistrates kept aloof; and after the 
reading of the manifestoes few of the people 
offered him their aid ; and the commissions, 
too, that had been given for the raising of 
troops, produced but a moderate effect. 
The appearance of things, however, soon 
changed. The prince marched to Salis- 
bury, where several noblemen, distinguished 
for their birth, riches, and the offices they 
held, flocked to his standard. Among them 
were Lords Colchester and Wharton, Colonel 
Godfrey, and others, together with some 
troops. The earl of Abingdon, Captain Clar- 
ges, and several others, soon followed their 
example ; but that which produced most sur- 
prise, was the conduct of Lord Combury, the 
earl of Clarendon's eldest son, who having left 
the royal camp with his regiment of dragoons 
and three others, under pretence of driving 
the enemyfrom an outpost,joined the prince. 

The king being determined to oppose the 
prince of Orange, marched at the head of thir- 
ty thousand men towards Salisbury, where 
his presence was much needed. Here his 
principal officers sent him a communication 
by their general, Lord Feversham, that their 
conscience would not permit them to serve 
in opposition to the prince of Orange, since 
the security of religion and the national privi- 
leges were his objects. By this conduct 
of the officers, James lost his principal sup- 
port. Lord Churchill, (afterwards duke of 
Marlborough,) lieutenant-general and captain 
of the guards, and one of his most intimate 
favorites, deserted him. He was follow- 
ed by the duke of Grafton,* Colonel Bar- 

* One of the natural sons of Charles II. and the 
duchess of Cleveland. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



595 



clay, and other officers. Their example was 
soon imitated by the prince of Denmark, the 
king's son-in-law, the duke of Ormond, Lord 
Drumlanerick, the duke of Queensbury's 
eldest son, and many others, who joined the 
prince of Orange at Sherbum. 

So general a desertion made the king look 
to his own safety ; he returned to London, 
and in order to secure an asylum for himself, 
the queen, and his son, the prince of Wales, 
he prevailed on the Count de Lausun, who 
was then negotiating some affairs in England, 
to conduct his family to France . The queen 
attended by the earl and countess of Powis, 
the Countesses de Dalmon and Montecucully, 
and several other persons of distinction, left 
Whitehall in the night of December 19 ; got 
on board a vessel on the Thames, and having 
escaped the notice of the English, reached 
Gravesend, where a ship was in readiness to 
receive them. After a few hours the queen 
landed at Calais, from whence she proceeded 
to Versailles. The king continued for some 
time longer in England ; but reflecting on 
the deplorable state of his affairs, he found 
it impossible to improve them by force, and 
saw that he would be compelled either to 
resign the sceptre, or retain it under severe 
and disgraceful terms. The English nobility 
were undecided respecting the treatment 
they should adopt towards him ; some insist- 
ed that he had no longer any right to the 
throne, and ought to be removed from the 
capital ; others were for securing his person 
and sending him a prisoner to Breda. 
Protestant historians boast of the generous 
sentiments of the Prince of Orange on this 
subject ; according to them, he evinced the 
greatest horror for any attempt against the 
person of his father-in-law. 

In the mean time, the guards of the prince 
of Orange took possession of the palaces of 
Whitehall and St. James, after which some 
noblemen were deputed to the king to recom- 
mend to him to retire to Ham. The king 
preferring to go to Rochester, was obliged 
to wait for the permission of William, which 
arrived at eight o'clock in the morning. He 
left Rochester for France, in the beginning 
of January, 1689 ; and arrived at the port of 
Ambleteuse, attended by the duke of Ber- 
wick, and Messrs. Sheldon and Abbadie. He 
then proceeded to St. Germain-en-Laye, to 
join the queen and prince of Wales, where 
he was received by King Louis with that 
beneficence and greatness of mind which so 
eminently characterized that monarch. Ac- 
cording to Latrey, bishop of Salisbury, and 
other English writers, the reign of James II . 
ended with his flight. They allege that the 



king had deserted his kingdom, and thereby 
had in reality abdicated his crown. 

Two documents, written by the king of 
England, copies of which are given, will 
sufficiently vindicate his retreat : the first 
was dated Rochester, 22d December, 1688, 
and contains the cause and motives of his 
going. The second is a letter to the mem- 
bers of his privy council in England, dated 
St. Germain-en-Laye, January, 1689. 

The motives which obliged the king of Eng- 
land to withdraw to Rochester, as written 
by himself, and published by his order. 
" It cannot be a matter of surprise that I 
have retired from my country a second time. 
I might have expected that the Prince of 
Orange would have acted otherwise, from 
the letter which I wrote to him by Lord Fe- 
versham. But instead of answering me, he 
not only had the earl arrested, contrary to 
the rights of men, but sent his guards at 
eleven o'clock at. night, to seize on all the 
avenues leading to Whitehall, and without 
giving me any notice, sent three noblemen, 
after midnight, when I was in bed, with an 
order to leave my palace before twelve the 
next day. How could I think myself secure 
in the power of a man who could treat me 
in this manner ? He seized upon my kingdom, 
and in his first proclamation has published 
the most malicious observations respecting 
the birth of my son. I appeal to those who 
know me, and to himself, if in conscience, 
they could suspect me of such baseness, or 
that I were so simple as to be imposed upon 
in a matter of such moment. What then 
could be expected from a man who has used 
every means to make me appear to my sub- 
jects and the whole world, the most wicked 
of men, in which he has so well succeeded 
as to corrupt my army, and stir up my sub- 
jects to rebellion ? 

" I was born free, and I wish to preserve 
my freedom ; as I have willingly risked my 
life on many occasions, for the welfare and 
honor of my country, I am still ready to do 
the same, with the hope, though advanced in 
years, to deliver England from the slavery 
which threatens it, convinced that it would 
be imprudent to subject myself to a prison, 
which would prevent me from carrying my 
plans into execution. I have been therefore 
induced to withdraw, but shall remain near 
enough to return, when the nation will have 
discovered that it has been deceived, under 
the specious pretext of religion and liberty. 
I hope that God will, in his mercy, move the 
hearts of my people to perceive their unhappy 
condition, and dispose them to consent to the 



596 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



the people began to reflect and return to their 
duty ; and anticipating, likewise, that if the 
parliament met at the time specified, they 
would in all probability adopt measures 
necessary for the safety of church and state, 
which would tend to destroy his ambitious 
and unjust designs, resolved to prevent by 
every means the assembling of parliament. 
To effect this, he considered nothing would 
be better than to seize our royal person, and 
deprive us of our liberty. For as a parlia- 
ment cannot be termed free when either 
house suffers violence, neither can it be 
said that it can act if the sovereign, by 
whose authority it has been assembled, 
and whose sanction alone imparts validity 
to the laws, be actually a prisoner. 

" You need not be reminded with what 
haste the prince of Orange obliged us by his 
guards to leave London, when he discovered 
the city to be returning to its duty, and that 
he could not confide in the inhabitants : with 
what indignity he has insulted us in the per- 
son of Earl Feversham, whom we deputed to 
him, and how inhumanly he caused us to be 
arrested. We doubt not but these matters 
are already too well known ; we hope like- 
wise, that when it is seen how the laws and 
liberties of England, which he has pretended 
to secure by his invasion, have been violated, 
nothing more will be wanting to open the 
eyes of our subjects, and let them see what 
each one has to expect, and what treatment 



convening of a free parliament, in which, 
among other things, liberty of conscience 
to all sects will be granted ; that those of my 
religion may be permitted to live in peace, 
as becomes all good Englishmen, and true 
Christians ; and that they will not be com- 
pelled to leave their country, to which they 
are so strongly attached. 

" Those who have a knowledge of the pre- 
sent state of things, will admit, that nothing 
would contribute more to make England 
prosper, than freedom of conscience, which 
causes some of our neighbors to fear it 
would be granted. 

" If time would permit, many things could 
be added in vindication of what I have said. 

" Rochester, December 22d, 1688." 

Letter of the King of England to the mem- 
bers of the Privy Council. 
" James R. 
" My Lords,- — So soon as we discovered 
that there was no longer any security for us 
to remain in our kingdom of England, and 
that we formed the resolution of retiring for 
some time, our motives for thus acting were 
left to be communicated to you and to our 
other subjects. It was also our intention to 
leave you our commands respecting what 
would be best adapted to the present state of 
affairs. As this, however, could not have 
been done without danger, we deem it right 
to inform you now, although it be obvious 

that since our accession to the crown all care they will receive from him, who, to carry his 
has been applied to govern our people with ' designs into execution, has treated with such 
such moderation and justice as to remove indignity a sovereign prince, an uncle, and a 
every pretext for complaint, that we had father. However, the resentment which we 
given to these matters a greater regard since feel for these outrages, and our apprehensions 
the last invasion. We know that conspiracies [that he would drive matters still further, as 



have been plotted, and we fear that our 
subjects, who could not be destroyed but 
through themselves, may be drawn, under 
light and imaginary pretexts, into certain and 
inevitable ruin. To obviate this evil, we 
removed not only every cause of complaint, 
but even the smallest pretext for it. For 
these purposes, and to bring to light any 
thing that could justify this invasion, it had 
been determined by us to convene a free 
parliament, wherein the advice and opinion 
of our subjects can be obtained, and causes 
for the measures that have been taken as- 
signed. To attain these objects, we granted 
to the city of London, and to other bodies 
and communities, their ancient charters and 
privileges, and our letters were issued for the 
assembling of a parliament to be held from 
the 15th to the 25th of January. But the 
Prince of Orange, finding that the ends of 
his declaration had been attained, and that 



well as the atrocious calumnies with which 
he asperses our reputation, bring to our re- 
collection the words of our dear father, that 
' the way from the prison of a prince to his 
tomb is short,' and convince us that we ought 
to recover that freedom which the laws of 
nature allow, even to our meanest subject ; 
besides, our person being in safety, it will be 
in our power thereby to contribute our efforts 
to the peace and tranquillity of our kingdom. 
As adverse fortune never will influence us to 
act in any way derogatory to the royal dig- 
nity, to which God has raised us by the 
legitimate succession, neither shall the re- 
bellion nor the ingratitude of our subjects 
ever make us act contrary to the true inter- 
ests of the English nation, which have been 
and ever will be equally dear to us as our 
own. It is therefore our will, that you, our 
privy council, take very special care to make 
known our favorable intentions to all the 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND 



597 



spiritual and temporal lords in our cities of 
London and Westminster, to the lord-mayor 
and commonalty of London, and to all our 
subjects generally, and to assure them that 
we desire most eagerly to return to our king- 
dom, and to convene a free parliament, where 
we may be able to undeceive our people, and 
convince them of the sincerity of our decla- 
rations which have been so often renewed 
by our avowal to preserve the liberties and 
properties of our subjects inviolate ; to pre- 
serve the Protestant religion and church of 
England, as established by law ; and at the 
same time to obtain for nonconformists, and 
all our subjects, all the indulgence which 
justice and a care for the general good of our 
people oblige us to require. At the same 
time, you of our privy council will communi- 
cate to us your opinions and advice respect- 
ing the means you will consider best and 
most prudent to pursue to promote our return 
and the success of our good intentions, which 
you, from being in the country, have in your 
power to perform. We moreover command 
you to prevent, in our name and by our royal 
authority, all disorders and commotions which 
might arise, and to endeavor to preserve the 
nation and all our subjects against any losses 
from the present revolution. As- we entertain 
no doubt of your loyalty and obedience to 
our commands, we bid you farewell. Given 
at St. Germain-en-Laye, the 4th of January, 
1689, and the fourth of our reign. 
" By command of his Majesty, 

" MEELFORT. 

" To the Lords and others of our Privy ) 
Council of our kingdom of England." \ 

In the height of this astonishing revolu 
tion, the prince of Orange being informed of 
the state of things in Scotland, commanded 
the peers of that country, several of whom 
were in London, to repair to St. James's. 
Thirty peers and eighty gentlemen met ac- 
cordingly. William made them the same 
offers he had done to the English, and sought 
their advice in the present conjuncture of 
affairs, and the means necessary for the pro- 
tection of religion and the laws. They then 
withdrew to Whitehall, where, after appoint- 
ing the duke of Hamilton president of the 
meeting, they began to discuss the terms 
they had to propose to the prince. The 
proposal of the earl of Arran was unani- 
mously rejected ; he was son to the duke of 
Hamilton, and proposed to invite the king to 
return to Scotland, and laid down terms for 
him to submit to. It was arranged instead, 
at the meeting, to surrender the government 
of their kingdom to the prince of Orange 



and to pray that he would appoint the 14th 
March for the states of Scotland to meet. 
In consequence, their address was present- 
ed, and a favorable answer received ; not- 
withstanding which, some highland lords 
continued still devoted to the king. 

Ireland was the only part of the three 
kingdoms that continued faithful to the sove- 
reign, and opposed to usurpation. The earl 
of Tirconnel was the lord-lieutenant. There 
was, however, a number of wicked characters 
in Ireland ; namely, the English and Scotch 
fanatics whom the king's grandfather, James 
I., established in the north of Ireland, and 
on whom he bestowed the estates of the an- 
cient proprietors ; and also the parricides and 
soldiers to whom Cromwell gave the lands 
of those who supported the royal cause, and 
whom Charles II., brother to the present 
king, confirmed in their unjust possessions. 
These men, incapable of gratitude, on the 
first news of the prince of Orange having 
landed in England, ran to arms and declared 
in his favor against the grandson and broth- 
er of the benefactors to whom they were 
indebted for their fortunes. This conduct 
was different from what the king expected ; 
it was in direct opposition to every sentiment 
of gratitude which a generous mind ought to 
manifest for benefits received, and falsified 
the detestable maxim of Clarendon, " Do 
good to your enemies to gain them," &c, 
a maxim which that minister of iniquity often 
applied to Charles II. to secure his protec- 
tion for the nefarious usurpers of the proper- 
ties of his faithful subjects. The proteges 
of Clarendon were the first to raise the 
standard of rebellion in Ireland,* and favor 
the usurpation of the prince of Orange. 
Major Pooe, an officer of Cromwell, opened 
the scene and began hostilities. He was 
commander of two companies of cavalry, and 
wishing to levy contributions on the country, 
he applied to the tenants of Lord Bellew. 
Under pain of military law, he ordered them 
to have five hundred pounds sterling made 
up for him. Lord Bellew, apprized of what 
was going on, sent his second son, aged 
eighteen years, to assist the farmers, with a 
company of dragoons of which he was lieu- 
tenant. The two corps having met, they 
fought with determined bravery, till young 

* In our history of this war we made use, among 
other memoirs that are in our possession, of a jour- 
nal which the late Edmond Butler of Kilcop, mar- 
shal-general of the Irish cavalry, left after him. He 
is the more worthy of belief as he was an eye-wit- 
ness of what he sets forth. He died in 1725, at St. 
Germain-en-Laye, quarter-master of cavalry in the 
service of France. 



598 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Bellew having killed Major Pooe with a 
blow of his pistol on the head, his two troops 
were defeated ; several of whom fell in the 
action, and the rest were put to flight. 

Soon after this occurrence, Lord Blaney* 
made an attempt to surprise the town and 
castle of Ardee. A troop of cavalry which 
Dominick Sheldon commanded, and which 
belonged to the regiment of Tirconnel, was 
in the place, and the grenadiers of the earl 
of Antrim's regiment, which was command- 
ed by Henry Fleming, was stationed in the 
castle. Blaney finding his project discov- 
ered, and the little garrison determined to 
defend themselves, desisted from the attack. 
The remainder of the year 1689 was spent 
in raising troops and preparing for the en- 
suing campaign. 

It was then that the nobility of Ireland 
raised, clothed, equipped, and armed, partly 
at their own expense, thirty thousand men 
for the king's service. There were already 
some old corps in Ireland, viz., the regiments 
of Mountcashel, Tirconnel, Clancarty, An- 
trim, and of some others. The viceroy gave 
the commissions of colonels to several of the 
nobles. The country gentlemen raised some 
companies, which, when united with those 
of the colonels, were formed into regiments. 
The regiments of Inniskillen, of HughMac- 
Mahon, Edward Boy O'Reilly, Mac-Donnel, 
Magennis, Cormac O'Neill, Gordon O'Neill, 
Felix O'Neill, Brian O'Neill, Connact Ma- 
guire, O'Donnell, Nugent, Lutterell, Fitz- 
Gerald, Galmoy, O'Morra, and Clare, &c, 
soon appeared in the field. There was no 
want of soldiers, but the soldiers were in 
want of almost every thing except courage 
and good will ; and the nobles, who under- 
went the first expense, were not able to sup- 
port it long. There were also but few offi- 
cers who knew military tactics, and who had 
time to train and discipline the new levies. 
In the month of March, the earl of Tirconnel 
sent Richard Hamilton, lieutenant-general 
of the king's army, at the head of 2000 men, 
against Hugh Montgomery, Lord Mount 
Alexander, who had raised a regiment for 
the prince of Orange, and was at the head 
of 8000 rebels in Ulster. Hamilton set out 
from Drogheda on the 8th of March with the 

* Edward, father of Lord Blaney, was one of 
those adventurers to whom James I. gave estates 
in the county of Motiaghan ; this monarch created 
him afterwards lord-baron. His son, who is intro- 
duced here, was one of James II. 's greatest ene- 
mies, who was the grandson of his benefactor. He 
commanded a body of troops in Ulster against his 
king. He proclaimed everywhere William king of 
Great Britain, in opposition to his legitimate sove- 
reign. 



above force. Having passed Dundalk and 
Newry, he stopped at Lough Bricklan, from 
whence he dispatched Butler of Kilcop, a 
cornet, to reconnoitre the enemy. This 
officer performed his commission valiantly. 
He brought an account to his general, that 
Lord Montgomery was within three miles, 
at the head of 8000 men, at a place called 
Dromore-Iveagh. Hamilton set out on his 
march, and came up with the enemy, who 
were boldly drawn up in order of battle, at 
Cladyfort. Notwithstanding the superior 
number of the rebels, the royalists attacked 
them so vigorously that they took to flight, 
and retreated in disorder towards Hillsbo- 
rough, where Montgomery left two compa- 
nies of infantry in garrison. He sent the 
remainder of his forces to Coleraine under 
Sir Arthur Rydon, and sailed for England 
from Donaghadee. 

In order to follow up his victory, General 
Hamilton went in pursuit of the rebels ; pass- 
ing through Hillsborough, and taking the 
troops Montgomery had left there, at their 
own request he dismissed them. He still 
followed the rebels through Belfast and An- 
trim, as far as Coleraine, on the river Bann, 
but without being able to come up with them. 
Having encamped at Ballimony, near-Cole- 
raine, he remained there three days, to re- 
fresh his troops after their long march ; he 
then examined into the situation and strength 
of the town, which in those times was con- 
sidered to be strongly fortified. Having 
neither artillery nor ammunition to carry on 
a siege, he returned to Ballimony. The day 
following, which was Good Friday, a strong 
body of rebels sallied forth to make booty 
of the cattle in the neighborhood, and take 
provisions necessary for a place threatened 
with a siege ; but Hamilton, with his cav- 
alry, drove them back to the gates of the 
town. 

The king was still in France, and saw 
how favorably disposed his Irish subjects 
were towards him, the greater part of whom 
had continued faithful ; only three small 
towns — Londonderry, Coleraine, and Cul- 
mor — having rebelled in favor of the prince 
of Orange. The English pressed him strong- 
ly to send the necessary succors to support 
these towns. The royalists thought his pres- 
ence might be a check to the enemy ; and 
being encouraged and assisted by France, 
he set sail with the celebrated Gabaret, and 
landed at Kinsale in March. At Cork he 
was joined by the earl of Tirconnel, whom 
he created duke, and proceeded to Dublin. 

The duke of Berwick, accompanied by 
several officers, arrived in the camp of Ham- 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



599 



ilton before Coleraine, and the same night 
the general was informed that the enemy 
had abandoned the place, after having bro- 
ken the bridge. The day following he en- 
tered Coleraine, and having repaired the 
bridge and given the command of the place 
to Colonel O'Morra, who commanded a regi- 
ment of infantry, he marched to Strabane, 
where he refreshed his troops and held a 
council of war. Here it was understood, 
through a letter, that the troops of Innis- 
killen and Derry, making in the whole about 
10,000 men, were collected at Clodybridge, 
on the river Finn, under the orders of Major- 
General Lundee, for the purpose of oppo- 
sing the royal army. After the contents of 
this letter were communicated, the council 
determined to march and attack the rebels. 
Hamilton set out with his army, and found 
on his arrival that the first arch of the 
bridge was broken, and a fort built on the 
other side, defended by 2,000 men drawn 
out in order of battle upon an eminence 
near the fort. To surmount these difficul- 
ties, General Hamilton posted six companies 
of musketeers, with orders to fire on those 
who were guarding the fort, for the purpose 
of covering some workmen sent to repair the 
bridge. Every thing was done with the 
greatest order ; the arch being repaired with 
planks and pieces of wood, the infantry 
passed over without difficulty, while the 
cavalry was crossing the river in view of the 
enemy. This intrepid act disconcerted the 
rebels ; not only those who were guarding 
the fort, but the whole army took to flight, 
some of whom retreated to Derry, and some 
to Inniskillen. They were pursued to Ra- 
phoe by the royalist troops, who killed many 
of them without any loss on their own side 
except that of Robert Nangle, major in the 
regiment of Tirconnel. Afterthis advantage 
over the rebels, Colonel Dundee, who com- 
manded them, surrendered at Culmor and 
embarked for England. 

Hamilton found abundance of provisions 
at Raphoe where he stopped, and was joined 
by Lord Galmoy at the head of eight hun- 
dred men from the garrison of Trim. During 
his stay there, he received some deputies 
from Derry, who offered to capitulate. This 
garrison consisted of 6,000 men ; and the 
general, who knew the importance of the 
place, promised them their lives, properties, 
and protection, on condition that the city 
would surrender at twelve o'clock next day, 
which terms were accepted and ratified on 
both sides. 

The king, who had stopped in Dublin, 
wishing to benefit by the first moments of 



ardor which his presence excited among 
those of his own communion, marched to- 
wards the north. The rebels were not a 
little alarmed at this, having previously given 
up Coleraine and Culmor. The prince, ac- 
companied by M. Rose,* Lord Melford, and 
some troops, arrived at Saint- Johnstown, 
between Raphoe and Derry, the same day 
Hamilton was in treaty with the deputies. 
The eagerness of the general to compliment 
the king on his arrival, made him likewise 
eager to give him an account of the cam- 
paign. The monarch signified to General 
Hamilton his displeasure at the terms he- 
was about to grant to the rebels of Derry, 
and marched himself directly for that town 
with the fresh troops he had with him, and 
immediately summoned it to surrender at 
discretion. This change made by the lung 
from the terms previously agreed upon, gave 
great alarm to the garrison. It had been 
stipulated that the king's troops should not 
advance till the place would be evacuated, 
and now they began to doubt his sincerity. 
It was determined therefore to defend the 
town to the last extremity, while waiting 
for succors that were expected from Eng- 
land, and a Protestant minister named 
Walker took the command of the garrison. 

The king ordered Hamilton to begin the 
siege. Artillery was accordingly sent for in 
April, and did not arrive till June ; it con- 
sisted of two bad pieces of cannon, and two 
mortars, with which came some powder. 
The insurgents, in the mean time, collected 
in bodies in the county of Down ; but they 
were dispersed by some troops under Major- 
General Bohan. 

During the siege of Derry the besieged 
made several sallies against the besiegers, 
of which the first remarkable one occurred 
on a Sunday, with 5,000 men. King James's 
army, who were but 2,000 in number, re- 
ceived them with such firmness that they 
were forced to retreat with loss. The be- 
sieged made two more sallies, but they 
were unsuccessful as before. 

The royal army was reinforced a few 
days afterwards by some newly-raised troops, 
who were as yet undisciplined. The whole 
then amounted to 1 0,000 men. The trenches 
were opened before the place, and the gar- 
rison was so straitened for provisions that 
they were forced to eat dogs, cats, and leath- 
er. To lighten their numbers, six companies 
belonging to Lord Mountjoy's regiment of 
infantry were embarked and sent away. 
It was well provided with warlike stores of 

* Deputy-Marshal of France. 



600 



IIIBTOKY OP IRELAND. 



every kind, and it had forty pieces of cannon 
planted upon the walls, which annoyed the 
besiegers considerably. The succors by 
which the prince of Orange intended to re- 
lieve Derry, soon made their appearance. 
An English fleet of twenty ships of war, 
and three hundred transport vessels laden 
with provisions, warlike stores, and six thou- 
sand troops, under the command of Major- 
General Kirke, appeared in Loughfoyle in 
the beginning of August ; but as some days 
were requisite to enter the town with safety, 
one Roche was dispatched to inform the 
garrison that succors were at hand. Afraid 
to venture by land, he swam a distance of 
two miles, and fulfilled his commission to 
the satisfaction of his employers ; for which 
he was afterwards amply rewarded with the 
estate of Glinn, within two miles of Carrig- 
nashure, which belonged to a gentleman 
named Everard. Two days after Roche's 
exploit, Captain James Hamilton entered 
Derry with two vessels laden with provi- 
sions, which enabled it to hold out till the 
arrival of the aid they were expecting with 
Major- General Kirke. This officer succeed- 
ed, in a few days, in breaking through the 
obstacles which had been placed in the har- 
bor by the royalists to prevent him from 
entering. Having relieved the besieged, 
just as they were on the point of surrender- 
ing, the royalists were forced to withdraw 
on the tenth of August, after a siege of sev- 
enty-three days. The king then ordered 
Hamilton to lead the army towards Dublin, 
in order to oppose Marshal Schomberg, who 
was expected to land with an army in the 
neighborhood of that city. Hamilton obey- 
ed the king's orders, after placing a garri- 
son in Charlemont, under Captain O'Regan, 
an officer of high repute. 

M. Rose not thinking the king's troops 
sufficient to oppose Schomberg, advised him 
to collect his forces about the centre of the 
kingdom, and invite all his faithful subjects 
to join him. Inconsequence of this, he soon 
had an army of twenty thousand men as- 
sembled at Drogheda. 

In the mean time, Schomberg landed be- 
tween Carrickfergus and Belfast, and be- 
sieged the former town, which was under the 
command of Mac-Carty More, nephew to the 
earl of Antrim, and lieutenant-colonel of his 
regiment which was in the town. Mac-Carty 
having but one barrel of powder, was forced 
to surrender the castle after a feeble defence. 
Schombergthen proceeded to wards Dundalk. 

The king being arrived at Drogheda, sent 
two lieutenants, Butler of Kilcop, and Gar- 
land, each at the head of a detachment, to 



reconnoitre the enemy. One took the route 
to Slane, and advanced through the moun- 
tains towards Ardee, the other proceeded on 
the side of Lurgan Race. They brought back 
word to the king that Schomberg was en- 
camped ; that his right wing was stretched 
along Castle-Bellew, his centre extended 
towards Dundalk, and his left towards the 
sea. Upon this the king marched towards 
Ardee, where he stopped ; and the day fol- 
lowing sent General Hamilton with the whole 
of the cavalry to the village of Aphene, 
where he was separated from the enemy by 
a bog and a small river. The king arrived 
after a few hours with the infantry, and en- 
camped, for some days, in presence of the 
enemy. The duke of Tirconnel, M. Rose, 
and other general officers of the army, were 
for attacking the enemy. The opportunity 
was a favorable one, as sickness had got in 
among Schomberg's troops, and out of 
twelve thousand men, of whom his army 
was at first composed, there were not more 
than three thousand remaining, so that if the 
proposed attackhadbeen undertaken, Schom- 
berg would have been forced to decamp, 
and return to his ships, three of which were 
in the harbor of Dundalk. 

The king, by the advice of his general 
officers, put his army in order of battle, and 
marched with a design of turning the enemy, 
on the side of the morass. This proved only 
an ostentatious parade ; as scarcely had they 
marched a league, when the prince ordered 
the troops to return to their camp, where they 
continued till October, without making any 
attempt against the enemy. If it were per- 
mitted to censure the conduct of a wise and 
virtuous king, James II. might be reproached 
with having committed two egregious over- 
sights, which deeply affected his cause, and 
eventually caused the loss of Ireland. At 
Derry he rejected, contrary to sound policy, 
a capitulation entered into between General 
Hamilton and the garrison of that city. This 
would have put into his hands that important 
place. It was the magazine of the north, 
and besides being an arsenal, it afforded to 
his enemies, by its situation, an easy entrance 
into the kingdom. At Dundalk he showed 
a weak compassion for the English, and an 
imprudent clemency towards subjects armed 
against their sovereign, and ready to tear the 
sceptre from his hands, after they had vio- 
lated all the respect due to royalty. It was 
in these circumstances that Monsieur Rose, 
according to Larrey, observed to the king : 
" Sire, if you possessed a hundred kingdoms, 
you would lose them." 

The royal army at Aphene decamped the 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



601 



10th October, in view of Schomberg. They 
marched to Ardee, where they remained till 
the 25th of the month, after which they went 
into winter quarters. The infantry was di- 
vided among the garrisons, and the cavalry 
stopped in the vicinity of Tara and Killeen, 
in the county of Meath. Schomberg also 
took up his winter quarters with the small 
portion of his troops that had escaped the 
contagion. 

In the month of February, 1690, the king 
being informed that a body of insurgents had 
assembled near Cavan, sent the duke of 
Berwick with troops to disperse them. The 
duke found them much superior to him in 
numbers — being in fact three to one. A 
brisk battle was fought between some Eng- 
lish cavalry and the king's infantry, the latter 
of whom retired with loss. Colonel William 
Nugent* had a leg broken, and died of his 
wounds after a few days. Conly Mac-Geo- 
ghegan,f who was a colonel, and several 
others, were killed ; after this engagement 
the duke of Berwick returned to Dublin. 

Louis XIV. sent, at this time, seven 
French battalions to Ireland, under the com- 
mand of Count Lausun, who was to act as 
general under King James. Six Irish bat- 
talions, forming the brigade of Mountcashel, 
were sent to France in exchange ; they 
embarked on board the fleet of Monsieur 
Chateaurenaud, and arrived at Brest in the 
beginning of May. 

The prince of Orange landed in spring 
in the north of Ireland, with a formidable 
army. King James marched in June to 
Dundalk. The enemy's forces amounted to 
forty-five thousand men, well provided with 
every thing, and well trained, and had with 
them sixty pieces of heavy cannon. The 
troops of King James amounted to only 
twenty-three thousand men, lately raised ; 

* He was brother to the earl of Westmeath ; he 
was an intrepid soldier, but rash. 

t He was son of Charles Mac-Geoghegan of 
Sionan, a branch of the Mac-Geoghegans of Kin- 
alyagh, in the county of Westmeath. Conly studied 
the military art in France, where he served for some 
time, and passed as a good officer. The father and 
seven sons, of whom Conly was the eldest, served 
under King James with distinction in his war against 
the Prince of Orange. Of the seven brothers, five 
were killed in this war ; the other two followed the 
fortunes of their king into France, the eldest of whom, 
named Anthony, was created a chevalier, or knight. 
Charles, the youngest, died while captain of grena- 
diers in the regiment of Berwick ; he left three sons 
there is still living one named Alexander, in the 
regiment of Lally ; he distinguished himself in the 
Indies, September 30th, 1759, at the battle of Van- 
davichi, where he commanded in the absence of 
Lally, and had the honor of defeating the English 
army, much superior to his in number. 



they were badly provided with arms, and 
not well disciplined ; their artillery consisted 
of but twelve field-pieces that were brought 
from France. This great disproportion of 
numbers induced the royal army to endeavor 
to take some posts and prevent the prince of 
Orange from advancing, or at least to fight 
him, under disadvantage. It was therefore 
proposed to encamp on the heights adjoining 
Dundalk, which it would be difficult for him 
to pass. The enemy, however, by making 
a small circuitous movement, would be able 
to gain the fiat country at the rear of the royal 
army ; and therefore, in order to cut off the 
communication, it was resolved that they 
should encamp beyond the Boyne river, near 
Drogheda. 

The prince of Orange followed, and en- 
camped opposite King James on the 29th 
June. On the day following, the enemy di- 
vided their army. The prince of Orange 
with one half marched along the river as far 
as Slane, where he was opposed by two regi- 
ments of dragoons, commanded by Sir Neale 
O'Neill, who guarded the pass, but these 
being forced to give way, he advanced to- 
wards the royal army. The king, who wit- 
nessed this manoeuvre, marched also on the 
same side, with the greatest part of his army, 
and left eight battalions commanded by Lieu- 
tenant-general Hamilton, to guard the pass at 
Oldbridge ; Jie cavalry, which formed the 
right wing, was commanded by the duke of 
Berwick. Schomberg, who continued on 
the opposite site, attacked Oldbridge, and 
meeting a feeble resistance from some newly 
raised and inexperienced corps, particularly 
two regiments of Clare dragoons, commanded 
by Charles O'Brien, second son of Lord 
Clare, he made himself master of the place. 
Upon this, Hamilton proceeded down with 
seven other battalions to drive away the 
enemy : but their cavalry having discovered 
another ford which they crossed, advanced 
upon the infantry with the hope of cutting 
the royal army into two, whereupon the duke 
of Berwick moved his cavalry to cover the 
retreat of the battalions ; but he had to begin 
a very unequal attack, both from the number 
of their squadrons, and the disadvantage of 
the ground, which was greatly intersected, 
and made more embarrassing by the enemy's 
having slipped some infantry into it. The 
charge was renewed ten times, and at length 
the infantry making an obstinate stand, the 
cavalry halted ; after which they formed 
again and marched at a slow pace to join 
the king. 

The king in the mean time having re- 
formed his troops, in order to attack the 



602 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



prince of Orange, found himself embarrass- 
ed by a bog that separated the two armies ; 
whereupon, fearing that he would be sur- 
rounded by the army that had succeeded in 
taking the pass at Oldbridge, he wheeled to 
the left, to gain the river at Duleek, called 
the Nanny Water. The duke of Berwick 
arrived with the cavalry at the moment the 
king had crossed the stream with the troops ; 
but those of the prince of Orange, who were 
continually advancing, arrived at thojaame 
time, which obliged the duke of Berwick to 
pass a defile, in full gallop and in disorder. 
The whole army having rallied on the other 
side of the river, put themselves in order of 
battle. The enemy did the same opposite 
to them, but did not dare to attack them. 
After some pause they began to march, and 
were followed by a part of the enemy. Upon 
their reaching a defile, and halting, even the 
enemy did the same. This inactivity of the 
latter might have been caused by the death 
of Schomberg, who was killed at. the passage 
of Oldbridge ; he was the best general in the 
army of the prince of Orange. Whatever 
might have been the cause, the enemy suf- 
fered the king's army to withdraw, who were 
now ordered (the night having come on) to 
march to Dublin. This they effected the 
following morning, and thence the duke of 
Tirconnel led his troops to Limerick. Each 
colonel received orders to lead his regiment 
by whatever route he thought best, which 
they executed in good order. Brigadier 
Surlauben formed the rear-guard with his 
brigade, and the French whom Monsieur 
Lausun brought to Ireland the year before, 
marched through Cork for Kinsale, and em- 
barked for France. 

The king seeing, from the ill-success he 
had in the battle of the Boyne, that he could 
not save Dublin, thought it best to give the 
command to Tirconnel and return to France. 
After this he stopped in the city but one 
night ; he then proceeded direct to Water- 
ford, where he was received by Sir Nicholas 
Porter, the mayor, and embarked for France. 

The dukes of Tirconnel and Lausun ar- 
rived in Limerick. They were pursued by 
the prince of Orange, which obliged Tir- 
connel to send most of his cavalry across the 
Shannon, and quarter them in the county of 
Clare. The infantry he placed in the gar- 
risons of Limerick, Athlone, Cork, and Kin- 
sale. It was then that Lausun said, with 
an oath, while viewing the fortifications of 
Limerick, " that his master would take it 
with roast apples." The prince of Orange, 
in the mean time, having collected his forces, 
encamped within cannon shot of Limerick, 



on the 19th of August. The duke of Tir- 
connel having given the necessary orders 
for its defence, appointed Monsieur Boisse- 
leau, a captain of the French guards, and 
four Irish officers to act as brigadiers under 
him, to command the garrison. M. de Lau- 
sun proceeded to Gal way with the remainder 
•of the French troops, to embark for France. 
The prince of Orange summoned the com- 
mander of Limerick to surrender the city, 
but the answer of this brave officer soon led 
him to believe that the siege would be long 
and obstinate. Heavy artillery, therefore, was 
then ordered for carrying it on. Colonel 
Sarsfield, who commanded a body of 500 
cavalry, being informed that the enemy were 
bringing a part of the artillery by land, 
crossed the Shannon at Killaloe, and by 
forced marches arrived before day at Cul- 
lin, where he surprised the convoy. He 
put the soldiers who were guarding it to the 
sword, and having then spiked the cannon 
and broken the copper boats that were in- 
tended for the construction of a bridge across 
the Shannon, to facilitate the crossing of 
troops, he blew up the remaining part of the 
artillery with the powder taken with the 
convoy. The explosion was so great that 
it was heard at the distance of fifteen miles 
around. Sarsfield, after making a great 
booty in horses and other things, marched 
through Banaghir, where he crossed the 
Shannon and returned to his camp. 

The expedition of Sarsfield amazed the 
prince of Orange, and considerably deranged 
his operations ; he was heard to say, that 
he did not imagine that Sarsfield was capa- 
ble of so able a manoeuvre. The prince, 
however, still continued the siege. The 
besiegers and the besieged were brave in 
their attacks and defence. A breach being 
at length effected by the English artillery, 
six thousand men, supported by an equal 
number, having mounted to the assault, 
were immediately hurled back, attended 
with a loss of many lives. Thirty pieces 
of cannon played incessantly upon the place, 
and the breach being increased, the enemy 
returned to the assault,.but with less success 
than at first. They were pursued to their 
very camp, to the heavy disappointment of 
the prince of Orange, who rebuked his sol- 
diers with bitterness. Boisseleau, the com- 
mander of the place, made the English feel 
what the Irish when well disciplined and 
commanded were able to do. The prince 
of Orange raised the siege after fourteen 
days ; the army decamped under General 
Ginkle in great disorder, after setting fire to 
the houses in which the sick and wounded 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



603 



lay. They marched from thence to Birr, 
while in the mean time the prince of 
Orange had himself escorted to Waterford, 
and embarked for England. 

As soon as the prince of Orange landed 
in England, Lord Churchill, afterwards duke 
of Marlborough, was sent to Ireland with a 
reinforcement of troops and artillery, to lay 
siege to Kinsale and afterwards to Cork. 
Both towns capitulated. The former was 
commanded by Colonel Scot, the latter by 
Brigadier Mac-Elligot ; they and their gar- 
risons surrendered prisoners of war, and the 
officers were sent to England. The duke 
of Tirconnel, the count of Lausun, and Mon- 
sieur Boisseleau,went at this time to France, 
having confided the affairs of the kingdom to 
the duke of Berwick. A misunderstanding 
began now to break out between the Catho 
lie leaders of the royal army and the duke 
of Tirconnel. Without consulting him, agents 
were deputed to France where King James 
was residing, to solicit aid, and to know 
from the prince himself in whom they were 
to confide. The agents were, Colonels 
Purcell, baron of Luoghne, Lutterel, and 
Macclesfield. In consequence of this depu- 
tation, M. de Saint Ruth* was sent in the 
spring to take the command, and the Chev- 
alier de Tesse in quality of field-marshal, 
with warlike stores and provisions. 

The campaign began about the end of 
June, 1691, by besieging Ballymore and 
Athlone. Colonel Ulick Burke was com- 
mander of the former of these two places : 
the Marquis d'Usson; and the Chevalier 
Tesse commanded Athlone. Baron Ginkle, 
who was commander of the Protestant army, 
left Mullingar the 6th of June. He march- 
ed towards Ballymore, which he summoned 
to surrender, and having received a doubt- 
ful answer from the governor, he ordered an 
attack. A breach being effected, and the 
garrison finding themselves unequal to de- 
fend the place, surrendered at discretion. 
The general after this put it into a state of 
defence, and marched towards Athlone. This 
place, one of the most important in the 
kingdom, is situated on the river Shannon, 
which divides it into two, forming thereby 
two towns, separated by a bridge ; that on 
the east is called the English ; that on the 
west, the Irish town. The English town, 
being the weaker, was attacked first — the 
fire of the cannon and musketry was so well 
kept up that it surrendered 29th June. Be 
fore the attack, the duke of Tirconnel ad 

* He was after returning from Savoy, where he 
commanded with distinction the troops of his mas 
ter. 



vised Saint Ruth to destroy the fortifications 
of the Irish town, and to lead the army to 
oppose and prevent Ginkle from crossing 
the bridge over the Shannon, as by this 
means he would be able to arrest his pro- 
gress. But his advice being neglected by 
Saint Ruth, Ginkle had time to erect bat- 
teries against the Irish town, and his army 
having crossed by a ford, in presence of St. 
Ruth, who was encamped near the place, a 
general assault was made the 10th of July. 
The place was immediately carried, after a 
vigorous defence. More than a thousand of 
the Irish were killed, and three hundred 
taken prisoners. 

After Athlone was taken the army of King 
James marched to Ballinasloe, where they 
stopped the day following. It was here 
that Tirconnel gave up the command. He 
surrendered it to the Marquis de Saint Ruth. 
This general marched his army the day fol- 
lowing, and having crossed the river Suck, 
he encamped at Aughrim, which was a very 
advantageous position. The castle of Augh- 
rim, situate at the head of a causeway, being 
the only place through which the enemy 
could pass, protected its front ; on the other 
side it was surrounded by a bog of great ex- 
tent. The _enemy, who were in pursuit of 
the Irish army, appeared on Monday the 
22d, within view of the camp, and began 
to defile through the causeway. Colonel 
Walter Burke was posted with his regiment 
in the castle to oppose their passage, but, 
through some error fatal to the cause he 
was engaged in, he was prevented from ac- 
complishing his object. Having ordered the 
necessary ammunition to be sent for to the 
camp, four barrels of powder, and as many 
of ammunition were forwarded ; but instead 
of musket he found cannon balls, whichwere 
of no use. In consequence of this, the ene- 
my's cavalry passed safely through the cause- 
way, while the infantry were crossing the 
bog, and were drawn up in order of battle 
before the Irish army. Saint Ruth, like a 
skilful general, omitted nothing to resist 
them with effect. The battle began at one 
o'clock with equal fury on both sides, and 
lasted till night. James's infantry perform- 
ed prodigies of valor, driving the enemy 
three times back to their cannon. It is said 
that at the third repulse Saint Ruth threw 
his hat into the air with joy ; but imme- 
diately after he unfortunately fell by a can- 
non-ball. His death soon changed the for- 
tune of the day ; dreadful disorder followed ; 
the soldiers being left without a commander, 
the infantry, unsupported by the cavalry, 
were crushed by the enemy's horse, and the 



C04 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



rout became general. The flower of the 
Irish army perished on this unhappy day, 
and had it not been for the presence of mind 
of the almoner of a regiment, called O'Reilly, 
who made a drum-major beat to the charge 
on a hill near the bog through which James's 
army was to march, the loss would have 
been still greater. By this stratagem the 
vanquished gained sufficient time to take 
the road for Limerick. 

After the defeat of James's army at Augh- 
rim, Galway and Sligo surrendered to the 
English, and Ginkle laid siege to Limerick 
on the 5th of September. Monsieur D'Us- 
son had commanded the garrison since the 
death of Tirconnel, which took place on the 
24th of August, from excessive grief for the 
late reverses in the affairs of the king. D'Us- 
son defended himself with a bravery equal 
to that of Boisseleau, but not with the same 
success. General Sarsfield attempted in vain 
to get four thousand horses into the town : 
the cannon and bombs of the enemy played 
day and night upon the place, and after a 
siege of five weeks, the money and provi- 
sions of the garrison being exhausted, D'lTs- 
son thought it more prudent to accept the 
conditions proposed by the enemy, and to 
save what troops he had remaining, than to 
let all perish by an obstinate resistance. 
The treaty was entered into, and the capitu- 
lation signed on the 13th of October, on 
terms which could not be more honorable 
or advantageous to the vanquished. 

The treaty of Limerick contained forty- 
two articles, twenty-nine of which had refer- 
ence to the military. By this treaty the 
partisans of James had permission not only 
to leave Limerick, but also the kingdom,with 
the most glorious testimony which can be 
accorded to the brave, that of having made 
a gallant defence. They were permitted to 
take with them all they possessed, viz., 
chattels, plate, jewels, &c. The like privi- 
leges were granted to other garrisons, and 
to every Irish family who wished to go to 
France. Vessels were also to be provided 
for the removal of their persons and proper- 
ties, and nothing was omitted from the stip- 
ulation which could contribute to the safety 
and convenience of their voyage. 

After the treaty was concluded, the Irish 
army collected near Quine Abbey, in the 
county of Clare, where it was resolved, that, 
in conformity with the articles of capitula- 
tion, those who wished to go to France 
should send in their names to Monsieur Ta- 
meron, who had been sent to Ireland by 
the French court. The English generals 
thought that very few would willingly go 



into exile, but they were surprised to wit- 
ness the numbers who signed for their re- 
moval, preferring to share the fate of their 
king, and enter the service of a foreign 
prince who had favored their cause, rather 
than submit to the laws of a usurper at home. 
Then it was that these generals regretted 
having consented to their emigration. ' Four 
thousand five hundred men marched direct 
to Cork, under Sarsfield, Lord Lucan, and 
other general officers, where, after remaining 
about a month, they sailed for France, and 
landed at Brest on the 3d of December. At 
the same time, D'Usson and Tesse arrived 
from Limerick on board the squadron of 
M. de Chateau Renaud, with four thousand 
seven hundred and thirty-six Irish soldiers, 
besides officers. Major-General Wachop 
sailed soon afterwards with about three 
thousand men on board English vessels, and 
these were followed by two companies of 
the king's body guards. According to the 
report of the commissioners, the whole of 
the Irish troops, including the officers, who 
followed James to France, amounted to 
nineteen thousand and fifty-nine men. Louis 
XIV. received them with kindness, and of- 
fered them honorable terms, which they ac- 
cepted. They frequently received the most 
flattering praises from this great monarch 
for their zeal and attachment. Lord Mount- 
cashel always commanded the Irish brigade, 
which bore his name. 

Louis XIV. having sent seven French 
battalions to Ireland in the beginning of 
the year 1690, whether that he required the 
same number of Irish troops in return, or 
that James II., who was at that time in the 
country, thought proper to send them, three 
Irish regiments arrived at Brest in the be- 
ginning of May, on board French ships, 
under the command of Justin Mac-Carty, 
Viscount Mountcashel, a lieutenant-general 
in England, and who still retained his rank 
in France. The regiments composing this 
brigade were, Mountcashel's — an old regi- 
ment of long standing — O'Brien's, and Dil- 
lon's, each consisting of two battalions, con- 
taining one thousand six hundred men, di- 
vided into sixteen companies. On their ar- 
rival in France, Mountcashel entered into 
an arrangement for this corps, by which the 
officers were -to be paid as they are at pre- 
sent :* and the soldiers a penny a-day more 
than the French. 

This corps was sent to Savoy, where they 
distinguished themselves under Marshal de 
Catinat, in the reduction of that province ; 



o 



Nv-sv V 



* 




ipA'ioiirciii -.3air.3:fiije&i 









CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



605 



particularly at trie battle of Marseilles, gain- 
ed by the French on the 4th of November, 
1693. Daniel O'Brien, colonel of the regi- 
ment that bore his name, having inherited 
his father's title, who had lately died, called 
it the Clare regiment. He died at Pignerol ; 
Monsieur de Lee succeeded to his command. 
Having quarrelled with Squiddy, the major 
of the regiment, he had him confined in the 
castle of Briancon, and expelled the year 
following, and the majority given to Mur- 
rough O'Brien, who, after serving first in 
Hamilton's regiment, entered that of Greder, 
a German. He had the rank of captain in 
Greder's, from which he exchanged into the 
Clare regiment, still retaining his rank. 

Lord Mountcashel having died at Barege, 
from a wound in the chest which he received 
in Savoy the year he went to France, his 
regiment was given to De Lee, and after- 
wards called Bulkley's regiment. Talbot, 
brigadier-colonel of the Limerick regiment, 
was appointed to the one De Lee had left. 
Talbot was natural son of the duke of Tir- 
connel ; he had served in France from his 
youth, and was deemed an able officer ; he 
went to court in the March following his 
appointment, where he was arrested and sent 
to the Bastille, for some inconsiderate ob- 
servations which were communicated to the 
king. He remained a year in prison, and 
his regiment was given to Charles O'Brien, 
Viscount Clare, brother to him who died at 
Pignerol after the battle of Marseilles. 

Charles O'Brien went to France in 1691, 
after the surrender of Limerick, as captain 
of James II. 's body-guard. It is probable 
that his regiment of dragoons, which he 
commanded at the battle of the Boyne, had 
been disbanded in Ireland. After the battle 
of Marseilles, he was appointed to the queen 
of England's regiment of dragoons ; O'Car- 
rol, the colonel, having been killed. He re- 
vived the name of the Clare regiment ; he 
was killed in 1706, at the battle of Ramillies, 
and his regiment given to Lieutenant-colonel 
Murrough O'Brien, who was descended from 
the house of Carrigogoiniol, a branch of the 
O'Brien family. When lieutenant-colonel, 
he distinguished himself at the battle of Ra- 
millies by taking two stand of colors from 
the enemy, which were deposited in the 
house of the Irish Benedictines at Ypres. 
His skilful manoeuvre at Pallue, by which 
he saved Cambray, is still greater proof of 
his talents ; after *t he received the rank 
of field-marshal of the king's army. " If the 
Marshal de Montesquieu had done him the 
justice due to him for the affair at Pallue," 
says Thuomond, " he would have had a 



greater share in the king's favor than he 
possessed."* Murrough O'Brien retained 
the command of this regiment, under the 
name of O'Brien's regiment, till his death, 
which took place in 1720. He left a son 
called Daniel, a colonel of foot in the ser- 
vice of King Louis, who was created a 
knight of St. Lazarus in 1716, a peer of 
Ireland, under the title of earl of Lismore, 
in 1747, and received the grand cross of 
the royal and military order of St. Louis in 
1750. He died at Rome in 1759. 

Dillon's was the only regiment of Lord 
Mountcashel's brigade that retained its name. 
It was raised in Ireland by Lord Dillon's 
grandfather, and commanded by Arthur Dil- 
lon, his second son, lieutenant-general of 
the king's army. He died at St. Germain- 
en-Laye, in 1734. This nobleman added 
to his illustrious birth superior skill in the 
art of war, and his exploits have been cele- 
brated in the annals of France. He left 
several sons, the eldest of whom succeeded 
his uncle, Lord Dillon. Two were killed 
at the head of their regiments, at the battles 
of Fontenoy and Lawfeld ; and the last has 
been lately translated from the archbishopric 
of Toulouse to that of Narbonne. 

The troops which had lately arrived in 
France, after the treaty of Limerick, were 
new-modelled in 1695, and reduced to twelve 
regiments, the command of which was given 
to those who had most influence at the court 
of St. Germain. These regiments, called the 
troops of the king of England, were, 

The king's regiment of cavalry :— Domi- 
nick Sheldon, colonel ; Edmond Prendergast, 
lieutenant-colonel ; Edmond Butler, major; 
4 captains, 6 lieutenants, 6 cornets. 

The queen's regiment of cavalry : — Lord 
Galmoy, colonel ; Rene de Carne, a French- 
man, lieutenant-colonel ; James Tobin, ma- 
jor ; 4 captains, 6 lieutenants, 6 cornets. 

The king's regiment of dragoons :— Lord- 
viscount Kilmallock, (Sarsfield,) colonel ; 
Turenne O'Carroll, lieutenant-colonel ; De 
Salles, a Frenchman, major ; 5 captains, 14 
lieutenants, 14 cornets. 

The queen's regiment of dragoons : — 
Charles Viscount Clare, colonel ; Alexander 
Barnewal, lieutenant-colonel; Charles Max- 
well, major ; 5 captains, 14 lieutenants, 14 
cornets. 

The king's infantry regiment of guards: — 
William Dorington, colonel ; Oliver O'Gara, 
lieutenant-colonel; John Rothe, major ; 12 
captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 
14 ensigns. 

The queen's regiment of infantry : — 

* Memoirs of Thuomond, on the year 1712. 



606 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



Simon Luttrel, colonel ; Francis Wachop, 
lieutenant-colonel ; James O'Brien, major ; 
12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieuten- 
ants, 14 ensigns. 

An infantry regiment of marines : — The 
Lord Grand-prior, colonel ; Nicholas Fitz- 
gerald, lieutenant-colonel ; Richard Nugent, 
second lieutenant-colonel ; Edmond O'Mad- 
den, major ; 11 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 
sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns. 

The Limerick regiment of infantry : — Sir 
John Fitzgeraid, colonel ; Jeremiah O'Ma- 
hony, lieutenant-colonel ; William Thessy, 
major ; 12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub- 
lieutenants, 14 ensigns. 

The Charlemont regiment of infantry : — 
Gordon O'Neill, colonel ; Hugh Mac-Mahon, 
lieutenant-colonel ; Edmond Murphy, major; 
12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieuten- 
ants, 14 ensigns. 

Dublin regiment of infantry : — John Pow- 
er, colonel: John Power, lieutenant-colonel ; 
Theobald Burke, major ; 12 captains, 28 
lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns. 

The Athlone regiment of infantry : — 
Walter Burke, colonel ; Owen Mac-Carty, 
lieutenant-colonel ; Edmond Cantwell, ma- 
jor ; 12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub- 
lieutenants, 14 ensigns. 

Clancarty regiment of infantry : — Roger 
Mac-Elligot, colonel ; Edward Scott, lieu- 
tenant-colonel ; Cornelius Murphy, major ; 
6 captains, 16 lieutenants, 16 sub-lieuten- 
ants, 8 ensigns. 

Out of the regiments which the Irish no- 
bility had raised in 1689, for the service of 
James II., several were disbanded in Ire- 
land. Most of those who went to France, 
were embodied with those we have just 
been enumerating ; the colonels descending 
to the rank of captain, and the captains to 
that of lieutenants. The regiments of 
O'Neill, O'Donnel, Mac-Donnel, Maguire, 
Mac-Mahon, Magennis, were formed into 
one ; Edmond (Bouy) O'Reilly's (chief of 
the ancient tribe of the O'Reillys of Cavan) 
shared the same fate. He had raised two 
regiments in Ireland for the king's service 
—one of dragoons, the other of infantry : 
the former was disbanded in Ireland, and 
the latter, which he brought to France, was 
embodied with others ; consequently this 
nobleman remained without any regiment. 
His grandson, a captain in the regiment of 
Dillon, was considered chief of the O'Reillys. 

The first change made in the Irish troops 
continued till the peace of Ryswick in 1697. 
In 1698, James II. 's body-guard and Gal- 
moy's regiment were disbanded. Sheldon's, 
which was afterwards known as Nugent's, 



and then as Fitzjames's, was reduced to two 
squadrons. The infantry regiments and foot 
dragoons, consisting of seventeen battalions, 
were reduced to five, of one battalion each, 
and the companies which had previously 
consisted of one hundred men, were reduced 
to fifty. These regiments were known by 
the names of Dorington, (who had belonged 
to the foot-guards,) Rothe, Burke, Albemarle, 
Fitzgerald, Berwick, and Galmoy, their com- 
manders. The regiments of Lee, Clare, and 
Dillon, underwent a similar change, in which 
state they continued till 1701, when a sub- 
lieutenant was added to each company. 

From 1705 to 1711, each company of fifty 
men had a foot-captain, a second captain, a 
lieutenant, two second lieutenants, a sub- 
lieutenant, and ensign. In 1712 each com- 
pany was restored, with respect to officers, 
to the footing on which it had been in 1701, 
and a brigade formed of the half-pay officers. 

The regiments of Burke and Dillon were 
engaged at the battle of Cremona, February, 
1702, in which they particularly distinguish- 
ed themselves, and contributed mainly to the 
defeat of the enemy. As a mark of his satis- 
faction, the king increased the pay of the 
foot-captains, not only of these regiments, 
but of three others which were on a footing 
with the French, to twenty-five pence a day, 
and the lieutenants to twelve pence. The 
pay of the second captains and lieutenants 
was increased in proportion. The soldiers 
also received one penny a-day additional. 
Dillon's regiment received their reward in 
hand, as they already had high pay. 

Sheldon's regiment of cavalry, to which 
a squadron was added, consisted of three 
squadrons in the war of 1700. They dis- 
tinguished themselves at the battle of Spire, 
on the 24th November, 1703 ; and the naif- 
pay captains and lieutenants who served 
with it, received an increase of pay. 

In 1708, the king of Spain began to raise 
two regiments of dragoons, and three Irish 
battalions, consisting of the prisoners taken 
from the English army in the battle of Al- 
manza. These corps were officered by the 
half-pay officers who had served with the 
Irish regiments in France. 

Peace having been concluded at Radstadt, 
on the 6th of March, 1714, between France 
and the emperor, the regiments of Lee, Clare, 
Dillon, Rothe, and Berwick, were increased 
from twelve to fifteen companies, consisting 
each of forty men. In order to make up the 
three new companies, the regiments of 
O'Donnel, which had previously belonged to 
Fitzgerald and Galmoy, and a second bat- 
talion which was added to Berwick's, were 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



607 



disbanded. O'Doimel's was divided between 
the regiments of Lee and Clare ; Galmoy's 
and Berwick's second battalions were joined 
to those of Dillon, Kothe, and Berwick. 

From calculations and. researches that 
have been made at the war-office, it has been 
ascertained, that, from the arrival of the 
Irish troops in France, in 1691, to 1745, 
the year of the battle of Fontenoy, more 
than four hundred and fifty thousand Irish- 
men died in the service of France. 

Burke applied for, and obtained permission 
for his regiment, which had often served in 
Spain, (in order to avoid shifting,) to offer 
its services to the king of Spain. This being 
granted, he proceeded to that country, and 
subsequently served with distinction in 
Sicily, Africa, and Italy, during the war of 
1733, under the king of the two Sicilies, to 
whom his father, the king of Spain, had sent 
him in 1758. Burke's regiment remained 
in Naples ; it was called the king's corps, 
and received an addition of two battalions 

Through the changes which took place 
among the Irish troops in France, the king 
of Spain was enabled to increase his three 
Irish regiments of foot by a battalion each, 
so that he had six made up of the supernu- 
merary men who remained unemployed in 
France. They served at Oran in Sicily, and 
in Italy in 1733, 1734, with the highest dis- 
tinction — four of these battalions, with the 
Walloon guards, were successful in 1713, in 
repulsing the enemy at Veletry, and in saving 
Don Philip, who was in danger of being 
taken prisoner. 

ARTICLES AGREED UPON THE THIRD DAY OF 
OCTOBER, ONE THOUSAND SIX HUN- 
DRED AND NINETY-ONE. 

Between the Right Honorable Sir Charles 
Porter Knight, and Thomas Coningsby, 
Esq., lords-justices of Ireland ; and his 
Excellency the Baron de Ginkle, lieu- 
tenant-general, and commander-in-chief 
of the English army ; on the one part, 

And the Right Honorable Patrick Earl of 
Lucan, Piercy Viscount Galmoy, Colonel 
Nicholas Purcel, Colonel Nicholas Cu- 
sack, Sir Toby Butler, Colonel Garret 
Dillon, and Colonel John Brown ; on the 
other part : 

In the behalf of the Irish inhabitants in the 
city and county of Limerick, the counties 
of Clare, Kerry, Cork, Sligo, and Mayo. 

In consideration of the surrender of the city 
of Limerick, and other agreements made 
between the said Lieutenant-General 
Ginkle, the governor of the city of Lim- 
erick, and the generals of the Irish ar- 



my, bearing date with these presents, for 
the surrender of the said city, and sub- 
mission of the said army : it is agreed, 
That, 

I. The Roman Catholics of this kingdom 
shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of 
their religion, as are consistent with the 
laws of Ireland ; or as they did enjoy in the 
reign of King Charles the Second : and their 
majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit 
them to summon a parliament in this king- 
dom, will endeavor to procure the said Ro- 
man Catholics such farther security in that 
particular, as may preserve them from any 
disturbance upon the account of their said 
religion. 

II. All the inhabitants or residents of Lim- 
erick, or any other garrison now in the 
possession of the Irish, and all officers and 
soldiers, now in arms, under any commis- 
sion of King James, or those authorized by 
him to grant the same in the several coun- 
ties of Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and 
Mayo, or any of them ; and all the commis- 
sioned officers in their majesties' quarters 
that belong to the Irish regiments now in 
being, that are treated with, and who are 
not prisoners of war, or have taken protec- 
tion, and who shall return and submit to 
their majesties' obedience ; and their and 
every of their heirs, shall hold, possess, and 
enjoy, all and every their estates of free- 
hold and inheritance ; and all the rights, 
.titles, and interests, privileges and immuni- 
ties, which they, and every or any of them 
held, enjoyed, or were rightly and lawfully 
entitled to in the reign of King Charles II., 
or at any time since, by thelaws and stat- 
utes that were in force in the said reign of 
King Charles II., and shall be put in posses- 
sion, by order of the government, of such of 
them as are in the king's hands, or the hands 
of his tenants, without being put to any suit 
or trouble therein ; and all such estates shall 
be freed and discharged from all arrears of 
crown-rents, quit-rents, and other public 
charges, incurred and become due since Mi- 
chaelmas, 1688, to the day of the date hereof: 
and all persons comprehended in this article 
shall have, hold, and enjoy all their goods 
and chattels, real and personal, to them, or 
any of them belonging, and remaining either 
in their own hands, or the hands of any per- 
sons whatsoever, in trust for, or for the use 
of them, or any of them : and all, and every 
the said persons, of what profession, trade, 
or calling soever they be, shall and may use, 
exercise, and practise their several and re- 
spective professions, trades, and callings, as 
freely as they did use, exercise, and enjoy the 



008 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



same in the reign of King Charles II., provided 
that nothing in this article contained be con- 
strued to extend to, or restore any forfeiting 
person now out of the kingdom, except what 
are hereafter comprised : provided also, that 
no person whatsoever shall have or enjoy the 
benefit of this article, that shall neglect or 
refuse to take the oath of allegiance made 
by act of parliament in England, in the first 
yeas of the reign of their present majesties, 
when thereunto required. 

III. All merchants, or reputed merchants 
of the city of Limerick, or of any other gar- 
rison now possessed by the Irish, or of any 
town or place in the counties of Clare or 
Kerry, who are absent beyond the seas, that 
have not borne arms since their majesties' de- 
claration in February, 1688, shall have the 
benefit of the second article, in the same 
manner as if they were present ; provided 
such merchants, and reputed merchants, do 
repair into this kingdom within the space 
of eight months from the date hereof. 

IV. The following officers, viz., Colonel 
Simon Lutterel, Captain Rowland White, 
Maurice Eustace of Yermanstown, Chievers 
of Maystown, commonly called Mount-Lein- 
ster, now belonging to the regiments in the 
aforesaid garrisons and quarters of the Irish 
army, who were beyond the seas, and sent 
thither upon affairs of their respective regi- 
ments, or the army in general, shall have the 
benefit and advantage of the second article, 
provided they return hither within the space 
of eight months from the date of these pres- 
ents, and submit to their majesties' govern- 
ment, and take the above-mentioned oath. 

V. That all and singular the said persons 
comprised in the second and third articles, 
shall have a general pardon of all attainders, 
outlawries, treasons, misprisions of treason, 
premunires, felonies, trespasses, and other 
crimes and misdemeanors whatsoever, by 
them, or any of them, committed since the 
beginning of the reign of King James II. ; and 
if any of them are attainted by parliament, 
the lords-justices, and general, will use their 
best endeavors to get the same repealed by 
parliament, and the outlawries to be reversed 
gratis, all but writing-clerks' fees. 

VI. And whereas these present wars have 
drawn on great violences on both parts ; and 
that if leave were given to the bringing all 
sorts of private actions, the animosities would 
probably continue, that have been too long 
on foot, and the public disturbances last : 
for the quieting and settling therefore of this 
kingdom, and avoiding those inconveniences 
which would be the necessary consequence 
of the contrary, no person or persons what- 



soever, comprised in the foregoing articles, 
shall be sued, molested, or impleaded at the 
suit of any party or parties whatsoever, for 
any trespasses by them committed, or for any 
arms, horses, money, goods, chattels, mer- 
chandises, or provisions whatsoever, by them 
seized or taken during the time of the war. 
And no person or persons whatsoever, in the 
second or third articles comprised, shall be 
sued, impleaded, or made accountable for 
the rents or mesne rates of any lands, tene- 
ments, or houses, by him or them received, 
or enjoyed in this kingdom, since the begin- 
ning of the present war, to the day of the 
date hereof, nor for any waste or trespass 
by him or them committed in any such 
lands, tenements, or houses : and it is also 
agreed, that this article shall be mutual and 
reciprocal on both sides. 

VII. Everynobleman and gentlemancom- 
prised in the said second and third articles, 
shall have liberty to ride with a sword, and 
case of pistols, if they think fit ; and keep a 
gun in their houses, for the defence of the 
same, or for fowling. 

VIII. The inhabitants and residents in the 
city of Limerick, and other garrisons, shall 
be permitted to remove their goods, chattels, 
and provisions, out of the same, without be- 
ing viewed and searched, or paying any 
manner of duties, and shall not be com- 
pelled to leave the houses or lodgings they 
now have, for the space of six weeks next 
ensuing the date hereof. 

IX. The oath to be administered to such 
Roman Catholics as submitto their majesties' 
government, shall be the oath abovesaid, and 
no other. 

X. No person or persons who shall at any 
time hereafter break these articles, or any of 
them, shall thereby make, or cause any other 
person or persons to forfeit or lose the benefit 
of the same. 

XI. The lords-justices and general do 
promise to use their utmost endeavors, that 
all the persons comprehended in the above- 
mentioned articles, shall be protected and 
defended from all arrests and executions for 
debt or damage, for the space of eight months 
next ensuing the date hereof. 

XII. Lastly, the lords-justices and general 
do undertake, that their majesties will ratify 
these articles within the space of eight 
months, or sooner, and use their utmost en- 
deavors that the same shall be ratified and 
confirmed in parliament. 

XIII. And whereas Colonel John Brown 
stood indebted to several Protestants, by 
judgments of record, which appearing to the 
late government, the Lord Tyrconnel, and 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



609 



Lord Lucan, took away the effects the said 
John Brown had to answer the said debts, 
and promised to clear the said John Brown 
of the said debts ; which effects were taken 
for the public use of the Irish and their 
army, for freeing the said Lord Lucan of his 
said engagement, passed on their public ac- 
count, for payment of the said Protestants, 
and for preventing the ruin of the said John 
Brown, and for satisfaction of his creditors, 
at the instance of the Lord Lucan, and the 
rest of the persons aforesaid— it is agreed, 
that the said lord-justices, and the said Baron 
de Ginkle, shall intercede with the king and 
parliament, to have the estates secured to 
Roman Catholics, by articles and capitulation 
in this kingdom, charged with, and equally 
liable to the payment of so much of the same 
debts as the said Lord Lucan, upon stating 
accounts with the said John Brown, shall 
certify under his hand, that the effects taken 
from the said Brown amount unto ; which 
account is to be stated, and the balance 
certified by the said Lord Lucan in one-and- 
twenty days after the date hereof. 

For the true performance hereof, we have 
hereunto set our hands, 

Char. Porter, Tho. Coningsby, 
Bar. De Ginkle. 
Present — 

Scravenmore, H. Maccay, T. Talmash. 

And whereas the said city of Limerick 
hath been since, in pursuance of the said 
articles, surrendered unto us. Now knowye, 
that we having considered of the said arti- 
cles, are graciously pleased hereby to de- 
clare, that we do, for us, our heirs, and suc- 
cessors, as far as in us lies, ratify and confirm 
the same, and every clause, matter, and thing 
therein contained. And as to such parts 
thereof for which an act of parliament shall 
be found to be necessary, we shall recom- 
mend the same to be made good by parlia- 
ment, and shall give our royal assent to any 
bill or bills that shall be passed by our two 
houses of parliament to that purpose. And 
whereas it appears unto us, that it was agreed 
between the parties to the said articles, that 
after the words Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, 
Mayo, or any of them, in the second of the 
said articles, the words following, viz., " And 
all such as are under their protection in the 
said counties," should be inserted, and be 
part of the said articles. Which words hav- 
ing been casually omitted by the writer, the 
omission was not discovered till after the 
said articles were signed, but was taken 
notice of before the second town was sur- 
rendered ; and that our said justices, and 



general, or one of them, did promise that 
the said clause should be made good, it being 
within the intention of the capitulation, and 
inserted in the foul draught thereof. Our 
further will and pleasure is, and we do here- 
by ratify and confirm the said omitted words, 
viz., " And all such as are under their pro- 
tection in the said counties," hereby for us, 
our heirs and successors, ordaining and de- 
claring, that all and every person and per- 
sons therein concerned, shall and may have, 
receive, and enjoy the benefit thereof, in such 
and the same manner as if the said words 
had been inserted in their proper place in 
the said second article ; any omission, de- 
fect, or mistake in the said second article, 
in any wise notwithstanding. Provided al- 
ways, and our will and pleasure is, that 
these our letters patent shall be enrolled in 
our court of chancery in our said kingdom 
of Ireland, within the space of one year next 
ensuing. In witness, &c, witness ourself at 
Westminster, the twenty-fourth day of Feb- 
ruary, anno regni regis & reginae Gulielmi 
& Maria? quarto per breve de privato sigillo. 
Nos autem tenorem premissor. predict. Ad 
requisitionem attornat. general, domini regis 
& dominae reginae pro regno Hiberniae. 
Duximus exemplificand. per presentes. In 
cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri 
fecimus patentes. Testibus nobis ipsis apud 
Westmon. quinto die Aprilis annoq. regni 
eorum quarto. 

Bridges. 
Examinat. per nos 

S. Keck, ) In Cancel. 

Lacon Wm. Childe. $ Magistros. 

Military Articles agreed upon between 
the Baron de Ginkle, lieutenant-general 
and commander-in-chief of the English 
army, on the one side, 

And the Lieutenant-generals DeUssoon and 
De Tesse, commanders-in-chief of the 
Irish army, on the other ; and the general 
officers hereunto subscribing. 

I. That all persons without any excep- 
tions, of what quality or condition soever, 
that are willing to leave the kingdom of Ire- 
land, shall have free liberty to go to any coun- 
try beyond the seas (England and Scotland 
excepted) where they think fit, with their 
families, household-stuff, plate, and jewels. 

II. That all general officers, colonels, and 
generally all other officers of horse, dragoons, 
and foot-guards, troopers,dragooners, soldiers 
of all kinds, that are in any garrison, place, 
or post, now in the hands of the Irish, or 
encamped in the counties of Cork, Clare, and 
Kerry, as also those called Rapparees, or 



010 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



volunteers, that are willing to go beyond seas 
as aforesaid, shall have free leave to embark 
themselves wherever the ships are that are 
appointed to transport them, and to come in 
whole bodies as they are now composed, or 
in parties, companies, or otherwise, without 
having any impediment, directly or indirectly . 

III. That all persons above-mentioned, 
that, are willing to leave Ireland and go into 
France, shall have leave to declare it at the 
times and places hereafter mentioned, viz. : 
the troops in Limerick, on Tuesday next in 
Limerick ; the horse at their camp on 
Wednesday ; and the other forces that are 
dispersed in the counties of Clare, Kerry, and 
Cork, on the 8th instant, and on none other, 
before Monsieur Tameron, the French in- 
tendant, and Colonel Withers ; and after such 
declaration is made, the troops that will go 
into France must remain under the command 
and discipline of their officers that are to con- 
duct them thither ; and deserters of each side 
shall be given up, and punished accordingly. 

IV. That all English and Scotch officers 
that serve now in Ireland, shall be included 
in this capitulation, as well for the security 
of their estates and goods in England, Scot- 
land, and Ireland, (if they are willing to re- 
main here,) as for passing freely into France, 
or any other country to serve. 

V. That all the general French officers, 
the intendant, the engineers, the commissa- 
ries at war, and of the artillery, the treas- 
urer, and other French officers, strangers, a«d 
all others whatsoever, that are in Sligo,Ross, 
Clare, or in the army, or that do trade or 
commerce, or are otherwise employed in 
any kind of station or condition, shall have 
free leave to pass into France, or any other 
country, and shall have leave to ship them- 
selves, with all their horses, equipage, plate, 
papers, and all their effects whatever ; and 
that General Ginkle will order passports for 
them, convoys, and carriages by land and 
water, to carry them safe from Limerick to 
the ships where they shall be embarked 
without paying any thing for the said car- 
riages, or to those that are employed therein, 
with their horses, cars, boats, and shallops. 

VI. That if any of the aforesaid equi 
pages, merchandise, horses, money, plate, or 
other moveables, or household-stuff belong- 
ing to the said Irish troops, or to the French 
officers, or other particular persons whatso 
ever, be robbed, destroyed, or taken away 
by the troops of the said general, the said 
general will order it to be restored, or pay- 
ment to be made according to the value that 
is given in upon oath by the person so robbed 
or plundered ; and the said Irish troops to be 



transported as aforesaid ; and all other per- 
sons belonging to them, are to observe good 
order in their march and quarters, and shall 
restore whatever they shall take from the 
country, or make restitution for the same. 

VII. That to facilitate the transporting 
the said troops, the general will furnish fifty 
ships, each ship's burden two hundred tons ; 
for which the persons to be transported shall 
not be obliged to pay ; and twenty more, if 
there shall be occasion, without their paying 
for them ; and if any of the said ships shall 
be of lesser burden, he will furnish more 
in number to countervail ; and also give two 
men-of-war to embark the principal officers, 
and serve for a convoy to the vessels of 
burden. 

VIII. That a commissary shall be imme- 
diately sent to Cork to visit the transport 
ships, and what condition they are in for 
sailing ; and that as soon as they are ready, 
the troops to be transported shall march with 
all convenient speed, the nearest way in order 
to embark there ; and if there shall be any 
more men to be transported than can be car- 
ried off in the said fifty ships, the rest shall 
quit the English town of Limerick, and 
march to such quarters as shall be appointed 
for them, convenient for their transporta- 
tion ; where they shall remain till the other 
twenty ships be ready, which are to be in a 
month ; and may embark on any French 
ship that may come in the mean time. 

IX. That the said ships shall be furnished 
with forage for horse, and all necessary pro- 
visions to subsist the officers, troops, dra- 
goons, and soldiers, and all other persons 
that are shipped to be transported into 
France ; which provisions shah be paid for 
as soon as all are disembarked at Brest or 
Nants, upon the coast of Brittany, or any 
other port of France they can make. 

X. And to secure the return of the said 
ships, (the danger of the seas excepted,) and 
payment for the said provisions, sufficient 
hostages shall be given. 

XI. That the garrisons of Clare-castle, 
Ross, and all other foot that are in garrisons 
in the counties of Clare, Cork, and Kerry, 
shall have the advantage of this present ca- 
pitulation ; and such part of those garrisons 
as design to go beyond seas, shall march 
out with their arms, baggage, drums beating, 
ball in mouth, match lighted at both ends, 
and colors flying, with all the provisions, 
and half the ammunition that is in the said 
garrisons, and join the horse that march to 
be transported ; or if then there is not ship- 
ping enough for the body of foot that is to 
be next transported after the horse, General 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



611 



Ginkle will order that they be furnished 
with carriages for that purpose, and what 
provisions they shall want in their march, 
they paying for the said provisions, or else 
that they may take it out of their own maga- 
zines. 

XII. That all the troops of horse and 
dragoons that are in the counties of Cork, 
Kerry, and Clare, shall also have the bene- 
fit of this capitulation ; and that such as will 
pass into France, shall have quarters given 
them in the counties of Clare and Kerry, 
apart from the troops that are commanded 
by General Ginkle, until they can be ship- 
ped ; and within their quarters they shall 
pay for every thing, except forage and pas- 
ture for their horses, which shall be fur- 
nished gratis. 

XIII. Those of the garrison of Sligo that 
are joined to the Irish army, shall have the 
benefit of this capitulation ; and orders shall 
be sent to them that are to convey them up, 
to bring them hither to Limerick the shortest 
way. 

XIV. The Irish may have liberty to trans 
port nine hundred horse, including horses for 
the officers, which shall be transported gratis 
and as for the troopers that stay behind, they 
shall dispose of themselves as they shall 
think fit, giving up their horses and arms to 
such persons as the general shall appoint 

XV. It shall be permitted to those that 
are appointed to take care for the subsist- 
ence of the horse that are willing to go into 
France, to buy hay and com at the king's 
rates wherever they can find it, in the quar- 
ters that are assigned for them, without any 
let or molestation, and to carry all necessary 
provisions out of the city of Limerick ; and 
for this purpose, the general will furnish 
convenient carriages for them to the places 
where they shall be embarked. 

XVI. It shall be lawful to make use of 
the hay preserved in the stores of the county 
of Kerry, for the horses that shall be em- 
barked ; and if there be not enough, it shall 
be lawful to buy hay and oats wherever it 
shall be found, at the king's rates. 

XVII. That all prisoners of war, that 
were in Ireland the 28th of September, 
shall be set at liberty on both sides ; and the 
general promises to use his endeavors that 
those that are in England and Flanders 
shall be set at liberty also. 

XVIII. The general will cause provisions 
and medicines to be furnished to the sick and 
wounded officers, troopers, dragoons, and 
soldiers of the Irish army that cannot pass 
into France at the first embarkment ; and 
after they are cured, will order them ships 



to pass into France, if they are willing 
to go. 

XIX. That at the signing hereof, the 
general will send a ship express to France ; 
and that besides, he will furnish two small 
ships of those that are now in the river of 
Limerick, to transport two persons into 
France that are to be sent to give notice of 
this treaty ; and that the commanders of the 
said ships shall have orders to put ashore 
at the next port of France where they shall 
make. 

XX. That all those of the said troops, 
officers, and others, of what character so- 
ever, that would pass into France, shall not 
be stopped upon the account of debt, or any 
other pretext. 

XXI. If after signing this present treaty, 
and before the arrival of the fleet, a French 
packet-boat, or other transport-ship, shall 
arrive from France in any other part of Ire- 
land, the general will order a passport, not 
only for such as must go on board the said 
ships, but to the ships to come to the near- 
est port to the place where the troops to be 
transported shall be quartered. 

XXII. That after the arrival of the said 
fleet, there shall be free communication and 
passage between it and the quarters of the 
above said troops ; and especially for all 
those that have passes from the chief com- 
manders of the said fleet, or from Monsieur 
Tameron, the intendant. 

XXIII. In consideration of the present 
capitulation, the two towns of Limerick shall 
be delivered and put into the hands of the 
general, or any other person he shall appoint, 
at the time and days hereafter specified, 
viz : the Irish town, except the magazines 
and hospital, on the day of the signing of 
these present articles ; and as for the Eng- 
lish town, it shall remain, together with the 
island, and the free passage of Thuomond- 
bridge, in the hands of those of the Irish 
army that are now in the garrison, or that 
shall hereafter come from the counties of 
Cork, Clare, Kerry, Sligo, and other places 
above mentioned, until there shall be con- 
venience found for their transportation. 

XXIV. And to prevent all disorders that 
may happen between the garrison that the 
general shall place in the Irish town, which 
shall be delivered to him, and the Irish 
troopers that shall remain in the English 
town and the island, (which they may do 
until the troops to be embarked on the first 
fifty ships shall be gone for France, and no 
longer,) they shall intrench themselves on 
both sides, to hinder the communication of 
the said garrisons ; and it shall be prohibit- 



612 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



ed on both sides, to offer any thing that is 
offensive ; and the parties offending shall 
be punished on either side. 

XXV. That it shall be lawful for the said 
garrison to march out all at once, or at dif- 
ferent times, as they can be embarked, with 
arms, baggage, drums beating, match lighted 
at both ends, bullet in mouth, colors flying, 
six brass guns, such as the besieged will 
choose, two mortar-pieces, and half the am- 
munition that is now in the magazines of 
the said place ; and for this purpose, an in- 
ventory of all the ammunition in the garrison 
shall be made, in the presence of any person 
that thg general shall appoint, the next day 
after these present articles shall be signed. 

XXVI. All the magazines of provisions 
shall remain in the hands of those that are 
now employed to take care of the same, for 
the subsistence of those of the Irish army 
that will pass into France ; and if there shall 
not be sufficient in the stores for the support 
of the said troops while they stay in this 
kingdom, and are crossing the seas, that, 
upon giving up an account of their numbers, 
the general will furnish them with sufficient 
provisions at the king's rates ; and that there 
shall be a free market at Limerick, and other 
quarters where the said troops shall be ; 
and in case any provisions shall remain in 
the magazines of Limerick when the town 
shall be given up, it shall be valued, and the 
price deducted out of what is to be paid for 
the provisions to be furnished to the troops 
on ship-board. 

XXVII. That there shall be a cessation 
of arms at land, as also at sea, with respect 
to the ships, whether English, Dutch, or 
French, designed for the transportation of 
the said troops, until they shall be returned 
to their respective harbors ; and that, on 
both sides, they shall be furnished with suf- 
ficient passports both for ships and men ; 
and if any sea-commander, or captain of a 
ship, or any officer, trooper, dragoon, soldier, 
or any other person, shall act contrary to this 
cessation, the persons so acting shall be pun 
ished on either side, and satisfaction shall 
be made for the wrong that is done ; and 
officers shall be sent to the mouth of the 
river of Limerick, to give notice to the com- 
manders of the English and French fleets 
of the present conjuncture, that they may 
observe the cessation of arms accordingly. 

XXVIII. That for the security of the 
execution of this present capitulation, and of 
each article therein contained, the besieged 

shall give the following hostages 

And the general shall give 

XXIX. If before this capitulation is fully 



executed, there happens any change in the 
government, or command of the army, which 
is now commanded by General Ginkle ; all 
those that shall be appointed to command 
the same, shall be obliged to observe and 
execute what is specified in these articles, 
or cause it to be executed punctually, and 
shall not act contrary on any account. 

In faith of which we have subscribed our 
names, the 13th of October, 1691. Signed 
— Dussen, le chevalier De Tesse, Lucan, 
Wachop, and La Tour-Montfort. Charles 
Porter, Thomas Coningsby, Baron Ginkle. 

However willing the prince of Orange 
might have been to support the Irish Catho- 
lics in the enjoyment of the privileges which 
were granted to them by the treaty of Lim- 
erick, it is certain that the English govern- 
ment did not fulfil the articles of capitulation. 
After a disastrous war, in which their chief 
objects were the interest of their religion 
and the inviolable fidelity which they thought 
due to their king, they, however, had at least 
the satisfaction of having the freedom of 
conscience conceded by this celebrated 
treaty. The honor and good faith of the 
prince of Orange were the only guarantees 
of this compact ; he had affixed the great 
seal of England to it ; he ratified in the 
most solemn manner the agreement of his 
generals with the chiefs of the Irish army, 
and bound himself and his successors to use 
every effort to have all the articles of the 
treaty fulfilled and ratified by the parliament. 

According to the first of these articles — 
The Roman Catholics of this kingdom shall 
enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their 
religion as are consistent with the laws of 
Ireland, or as they did enjoy in the reign of 
King Charles the Second ; and their majes- 
ties, as soon as their affairs will permit them 
to summon a parliament in this kingdom, will 
endeavor to procure the said Roman Catho- 
lics such farther security in that particular, 
as may preserve them from any disturbance 
upon the account of their said religion. 

However, numerous acts of parliament 
were passed, by which this article was annul- 
led. By the provisions of the statute called, 
An act to prevent the increase of Popery, it 
was prohibited, under pain of prcemunire* to 
convert or be converted to the Catholic re- 
ligion ; and also to give children a foreign 

* This is a species of law that strips the crimi- 
nal of all his goods, deprives him of his liberty and 
the protection of the laws, exposes him to every 
insult and bad treatment, without any remedy ; it 
renders him infamous, and, in fine, leaves him noth- 
ing hut the life he is to lose. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



613 



education, while the Catholics had neither 
schools nor colleges to have them instructed 
at home, and Catholics were prohibited from 
teaching under the most rigorous penalties. 

At almost every meeting of parliament, 
the Catholics experienced some new proofs 
of its severity. In 1697, all archbishops, 
bishops, vicars-general, deans, and other 
ecclesiastics, as also all monks, of whatso- 
ever order they were, were commanded to 
quit the kingdom before the first of May, 
1698 ; it being ordained that those who 
should be discovered after the expiration of 
that time, should be closely imprisoned in 
the public jail of the place in which they 
would be taken, till they could be sent beyond 
the seas, and that if any who had been thus 
transported had the boldness to return, they 
should be punished as guilty of high treason. 

By other acts the Irish nobility were de- 
prived of their arms and horses ; they were 
debarred from purchasing land, from be- 
coming members of the bar, or filling any 
public office ; and, contrary to the ninth ar- 
ticle of the treaty, they were made subject 
to infamous oaths. 

Thus were the Irish Catholics treated, in 
violation of a solemn compact, rendered sa- 
cred by every necessary formality. But, to 
the disgrace of mankind, experience proves 
that power has more influence in the fulfil- 
ment of treaties than the good faith of those 
by whom they are signed. 

After the celebrated treaty of Riswick, in 
1697, by which peace was restored to all 
Europe, the greater part of the standing 
army in England was to have been dis- 
banded, but money was wanting to pay the 
arrears due to the officers, provision-con- 
tractors, &c. The English, however, soon 
discovered means for these purposes, with- 
out any cost to themselves. A supply of 
one million sterling was granted by parlia- 
ment, to be raised by the confiscation of the 
estates of the Irish Catholics who had taken 
up arms for James II. after the year 1688 ; 
commissioners being appointed to inquire 
into the nature of these estates, and to as- 
certain what they would produce for the 
above-mentioned purposes. 

The reports of the commissioners to the 
house of commons on the affairs for which 
they had been nominated, are subjoined. 
They were printed in London in 1700, by 
order of parliament. They contain in all 
ninety paragraphs ; but we pass over here, 
those from the first to the twelfth, the rest 
being only accounts of the difficulties which 
the commissioners had to contend with in 
the fulfilment of their trust. 



By these reports it will be seen that three 
thousand nine hundred and twenty-one Irish- 
men, and fifty-seven Englishmen were pro- 
scribed. If the sacrifices made by both 
were the same, how different has been the 
number of victims. It will also appear from 
them, how much those who followed the 
fortunes of James II. had' lost ; how their 
estates were plundered and laid waste ; what 
abuses were committed in the confiscations, 
by men of the highest rank ; what immense 
fortunes were unjustly acquired at that time 
by the most obscure characters ; and lastly, 
what inconsiderable advantages accrued to 
William, and to the crown of England, by 
these confiscations. We will also discover 
the manner in which these proceedings were 
conducted, and get some knowledge of the 
forms and customs of the inferior courts of 
law in Great Britain. An idea, also, may 
be arrived at of English and Irish parlia- 
ments at the time, and of the nature of their 
deliberations. 

Report of the commissioners appointed by the 
parliament of England to take cognizance 
of the properties that were confiscated upon 
the Irish who were concerned in the rebellion 
of 1688,* to the honorable house of com- 
mons, December 15, 1699. 

1st. Gentlemen, — In virtue of the power 
granted to us by a late act of parliament, 
made in the tenth and the eleventh years of 
his majesty's reign, styled, An act for the 
granting to his majesty the sum of one mil- 
lion four hundred and eighty-foiir thousand 
and fifteen pounds one shilling and eleven 
pence three farthings, to enable him to dis- 
band the troops, and provide for the main- 
tenance of the fleet, and other necessary 
expenses, we have inquired into the state of 
the properties which have been confiscated 
in Ireland. 

12. — On account of the late rebellion, 
fifty-seven persons have been proscribed in 
England, since the 13th February, 1688, 
and three thousand nine hundred and twen- 
ty-one in Ireland. The aggregate, with the 
names of the counties in which they were 
attainted, is inserted in a book presented 
with this report, No. 1. 

13. — The lands which belonged to the 
said persons since the 13th February, 1688, 
with the name of the owners, the number 
of acres confiscated, the names of the comi- 
ties and baronies in which they are situated, 
the annual revenue, and the value of capital, 

* They stigmatize with the name of rebellion the 
efforts of the Catholics of Ireland in favor of their 
legitimate king. 



G14 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



are contained in a book* presented with this 
report, No. 2. 

14. — We calculate that the confiscated 
lands in the following counties are of the 
value and extent as subjoined : 



Counties. 


R. A. 


AnnualValue. 


Real Value. 






£ 


s. 


d. 


£ 


s. d. 


Antrim . . . . 


10103 2 


1944 


18 


6 


25284 


6 


Armagh . . . 


4963 


588 








7644 





Cork 


944320 


32133 


12 


6 


417737 


2 6 


Carlow .".... 


26303 


7913 


11 


6 


95872 


2 


Clare 


72246 


12060 


17 





156791 


1 


Cavan . . . . 


3830 1 


478 


12 


6 


6222 


2 6 


Dublin 


34546 


16061 


6 





208796 


18 


Down 


9079 


1016 


6 


6 


13212 


4 6 


Fermanagh. . 


1945 


389 








5057 





Galway . . . . 


60825 


10225 


4 


U 


83528 


18 


Kildare . . . . 


44281 1 


16551 


18 


6 


215175 


6 


King's Co. . . 


30459 3 


6870 


18 





89321 


14 


Kilkenny . . . 


30152 2 


5243 


3 


6 


68161 


5 6 


Kerry 


90116 


3652 


11 


S 


47483 


12 9 


Limerick . . . 


14882 3 


4728 


in 


ii 


61470 


10 


Longford . . . 


2067 2 


348 


9 


9 


4530 


6 9 


Louth and ) 
Drogheda \ 
Meath 


22508 


6331 


11 





82310 


3 


92452 


31546 


4 


6 


410100 


18 6 




19294 


3186 


5 





37598 


3 


Monaghan . . 


3832 


558 


16 U 


7264 


8 


Queen's Co. . 


22657 


5002 


8 


.9 


65031 


13 9 


Roscommon . 


28933 


5808 


15 


( 


69767 


2 




5562 


998 


17 


6 


12985 


7 6 


Tipperary . . 


31960 3 


8888 


12 


6 


115552 


2 6 


Wicklow . . . 


18164 


2719 


3 


C 


35348 


19 


Westmeath . 


58083 


14633 


12 


6 190237 


2 6 


Wexford . . . 


55882 2 


7551 


10 


6 98169 


16 6 


Watcrford . . 


21343 


4190 





0| 54476 


10 



According to this calculation there were one 
million and sixty thousand seven hundred 
and ninety-two acres, producing an annual 
income of two hundred and eleven thousand 
six hundred and twenty-three pounds six 
shillings and three pence sterling ; the real 
value of which amounts to two millions six 
hundred and eighty-five thousand one hun- 
dred and thirty pounds sterling, independ- 
ently of several other estates confiscated, of 
which we cannot undertake to give a valua- 
tion, from their not having been accurately 
surveyed. We consider the above to be the 
value of the estates confiscated since the 
13th February, 1688. 

15. — We deem it our duty now to inform 
you of the number of acres that have been 
restored to their former owners, in virtue 
of the treaties of Limerick and Galway, or 
through the particular favor of his majesty. 

* Every effort has been used by us to discover 
that book in which are contained the names of the 
proprietors, in order to introduce them here in favor 
of their descendants, many of whom are still living ; 
but our efforts to find it have been in vain. — J. 
M'Geoghegan. 



16. — Three letters — one from the late 
Queen Mary, dated March 15th, to Lord Sid- 
ney, Sir Charles Porter, and Mr. Thomas 
Coningsby, lords-justices and governors of 
the kingdom of Ireland ; another from the 
same queen, dated 6th May, 1093, to the 
same Lord-viscount Sidney, then viceroy 
and governor-general of that kingdom, and 
to the privy council ; and a third letter from 
the king, April 24, 1694, to Lord Henry 
Capel, Sir Cyrillwick, and Mr. Duncombe, 
then lord-justice of Ireland, and to the privy 
council, authorizing them to attend to the 
representations of those who considered 
themselves entitled to take advantage of the 
treaties of Limerick and Galway, and to do 
them justice. It was therefore decided that 
four hundred and ninety-one persons should 
have the benefit of the above-named treaties. 
Their names, rank, the time they were put 
into possession of what they had lost, are 
contained in the book presented to you, gen- 
tlemen, endorsed No. 3. 

17. — Further, a commission dated Feb- 
ruary 25, in the eighth year of his majesty's 
reign, with the great seal of Ireland affixed 
to it, empowering the judges of the several 
courts, or five of them, to inquire into the 
claims of the proscribed ; in consequence of 
which, seven hundred and ninety-two per- 
sons were found entitled to the benefit of the 
above-named articles. The names of those 
persons, their rank, and the nature of the 
estates which have been restored to them, 
and the periods, are specified in a book 
added to the report, No. 4. 

18. — The estates thus restored, contain 
two hundred and thirty-three thousand one 
hundred and six acres, producing an annual 
income of fifty-five thousand seven hundred 
and sixty-three pounds six shillings and six 
pence sterling, and are valued at seven hun- 
dred and twenty-four thousand nine hundred 
and twenty-three pounds and four pence 
sterling. An account of the rent and value 
of each, the names of the counties or baro- 
nies in which the above-named estates lie, 
with the names and rank of the owners, are 
specified in No. 4. 

19. — We do not presume to question, if 
their majesties' letters above named, to the 
lords-justices and council, or the commission 
to which the great seal has been affixed, 
could invest any person with a power neces- 
sary for summoning his majesty's subjects, 
and oblige them to come from any part of 
the kingdom, to take an oath and try them 
without any judicial form, and raise money 
under the name and pretext of a salary, &c, 
without any act of parliament to authorize 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



615 



such proceedings. We humbly submit this 
observation to your wisdom. 

20. — We consider it our duty, gentlemen, 
to inform you, that in these courts, establish- 
ed in the extraordinary manner we have 
named, exorbitant, salaries were required : 
that Palmer, who held the office of register 
under Mr. Poultney, with whom he shared 
the profits, demanded from Mr. Luke Dil- 
lon, when his father's property was restored 
to him, the sum of eighty-six pounds ster- 
ling ; and Mr. Steel, the crier of the same 
court, fifteen pounds, besides ten pounds 
he had given to Palmer at different periods 
while the trial was pending for two years. 
This is not an individual instance ; many 
others have paid large sums in similar cases. 
Previously to our being appointed commis- 
sioners, nearly five pounds was paid on pre- 
senting the first petition, though it was for- 
mally declared, in the articles of the treaty 
of Limerick, that none but clerks were to 
receive payment for their writings. 

21. — We may add, that complaints be- 
came general, and we can say with justice, 
against the last court that was established 
for receiving petitions. Many have been 
tried without their petitions being heard ; 
others, a day or two after they had been 
received, before the king's counsel or the 
witnesses had been heard, which is contrary 
to the rules of the court itself, according to 
which there should be fourteen days between 
the admission of the claim and the trial. In 
general, it appears that many abuses have 
been committed, and that the articles of 
Limerick and Galway have often been too 
favorably interpreted towards the proscri- 
bed ; so that one witness has been often 
sufficient to determine in their favor; we 
are, therefore, of opinion, that many have 
been reinstated in the possession of property, 
which, if matters were well investigated, 
should belong to his majesty ; for this pur- 
pose we sent to Palmer for his minutes, but 
as he had only written them in notes, we 
could not obtain sufficient information to 
lay before you. We will observe one thing 
which seems singular to vis, that, since we 
received our commission, the court has re- 
stored more persons to their properties than 
they had previously done since the treaty of 
Limerick. 

22. — We have also to inform you, gen- 
tlemen, that many ancient proprietors have 
been reinstated, by the repeal of their sen- 
tence, or by a pardon from his majesty. 

23. — This is of two kinds ; that which 
has been the result of trial is specified in the 
books marked 3 and 4, and in separate 
columns. 



24. — The other, granted as favors by 
his majesty, or letters from the late queen, 
or by orders, subsequently to the battle of the 
Boyne, are in a book joined to this report, 
No. 5. — The number of these persons is 
sixty-five. The estates thus restored con- 
tain seventy-four thousand seven hundred 
and thirty-three acres, producing an annual 
income of twenty thousand and sixty-six 
pounds eight pence three farthings, sterling, 
and worth two hundred and sixty thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-three pounds seven 
pence three farthings, sterling. The names 
of the caunties, baronies, persons, and rank, 
are specified in a book, No. 2. 

25. — We now think it necessary to in- 
form you of what we have discovered in the 
different provinces, and which appears very 
probable, that many have obtained favors 
from his majesty, by giving money, who had 
enjoyed, and have abused his confidence ; 
but in our endeavors to investigate this 
matter, we were unable to overcome the 
difficulty ; these arrangements had been 
made in the most private manner, and be- 
tween those who are not at present in the 
kingdom. We shall, nevertheless, lay proofs 
before you, gentlemen, of money having 
been the means of restoring many persons 
to their properties. 

26. — Lord Bellew gave Lord Raby* one 
thousand pounds, besides seven or eight 
hundred pounds which were due to him, on 
condition that he would use his influence 
with the king to obtain his pardon, which 
he received in consequence. The same 
Lord Bellew gave up to Lord Romney the 
rent of his estate, amounting to about three 
thousand pounds, which he had enjoyed for 
nearly three years, on condition that he 
would not be opposed to him in applying 
for his pardon. 

27. — John Kerdiff, a gentleman of the 
county of Dublin, gave Mrs. Margaret Uni- 
ack two hundred pounds, to induce her to 
prevail *on Lord Romney to obtain a letter 
annulling his proscription, which was grant- 
ed. However, the particular circumstances 
of this man merited, in our opinion, the 
greatest compassion. 

28. — Sir John Morris gave two hundred 
pounds to Mr. Richard Uniack, and three 
hundred to Mrs. Margaret Uniack, for his 
pardon, which she obtained through the in- 
fluence of Lord Romney. 

29. — Harvey Morris, Esq., gave Mrs. M. 
Uniack, one hundred pounds, for having 
procured him his majesty's pardon. 

* He was called Wentworth. 



616 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



30. — John Hussey, of Leixlip, being in- 
formed by Messrs. Bray and Briscoe, agents 
to Lord Athlone, who had the confiscation 
of Lord Limerick's estate, that he could not 
succeed in having his sentence removed, if 
he did not give the present owner a mort- 
gage of three hundred pounds which he 
owed on the property of Lord Limerick, 
was obliged to do so in order to get his 
pardon. 

31. — Edmond Roche gave Richard Dar- 
ling, Lord Romney's steward, five hundred 
pounds for having procured him his pardon. 
This gentleman, who had been paescribed 
by virtue of the law enacted against those 
who were guilty of treason in foreign coun- 
tries, was proved never to have left the 
kingdom. 

32. — John Bourk, commonly called Lord 
Bophin, agreed to pay seven thousand five 
hundred pounds sterling to Andrew Card, 
for the use of Lord Albemarle, on condition 
that he would procure a letter from the king 
to remove his sentence of proscription and 
restore him to his property ; three thousand 
pounds were to be paid on taking posses- 
sion, and the rest soon afterwards. His 
majesty therefore wrote a letter to the lords- 
justices in favor of Lord Bophin, to be 
communicated to the commissioners and 
court of claims ; a decree was accordingly 
passed, which made it appear that it was 
to enable this nobleman to bring up his 
children in the Protestant religion, and to 
secure his property to Protestants. The 
decree specified also, that nine thousand 
pounds sterling should be raised on the 
whole estate, for the payment of his debts 
and the maintenance and education of his 
children ; but, in truth, to pay the seven 
thousand five hundred pounds to Lord Albe- 
marle, and the remainder was to be divided 
among others concerned in this iniquitous 
transaction. This decree was presented to 
the Irish House of Commons, to have it 
passed into a law, but the secret purposes 
for the money having transpired, the house 
determined that their power should not be 
made use of to authorize such clandestine 
and unjust proceedings, and, therefore, re- 
jected it. This failure produced another 
settlement, by which the estates of Lord 
Bophin were mortgaged to Lord Ross ; the 
money which was to be given for this should 
first be raised upon the property, and the 
rents applied to the payment of debts, and 
to the wants of the house of Clanriccard. 
In consequence of this new arrangement, a 
letter was given by his majesty, confirming 
it, and three thousand pounds were paid to 



John Broderick on account of Lord Albe- 
marle. 

33. — Thus, gentlemen, have we given 
you an account of the estates which have 
been confiscated since February 13, 1688, 
and those that have been restored to the 
proprietors, either by the treaties of Lim- 
erick and Galway, or by the king. We 
shall now introduce those to whom his ma- 
jesty has given these confiscated lands, or 
to whom they have been mortgaged. 

34. — Since the battle of the Boyne, sixty 
patents have been given, sealed with the 
great seal of Ireland, to sixty persons, as 
grants or mortgages of estates confiscated in 
Ireland. The dates of the above patents, 
and the causes that produced them, are 
contained in a book marked No. 6. The 
following is a list of the most considerable 
of these grants, the number of acres they 
contain, and the motives for giving them. 

35. — Lord Romney received three grants, 
of which he is in possession, containing 
forty-nine thousand five hundred and seven- 
teen acres, on account of his services. 

36. — Two grants to Lord Albermarle, of 
one hundred and eight thousand six hundred 
and thirty-three acres, on account of his 
services. 

37. — William Bentick, commonly called 
Lord Woodstock, received one hundred and 
thirty-five thousand eight hundred and twenty 
acres, for which no motive is assigned in the 
letters patent. 

38. — To Lord Athlone, twenty-six thou- 
sand four hundred and eighty acres, as a 
reward for his services in the reduction of 
Ireland ; these grants were afterwards con- 
firmed by an act of the Irish parliament. 

39. — To Lord Galway, thirty-six thou- 
sand one hundred and forty-eight acres, on 
account of his faithful services. 

40. — To Lord Rochford, two grants of 
thirty-nine thousand eight hundred and sev- 
enty-one acres, as a reward for his services. 

41. — To the marquis of Puizar, three 
thousand five hundred and twelve acres, 
for his services. 

42. — To Lord Coningsby, five thousand 
nine hundred and sixty-six acres, with the 
rights of lordships, titles, and houses in 
Dublin, and a mortgage of one thousand 
pounds sterling, as a reward for his services. 

43. — To Lord Mountjoy, eleven thousand 
and seventy acres, for twenty-one years, 
on account of his services during the war in 
Ireland, the losses he had sustained in 
property, the imprisonment of his father in 
the Bastille, and his having been killed at 
the battle of Steinkerque. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



617 



44. — To Mr. Thomas Keiglitly, fominety- 
nine years, two grants, containing twelve 
thousand three hundred and eighty-one 
acres, as a portion for his daughter, Cathe- 
rine Keightly, who had been an attendant 
on the late Queen Mary, after whose death 
she lost a pension of four hundred pounds, 
and in consideration of her father's losses 
during the war. 

45. — To Colonel Gustavus Hamilton, five 
thousand three hundred and eighty-two 
acres, (nineteen hundred of which were not 
confiscated lands,) as a reward for his valua- 
ble services during the war in Ireland, for 
having forded the river Shannon, and 
mounted the breach in the taking of Ath- 
lone, at the head of the English grenadiers. 

46. — To Doctor John Lesly, sixteen 
thousand and seventy-seven acres, on ac- 
count of his active and diligent services 
in the commencement of the war in Ire- 
land, the expenses he had incurred in arm- 
ing a numerous body of men, and having 
fought at their head on many occasions. 

47. — To Sir Thomas Pendergast, two 
grants of seven thousand and eighty-two 
acres, for having discovered a conspiracy to 
assassinate the king, to destroy the liberties 
of Great Britain, and consequently the Pro- 
testant religion throughout Europe. 

48. — To Mr. John Baker, sixteen hun- 
dred and forty-seven acres, as a reward for 
the memorable services of his father in his 
defence of Londonderry. 

49. — To Mr. James Corry, two grants, 
one a mortgage of two thousand pounds 
sterling on several landed properties in the 
county of Wicklow, due to Sir Edward 
Scott by the earl of Tyrone : the other con- 
taining seventeen hundred and twenty-five 
acres, for which the following causes are 
given, viz., the burning of his house ; his 
having provided the garrison of Inniskillen 
with provisions and ammunition, to the 
amount of three thousand pounds sterling, 
at his own expense ; however, it has been 
proved that, so far from having assisted 
the garrison of Inniskillen in any manner, 
he said in public that he hoped to see all 
those who had taken up arms in favor 
of the prince of Orange, hanged. His 
house was burned by the garrison for this 
observation. 

50. — The remainder of these grants are 
inserted in book No. 6. 

51. — It should be observed that all the 
lands mentioned in this report are plantation 
measure, two hundred and sixty-four of 
which are equal to four hundred and forty- 
one English acres. 



52. — We shall also observe that those es- 
tates are not of so much value to the per- 
sons to whom they have been granted as we 
have estimated them : whereas impositions 
have been practised upon his majesty, by 
underrating them, from selfish considera- 
tions ; and their agents, who sold or rented 
those lands below their value, have prac- 
tised similar deceptions towards their em- 
ployers. 

53. — The greater part of these estates has 
been conceded under the seal of the Exche- 
quer, for a limited number of years, or du- 
ring the king's pleasure, from which his ma- 
jesty has derived but little profit. Most of 
the terms have expired ; those that have not 
are contained in book No. 6. 

54. — We shall now humbly inform you of 
the costs that have been incurred on the 
confiscated lands, winch have not been re- 
stored to the proprietors ; we will point out 
those only that have been discovered from 
researches made in his majesty's court of 
Exchequer. This has been done in conse- 
quence of his majesty's letter to the lords- 
justices of Ireland, ordering all the Protest- 
ants to prove, in the most expeditious man- 
ner, the extent of the costs to which they 
have been subjected. 

55. — All statutes, judgments, mortgages, 
or other debts on the above-named estates, 
which have not been restored to the ancient 
proprietors, amount to one hundred and 
sixty-one thousand nine hundred and thirty- 
six pounds sterling, an account of which is 
annexed to this report in book No. 7. It is 
probable that since our investigation many 
of these costs have been removed by various 
arrangements ; but we have had neither 
time nor aid in forming a correct estimate ; 
therefore, we think that sufficient money 
can be deducted from the latter for the fol- 
lowing purposes. 

56. — We have mentioned only the first 
and real sum of costs, not having been able 
to discover how much interest might have 
been due by each individual. 

57. — We have often thought it probable 
that the judgment and mortgage were one 
and the same debt. 

58. — It is likewise probable, that many of 
these judgments were issued only for the 
execution of private contracts. 

59. — In many instances, the Protestants 
and Papists were equally concerned ; how- 
ever, the whole debt was laid on the lands 
of the proscribed. 

60. — It appears that several contracts and 
copies of judgments have been issued by in- 
ferior courts of law, and no proofs afforded 



618 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



of their execution, or the reasons why they 
were granted. 

61. — On the other hand, it is obvious, that 
in many instances, the statutes and judg- 
ments have been carried into execution ; but 
there is no proof of it upon record. 

62. — Many of those debts have been pur- 
chased, either by the donors or their stew- 
ards, or small farmers at very low prices, 
while they allowed them to exist nominally, 
to cover the profits which the possession of 
such lands produced. 

63. — Several persons who got possession 
of these encumbered estates, in consequence 
of his majesty's letters, have received. the 
whole, or at least the greatest portion of the 
debts. 

64.— It is probable that many of these 
debts are imaginary, and in favor of the 
proscribed, for which purpose there have 
been many secret arrangements entered into. 

65.- — It is our opinion that nothing has 
been omitted by the donors and their stewards 
to make the debts on their estates appear 
heavy, although we think, that if a correct 
investigation were made, it would appear 
they are very inconsiderable, and that several 
are liquidated by the profits ; but it is our 
opinion, that they will be more than re- 
munerated by other confiscations, of which 
the following is an account. 

66. — Soon after the battle of the Boyne, 
as we have already had the honor of in- 
forming you, a patent, to which the great 
seal of Ireland was affixed, was issued, es- 
tablishing commissioners, with authority to 
seize upon and dispose of the estates and 
flocks which were confiscated for his ma- 
jesty's use. These commissioners appointed 
deputies in the different counties, subject to 
the king, who took possession of immense 
tracts of land and cattle, which they valued 
at one hundred and thirty-five thousand five 
hundred and fifty -two pounds sterling ; but 
the valuation of each article forming the 
above total was so moderate, that a horse 
was valued at twenty shillings, a sheep two 
shillings and sixpence, and the rest in pro- 
portion ; we are therefore of opinion, that if 
things had been sold at a fair value, they 
would have produced between two and three 
hundred thousand pounds sterling ; but be- 
fore this could be effected, the clerks ap- 
pointed for the collection of his majesty's 
revenues, furnished accounts, which pro- 
duced a letter from the king, suspending the 
power of the commissioners, nine days after 
they had entered into office, and investing 
the clerks with power of the revenues ; by 
these means, some time elapsed before the 



money, effects, property that had been seized 
upon by the deputies, could come into the 
hands of the clerks of the revenue ; the 
accounts also became so complex, added to 
the plunder made among the small farmers 
by^he troops when going into winter quar- 
ters, that from all the above-named spoils, 
the king received only about forty-four thou- 
sand pounds. We have likewise discovered, 
that several properties have been confiscated, 
by which the king has gained nothing, and 
which have been seized upon by many indi- 
viduals for their own account. It is true, 
that robbery and plunder were so frequent 
at that time, men in the highest offices have 
not escaped the censure of being implicated, 
which may perhaps have prevented such 
abuses from being properly inquired into : 
as an example, Lord Coningsby took 
three hundred head of horned cattle, and 
several horses, that were left on the field 
after the battle of the Boyne, and we do not 
find that any account of them was given to 
his majesty. He also seized upon the plate 
and chattels of Sir Michael Creagh, lord- 
mayor of Dublin, in 1689 : these were con- 
sidered to have been of great value ; it is in- 
deed affirmed, that they were given to him 
by the king. The clerks of the revenue gave 
up to the lords-justices, Lords Sidney and 
Coningsby, many effects of great value, for 
which his majesty has received no return, 
nor have any of them been discovered in the 
castle of Dublin, where they were deposited. 

67. — We have likewise discovered, that 
the clerks of the revenues have delivered 
great quantities of valuable effects to Sir 
Charles Porter, Major-General Kirk, and 
several others, who have given no account 
whatever of them to the king. The officers 
of the army have likewise pillaged ; it is 
said that his majesty has conferred upon 
them the fruits of their plunder. 

68. — If we can believe general opinion in 
the country, many persons have derived con- 
siderable profits from these confiscations ; 
but as some time has now elapsed, it would 
be very difficult to bring proofs against them, 
and even in such case, it is probable we 
would find it impossible to procure the resti- 
tution of what was seized upon so long since ; 
we therefore thought it more prudent to 
apply ourselves to examine matters of more 
importance, and confine ourselves to remarks 
necessary on that head. 

69. — From the impossibility of forming a 
just estimate of the value of these chattels, 
flocks, and other effects, we shall point out 
at present some debts which were decreed 
by the courts, and some mortgages belonging 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



619 



to the proscribed, to whom restitution of 
their properties has not been made, which 
amounted to one hundred and twenty thou- 
sand and thirteen pounds, as appears in a 
book annexed to this report, No. 8. 

70. — We take the liberty to remark here, 
that those debts are subject to the above- 
named objections — as to the circumstances, 
there is this difference only, that on one side 
they have been, as we think, liquidated by 
the profits of the receipts, while several of 
the creditors were, by his majesty's letters, 
in possession of the encumbered estates ; 
on the other, the principal sum is still due 
on the estates in question, as it does not 
appear that any of the interest has been paid 
since the confiscations ; we calculate, there- 
fore, that this would bring the accounts to 
a balance. 

71. — Permit us, gentlemen, to observe, 
that the cases adjudged in these matters, 
have been found only in the court of ex- 
chequer ; and that we have been unable to 
procure them in the other courts of law, as 
a clause has been omitted in the patent of 
our commission, to empower us to obtain 
them ; from this we are of opinion that there 
is much more due to the proscribed, whose 
properties have not been restored, than we 
have been able to discover. 

72. — We should also calculate, among the 
confiscated property, two hundred and nine- 
ty-seven houses in the city of Dublin, thirty- 
six in Cork, two hundred and twenty-six in 
different towns and villages of the kingdom, 
sixty-one mills, twenty-eight fairs and mar- 
kets, seventy-two rectorships, with tithes and 
rents, six ferries, and a great number of 
fisheries, producing in the whole two thou- 
sand and thirty-eight pounds sterling per 
annum, and valued to be worth fifty thousand 
pounds. If, as we have observed, we add 
to these the moneys due to the proscribed 
whose properties have not been restored, 
we are persuaded that there would be suffi- 
cient to liquidate the debts, particularly if we 
count the flocks and chattels of those who 
have benefited by the treaty of Limerick, 
who, according to these articles, had no 
claim, after having been at first deprived of 
them. 

73. — According to our observations 
throughout the country, it appears to us that 
several estates marked down fallow-lands, 
are now, with the exception of those in the 
county of Kerry, as highly cultivated, and 
equal in value to any lands in the kingdom ; 
nevertheless, we have not comprised them 
in our valuations, though there are many of 
them to be met with. 



74. — We have valued the confiscated 
properties according to what they would be 
let for in farms, if such were the intention. 

75. — We think that the trees at present 
on the confiscated estates which have not 
been restored, may be estimated at sixty 
thousand pounds sterling. 

76. — There were several small portions 
of land, each under an acre, and of different 
qualities, according to situation, of which we 
could form no correct estimate, not finding 
any thing to guide us, either in the leases 
of the families, the papers of the commis- 
sioners who preceded us, or the rolls of the 
surveyors. ; we consider that these scattered 
portions of land may contain about seventy 
or eighty thousand acres, amounting in value 
to a very considerable sum. 

77. — We shall remark in this place, that 
dreadful havoc has been committed upon the 
woods of the proscribed, particularly on those 
of Sir Valentine Brown, in the county of 
Kerry, in which trees to the value of twenty 
thousand pounds have been cut down or de- 
stroyed. The loss on the estates of Lord 
Clancarty, now in possession of Lord Wood- 
stock, is estimated at twenty-seven thousand 
pounds. Those on whom the confiscated 
lands have been bestowed, or their agents, 
have been so greedy to seize upon the most 
trifling profits, that several large trees have 
been cut down and sold for sixpence each. 
This destruction is still carried on in many 
parts of the country ; at the present moment, 
Sir John Hely, chief-justice of the common 
pleas, and Peter Goodwin, who together 
purchased from Lord Coningsby the estate 
of Feltrim, within six miles of Dublin, are 
cutting down all the avenues and groves 
around the castle. Great destruction and 
waste has been, and is still committed in the 
forest of Oshogness, in the county of Gal way, 
which has been purchased by Mr. Toby 
Butler for two thousand five hundred pounds, 
which, it is said, was worth twelve thousand. 
We sent persons to survey and value this 
forest ; but Toby Butler had them summoned 
and brought to trial for executing the com- 
mission with which we had intrusted them. 

78. — -Besides the above-mentioned confis- 
cations, there are several persons concerned 
in the last rebellion who have not been pro- 
ceeded against, and who are debarred from 
all benefit of any treaty or article : several 
of them were summoned to answer for their 
crimes, and have given bail, which is still 
in force ; a few have been tried at the as- 
sizes of last summer, but were acquitted. 

79. — The death of several of the accused, 
whose trials and condemnation were de- 



620 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



layed, has deprived the king of many ex- 
tensive estates. 

80. — Nevertheless, we think it likely, from 
the informations which several persons offer- 
ed to give if they were encouraged, and the 
necessary measures adopted, that a large sum 
might be derived from the lands subject to 
confiscation, which are carefully concealed. 

81. — The king's interest has been so 
much neglected, that no research has been 
made into the number of estates which might 
or ought to be liable to confiscation in Con- 
naught before the year 1695, by which every 
indulgence was allowed for the security of 
such property. There are fifty Catholics for 
one Protestant in this province, so that it is 
impossible for the latter to obtain justice, 
and scarcely does that province seem to be 
subject to the king, of which the following is 
a proof. At the last assizes in the county of 
Galway, nearly forty persons were accused 
of having been concerned in the late rebel- 
lion ; but as most of the judges had been 
officers in the army of James II., and had 
taken advantage of the treaty of Limerick, 
it is needless to add that they were all ac- 
quitted. 

82. — The house of Clanriccard has an 
extensive estate in this district, on which 
there are very few Protestant farmers. This 
property fell into the king's hands, by the 
proscription of Lord Bophin, to whom his 
majesty has allowed the proceeds for his 
life only. We are of opinion, that were 
these lands sold or rented to Protestants, it 
would tend greatly to favor the interest of 
the Protestant religion. 

83. — We must also observe, gentlemen, 
that many of those on whom the confiscated 
lands have been bestowed, have received im- 
mense sums for several estates comprised in 
these grants. The whole of the money thus 
received amounts to sixty-eight thousand one 
hundred and fifty-five pounds three pence 
farthing : for instance, Lord Athlone, whose 
grant was confirmed to him by an act of the 
Irish parliament, has sold land to the amount 
of seventeen thousand six hundred and 
eighty-four pounds twelve shillings sterling. 
Lord Romney has sold some for thirty 
thousand one hundred and forty-seven pounds 
eleven shillings ; Lord Albemarle for thir- 
teen thousand pounds ; Lord Coningsby 
for two thousand two hundred pounds ; Mr. 
Thomas Keightly, for five thousand one hun- 
dred and twenty-three pounds ten shillings. 

84. — Several proclamations have been is- 
sued, offering a quarter of the lands liable to 
confiscation, to those who would point them 
out. Some informers have been thus re- 



warded, as appears in the book No. 6 ; others 
say they have not been paid their quarter for 
having informed, which amount, in the whole, 
to about two thousand pounds per annum. 

85. — We must observe here, that the con- 
fiscations, however considerable they may 
appear, have been rather an injury than an 
advantage to his majesty. This might appear 
extraordinary, were we not to remark, that 
several obscure persons, who possessed no 
property at the time that Ireland was reduced, 
are at present masters of large estates. It 
is impossible that they could have acquired 
them without seizing on confiscated lands, 
either by intrigue or collusion, from which 
they have derived considerable advantage, 
while the king was defrauded. His majesty 
has been frequently deceived in the value 
of the grants which he has bestowed. 

86. — Nothing seems to have contributed 
more to this abuse, than the sale of confis- 
cated lands by auction in the city of Dublin 
exclusively, instead of in the chief towns of 
the counties in which they were situate. 
Few people took the trouble of coming to 
the capital from the provinces, at a heavy 
expense, and of neglecting their domestic 
affairs, when they felt persuaded that the 
agents of men in office would prevail against 
them, and knowing that these would have 
the countenance of his majesty. 

87. — When they had succeeded by their 
haughtiness and power in removing all com- 
petition, they placed their rates on the estates 
they were desirous of having, and gave what- 
ever price they pleased, by an understanding 
not to oppose each other, of which the fol- 
lowing fact is a proof. Thomas Broderick 
and William Connelly, who acquired vast es- 
tates, and were partly masters of these auc- 
tions, no one having confidence to enter into 
competition with them, have been partners 
in all the lands they obtained, during 1695 
and the following years. They have since 
set them in farms to greater advantage than 
they had been before. It must be observed, 
that their conduct appeared very extraordi- 
nary, particularly that of Mr. Broderick, who 
was a privy counsellor, and put in nomina- 
tion by Lord Capel for the office of inspector 
of the auctions, though he was well aware 
of the abuses which he had been guilty of. 

88. — It was impossible that matters could 
have been described more correctly, whereas 
several of these estates were purchased by 
the receivers and commissioners of the reve- 
nues of the crown, under borrowed names. 
Mr. Culliford, under the name of Fernley, 
seized upon several estates for the king, which 
he appropriated afterwards to his own use. 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



621 



89. — Besides these abuses, we shall take 
the liberty of observing, that an extensive 
estate has been let in farms, without being 
put up for sale, by order of the lords-justices, 
for at least one thousand pounds a year under 
its value : the lease was drawn for sixty-one 
years, though by a letter from his majesty, 
dated March 8th, 1698, it was prohibited to 
give leases for more than twenty-one years. 
The above lands belonged to Sir Valentine 
Brown, and Nicholas Brown, commonly 
called Lord Kenmare, situate in the coun- 
ties of Kerry and Limerick, and let to John 
Blenerhasset and George Rogers, members 
of the Irish parliament. 

90. — Having now given an account of the 
most essential points of our commission, we 
beg leave, gentlemen, to lay before you an 
abridgment of our estimates, before we con- 
clude our report. 

The whole of the lands confiscated since 
February 13th, 1688, amount in real value, 
according to our calculation, to two millions 
six hundred and eighty-five thousand one 
hundred and thirty-five pounds five shillings 
and ninepence, sterling. 

The estates restored, in consequence of 
the treaties of Limerick and Galway, amount 
to seven hundred and twenty-four thousand 
nine hundred and twenty-three pounds four 
shillings and sixpence. 

Those restored by favor, are worth two 
hundred and sixty thousand eight hundred 
sixty-three pounds seven shillings and three- 
pence. 

The debts on the confiscated estates, dis- 
covered by researches, or acknowledged as 
legal by the court of Exchequer, amount to 
one hundred and sixty-one thousand nine 
hundred and thirty-six pounds fifteen shil 
lings and sixpence. 

To the credit of the above debts, we place 
what is due to the proscribed, amounting to 
one hundred and twenty thousand and thir- 
teen pounds thirteen shillings and tenpence 
sterling ; as also the houses, tithes, mills 
fairs, markets, rights of lordship, ferries, &c, 
which we estimate at fifty thousand pounds 
To counterbalance the proceeds of the leases 
made as large presents, we put down the fal- 
low lands and forests on the confiscated es 
tates, which we estimate at about sixty thou 
sand pounds, to which we add the flocks of 
those who have had the benefit of the articles 
of the capitulation of Limerick, but from 
whom no accounts have been required. 

In order to bring matters to a balance, we 
shall add those lands (of which the number 
of acres is not known) according to the valua- 
tion of the other estates : these amount to, 



at least, one hundred and forty thousand 
pounds. 

If it were known how many estates are 
subject to confiscation, it would be of con- 
siderable importance ; but it is impossible 
to form a correct account of them. 

The money received for lands sold by 
those on whom the confiscated estates were 
conferred, amounts to sixty-eight thousand 
one hundred and fifty-five pounds three shil- 
lings and a penny. We have made no men- 
tion of what is due to the proscribed whose 
properties have been restored, nor to the 
encumbrances which affect their estates. 

After all that has been observed, there 
remain still one million six hundred and 
ninety-nine thousand three hundred and 
forty-three pounds fourteen shillings, which 
we deem to be the gross value of the 
estates confiscated and not restored, since 
February 13, 1688. 

We shall conclude this report by layingbe- 
fore you another very valuable grant, though 
it may not immediately come within our com- 
mission ; but as it contains some of the con- 
fiscated lands, we think it prudent to mention 
the extent of it, lest we should incur the re- 
proach of having been negligent in the dis- 
charge of our duty, or in any part of what 
you and the public expect from us. 

All the personal property of King James 
II., with the exception of a small part given 
to Lord Athlone, was granted by letters 
patent, under the great seal of Ireland, on 
the 30th May, 1695, to Mrs. Elizabeth Vil- 
liers, at present countess of Orkney ; this 
property consisted of ninety-five thousand 
six hundred and forty-nine acres, producing 
an annual rent of twenty-five thousand nine 
hundred and ninety-five pounds eighteen 
shillings ; the real value of which amounts 
to three hundred and thirty-seven thousand 
nine hundred and forty-three pounds nine 
shillings. An exact account of this prop- 
erty, with the number of acres in each 
county and barony, is given in a book join- 
ed to this report, marked No. 9. 

The same property pays an annuity for 
life of two thousand pounds, to Lady Susanna 
Bellasis, and one thousand yearly to Mrs. 
Godfrey : all the leases of these estates ex- 
pire in May, 1701, when they are to be re- 
newed, and will bring, at least, the rents at 
which we have estimated them. 

Francis Annesley, James Hamilton, 

John Trenchard, Henry Longford, 
Dublin. 

The complaints of the commissioners 
about the innumerable abuses committed at 



622 



HISTORY OF IRELAND 



the time the lands of the Irish Catholics were 
confiscated, and the injuries sustained by the 
king and crown, were not new, as will ap- 
pear by extracts from the proceedings of the 
English parliament, in which serious remon- 
strances were made to William upon the 
manner in which these confiscations were 
squandered and applied ; his majesty's an- 
swers, and the replies of parliament, are sub- 
joined, by which it will be seen that these 
altercations were carried on with acrimony. 

Extract from, the proceedings of the English 
parliament, Friday, April 4, 1690. 

Resolved, — That a bill be drawn up to 
banish all those who have been guilty of re- 
bellion in Ireland or elsewhere, against their 
majesties King William and Queen Mary ; 
and their estates shall be confiscated, sold, 
and applied to the reduction of Ireland. The 
attorney-general, Trenchard the chief reg- 
ister, Sir Richard Reynell, Sir Thomas 
Charges, Sir William Poultney, Colonel 
Birch, or any three of them, shall see that 
this decree of parliament be carried into 
execution. 

Extract from the sitting of parliament, Jan- 
uary 5th, 1690. The king's speech to 
both houses. 

My Lords and Gentlemen, — Havin 
formed you lately that it would be necessary 
for me to pass into Holland about this time, 
I must express myself pleased at the suces's- 
ful issue of those things that have engaged 
your time, and to find that you are now at 
liberty to separate, and that it is possible 
for us to undertake our voyage. 

I thank you with all my heart for the sup- 
plies which you have granted for continuing 
the war. I shall take care that they be fitly 
applied to the purposes for which they have 
been intended. I think it meet to assure 
you, that none of the confiscated estates, 
either in England or in Ireland, shall be dis- 
posed of, until this affair be regulated by the 
parliament in such manner as will be ap- 
proved of by them. 



Sitting of \.th March, 1692. 

The very humble address of the house of 

commons to his majesty. 

We, your majesty's very humble and very 
faithful subjects, and commons in parliament 
assembled, havingtaken into our most serious 
consideration the state of your kingdom of 
Ireland, think that it is a duty we owe to 
your majesty, to place, with all possible re 



spect and zeal, before your eyes the great 
abuses to which the evil administration of 
affairs in that kingdom has given birth. 

Your Protestant subjects are exposed in 
it to every species of distress that a licentious 
soldiery and free quarters can produce. In 
our opinion, the withholding payment from 
the troops, for which we hoped and calcu- 
lated that ample provisions had been made, 
has been the cause of these disorders and 
oppression. 

Your majesty's troops have been re- 
cruited and made up from among the Irish 
Papists and others, who have been engaged 
in rebellion against your majesty ; which 
circumstance has not only discouraged 
your good and loyal Protestant subjects, 
but has likewise exposed them to many 
imminent dangers. 

Your protection has been extended to the 
Papists, which has debarred the Protestants 
from resorting to those laws which were 
favorable to them, and which has suspended 
the course of justice. 

The banishment of many rebels out of the 
kingdom, who were excluded from benefiting 
by the articles of the capitulation of Limerick, 
has been revoked, to the great dissatisfaction 
of your majesty's Protestant subjects. 

The confiscated estates have been farmed 
considerably under their value, to the heavy 
loss of your majesty's revenue. 

The stores and chattels that have been left 
by King James II. in the garrisons and towns 
of the kingdom, have been wasted. The 
same is to be observed of the confiscated 
lands, chattels, and other effects which they 
contained, that might have been applied to 
the security and better preservation of your 
majesty's kingdom. 

We also beg leave very humbly to repre- 
sent to your majesty, that the clauses in 
favor of the Catholics, which have been 
added to the treaty of Limerick after it had 
been definitively concluded, signed, and the 
city surrendered, have given great en- 
couragement to them, and have tended to 
weaken the Protestant interest. 

Having with the most humble submission 
and ardent zeal for your majesty's service, 
laid open the abuses and illegal practices 
which have been carried on in your kingdom 
of Ireland, we submit our representations to 
your great wisdom, and beseech you with 
profound respect, to put a stop to them. 

Let every soldier be paid the arrears due 
to him, and let the provinces be reimbursed 
for what they have suffered, and no Papists 
be admitted into the army. 

And as the reduction of Ireland has cost 



CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 



623 



England a great deal, we humbly beseech 
your majesty, which you have had the good- 
ness to promise, to allow none of the confis- 
cated properties in Ireland to be disposed of, 
until this matter be regulated by parliament 
in the best manner. 

We beseech of you to order a statement 
of the confiscated estates, stores, and effects, 
that have been left by James II., to be laid 
before your house of commons, that the 
abuses which have been committed, and the 
waste which has occurred, may be investi- 



We beseech, likewise, that in future none 
of the proscribed Papists shall be suffered to 
return without the advice of parliament, and 
that no protection be given to Irish Papists, 
which might impede the course of justice. 

As to the article added to the treaty of 
Limerick, which gives so great an oppor- 
tunity to Irish papists to resume possession 
of the estates which formerly belonged to 
them, and which they forfeited by their re- 
bellion, we humbly beg of your majesty to 
have the articles of the treaty of Limerick, 
and those that have been added, laid before 
us, in order that we may learn by what 
means, and under what pretext, they have 
been granted, and why the said articles have 
been extended, and the value of the proper- 
ties to which they are entitled to lay claim. 

As your majesty has most graciously as- 
sured us, with that goodness with which 
you always join in every thing tending to 
the peace and welfare of the kingdom, we 
make no doubt of your acting in the same 
manner towards Ireland, the safety and 
preservation of which are so important to 
England. 

The King's answer, March \0th, 1692. 

Gentlemen, — I have always paid particu- 
lar regard to any communication from the 
House of Commons, and shall take care that 
all abuses shall be reformed. 

Sitting of Thursday, Wth January, 1699. 

Eesolved, — That those by whose advice 
the confiscated estates in Ireland have been 
given to individuals, and who have been the 
cause of granting these gifts, have involved 
the nation in heavy debts, and made it 
necessary to lay heavy taxes on the people. 

That they have been guilty of a crime 
which reflects considerable disgrace upon 
the king ; that the officers, or those who 
had been instrumental in the conferring of 
these grants, are guilty in the highest de- 
gree of having betrayed the confidence that 
was reposed in them. 



Sitting of February 15th, 1699. 

Resolved, — That a very humble address 
be presented to the king, containing the 
resolutions of the house of the 18th of 
January last, respecting the confiscated 
lands in Ireland. 

His Majesty's answer, February 26th, 1699. 

Gentlemen — I have been induced, not 
only by inclination, but through a love of 
justice, to reward faithful services, (particu- 
larly in those who assisted in the reduction 
of Ireland,) out of the properties in that 
country, the confiscation of which has de- 
volved upon me. 

The length of the war which we have 
maintained has obliged us to levy taxes, and 
has involved the nation in debt. The just 
and efficacious measures that shall be adopt- 
ed to lighten the national burden and sup- 
port the public credit, will, in my opinion, 
be more beneficial than any other thing, to 
the honor, interests, and safety of this king- 
dom. 

Resolved, — That whoever hath advised 
the king to give the above reply to the ad- 
dress of the House of Commons, has done 
every thing to create a disunion and jealousy 
between the king and his people. 

We now conclude the history of Ireland 
with an obvious and convincing remark from 
a modern author. " The prince of Orange 
would have thought himself but half king, 
were he not to rule over Ireland, as well as 
over England and Scotland ; or, rather, he 
looked upon Ireland as belonging to him by 
right, and the loyalty of the Irish to James 
II. as an act of high treason that he should 
not leave unpunished. Still, what right had 
this prince to a country which had not called 
him to her aid ? It is admitted that he 
reigned lawfully over England and Scotland, 
because these kingdoms had transferred 
their crown to him, but of which they had 
no right to dispose ; however, could they 
make an agreement for a distinct people, 
and against the will of that people ? Let 
William III. govern those parts of Great 
Britain that no longer acknowledge their 
king ; but if Ireland do not wish to change 
her sovereign, is this first sovereign to for- 
feit his claim, and are his faithful subjects 
to be dealt with like traitors and rebels to 
their country ? It will be said that James 
II. sapped the foundation of the monarchy 
by obstinately favoring the papists, and by 
an arbitrary sway of power. However 
false this accusation may be, I shall pass it 



624 



HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



over in silence ; it only concerns England 
antf Scotland, which have taken ample ad- 
vantage of it. Was Ireland in the same 
situation 1 And if then this people wished 
to continue Papists, if they desired to invest 
their king with an absolute authority, who 
has a right to prevent them ? The world 
has seen that England and Scotland de- 
throned James II., and that Ireland refused 
to follow their example ; Ireland would have 
erred in her allegiance, if the whole of Great 
Britain had belonged to William III. pre- 
viously to the revolution. On the contrary, 
William could not lawfully ascend the throne 
without an express law calling him to the 
succession and declaring James to be de- 
throned : William III., therefore, had no 
right or claim upon the Irish, who neither 
sent for him nor dethroned their own king. 



But, as we have already observed, he did 
not consider his kingdom complete without 
Ireland, where James II. still held out ; but 
it has been the will of Providence that he 
should succeed in expelling him." 

We discover, nevertheless, by the man- 
ner in which the Irish are and have been 
treated, that it is contrary to the principles 
of Magna Charta, that celebrated code in 
which the English nation glories, and of 
which they boast : the Irish are deprived of 
that liberty which, according even to their 
oppressors, should be the portion of all man- 
kind. They are forced to submit to a hate- 
ful yoke ; they have exerted themselves in 
favor of their lawful prince ; their resistance 
to usurpation is considered as rebellion, and 
the confiscation of their estates and proper- 
ties is the consequence. 



THE END OF MAC-GEOGHEGAN S HISTORY OF IRELAND. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Abercromiy, a Scotch historian, refuted . 223 
Abbe" de Fleury speaks of Scotia and Ireland 125 
Abbey of Achmacart founded by the O'Demp- 

seys . . . . . .309 

Athlone 145 

Aughrim ...... 309 

Baltinglass ..... 243 

Eeanbee, county Meath . . . 305 

Bangor ...... 156 

Boyle 243 

Carrick-on-Suir . . . .309 

Cluan Dolchain, near Dublin . . 183 

Dunbrady ..... 

Eunach 241 

Fermoy ...... 245 

Founded by O'Moore, Queen's County 294 

Jerpoint, county Kilkenny . . 290 

Innis Phadruig ..... 237 

St. Suirbarry, Cork . . . .242 

Kilconnell, county Tipperary . . 302 

Kilrush 

Kirie Eleison, county Kerry . . 245 

Lake Erne 170 

Mellifont 242 

Monaster-Ore, county Antrim . .291 

Navan 299 

Nenagh, county Limerick . . 245 

Shroule 245 

Tintem, county Wexford . . . 302 

Abbeys built ^^^300 

founded in Connaught . . . 307 

Abdication of James II. .... 595 

Absurdities of English criticism . . " : . 47 
Accusation against Mary Queen of Scots 
Accordance of the Irish and Scotch language 110 
Acts of Queen Elizabeth concerning the church 458 
Act of confiscation against the adherents of 

the earl of Kildare ..... 

Adam de Nangle hanged .... 329 

Adam de Rupe de la Roche .... 289 

Adrian, Pope ...... 18 

Adjective Mac and Fitz used by the Irish 

and Saxons 68 

Advice of O'Neill to the earl of Essex : . 523 
Advice of the earl of Kildare to his son . . 412 
Aghavoe in Ossory . . . . .105 
Agilbert, bishop of Paris . . . .205 

Agricola sailed round Britain . . . .87 
Airtre, king of Munster, defeats these Normans 215 
Airgiod Stone, a tax imposed on the Irish . 224 
Alfred, king of the Northumbrians . . 70 

Alfred, Edward, and their mother sent off to 

avoid the fury of the Danes . . .233 

Alfred the Great sent to Ireland . . . 205 
Alliance between Scotland and France . 223 

Allen, John, chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey . 399 

Allen, chancellor 441 

Alliance between Charlemagne and the Irish 

kings 220 

Allieia Pierce 349 



PAGE 

Alicia, daughter of the earl of Kildare, sent 

on a secret embassy to Ireland . . . 399 
Alexander McDonnell the murderer of Shane 

O'Neill killed 469 

Alphabet of the Irish 40 

Annals of Ulster, Ambition of Wolsey . . 43 
Annals written by art English priest . . 361 
Ancestors of the Scotch .... 223 
Andrew McBrady, his descent, &c. . . 379 
Ann Bullen, created marchioness of Pem- 
broke 411 

Ancestors of the Milesians . . . .57 

Ancestors of the Irish instructed by the 
Egyptians '...... 58 

Anglo-Irish at Mullingar .... 512 

Anglo-Saxons, their education in Ireland . 204 
Anthony St. Leger sent by Queen Mary as 
lord deputy ...... 448 

Anointing at the coronation . . . .75 

Ante-Milesian history . . . . .37 

Antiquaries appointed by 011am Fodhla . . 43 
Antiquity of the Scoto-Milesians . . .34 
Antiquity of the Scotch doubted . . .114 
Aongus on the arrival of St. Patrick . . 154 
Apostacy and treachery of Ormond . . 486 
Arcadians and Silicians, boast of their an- 
tiquity . 34 

Archbishop of Dublin enlarged the church 

of the Holy Trinity 345 

Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, con- 
cerning the Primacy ..... 337 
Archbishop of Dublin appointed lord justice . 359 
Arbogast, St., bishop of Strausburgh . . 201 
Archbishopric of Canterbury refused to Bur- 
nett 22 

Archbishops and bishopries established . . 240 
Archives put into the library of St. Patrick . 444 

Armagh plundered 215 

Ardpatrick castle built . . . . 301 

Argonauts 42 

Armada to invade Ireland .... 498 
Arms taken from the Protestants in Ulster 

in 1641 573 

Army under Cromwell 584 

Army of 12,000 Scotchmen landed hi Ulster . 579 
Arms of the Queen torn down . . . 476 
Army of O'Neill ...... 466 

Army raised to attack Dermod and his 

English adventurers 360 

Arrest of the earl of Kildare . . . 358 

Arrest of several English noblemen . . 336 
Arrest of Anglo-Irish noblemen . . . 360 
Arthur, prince of Wales .... 379 

Articles and treaty of Limerick . . . 607 
Athlone, its situation, &c. .... 603 
Assassination of O'Neill and his followers by 

the Scotch 468 

Assurances held out to the Irish of having 

succors from Spain 546 

Aughrim, battle of 603 



626 



Bale preached against the Catholic doctrine . 448 
Ballynamoney belonging to the Knights of 

Malta 393 

Bangor Abbey — when founded . . . 173 
Banners of the Gadelians . . . .76 

Bards of Ireland . 35 

Baron of Slane, Fleming .... 348 
Basilia, sister of Strongbow .... 283 
Battle of Allen, county Kildare . . . 185 

Battle of Bannoekburn 322 

Battle of Clontarf 232 

Battle near Castledermod .... 359 
Battle fought near Athenry . . . .91 
Battle of Drum-Conla with the Normans . 216 
Battle between the English and Irish . . 266 
Battle of Shannon-harbor . . . .170 

Battle of Hastings 239 

Battle of Kill Omaek, county Carlow . . 160 
Battle between the O'Neills . . . .450 

Battle at Northampton 367 

Battle at Stamford 238 

Battle between the O'Neills and Scotch . 384 

Battle of Waterford 263 

Ballintuber Abbey 307 

Baron of Athenry ... ... 326 

Barons and bishops interfere for the earl of 

Kildare 376 

Barony of Forth, county Wexford . . 261 

Bede, on the Scots, Britons, and Picts . .221 

Bernard, St .110 

Becknor consecrated bishop of Dublin . . 341 
Bellingham, commander of an expedition to 

Ireland 438 

Bishop, king of Cashel 225 

Bishopric of Kilfenora, county Clare . .179 
Bishopric of Lismore ; 181 

Bishopric of Meath 305 

Bishop of Hereford carries away booty from 

county Carlow 337 

Bishops fined for non-attendance in parliament 365 

Bishop Fisher 396 

Bishop Cranmer, and his character . . 409 

Bishops and priests maintained by the king 

of Cashel 154 

Birr besieged by the earl of Kildare . . 409 
Birth and death of our Saviour foretold by a 

Druid 102 

Blasphemies of Henry II. ... 279 

Blarney Castle taken by the English . . 549 
Boats used by the ancient Irish . . .69 
Book of Common Prayer printed in Irish, by 

order of Queen Elizabeth .... 473 

Body-guards first appointed by Henry VII. . 375 
Booty taken from the Scotch by O'Neill . 580 
Boyne river ....... 601 

Bribery practised by Henry VIII. . . . 107 

Brien Boroimhe declared monarch of Ireland . 23 1 

Bridget, St., of Kildare 165 

Bridges built 242 

Bridges built in Kilcullen and Leighlin . . 326 

Britain, why so called 55 

Britons apply to the Romans for aid . . 107 
Brown, Thomas, appointed by Cranmer bish- 
op of Dublin 420 

Brown, Archbishop, obliged to surrender his 

see 448 

Brown, family of, county Kerry . . . 450 
Brunchant, queen of Burgundy . . . 196 
Buchanan, the Scottish historian . . . 221 

Burkes of Connaught 446 

Butler, the name derived from being butler 

to Henry II. . „ . . .302 



Caiier Castle attacked by the earl of Essex . 520 
Cain Phadruic, a tax paid to St. Patrick . 146 
Calumnies of Abercromby . . . .117 

Calvin, and Calvinism 439 

Cambrensis stops in Ireland .... 295 

Camden refuted 473 

Canterbury, bishop of, apostatized . . . 446 
Captivity of St. Patrick . . . .153 

Carlow besieged and taken .... 419 
Carriekfergus — why so called . . .112 

Carroll, prince and general .... 226 
Cashel suffered by the tyranny of Inchiquin . 578 

Cashel, the Psalter of 43 

Castle Carberry, coimty Kildare . . . 346 

Castle Connell 304 

Castle of Dublin built 307 

Castle of Temaghs, Queen's county . . 292 
Castle of Ferns destroyed .... 260 
Castlehaven on Irish sufferings . . . 571 
Castlehaven on the rebellion of 1641 . . 574 

Castle of Sligo built 314 

Cataldus, St., educated at Lismore . . 146 

Cathedral church founded .... 156 
Cathedral church of St. Patrick . . . 451 
Cathedral church of Cashel burned by the earl 

of Kildare 428 

Catherine Boren, who had been a nun, mar- 
ried to M. Luther 394 

Catholic clergymen persecuted . . . 470 
Catholic schools suppressed .... 470 
Causes of the death of Mary Stuart . . 557 
Cavanagh's party treacherously put to death . 451 
Cecil, secretary of state . .... 561 
Change of language in the celebration of the 

mass 443 

Character of Dermod, king of Leinster . . 264 
Character of Queen Elizabeth . . . 553 

Charles I., beheaded 581 

Charles II. lands in Scotland . . . 584 

Character of Charles II. . ' . . . 592 
Christ's church, Dublin, founded . . . 235 
Clement, an Irishman ..... 209 
Clergy of Ireland, then - chastity . . . 255 

Cluan Mac Noisk 171 

Colgan, on the Annals of the Four Masters . 235 
Colleges on the continent for the education of 

Irish youth 487 

Columbanus, St. ...... 186 

Columb-Kill, death of 195 

Commerce introduced by the Normans . . 220 
Commission issued for the death of Queen 

Mary 557 

Conditions between Richard III., and some 

Irish chiefs 353 

Confiscation of Desmond's estate . . . 487 
Confiscation of six counties in Ulster . . 563 

Cong abbey 182 

Connelly the traitor 571 

Conspiracy against James I. . . . . 561 
Contempt displayed towards the pope, by 

Henry II. . . . . . . .251 

Contributions of the faithful to build churches 160 
Conquest of Ireland disputed .... 552 

Coote's orders to his soldiers to massacre man, 

woman, and child ..... 574 
Convents of the Dominican order . . . 310 
Conversion of the Danes .... 229 
Convent of St. Augustine, founded in Dublin 315 
Council held at Usneaeh, Westmeath . . 240 
Cranmer supports the reformation . 
Cromwell lands in Ireland .... 581 
Crown of Ireland presented to the pope . 237 



Cruelties of Fitz-Adelin .... 304 

Cullenswood, massacre of the English . . 305 
Cuthbert, St., bom at Kells . . . .201 

Danes stripped of their spoils .... 299 
Dathy, monarch of Ireland, killed . . . 101 
Davis accuses the English and justifies the 

Irish 567 

David Eizzio stabbed by Darnley . . . 554 

Death of Charles II 592 

Death of the earl of Desmond . . . 370 

Death of James 1 568 

Death of Queen Elizabeth .... 552 
Debaucheries of Henry VIII. . . . 403 

Defeat of De Courcy 302 

Defeat of the Danes 226 

Defeat of the Scotch islanders . . . 452 
Defeat of the Normans ..... 215 
Deicol, St., memoirs of . . . . . 197 
De Lacy appointed to the government of Dub- 
lin 289 

Departure of St. Patrick from Ulster . . 147 
Descent of the Fitzgeralds .... 324 
Deserters to the cause of James II. . . 595 
Desmond repairs to England .... 425 
Desmond, John, commands the Catholic army 479 
Desmond taken prisoner and beheaded . . 483 
Desolating strifes between O'Neill and O'Don- 

nell 396 

Deny garrisoned against O'Neill . . . 466 
Derry, surrender of .... . 599 
Destruction of property in the county Wicklow 533 
Devastations in Leix, Queen's county . . 527 
Devastations committed by the Scotch . . 317 
Difference between the sees of Armagh and 

Dublin terminated ..... 
Different divisions of Ireland .... 124 
Dispute on the validity of Baptism . . 203 

Disputes between O'Brien and Sir Pierce 

Butler 383 

Disunion of the pope and cardinals on the 

conduct of Henry VIII. .... 415 
Division of districts between the O'Neills . 451 
Divorce between Henry and Catherine . . 408 
Doctrine of Martin Luther spreads widely . 395 
Dominican order ...... 313 

Dom Juan at Kinsale 543 

Dominican and Franciscan convents, Cork . 311 

Donald MeMurrough 329 

Donations to the church of Mellifont . . 237 
Donations of land given to English soldiers . 474 
Dowdal, George, opposed the language of the 

mass . . . . . . . .443 

Drogheda attacked by the insurgents . . 572 
Drogheda garrison and citizens massacred by 

Cromwell 582 

Drogheda threatened by O'Neill . . .466 
Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam . . . .427 
Dublin taken by assault . . . .264 

Duleek a bishopric 141 

Dukes of Richmond and Somerset . . 400 
Duke of York defeated and slain . . . 367 
Dundalk besieged by O'Neill .... 466 
Dynasties formed 125 

Earthquake in England and Ireland . . 313 
Easter observed by the Scots .... 122 
Ecclesiastics arrested for debt . . . 443 

Ecclesiastical supremacy of Queen Elizabeth 470 

Edam O'Reilly, bishop 243 

Edgar, king, powerful at Lea 

Edward the Confessor 238 



627 



Edward VI., proclaimed .... 438 

Edward VI., death of 446 

Eigfoid, king of Northumberland . . . 123 
Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea . . 57 
Eliph, St., son to the king of Ireland . . 106 
Embassy from Ireland to France . . . 223 
Embassy to Rome from Queen Mary . . 450 

Emly near Cashel 226 

Emly united to Cashel ..... 158 

Emperor Lothaire .29 

England under the Danes .... 233 
English army in Ireland .... 543 
English laws prevailed only within the Eng- 
lish pale 317 

English force with Dermod march for Dublin 262 
English abhorred in Ireland .... 261 
Englishmen act treacherously in favor of 

Cromwell 582 

English, tho enemies of the Irish . . .25 

Eugena, John 210 

Essex, earl of, his death .... 476 

Estates of De Lacy confiscated . . . 325 
Europa, Princess of Tyre .... 
Examples, of treachery to be found in the 

Histories of France and England . . 220 
Excesses committed by the Danes in Water- 
ford 263 

Excesses committed by the Danes . . 228 

Execution of 28 Welsh children by King John 307 
Excommunication against the king of Meath 244 
Excommunication of Queen Elizabeth . . 471 
Expedition of the Prince of Orange to England 594 
Exports of Ireland ...... 29 

Eyes of O'Brien's son put out ... 301 

Fabius Pictor 48 

Fabulous history of the Gadelians . . .54 

Families, Anglo-Irish 276 

Famine in Ireland 91 

Famine, dreadful, in 1552 .... 445 
Fasting observed by the Scots . . . 124 

Fatal end of Darnley 554 

Fate and end of the house of Desmond . . 487 
Father de Orleans ...... 22 

Feargus, first king of Dalriads, Scotland . 56 

Fedlim converted ...... 149 

Felix O'Buodan, archbishop of Tuam . .312 
Fergus and his brother slain in battle . , 93 
Fergus chosen king of Scotland . . . 108 
Ferinus, first king of the Scythians . . 56 

Fermoy, county Cork 305 

Fiech, disciple of St. Patrick . . . .39 
Fiech, bishop of Sletty, Queen's county . . 141 
Findan, St., made prisoner .... 204 

Firbolgs in Connaught 60 

Fire kindled before the tent of St. Patrick . 148 
Fitzgeralds reinstated ..... 444 

Fitz-Henry Meyler 309 

Fitzmaurice sailed from Portugal . . . 478 

Fitzmaurice of Kerry 268 

Fitzpatrick, baron of Upper Ossory . . 441 
Fitz and Mac, Irish adjectives . . . 346 
Fleet of the Milesians dispersed . . .59 
Flocks and crops destroyed by the English . 527 
Fomorians and Firbolgs . . . .54 

Fox, Parker, and Burnett .... 408 
France sends a fleet against the Scotch . . 442 
Franciscan convents taken by the English . 530 
Francis Cosby, of Stradbally .... 478 
Francis Porter, Irish historian . . .53 
French kindness towards the Irish . . 487 

Fridolinus, son of an Irish king . . . 194 



628 ini 

PA-GE 

Fulk, archbisliop of Dublin .... 317 
Funerals of the Milesians . . . .72 

Gadulians fly out of Egypt . . . .57 
Game, the various kinds of . . . .28 
Garrison of Athlone pillages a church . . 445 
Garrison of Cluanroad ..... 445 
Garrison of Enniskillen attacked by O'Donnell 500 
Gall, St., sets fire to a temple . . . 196 

Gall, St., death of 197 

General peace in Leinster and Munster . . 384 

Geoffry McMorris 305 

Geofiry of Monmouth, an English monk . 35 
Gerald, earl of Kildare ..... 357 
Germain, St., master to St. Patrick . . 145 

Gertrude, St 202 

Giant's Causeway 32 

Gilbert, bishop of Limerick, on the mass . 187 

Gilbert, Urgale ...... 335 

Gildas quoted by Abercromby . . • 115 
Gold and silver mines .... .28 

Golden calf worshipped by the Pagan Irish . 65 
Golden chain an order of distinction . . SO 
Golden Vale on the river Suir . . • 148 

Gormanstown, Viscount, true to the Catholic 
cause and to Desmond .... 

Gospel preached in Ireland before St. Patrick 
Grants made to the Irish by Cromwell . 
Gratianus Lucius ...... 

Graves first used for the dead 

Great men have their defects 

Gregory O'Maghan, archbishop of Tuam 

Gregory, bishop of Elphin .... 

Grey, Lady Jane, proclaimed queen 

Grey, lord deputy, defeated .... 

Harms, the Irish historian .... 
Hebrew and Irish 1 
Herman lands in Ireland 
Henry VIII. proclaimed king 

causes many of the nobility to be 



executed 

Henry II., of France 

Heptarchy of the Saxons .... 

Hermes, first inventor of letters 

Hibernians and Scots ..... 

Higgins, the historian, his probity . 

Holy Cross, prior of 

Honors paid to St. Bridget .... 

Hospitality of the ancient Irish 

Houses founded for Franciscans 

Howth, formerly called Benneadair 

Hugh Wood, Irish historian .... 

Human victims offered in sacrifice 

Hume, the historian, refuted by MacGeoghe- 

gan 567 to 

Idolatry introduced into Ireland . 

Inhabitants of Ireland, first . 

Innes, a Scotch priest . 

Innisfail, an early name for Ireland 

Innisfail, annals of ... 

Ireland afflicted by domestic wars . 

Ireland called the Island of Saints 

Irish divide into tribes . 

Irish, and the Welsh, oppressed by England 

Irish language, why called the Gaelic 



!>1 
104 
585 
353 
73 
257 
352 
352 
447 
484 

53 

40 
59 
387 

429 

442 

74 

34 

113 

172 
165 
71 
366 
54 
51 
67 

576 

. 63 
. 54 
. 22 
. 55 
. 43 
. 318 
. 251 
. 68 
. 356 
. 37 



Jealousies of the Fitzgeralds and Butlers . 388 
Jesuits introduced into Ireland . . • 431 

John de Courcy 272 

John Cummin, archbishop of Dublin . . 296 
Joscphus, the Jewish historian . . .19 



Keallachan, king of Cashel .... 227 

Keating, the Irish historian .... 304 

Kieran, St., meets St. Patrick in Rome . . 105 
Kells once a city ...... 167 

Kermeda — his prime minister . . . 277 

Kenneth, long of the Scots . . . .221 

Kerry visited by St. Patrick . . . .155 

Kilcarbain convent ..... 363 

Kilcrea convent, Cork 369 

Kildare — why so called ..... 161 

Kildare — its priory ...... 304 

Kildare, earl of, killed at the battle of Benburb 513 
Kilda-Luana, at present Killaloe . . . 182 
Kilfeacle, garrison of .... . 301 

Killian, St., bishop, &c 202 

Kilkenny, parliament of .... 325 

Kilkenny made a noble stand against Cromwell 582 
Kilkenny — its religious houses . . . 307 

Killarney, lakes, &c 32 

Kilmallock rebuilt 475 

Kilmichael, Westmeath . . . .366 

Kilmore, bishopric of .... . 378 
King Charles sold by the Scotch . . . 578 
Kings deposed and put to death . . .79 
Kirkpatrick, and St. Patrick .... 143 

Labors of St. Patrick . . . . .160 

Ladies of Wexford butchered by Cromwell . 585 
Lake on Mount Mangerton . . . .32 

Lancaster and York, the houses of . . 355 

Lancaster arrests Kildare .... 358 

Lands conferred on the bards . . .77 

Lands near the Shannon conferred upon 
- Cromwellian officers . . . 590 

Lands bestowed on soldiers . . . 473 

Languages of Europe . . . . 38 

Laogare II., king of Ireland . . . .64 

Laogare — Scots and Picts invade Britain . 107 
Latin language introduced by St. Patrick . 153 
Laurence, St., baron of Howth . . .369 
Laurence, St., baron of Howth, endeavors to 
entrap the Catholics ..... 562 

Laws respecting the bards . . . .36 

Laws sanctioning the murder of Irishmen . 567 
Laws regarding hospitality . . . .71 

Legate from the pope ..... 288 

Leo X., pope ....... 394 

Lerha, near Granard ..... 305 

Letter of James II. from France to his privy 

council 596 

Letter of Pope Urban VIII. to Mary O'Donnell 565 
Liberator of his country .... 515 

Limerick defended against the English . . 24 
Limerick, siege of . . . . . . 602 

Limerick surrendered ..... 604 

Lionel, duke of Clarence ... J 345 

Literature revived 94 

Liturgy of the Irish Church taken from Saint 

Mark 187 

Livery and coin ...... 371 

Lombard, Peter 50 

Longford, district of, burned by O'Donnel . 507 

Lord Stanley 374 

Lough Derg ....... 356 

Loughs and lakes 31 

Louis XI. of France 402 

Louis XIV. established houses for the educa- 
tion of the Irish . . . . . . 488 

Louis XIV. favorable to James II 594 

Louth once a city 153 

Loyalty of the Irish . . . . .168 
Lugadius, son of Ith 58 



PAGE 

Mac-Mahons persecuted .... 500 
MacGeoghegan killed in defending Dunboy . 548 
Maguire defeats an English force . . . 505 

Malahide, Talbots of 278 

Malacbi II 230 

Malachi O'Kelly . . . . . .384 

Malachi, archbishop of Armagh . . . 283 

Malta, the order of 286 

March of O'Donnel for Kinsale . . . 540 
March of the French after the battle of the 

Boyne 24 

Mardulphus, an Irish monk . . , .201 
Marriages arranged ..... 71 

Marian O'Laghnan 315 

Martin betrayed to Cromwell the town of Car- 
rick 582 

Martyrdom of Dermod Mac-Carty, priest . 551 
Mary O'Donnel, a heroine, princess of Tyrone 565 
Mary, Queen of Scots ..... 554 
Massacres by the English in several counties 573 
Massacre of the nobility by the plebeians . 86 
Massacre at Inniskillen by Bingham . . 505 
Massacre of the Irish in the villages of Santry, 

&c 573 

. 435 
. 283 
. 337 
. 153 
. 78 



Matthew Stewart, earl of Lennox 

Maurice Regan, interpreter, &c. 

Maurice Fitzgerald 

Meath visited by St. Patrick . 

Mechanics formed into bodies 

Men, women, and priests murdered in Newry 579 

Merchants of London obtain confiscated lands 

belonging to the Irish 589 

Messingham, an Irish historian . . .50 
Michael O'Clery, an Irish historian . . 50 
Milesians known to the ancient Greeks . . 23 
Milesius's sons divide Ireland . . . 125 

Milicho, St. Patrick's old master, burned . 147 

Miracle by St. Patrick 161 

Missionaries to St. Patrick .... 145 
Monaghan castle surrendered to. O'Donnel. . 508 



Monaster Eoris 

Monstrous corpulency of Henry VIII. . 

Montrose, marquis of, put to death 

Mountjoy acts vigorously against O'Neill 

Munster visited by St. Patrick 

Munster, names of families portrayed 

Munster in rebellion .... 

Murohard, son of O'Brien 

Murray appointed regent of Scotland 

Music of the ancient Irish 



. 327 
. 436 
. 583 
. 527 
. 154 
. 278 
. 315 
. 238 
. 555 
. 71 



Naas, a parliament held at . . . 367 

Naas once a city ...... 154 

Names of the old proprietors .... 126 

Nathi opposed to St. Patrick .... 146 

Natural history of Ireland . . . .25 

Naval combat at Dundalk .... 228 

Nemedius succeeds Partholan . . .54 

Netterville family 274 

Nial Garve O'Donnel 552 

Nial Glandulph 226 

Nice, council of, on the celebration of Easter . 189 

Nicholas V., pope 378 

Nicholas Maguire, bishop of Leighlin . . 385 
Nicholas Fleming, archbishop . . . 357 

Noah and the Ark 35 

Nobles who declared in favor of the prince of 

Orange . • ■ . . . . 594 
Noblemen, Irish, several hanged in Connaught 491 

Oath taken by the Catholic confederates of 
Kilkenny . . .... 577 



'ex. 629 

PAGE 

O'Birnes and O'Tooles ..... 358 
O'Birnes rebel against the English . . 438 

O'Briens, O'Connors, &c 231 

O'Connors descended from Duach . . . 150 
O'Connor, Sligo, traitor to his countrymen . 521 
Occupations of the Irish .... 212 

O'Dogberty takes some castles, and defeats 
the English . . . . . .563 

O'Donnels, princes of Tyrconnell . . . 185 
O'Donnel marches to the relief of Kinsale . 540 
O'Donnel at the court of Spain . . . 549 
O'Hurly, archbishop of Cashel, hanged . . 489 
O'Kelly attacked, and effected his escape . 491 
O'Kelly's note upon De Wale . . . 276 

O'Morras, O'Tooles, and O'Connor . . 438 
O'Morra successful in Wexford . . . 512 
O'Ferral is defeated by Maurice . . . 505 
O'Neill forms his plans against Queen Eliza. 

beth 497 

O'Neill proclaimed to be an enemy and a trai- 
tor 508 

O'Neill marched through Leinster at the head 

of 7,000 men 524 

Opposition of the Scotch to regal power . 569 

Opposition to St. Patrick by the Pagans . 146 

O'Reillys 320 

O'Rourke, prince of Brefny .... 244 
O'Rourke, and Mac-Sweeny . . . .499 
O'Sullivan unable to obtain his pardon . . 552 

O'Toole, archbishop of Dublin . . . 264 
Overtures for a peace with O'Neill . . 514 

Palladius, first missionary to Ireland . . 138 
Parentage of St. Bridget . . . .165 
Pardon to many of the Irish chiefs . . 552 

Parliament decreed that the Catholics should 

be extirpated ...... 575 

Partiality of English historians . . .515 
Patrick, St., consecrated at Rome . . . 145 

preached at Slane and Tara . 148 

assists at the council of Laogaire 155 

Pearls found in Lake Lene . . . .32 
Peculiarity of the Irish language . . .40 
Pedigree of King James, successor to Queen 

Elizabeth 560 

Penance of St. Columb-Kill . . . .167 
Pepin, king of France : 220 

Perkin, Warbeck 375 

Perjury obvious, in depriving some Catholics 

of their properties 590 

Persecution of the Irish clergy . . . 489 
Petty, Sir William, on the numbers massacred 

in 1641 575 

Philip de Barry 289 

Philip of Spain assisted the Irish Catholics . 498 
Phoenicians trade with Ireland . . . 213 
Plans of Essex to subjugate Ireland . . 521 

Plantagenet, Edward 374 

Plunket's cruel fate r. . 484 

Policy of Camden ...... 21 

Pope Pascal II 240 

Pope Clement writes to O'Neill . . . 526 

Prendergast, Maurice 261 

Presbyterianism . . . . ' . . 395 

Preston, Robert 274 

President Carew commits great devastations 

in Munster 529 

Priests, Irish, particularly favored in France . 488 
Princes of Ulster combine and declare war 

against Queen Elizabeth .... 507 
Prince Charles escapes to France . . . 585 
Prince of Orange lauds with a powerful army 601 



630 in] 

FADE 

Properties of the Irish conferred upon the Eng- 
lish 281 

Protestants, when so called .... 394 
Psalter of Teamor examined by St. Patrick . 76 
Puritans in Ireland intended to exterminate 
the Catholics 570 

Qualification for admission into the Milesian 
militia ....... 81 

Quarrels between the Scots and Picts . . 112 
Queen's county formerly called Leix . . 512 
Queen and other nobles, converted at Tara . 148 
Queen Elizabeth's interference foments discord 
in other nations ...... 559 

Quincy, Robert de 280 

RATHEsofthe Danes 217 

Rath-Hugh in Westmeath . . . .220 

Reformation, its causes and effects . . 558 
Regiments of the Irish brigade . . . 605 
Registries of Tara ...... 155 

Religion of the Pagan Irish . . . .63 

Religion nobly adhered to by O'Rourke, who 

was martyred for exercising hospitality . 499 
Reply of Ailmer to Henry VIII. . . .421 

Retreat of O'Sullivan Bearre .... 550 

Retreat of the English army from before Sligo 512 
Reward offered for the head of O'Neill . .531 
Rewards offered for the head of Desmond . 475 

Roserea, battle of 228 

Rivers of Ireland ...... 26 

Richard Creagh, archbishop of Armagh . . 494 

Salamanca College for Irish priests . . 488 
Sacrilegious oath of Queen Elizabeth . . 559 

Saxons 190 

Shannon river ...... 19 

Siege of Inniskillen 506 

^ege of Kinsale 539 

Sisters of St. Eliph put to death . . . 106 
Sitrick, chief of the Danes of Dublin . . 235 

Sixtus V., pope 388 

Slings made use of ..... 68 

Stafford betrayed to Cromwell . . . 582 

Stanihurst 304 

Statutes of Kilkenny 357 

Strafford viceroy 276 

Stukely betrayed the cause of Ireland . . 478 
Spaniards treacherously put to death by the 

English 498, 499 

Submission of O'Neill to the deputy . . 552 
Swords, abbey of . . . • .173 



PAOE 

Teamor 60 

Thuomond, Ormond, &.c 516 

Throgmorton defends Mary Stuart's authority 555 

Tin and other mines near Lake Lene . . 32 

Titles unknown among the Milesians . . 74 

Tonsure introduced by St. Patrick . . . 188 

Tarrington, archbishop of Cashel . . . 350 

Transportation of the Irish to America . . 585 

Treachery of Bingham ..... 492 

Treachery towards hostages .... 482 

Tribes choose their own chiefs . . . 126 

Trimlestown, baron 5' 5 

Trinity College, Dublin, founded . . . GOjl 

Troops raised for James II. . . . . 598 

Tuam plundered and burned .... 345 

Tuatha de Danains 55 

Tuathal defeats the plebeians . . .87 

Tuathal killed 170 

Tumult of the Scotch fanatics . . . 569 

Turgesius 216 

Tyranny in establishing the reformation . 559 

Tyrconnell 387 

Tyrrell's pass, victory gained at 513 

Ulster . 301 

Ulick Burke slew Bingham in the castle of 

Sligo 510 

Usher 48 

University of Dublin, its revenues increased . 591 
Uriel 289 

Vesey, William de . . . . . 315 

Victories of O'Neill 509 

Victories obtained by the French . . .47 
Viscount Gormanstown ..... 389 
Virtues of the Irish clergy .... 213 
Vision of St. Patrick 145 

Ware, the historian 52 

Wars of the Milesians 17 

Walker, Rev. Mr., at Derry . . . .599 

Well of St. Patrick 153 

Willis's robberies in Fermanagh . . . 504 
Wogan and Warren ..... 325 

Woolsey, cardinal ...... 328 

Wolves in Ireland 28 

York, duke of 366 

Youghal taken by O'Sullivan . . . 481 

Zeal of the primitive Christians of Ireland . 155 
Zouch pursues Desmond .... 485 



•1 



